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ee : MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, by John M. Mulrooney and F. M. Barton. Sunscriprron--$#2.00 per year inadvance. Single copies 10 centseach. Convenient binders seut, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on ap plication. Entered at Cleveland Post Ofice as Second class Mail Matter. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1896, contained the names of 3,333 vessels, of 1,324,067.58 gross tons register in the lake trade. 'The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1896, was 383 and their aggregate gross tonnage 711,034.28; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 315 and their tonnage 685,204.55, so that more than half of the best steamships in all the United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1896, was as follows: Gross Na Do b3be5l SEOAIMEVEGSSOlSse ccetineseersccntasserreserccnemicresccnstsetcesmcossn. 19% 924,630. Sailing vessels aNd DArges...........cccerecesssenerceeseeeeeees 1,125 354,327.60 ATMO ATS eee rece eeeeercosaisenscrre ss 416 45,109.47 ING tlie fae eset ees hoc cecotomec gectacaeoesvaere 3,333 1,324,067.58 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the lakes during the past six years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: : Year ending J une 30. ea been eee: arco Conroe 204 111,856 45 Pee ere eee antsccer esses 169 45,968.98 a es oA 175 99,271.24 ie se ee 106 - 41,984.61 a ie 93 36,352.70 2 . 4 117 108,782.38 BIO red eae secisnsel tteancvecuesntacctsasstescessccusicnscanecs 864 444,216.36 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (from Oficial lteports of Canal Officers.) | St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1895* 1894 1893 1895 1894 1893 No. vessel passages.,..........- 17,956 14,491 11,008 3,434 8,352 8,341 Tonnage, net registered..... 16,806,781] 13,110,366] 9,849,754|| 8,448,383] 8,039,175] 7,659,068 Days of navigation.............. 231 234 219 365 365} 365 9 * 1895 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was about ¥% per cent. of the whole, but largely in American vessels. In the December number of the Journal of Political Economy, published by the University of Chicago, Geo. G. Tunell presents a valuable collection of facts regarding lake transportation and the iron industry. Mr. Tunell's article is based on the enormous amount of iron ore that is annually transported on the lales, and he concludes with the statement that if the ton-mile rate on the lakes, instead of being less than a mill, were three mills, which is regarded as quite exceptionally low on the railroads, the freight charge for transporting ore from Duluth to Cleveland would be $2.54--a rate higher than the traffic could bear. The writer might have added that it would never have been possible to develop the great ore mines of the Lake ~ Superior region but for the low cost of transportation by lake, One paragraph in Mr. Tunell's article is so arranged as to show the import- ance of the ore traffic developed by low freight rates. He says: "Hrom a comparatively important position the Lake Superior region has, in the course of a decade and a half,-come to contribute almost twice as much ore as all the other parts of the United States combined. In the census year 1880 the total production for the United States was 7,120,362 long tons; to this amount the lake region contributed but 1,677,814 tons, or 23.6 per cent. of the total output. During the year 1895 15,957,614 long tons of ore were mined in the United States and of this amount 10,328,248 tons or 64.7 per cent. were taken from the mines of the lake region. The bare figures without further explanations do not, however, fully reflect the importance of the northern district, for Lake Superior ores are very much richer in iron than the ores of the other regions. If the quality as well as the quantity of the ore be taken into consideration the lake region is entitled to even a more important position than would be assigned to it on a simple tonnage basis of comparison." The daily newspapers seem to be disturbed about a Holland sub- marine torpedo boat which Louis Nixon of Elizabethport, N. J., is said to be building "under cover" for either the Spaniards or the Cubans. It is not probable, however, that the Holland type of boat (or any other submarine vessel for that matter) has as yet been far enough advanced in the experimental stage to warrant either of the Cuban parties in wasting any money on it. In June last congress authorized the construction of two sub-marine torpedo boats of the Holland type, at a cost not exceeding $175,000 each, provided that the Holland boat now being built for the government should be accepted by the navy department as fulfilling all the requirements of the contract and 'as being satisfactory to the "secretary of the navy. The act further pro- vided that no action regarding the additional Holland boats should be taken until the boat now under constructon should have been fully tested to the satisfaction of the secretary of the navy and accepted. The boat referred to as under construction is being built by the John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Co., who haye placed their work with the Columbian Iron Works of Baltimore as subcontractors. But the latest reports from the nayy department do not recommend the expendi- ture of the additional appropriation. Chief-Constructor Hichborn, in his latest report, says that the condition of the work upon the boat now being built is such that some time must elapse before the tests can be completed, and pending such tests his bureau reserves its recommendations. Every time a timber dry dock is built in this country some one of the English shipping journals is certain to refer to it as an undertak- ing of the "penny-wise and pound-foolish" kind. The 600-foot Port Orchard dock on Puget sound, recently completed by the government, is thus spoken of. These critics do not take into account the cheapness of timber in this country as against stone, especially in the Puget sound district. The Port Orchard dock cost about $650,000. Such a dock made of stone, even in England, would cost full $3,500,000. The heavy cost of repairs and the short life of timber docks are, of course, big items, but conditions attending first cost will cause them to be built in this country fora long time to come. Nobody has as yet given consideration to the construction of a stone dock on the lakes, and it is not probable that any thought will be given to the subject until' the price of timber is materially advanced and there are indications of a limit being reached in the size of vessels. We may be pardoned for considerable boasting about ship build- ing on the lakes on account of the progress that has been made ina - few years, but we are forcibly reminded of the insignificance of this industry here with each succeeding report on the annual output of British yards. During the year just closing, Harland & Wolff, famous Belfast builders, have turned out eleven vessels of 81,316 gross tons and of 61,324 horse power. The average is 7,304 gross tons and 4,484 horse power. In addition to this, these builders added 971 tons to one steamer by lengthening her and put new engines of 12,000 horse power into another steamer. Hight of the eleven vessels were twin-screw steamers, and three of them were fitted with quadruple engines. One was of 13,700 tons and three others were above 8,000 tons. Chicago's enterprise whenever there is anything pertaining com- mercial advantages in sight is certainly tobe commended. Following up the refusal of United States Engineer Marshall to expend govern- ment appropriations for purposes other than dredging in the river, a delegation of Illinois congressmen has appealed to the secretary of war, and if possible the money will not only be used for widening and straightening the river, all of which should be done by the city, but apart of it may be applied to lowering some of the obstructing tunnels. For some time past nothing has been heard of the two deep waterway commissions appointed by Canada and the United States, but it is now said that a report to the president will be submitted by the United States commission before the new year. There is con- siderable doubt in the minds of most people on the lakes as to whether these commissioners can eyer do anything more than collect, in a single report, a large amount of data, more or less speculative, on the subject of a deep-water outlet from the lakes to the seaboard. The Detroit river bridge question is again laid aside. The senate committee in commerce has decided positively that there will be no further agitation of the subject in the present congress. If it were not for the influence of the Lake Carriers' Association a bridge with all manner of piers would now span the river at Detroit and the Michigan Central Railway would be in possession of another important link in its monopoly. Stern and stem pieces in the revenue cutter building at the ship yard of the Cramps, Philadelphia, for the Pacifie coast are of mang- anese bronze. The stem piece is a solid casting, weighing 17,000 pounds, and is the largest ever run out in that metal in the United States. It was cast at the Cramp brass foundry.