The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

See ee MARINE REVIEW. oe ie The New Chief of Army Engineers. ~ John M. Wilson of the army engineer corps, who has just been appointed chief engineer and advanced to the rank of brigadier general, is well known on the lakes, ashe was for several years in charge of river and harbor improvements on Lake Erie, with headquarters at Cleveland. As engineer lately of the northeast engineering division, which comprises the New England states, NewYork, a portion of New Jersey and the harbors of Lake Erie, he has also been identified with lake interests; and he is known to vessel men in all parts of the country, also, on account of his services in the light-house institution. Gen. Wilson was born in Washington, D.C., in 1837. He graduated from the military academy in 1860, and his first service was in the artillery and ordnance departments. He was actively engaged throughout the war of the rebellion, and made a most creditable record. He was present at the battle of Bull Run, assisted in the defenses of Washing- ton, was in the Peninsular campaign, and took part in the battles of Maryland campaign in 1862, during which period he was transferred to the corps of engineers, with which branch of the service he has since been identified. After a short term of service at the military academy in 1863, he was assigned to the defense of Baltimore, Mem- phis, Natchez, and Vicksburg. Subsequently he was engaged in work at Ship Island, Miss., and New Orleans. Gen. Wilson received several brevets for gallant service during the war. From 1871 to 1875 he had charge of works at Forts Ontario and Niagara, and of harbor improvements on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. In 1875 he was transferred to the far northwest and superintended. the improvements of the Columbia river and other works in Washington and Oregon. From 1882 to 1886 he was assistant to the chief of engineers at Wash- ington, at the conclusion of which period he was ordered to California. President Cleveland, atthe beginning of his first term, placed Gen. Wilson in charge of public buildings and grounds of the District of Col- - In 1889 he was appointed superintendent of the military umbia. academy, which office he held four years. When Mr. Cleveland was again made president, in 1893, Gen. Wilson was again summoned to Washington to have charge of public buildings and grounds, and, in addition, the northeast division of the United States. During his incumbency at Washington the Army Medical Museum has been built, and the Washington monument and other important works com- pleted. Gen. Wilson received the degree of L.L. D. from Col- umbian University, Washington, in 1890. He isa member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and past president of the Society of Civil Engineers of Cleveland. Ship Yard Matters. The Union Dry Dock Co. of Buffalo finds itself in a peculiar position. It has practically in hand an order from the Union Steamboat ' Co. fora duplicate of the Ramapo, providing the vessel can be finished so as to go into service this season, by August or September. But with all the repair work and the enlarging of the company's dry dock, it is not certain yet that the boat can be delivered. If the Standard oil barge is launched Saturday and no bad weather comes on soon, the -- chances are favorable for the building of the second steamer. Exca- vation to the full depth has been made at one end of the dock, al- though a boat was let out only a week ago. With the completion of this work, Buffalo will have a dock large enough to accommodate all vessels under 400 feet length. The change will also afford a space of. 5 feet between the bottom of a vessel in dock and the bottom of the dock. This will facilitate repair work greatly, as with this space the men will not be cramped in their work. A force of about seven hun- dred men are now at work in this yard. It is proposed to name the first of the new Union line steamers Starucca, after a vessel of the line that was lost on Lake Superior several years ago. If the second steamer is built she will very probably be named Tuxedo. The Union company has also secured a contract for what will be one of the best steel tugs at any Lake Erie harbor. It is for the Erie Tug Co., Erie, Pa., and is to be 87 feet over all, 24 feet beam and 11 feet deep. The boat is to be all of steel--deck, houses, everything. She will have a Trout compound engine, of 16 and 32 inches diameter of cylinders by 26 inches stroke. She will have a Worthington inde- pendent condenser. Steam will be furnished at 150 pounds pressure. by a 10 by 13-foot boiler, which will be built by the Lake Erie Boiler Works. Another small vessel to be built at this yard is a steel sharpie, something new in the lake yacht fleet. The order for this boat is from Mr. F.S. Thorne. She will be 48 feet long by 10 feet beam and will carry for ordinary cruising a jib, mainsail and jigger. The mode? was made by the dry dock company. A request made upon the Detroit Dry Dock Co. for 'aforaanon as to whether a contract has been received for the proposed car ferry barges that are to run from Toledo to Detroit and Windsor, has not been answered, and it is therefore quite probable that the scheme is as yet in an initial stage. KE. H. Moreton of Detroit and Wm. Jacob--- son of Chicago, the latter of whom was one of the promoters of the car carrying barge line on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Peshtigo, are the projectors of the enterprise. They claim that officials of the Grand Trunk Railway are entirely in accord with their plans and that they have made arrangements for a connection with one of the princi- pal coal railways running into Toledo. The barges which they pro- pose to build are each to be of oak, 350 feet long over all, or. 27 feet a longer than the Lake Michigan ferries; 60 teet beam, or 4 feet wider : than those, and 12 feet deep. Each will have four tracks capable of © holding twenty-eight cars, which will make them the largest car : ferry barges in the world. They will be fitted with all the latest im- provements for craft of that kind and will cost $75,000 each. If the project goes through a tug will be chartered for next season to tow | the boats, but after that one will be built specially for the ee = Association of Dredging Coitractares Although full details as to the proposed operations of the Dredge Owner's Association of the Great Lakes have not as yet been made public, a representative of the Review has seen a copy of the constitu- ; tion of the organization, and it can be said positively that it is not a pool or combination to control prices on public works or any other dredging contracts that may be undertaken on the lakes, to which the | association is confined. It is expected that ina Fotare t issue the full ~ scope of the association will be outlined from official sources of infor- _ mation. At the meeting in Chicago on Tuesday last the following officers were elected: President, E. J. Hingston of Buffalo; "-vice- . president, C. S. Barker ,Duluth; executive committee, E. J. Hingston of Buffalo, C. 8. Baier of ae Fred Davis of Chicago, J. B. Breyman of Toledo, R. J. Cram of Detroit, a Hubbell of Saginaw and Thomas Hickler of Sault Ste. Marie. Mr. L. C. Hanna, who is in full charge of the management of -- affairs of the firm of M. A. Hanna & Co., denies absolutely and ~ entirely everything that has been said about Mr. M. A, Hanna or the' firm of M. A. Hanna & Co. being conected with a: scheme to build Bo steel plant at Buffalo. The whole thing is simply a newspaper yarn: