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MARINE River Tugs of the Sixties. How the famous old Detroit river tugs did make money during and for eight years succeeding he close of the war. Figures on the earnings of the Detroit & River St. Clair Towing Association for the year 1866, compiled from old ledgers, are proof conclusive of this. This association was really a pool made in the spring of each year, the papers for which were usually drawn up by Henry B. Brown, now United States supreme court justice, William A. Moore and the late John 8. Newberry. In that particular year thiry-three tugs were in the agreement. Some were big money-makers; others did not amount to a pinch of snuff. The net earnings were divided at the end of the season, based entirely on the earning capacity of the respective tugs. It mattered not that some earned little or nothing--their owners were reimbursed to an extent sufficient to satisfy them. The object of this pool was the maintenance of towing rates at a figure which in those days was considered fair. Cut-throat competition for towing was thus avoided. As in those times the bulk of the lake commerce was handled in schooners, there was work enough for all in that line alone. These were the tugs and their net profits that year: Satellite, $23,- 322; Kate Moffat, $23,159; Prindiville, $17,909; Kate Williams, $16,- 314; I. U. Masters, $15,331; Bob Anderson, $15,662; B.B. Jones, $16,- 494. Hector, $14,763; McClellan, $13,512; Winslow, $12,539; May- flower, $12,393; W. K. Muir, $11,478; W. B. Castle, $10,043; John Martin, $10,818; George H. Parker, $9,910; George N. Brady, $9,579; E. M. Peck, $9,256; Constitution, $8,961; Anna Dobbins, $8,211; Tawas, $9,889; L. L. Lyon, $9,887; Zouave, $7,942; Park, $9,902; Michigan, $6,235; Samson, $6,358; Red Eric, $4,206; T. D. Dole, $3,051; Dispatch, $2,093; Eclipse, $2,519; Stranger, $1,771; S. 5S. Rummage, $1,481; Dart, $240. The Hagle lost $95 on the season, but was given something out of the association to keep her quiet. Imagine the Satellite and Kate Moffat earning much more than half their value in a singleseason. This of wooden steamers that were pigmies by the side of the mammoth steel freighters afloat to-day, yet making money that would cause the owner of a modern freighter to jump out of his seat if he had before him a prospect of clearing as much. The Satellite in those days was commanded by Capt. Hi. Ames, now living in well-earned retirement on Harsen's island. He could get more out of a tug and her crew than anyone around these parts. He was personaily popular, and this perhaps had something to do with his effectiveness; but he was also willing to work night and day and had a keen scent for a schooner. tug man, handled his tug and tows with a minimum of accident, and in every way acquitted himself creditably. Second only to him was Capt. Leon Holt, who was originally from the Cape Vincent region. He brought out the tug Champion, still in existence, and the most powerful tug that ever towed on the Detroit river. Thousands have seen the picture scattered around the lakes representing the Champion towing a long string of schooners down the river just below Windmill point light. But long tows were common with her. She once towed twelve schooners up the river, through the Fort Gratiot rapids and out into Lake Huron, where they cast loose and set sail for their des- tinations. For that tow she got about, $700. The achievement has never been equaled by another steamer. The ends of most of the tugs in the foregoing list were sad ones. The Masters burned while lying at her dock at Malden; the Satellite --the queen --foundered on Lake Superior. Something broke loose around her stern and she slowly began to settle. She had five schoon- ers in tow. All cast loose and hoisted their flags to half-mast. Her own master ordered her colors set. Then she plunged to the great deep bottom, and more than one man wiped his eyes as the favorite dis- appeared forever. The Stranger burned at Trenton. The Kate Moffat burned at some Canadian port on Lake Huron. The Frank Moffat, not in the agreement at that time, but in it subsequently, exploded her boiler while lying at her dock at Sombra, and went to pieces, tak- ing several lives with her. The Prindiville still lives. The W. B. Castle, L. L. Lyon and Bob Anderson are in the Inman fleet at Du- luth. The Lyon, half-submerged in a slip below the Springwells dry dock, Detroit river, was a familiar sight for many years, and few thought she would ever again be put afloat. The Anderson kept her company in that grave yard for a long time. The Muir exploded her boiler in the St. Clair river, killing her master and mate. The Mc- Clellan was dismantled and now lies somewhere in the vicinity of the Springwells dry dock, her ribs just sticking out of the water. Up in Georgian bay the John Martin's stern dropped off one day and she _ revenus steamer Prince Albert. Besides this, he was a first-class ~ deliberately went to the bottom. The crew never stopped to protest, but took to the yawl. She's there yet. Ona Lake Huron beach the bones of the Brady are whitening. The T. D, Dole burned. The Anna Dobbins was lost on Lake Huron. On the bottom of Lake Erie the bones of the Hector are being preserved, for it is said water does not rot timbers--while they stay init. Down the Detroit river, all afire, drifted the Red Eric one day; she never came back. The St. Clair river was a favorite locality for tugs that no longer had use for their boilers; the B. B. Jones parted with hers up there, and thus she ended. On the beach of Point au Pelee rest the remains of the May- flower. The E. M. Peck and Dart were dismantled, the Parker is towing logs for Boutell of Bay City; the Tawas' boiler went into the air on Lake Huron, and the Kate Williams has been laid up in Detroit several years. Memory is a little indistinct as to the fate of the others. Itissup- posed they were squeezed against the dock--that the hulls went to the bottom and the pieces floated down the river. One of the oldest of the old ones was the Dart. She was literally a floating coffin, held together by half a dozen or more hog-posts. They called her the "hay-scales."' The Michigan is haloed in history. She was originally the Canadian phere around Detroit was thick with Fenianism. The report once got out that aschooner was coming down from Chicago with 1,500 Fenians, who were going to raid into Canada at Windsor or some other point. The Prindiville came down the river one day with three schooners in tow, the middle one of which flew the Fenian flag. The Prindiville herself carried those colors and a brass cannon besides, which she let off with blank cartridges every now and then. It was just like Capt. Joe Nicholson, her master. On the middle schooner was acrew of nine men. The master dressed them up to represent nondescript soldiers, such as the Fenians were supposed to be. From the bow these men would start, marching aft the whole length of the vessel. knees to the bow and begin their march over again. This they re- peated over and over when opposite a port. All along the docks at Port Huron, St. Clair, Marine City, at the Canadian ports and at Detroit and Windsor thousands gathered to watch the strange spectacle. At first it was treated seriously, but finally the fact was made apparent that a huge practical joke was in progress. The Prince Alfred steamed up to the tow, but was given the merry laugh, and Capt. Joe fired his cannon and tooted his whistle and danced about in great glee. The panic of 1873 put a stop to the big earnings. For eight years succeed- ing it the tugs did little or nothing. Business picked up somewhat after- ward, but the schooners were being supplanted by steamers, and those remaining were cut down into consorts. They are scarce these days, and the few tugs that remain have a precarious existence towing rafts and wrecking.--Detroit Free Press. ; Stocks of Grain at Lake Ports. The following table, prepared from reports of the Chicago board of trade, shows the stocks of wheat and corn in store in regular eleva- tors at the principal points of accumulation on the lakes, May 15, 1897: Wheat, bushels. Corn, bushels. Chicdgo ish pau. eetd. see ate 7,038,000 6,077,000 Duluth <j esate eset ee eames 4,494,000 23,000 Malwaulkees) lye.) guetta a 185,000 3,000 Detroit. \as... Pavaatas see egopen 104,000 2,000 Poled Oise a ss nies cnecs wieder ance 952,000 251,000 ~ Buttalons teen erect ee ele eecet 611,000 204,000 | 13,384,000 6,560,000 ~ As compared with a week ago, the above figures show, at the sev- eral points named, a decrease of 1,223,000 bushels of wheat and 1,010,000 bushels of corn. A vest pocket pamphlet, just issued by the Marine Review, con- tains appointments of captains and engineers for 172 fleets of vessels owned on the lakes. It is practically a complete list of vessels, own- ers, captains and engineers on the lakes, corrected to date and put in the most concise form that it is possible to arrange the several thousand names contained in such a collection. It is neatly bound and durable. Mailed to any address on receipt of $1. Several hundred photograph negatives of lake ships are held in stock by the Marine Review. Prints can be made on short order, In 1865 or thereabouts the atmos- -- There they would drop down and crawl on their hands and oo Sa