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ee, oe Fee ee ne ee 7 se % MARINE REVIEW. a _, Assurance of a Strong Freight Market, i ie A sttong lake freight market with advancing rates until the close of the season is now assured to vessel owners. New sales of iron ore within the past month have aggregated full half a million tons, A large part of this is ore on dock, and the great bulk of the remaining ore involved in the sales was immediately covered by lake freight contracts, but these contracts tie up to the ore trade a certain amount of tonnage that will not enter into competition for other lines of freight, and the market Shen course, benefited accordingly. It is admitted also that on the basis of present sales the entire ore movement of the season will be equal to that of 1896--practically 10,000,000 tons--so that the big grain movement and the shortage in soft coal shipments that must be made up with a rush during the two closing months of the season_would seem to give abso- lute assurance of highly profitabie freights. Ore dealers are now asking an advance in prices stuited to cover added lake freights, and if the iron market corresponds ,to the general improvement in business, it would not be surprising to hear of additional sales of ore at the higher prices. These conditions in the ore market, coupled with the heavy grain movement out of Chicago, have already caused an advance in ore freights of 15 to 20 cents a ton over the lowest figures of the season, although practically no grain has as yet been moved from the head of the lakes and the soft coal situation is just as it has been for several weeks past under strike conditions. Northwestern grain has been a week to ten days late in getting into Duiuth. It will begin to move next week, prob- ably just on the eve of a settlement of the coal strike, and another marked advance in lake freights will be the inevitable result. Ship Yard Matters. It is now quite probable that lake ship yards will again be well sup- plied with orders during the coming winter as a result of the general improvement in freights. The Globe Iron Works Co. is about to put down the keel for a steel barge of 366 feet keel, 44 feet beam and 26 feet hold, a vessel that will be practically a duplicate of the barges Antrim and Thomas, Built by the same company recently, It is understood that the Cleveland Ship Building Co. also has an order practically in hand, and negotiations are pending in nearly all of the other steel yards. ' Triple expansion engines and Scotch boilers for the two new wooden steamers under way at the ship yard of James Davidson, West Bay City, will be built by Samuel F. Hodge & Co. of Detroit. The contract was let to the Detroit firm several days ago. It is said that Capt. Davidson will probably put down as many as four more keels for big wooden vessels during the fall. The announcement that the American Steel Barge 'Co. is about to put in tools to admit of repairs and alterations in macninery of vessels wintering at that point or needing repairs during the season of naviga- tion, will very probably result eventually in a fully equipped machine shop for the building of engines being developed at the head of the lakes. The barge company is also to put in at once a number of pneumatic tools for work in the ship yard and dry dock. The new Wolvin steamer Empire 'City, which is equipped with quad- tuple engines and Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers, is also fitted with a mechanical stoker of Babcock & Wilcox design, which is said to work well and which is expected to reduce fuel bills and at the same time permit of the firing being done by ordinary labor. The device has not as yet been sufficiently tried to say much of its merits or disadvantages. The Detroit Dry Dock Co. has given estimates to Seattle parties on a seagoing steamer to run from Seattle to Alaska, and on two light steamers to run up the Yukon. It is not probable, however, that the contract for these vessels will be let for some time yet. If it is secured by the Detroit Dry Dock Co. the small yessels would probably be built in Detroit and shipped in parts by rail to the Pacific, while the larger steamer would be built at Seattle from designs furnished by the Detroit firm. A drill scow recently built in Cleveland by L. P. & J. A. Smith is at work on the Dunkirk government contract, and is expected to prove one of the most effective machines of its kind on the lakes. Dredging appliances of this kind are very costly on account of the powerful ma- "unery--pumps, electric light apparatus, ete-----which they contain. The cost of this drill is understood to have exceeded $10,000. m. Chace & Co., Chicago, have contracted to build some small stern-wheel steamers to tow barges on the Yukon and be transported there in sections. Kare Rise in the Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin compliments Capt. J. G. Soe of Chicago on his able management of the whaleback passenger will ae Christopher Columbus during the past season. The Columbus is du ose the season between Chicago and Milwaukee on Sept. 7. She wiv to arrive in Superior Sept. 12, and on the night of Sept. 14 will to the mec ect excursion on Lake Superior. On Sept. [9 she will run fdcinee Postle islands with an excursion. It is said that the passenger ati a of the Columbus during the season just closed has been greater deine eh Previous season since the World's Fair, and that she will no hal eturn a handsome dividend to the stockholders of the Columbian naleback Steamship Co. eels has a new shipping firm that is undoubtedly the strongest : Rel at that port for a long time past. On August 30 John Gordon, freight feces and H. L. Chamberlin joined interests itl a firm of vessel, Of the ney Foe ase agents to be known as John Gordon & Co... Offices ad_ extend Tm are at 1132 Guaranty building. Each of the gentlemen has Well kn nded experience in vessel and freight business. They are all 'own throughout the lakes. - Winchell has an article in the September number of the En- eietV Sineerj ea. : ; Sota Troe Magazine on "Soft Ore Mining by the Methods of the Minne- T Baie GF) ils one ion uiage.of the new. Union Line steamer Starucca, built by the Union D sy FY. Dock Co. a 05 2117 official number is ieee is 3,114.05 gross and 2,117.56 net. Her A Mass of Information on a Single Chart. A pilot chart just issued by the United States hydrographic office contains more information regarding the lakes than has ever before been collected on a singie sheet. To begin with, this pubiication, whiéh is. corrected two or three times a year, is an excellent 'chart of the entire. chain of lakes, and then there is added in every corner of space all man- ner of information of value to vessel masters. The réverse side of the present issue, for instance, contains all of the tables of distances between' lake ports, which were published on a special sheet some time ago. The White law in full (rales of the road for the lakes) and the rules governing navigation of the Sault river are also printed' on the back of the chart. All this in addition to the regular tables giving dimensions of canals and dry docks, which have appeared on previous charts, but which have been revised and corrected to date. _ But the most important new feature of the chart is the graphic method in which a valuable collection of information tegarding fog is shown. In' this regard the officiais of the hydrographic office would seem to have anticipated a scheme just outlined by Prof. Willis L: Moore, chief of the weather bureau. Mr. Moore is now engaged in a tour of the lakes, making arrangements for the publication of a monthly chart giving infor- mation regarding fogs for a great number of years past, but it would seem that if he goes on with his plans the two departments will be engaged in a duplication of work along this line. The chart just issued by the hydrographic office shows graphically the proportion of days on which fogs occurred during the seasons of navigation for the past six years at each of the principal light stations on the iakes; the proportion of hours during which fog prevailed is also shown graphically. There is also a table giving, in figures, the occurrence and duration of fog at fifty-five stations of the light-house service on the lakes, from which the probabil- ities of fog during any month of the season of navigation at any light-_ station may be ascertained. The table gives in the case of each of' these: fifty-five stations the number of days with fog and the total number of hours during each of the eight months of lake navigation. From this data there is also shown the average number of fogey days at each of the stations throughout the season, the per cent. of foggy days and the total number of hours of fog. The chart sells at 50 cents and may be had- from the 'Marine Review. } The iron trade has now fairly entered upon a season of larger con- sumption, and, as may be reasonably supposed, oi somewhat more re-. munerative prices. The ease with which healthy improvement develops into an unhealthy boom is only too freshly in mind, but today there are no indications that the unpleasant experiences of 1895 and 1896 are to be repeated. The substantial character of the revival in all lines is recognized, and with such exceptional returns guaranteed to the forming community, _it would be simply going in the face of all the history of such movements to suppose that the iron industry will not feé: the effect of this stimulus for months to come. The outcome of the splendid trade in cereals now enjoyed by the United States, no one can predict; "but better prices for iron products are naturally looked for. And that this prosperity may' be a sustained, gradually broadening movement, is certainly the desire of the entire trade. Kept free from the restraints, of ill-considered com- binations, the trade should expand, securing advances by the natural. operation of the law of supply and demand. Tooking forward to the business of next year, as many are already doing, there must be the. extreme of conservatism and restraint on the part of the producers of raw materials, or the prospect that now seems to be opening up will, quickly give way to hesitancy, reaction and defeat----iron Trade Review. Although it was thought that the full stretch of channel down the Detroit river from Bois Blanc island to Bar point light was fully deep enough for any vessel that could get over Ballard's: reef, the steamer Griffin struck a shallow spot near the light-ship in this channel on Sunday. last. The Griffin was drawing only 17 feet 2 inches, but the wind changed and the water dropped 2 feet or more after she left Ballard's reef. She was delayed two or three hours, but suffered no damage, as the bottom in the channel is a mixture of sand and gravel. 'The shallow spot will undoubtedly receive the attention of the engineer in charge of the river work. ; é pepe oi Rieck 3) The matter of establishing a signal service at Johnson's point, Sailors' Encampment, Sault river, has been formally submitted to both the treas- ury department and the light-house board by 'Capt. Davis and Commander Folger, who have been in correspondence on the subject with Géo. Le McCurdy of Chicago and Capt. Gorge P. McKay of Cleveland. It may be that a special service suited to the prevention of accidents at this point will be undertaken by the revenue cutter officials, but if not the under~ writers stand ready to provide such a service. 2a ee omaes ae Capt. L. A. Rand of the steamer City of Rome reports to Geo. 'L. (McCurdy of Chicago that when coming by the stake at the north end of Russel's island, St. Clair river, Aug. 29, bound down, he struck bottom -at least 150 feet northeast of the lake. His vessel was drawing 16 feet' 6 inches. He is of the opinion that this stake should be shifted at least 200 feet farther to the northeast. It is understood that if Geérge H. Worthington of. Cleveland suc- ceeds in selling the sail yacht Priscilla, he will build or buy a fast steam. yacht, in the ownership of which he will be joined by the gentlemen asso-. ciated with him in the Priscilla. ae eyes 5 ae Five steamers which are in course of construction for the Hamburg- American line are to be named Assyria, Belgia, Brasilia, Bulgaria, and Pretoria. : wit ; John F. Wedow of the firm of Mitchell & Co., Cleveland, has the sym- pathy of a very large circle of acquaintances on the lakes, in the loss of his, oldest daughter, an estimable young lady of twenty years, who died on arte day last. ¢ :