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MARINE Wrote WIL, CLEVELAND, O., DECEMBER 2, 1897. No. 23. Summary of Lake Freight Conditions. © A season of navigation running well into December ha§ enabled soft coal shippers to forward enough coal to the northwest to insure a full win- ter's supply. It is quite probable, in fact, that with the enormous ship- ments of the present month, it will be found, when the season's figures are complete, that the movement of coal, notwithstanding the long delay caused by the strike, will be fully equal to that of 1896. But the require- ments called for more soft coal than was moved last year, and there is a great deal of satisfaction, both to the coal interests and the vessel owners, in knowing that docks at upper-lake ports will certainly be cleaned up in the spring. In order to move a sufficient supply of coal, shippers have been forced to pay rates that have been quite profitable to the vessels, but all things considered, the coal men are probably congratulating themselves on their success in holding rates down to 75 cents on coal going to the "head of Lake Superior and 65 cents to Lake Michigan ports, which were the rates governing the great bulk of shipments during che past two or three weeks. On some coal moved from Sandusky, where both harbor facilities and coal loading plants are poor, these rates were exceeded, a dollar being paid to Lake Superior and as high as 87% cents to Lake Michigan ports, but these charters were exceptional. Immediately following the resumption of coal shipments after the -- strike had been settled, the managers of coal' and ore railways that lead from Lake Erie into the iron manufacturing and coal producing districts of Ohio and Pennsylvania began to favor the coal interests, by drawing upon supplies of cars everywhere in which to move coal. Great numbers of cars were returned empty from the lakes, and the ore shippers, as well as the managers of iron furnaces, were informed that as they had full ad- vantage of the car supply during the summer they were expected to give way in a large measure to the coal movement. In some cases the scarcity of cars for moving ore interfered very seriously with the management of furnaces and ore docks, and a great deal of unpleasantness arose between these interests and the railway managers. It was charged! that some of the tailway officials were interested in coal properties and were using their positions to favor such interests. Threats of directing public attention to charges of this kind were made, but now that the difficulties are practically at an end, the matter will probably blow over, as such charges would be hard to prove anyhow. With the exception of the flurry caused by a 5-cent rate on a few clos- ing cargoes of wheat from Fort William to Buffalo (equal to about $1.85 a ton on ore), there is little interest left in the freight market of the present season. Even this rate, tempting as it is, has been passed over by most vessel owners, as they have in mind the experience of ships that were caught in the ice at Fort William a year ago, and which sustained, in addi- tion to delay anid expense fitting out the following spring, losses of $2,500 to $3,500, on account of cargoes that they had missed and on account also of the further expense of shipping crews back and forth. The discussion of prospects for another season is now more interesting. There is assur- ance of a very large coal movement in 1898, and the ore dealers have made figures proving conclusively, on most conservative estimates, that the present consumption of ore in furnaces throughout the country will demand an output of full 14,000,000 gross tons in 1898, or about 2,000,000 tons in excess of the shipments of the present season. In view of this outlook, preparations are already being made in the Lake Superior mining region for the accumulation of big stock piles--miners wages being increased at several of the large properties--but it is agreed in most cases that, al- though prospects are encouraging, plans for another year s eprops ue as yet a little premature. The lead pencil, even in the hands ° Sie among the ore dealers, has often been founid deceiving when app fe in the active fall period to the future demands of the iron industry. eee How conditions in the iron market are generally less encouraging mee s ie were a few weeks ago, but this may be attributed in part to the usual dull- €s in closing month of the year. cs ne hae Baittone there is little hope of more contracts ieee now for ordinary freight carriers. The leading yards, with one or two Bs ceptions, have about all the new work they can handle unti Ser Te e those that are not fully engaged would not be able to get malcye fal the manufacturers of steel in time to turn out a large yess aes ee or August of next year. It is quite probable, however, t ae pe days the Buffalo management of lake interests of the New ce fe company will let a contract for two package freight steamers 0 ae Or type used in that trade, the vessels to be completed late next sea or ee ders from the Bessemer Steamship Co. for one or two re ae a ae have been expected for some time, are not forthcoming, an e aan tee that the policy of the Rockefeller management 1s 2 a ee convenient to do so, conditions in the ship yards that oS p sak io prices. All but three of the Bessemer company s vessels an Suche up. A few of the smaller barges of the fleet were tied up Pee aa 10. With the wind-up of the Lake Superior ore oe a eg eye been engaged, they were erdeie ranger Che aving a few cargoes of coal or grain throughou : 2 En epaver dispatches sent out from Cleveland, SO era nouncing that the Carnegie-Oliver ore interest had ae FcR EEE the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., were not thought a Bae feat denial the report has been extensively copied, it may Mee fie Cleveland- has been obtained from Mr. W. G. Mather, president hr eS annallnehe or Cliffs Co. There is absolutely no truth in the report. aout Gipencral Cleveland-Cliffs stock, which declined some time fee be ee eu OTt depression in iron mining stocks, is due to the pro: i : eek Fal dee eeibe of dividends, and to the fact that the few shares of the stock Tt oe tow, found on the market at any time were quoted at a pric : based even on the quick assets of the company. New Lake Survey. Every naval officer who has been detailed for light-house service on the lakes during the past four or five years has recommended a general survey of the lakes. When a resurvey was first recommended, and before the hydrographic office of the navy department began the establishment of branch offices in lake cities, it was thought that the naval officers con- nected with the light-house service were opposed, through a spirit of ri- valry, to the survey made by the army engineers and opposed also to that branch of the government 'continuing the work of correcting lake charts. Vessel owners were therefore not much interested in the subject of a re- survey. They were of the opinion that the naval officers objected to the charts largely for the reason that they were made by the army engineer officers. But with deeper channels and vessels of deeper draft new shoals are being found in all parts of the lakes and the demand for a resurvey is more urgent. Commander Folger of Detroit, in this latest report to Washington, recommends a new survey, and Commander E. H. C. Luetze of Chicago, who is in charge of the Lake Michigan district, writes Capt. Geo. P. Mc- Kay of Cleveland on the subject. Capt. McKay had informed Comman- der Luetze of an obstruction reported by Capt. Wm. Loud of the Mil- waukee steamer 'Wolf, who says that on Noy. 6, while bound to Ashta- bula from Escanaba with: ore, and with his vessel drawing not more than 17 feet, he struck about midway between the gas buoys at Poverty pas- sage, entrance to Green bay. The red or north gas buoy was about abeam. In answer to this report Commander Luetze says: "T thank you very much for the information in regard to steamer Wolf striking an obstruction in Poverty island passage. I am, of course, glad to receive any reports of the kind, and only wish the masters of the lake vessels were more communicative with us. I should be very glad to hear their views on anything belonging in this district... I will examine the spot reported in the spring, but I am firmly convinced that a systematic survey of the lakes in general, and the northern part of Lake Michigan in parttic- ular, is urgently needed." The "Notices to Mariners" that are sent out each month by the hydro- graphic office are also making up a volume of argument in favor of a general survey of the lakes. The November pamphlet, just issued, is espe- cially valuable on account of several small charts which accompany it, and which represent the result of special surveys made by officers of the U. S. S. Michigan at different points on the lakes where obstructions were re- ported. These include Barbed point shoal and Pipe island shoal, Detour passage; 'Bear island shoal, Devil's island shoal and Sand island shoal in the Apostle group of islands, Lake Superior; 'Middle shoal in the vicinity of 'Waugoshance light-house, [Lake Michigan, and Rush shoal (new name) near North Manitou island, also in Lake Michigan. No vessel master should be without this November "Notice to Mariners,". as it con- tains important information regarding a large number of shallow spots, changes in lights, etc. : Powerful Steamers are Needed for the Big Consorts, . The experience of the steamer Bulgaria with the big steel tow barge Amazon on Lake Superior is conclusive proof of the inability of the old type of wooden steamer to handle the modern 6,000-ton barge. In calm weather the Bulgaria has towed this barge from the Sault to Duluth in forty-eight to fifty hours, but on this fall trip, meeting with head winds, snow storms and bad weather generally, she was forced to seek shelter, and was full ten days in making the trip. When the Corrigans of Cleve- land began to build steel tow barges to be placed behind their wooden . steamers, it was thought that this would be the policy of other owners of good wooden ships who found themselves unable to compete with the steel carriers on account of the great difference in capacity. The loss in capacity of the steamer would be made up, it was claimed, by the advantage to be gained in towing a large barge. But the power of the wooden steamers ~ has proven altogether inadequate. Further proof of this conclusion -is found in the fact that the steamers now being built to tow these big consorts will have, with quadruple expansion engines and water tube boilers, a horse power in some cases of 2,300 to 2,700. American Society of Naval Engineers, The annual meeting of this society will be held in Washington, Jan. 7 and 8. Friday, the first day, will be devoted to the reading and discus- sion of. papers, the awarding of the medal for the prize paper, and such other business as may be brought before the meeting. The election of officers for the ensuing year will be held after this. The meeting will be- gin at 2 p. m. in the lecture room of the Columbian University, Fifteenth and H streets, N. W., courteously placed at the disposal of the society by that university. Papers to be read at this meeting should be sent to the secretary-treasurer before Jan. 1. 'Saturday forenoon will be devoted to a visit to the gun shops at the Washington navy yard, the congressional library, and other places of interest to visiting members. The first an- nual banquet of the society will be held at 7:30 p. m., Saturday, at Rausch- er's, Connecticut avenue and L street, N. W. Officials of the light-house service are considering plans for erecting cribs in the rivers and other enclosed places where gas buoys are now located, so that the lights may be shown from a stationary structure. In this way the lights may be placed in operation earlier in the spring and can also be kept up later in the fall. The work of the light-house vessels would also be lessened, and the cribs, unlike the buoys, would not be car- ried away by tows, as has been the case several times during the past season.