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welsh a | 'MARINE Vous XVE Wonderful Record in Ore. Official reports of ore shipments from all ports except Escanaba show that shipments oi ore by lake during 1897 will exceed 12,100,000 gross tons or full 2,000,000 tons more than has been shipped in any past season. Rail shipments of probably 200,000 tons will increase the total output of the Lake Superior region to nearly twelve and a half millions. The port of Two Harbors, where the bulk of shipments are from the Minnesota Iron -Co.'s mines, leads with an output of 2,650,750 gross tons. Duluth is second with Escanaba, Ashland and Marquette following, these three ports having shipped practically 2,000,000 tons each. In the following table, shipments from Escanaba are estimated on account of a few cargoes still to be moved from that port, but the actual figures in this case will be very close to the estimate: : Ports. Gross Tons. Mewobbar bors: hid 4' dew. sao Seen eR arts ean eee 2,650,750 Baht: sg a see 2,376,064 PSC aT A sc ect ay hae eam arta oo eye a lear eI pe a 2,200,000* Ashland: ta cs): Gee gece got ein er oe Biv MES sone 2,067,637 Memauiette: "la. sce Re ee es a Sch sn peatucgle cae NR ne oe ae 1,945,519 S\thnyoig (6) SEE Oren snore ann dha. aoumeuOS ds auaaowun en aoo 531,825 Gladstone.) iva. cor Rak Oe ae eee Pee ee on See 341,014 *EKstimated. 12,112,809 These immense shipments of ore, coupled with the fact that the soft - coal movement, which was delayed until the last two months of the sea- son, will be fully equal to that of 1896, go to show the wonderful capacity of the lake fleet when fully employed. Another Effort to Agree on Freights, The action of President James Millen of the Lake Carriers' Associa- tion in announcing a meeting of the executive committee of that associa- tion in Cleveland on the 15th inst., to discuss the question of changing by-laws of the organization so as to permit of the adoption of minimum rates of freight for next season, will very probably result in a great deal of attention being given to this subject at the annual meeting of the associa- tion in January: Members of the association who are not on the executive' committee but who may find it convenient to be in Cleveland on the 15th are invited to take part in the conference. This meeting is prompted mainly by the action of soft coal shippers in Cleveland, who moved a large part of their coal at low freights this fall through an agreement covering maximum figures to be paid to the several upper-lake ports. The experience of vessel owners in trying to regulate freight rates has been very unsatisfactory in the past, but Mr. A. A. Parker of Detroit and several Cleveland owners are of the opinion that satisfactory results may be obtained from another effort at this time. The question involves so many different interests that there is nothing to be gained, from disctission of it until the meeting is held on the 15th. . If the meeting 1s well attended and the big vessel companies are represented, the subject will undoubtedly come up at the annual meeting, but if not it will go by default as in the past. Medal for Capt. Frank Root. Attorney James H. Hoyt of Cleveland has taken up the matter of securing a medal from the government for Capt. Frank Root of the Min- nesota line steamer Mariposa, who has been so generally commended for his brave act in rescuing two survivors from the lost steamer Idaho, which went down in Lake Erie, off Long point, Nov. 6. Until January last the laws regarding life saving medals were so construed that in a case like ee of Capt. Root it would probably be necessary to secure a special act 0: congress. It was held that the laws applied to life saving crews ae to acts of bravery performed in the vicinity of life saving stations. pee ae Jan. 21, 1897, an act was signed providing that the laws regarding ; Selhe ing medals shall be construed "so as to empower the secretary of the treasury to bestow such medals upon pefsons making signal ose iy rescuing and succoring the shipwrecked and saving persons from eek ing in the waters over which the United States has jurisdiction, w. Heese the said persons making such exertions were or were not. mee mee, life saving crew, or whether or not such exertions were made in the vi- ' Ccinity of a life saving station." ran The Bie tlione olithe treasury department provide, of course, mt the evidence must be complete and must be set forth in affidavits. ne afidavits and other necessary documents in Capt. Roots ae arg Pine eing prepared by Mr. Hoyt for presentation to the oredr treasury, The proposition of Charles T. Yerkes, Hat penty miles of docks be paalt on the : transformed into a boulevard by covering 1t - Wi i end, sounds well on paper, but the corporation of fifty BOS a atie that he speaks of to undertake such a gigantic project wou ee isunder e slow of formation. Mr, Yerkes says that to rebuild HS teed would hicago river to conform to 26 feet navigation, OT sty Age peat end. mean an extension of the tunnel approaches several Bre Se "ilions But This would involve the condemnation. of property var ae Mg determined hotwithstanding these obstacles it would seem that Cee anise er Upon some big project to overcome the congested con "il be heard from and its branches, and the Illinois members of SO eae Asigtl in a most emphatic way at Washington during the winter." ""~ Chicago street railway manager, lake front and the Chicago river t with a culvert. from end to REVIEW. | CLEVELAND; ©., DECEMBER 9, 1897. No. 24. Growth of Lake Commerce. é Mr, E. T. Chamberlain, United States commissioner. of navigation, evidently regards the growth of lake commerce as of first importance in affairs of the bureau of navigation. The first two pages of his 1897 report, just at hand, are devoted to figures dealing with ships built and owned on the lakes. He says that we are almost exclusively indebted to the growth © of ship building on the great lakes for our increase in tonnage during the. past ten years, as is indicated by the following table, showing our total documented tonriage by geographical districts on June 30 of each year designated: hr 1897 1887 1877 Gross tons,| Gross'tons. | Gross tons. Atlantic and gulf Coasts..........-.c.scccsecceserusessssssoseecesees 2,647,796 2,847,135 «| ~ 2,944,865 Pacific: codstssccccecvcere, ccc osere meters ee eer ees eae 439,012 334,669 -- 251, Totalsalt:waterccnsacee ete ees 8,086,808 3,181,804 3,196,421 Great akesisy stom cnc cceeate noe meres 1,410,103 733,069 610,160 Weestern nivenseit iss nck inassee cc eee ah 272,109 356,355 |. 436,018 Totallfresh water. tees cac wc a ee 1,682,212 | 1,089,424 | 1,046,178 ~ Grand: tofalicciee eh ee cee eae 4,769,020 4,271,228 | 4,242,599 "The discovery and utilization of the mineral wealth of the great lakes region," says Mr, Chamberlain, "supplemented by timely appro- priations by congress for the improvement of navigation, have brought about a maritime growth in that portion of our country which is without parallel in maritime history. Our lake fleet alone is greater than that of any foreign nation except Great Britain or Germany. While our salt- water tonnage, including that engaged in both the foreign and coasting trade, is less in volume than it was twenty years ago, it has been rendered © mi more efficient in carrying power by the substitution of steam: for' sail. rihdt The steam tonnage for the periods named was: - 1897 IBsies| RTT, Gross tons. | Gross tons. | Gross tons. Atlantic and gulf Coasts............cccccccce--cceccesceeveseeenecsves 1,011,102 773,822 656,316 1 SPACIHIC COASts i scsccceee cseeccccteccccesstss oconeleomnes a hae eae 195,145 160,556 79,841 1,206,247 934,378 736,157 Great lakes system sistmitttessineseessu. | 977,035 | 890,898| 201,085 Western rivers...........-. aes Teac 175,075 217,942. 233,954 Total fresh WALEL cs ateeccegee- OR ee oe 1,152,310 608,340 435,039 Grand totale 6 ee ee ea 2,358,557 | 1,542,718 | 1,171,196 Total: saltswabenicectssescnccvsccsccocassteusseencet aes ee Division of Naval Reserve Funds. Members of the naval reserve organizations on the lakes will be in- terested in the annual report of the operations of the naval militia for the year 1897 recently submitted to Assistant Secretary Roosevelt of the navy department by Lieut. J. H. Gibbons. Mr. Roosevelt's earnest en- dorsement of this report was referred to in the last issue of the Review. The following table, taken from this report, gives the number of officers and men in the different states, and also shows how $50,000 appropriated by the Jast congress for arms, accouterments, signal outfits, etc., was ap- portioned among the several organizations: ; i Petty offi- Petty offi- state. | CT82"d Jallotment,| _ State. cers and | atlotment. men, j _ men. Massachusetts.... 434 |$5,625.71 |Georgia......... 188 $ 2,436.94 Rhode Island..... 158 | 2,048.07 |Louisiana...... 209 2,709.16 Connecticut....... 135 | 1,749.98 |California...... 355 _ 4,601.67 New York........:. 367 4,757.22 |\[llinois .......... 448 _ 5,807.18 New Jersey......... 337 _| 4,368,35 ||Michigan...,.. 177 2,294.36 Pennsylvania...... 183 | 2,372.13 |Ohio .c.2y5:,---- 174, 2,255.47 Maryland........... 233 3,020.25 | ------_----_ North Carolina... 140 -| 1,814.75 Rotals. Ss% 3,703 |* $48,000.00 South Carolina... 165 | 2,138.81 *£9.000 was reserved for the publication of books of instruction. This apportionment was made in accordance with returns from state governors showing the number of petty officers and men in each state provided with uniforms of naval pattern on Jan. 1, 1897. Division is made- on the ratio that the number of properly uniformed petty officers and en- listed men in each state bears to the total number returned by all the states. In-view of the increased output from the Norrie mines under Carnegie ownership, the managers of the Chicago & North-Western railway ex- pect to ship 2,000,000 tons of ore from their docks at Ashland next sea- son. Arrangements are nearly consummated for extending the shorter of the two docks -250 feet and raising' it about 20 feet higher. This will make the two North-Western docks practically the same length. afi