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24 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. BRITISH CONSUL ON LAKE FREIGHT HANDLING. The wonders accomplished in the mining and handling of iron ore in the United States by the application of modern machinery are outlined in a special report to the British govern- ment made by the acting British consul at Chicago, Mr. T. Erskine. The report is entitled "Report on the Iron Ore In- dustry of the United States," but gives especial attention to the modern methods of mining and handling ore, by which hand labor has been greatly reduced. While the subject is very familiar to lake men, it is reproduced in the Review for the inter- est which obtains in it. In mining ore in certain parts of the Lake Superior region, he says, the top covering of ground rock is scraped off over the whole property before mining begins. Railroad tracks are then laid direct to the ore bed, and the ore is loosened by blasting. Steam shovels are then. brought into use and they load the ore directly upon the cars, one of these machines having loaded 170,000 tons in twenty-six days, or at the rate of over 6,500 tons per day. These loading machines, which daily handle more than 6,000 tons, are each operated by five men, and the labor cost for mining and loading averages but about 16 cents per ton, and in the case of one mine which dug and loaded 293,651 tons in 174 days, the labor cost was only 4 cents per ton. In the transfer of ore from mine to vessel on the lakes the absence of hand labor is also noticeable. The ore trains are run onto long docks extending high above the water and having large pockets or apartments into which the ore is discharged from the cars through an opening in the' bottom of the car, from which the ore runs by gravity into the pockets beneath the tracks. From these pockets the ore is loaded into the vessel, also by gravity, and passed down long chutes into the hold of the vessel so that no hand labor is required in transferring the ore from the cars to the vessel. The ore pockets or apartments, which form a part of the dock, hold about 160 tons each, and number from ninety to 384, according to the length of the dock. / In unloading the ore from the vessels tne saving of labor, he says, through the use of machinery is even more nctable and important in its economies and results.* A series of steel bridges, so adjusted as to be easily moved along the docks, is supplied with a hinged arm, which can be lowered to the hatch of the ves- sel. Along this arm and across the bridge runs a trolley train to which are attached automatic "grabs" similar to a double scoop, which are so constructed that the grab or scoop digs down- ward into the ore as it closes. The grab or scoop holds about 5 tons of ore and is described as a "digging machine," as when it begins to draw together it digs into the ore and does not de- pend on its weight to get hold of the ore. There are fifteen un- loading machines in a battery, and the grabs run down the long arms which are lowered over each of the large number of hatches in the decks of lake vessels carrying ore. These hatches run nearly the whole way across the decks. The grabs can thus re- move over half the cargo without any assistance and the remain- ing half is brought directly under the hatch by use of a scraper, also operated by similar machinery and managed by a man in the hold through the tse of long cords. This scraper brings the ore from between the hatches so that it can be raised by the grab. These grabs. are controlled by the engineer who can drop them at any point over the hold that he may wish and after it seizes its load of ore it is raised at full speed, carried rapidly along the trolley to such given point as desirable, where the ore is de- posited into railroad trucks or stock piles, or in some cases at furnace plants into concrete troughs, through which it slides to the furnaces where it is to be transferred into pig iron. This grab, which thus lifts 5 tons of ore from the vessel, carrying it to such point as is desired within a limited space, has a hoisting speed of 100 ft. a minute, and can run along the bridge at the rate of 1,000 ft. a minute. The operator travels with the grab and can unload it at any given point desired. The bridges to which these arms with their grabs are attached can be swung in any direction, so that ore, limestone, or coke can be devosited or picked up anywhere in the yard, and are worked by electricity. Twenty-six men will now perform, under this system, the work for which 300 were required under the old system. *This is true as contrasted with former methods of unlcading but it is not true as contrasted with methods of loading. Nothing more economical than the present loading could be imagined. DETROIT RIVER BRIDGE. President William Livingstone of the Lake Carriers' Associa- tion recently gave out the following as his views on the Detroit bridge question: _"T am in favor of a railroad bridge for Detroit provided it is built so that it will be no obstruction to navigation. I believe that it would be a benefit to the city, that a majority of the people ' want it, and anything that will increase the growth and prosperity of Detroit I am for. And in this present age of engineering there is no reason in the world why a bridge should not be built that would be entirely satisfactory to both the vessel and rail- road interests combined. I would sav that about 125 to 135 ft. would be a sufficient height for a bridge. Spars are not nearly as high as they used to be and not used at all for canvas by steamers as formerly. As to the location of the bridge I have nothing to say, simply because it is a question for the different railroad interests to thresh out among themselves. As a matter of fact my opinion has been for some time that the real reason why the bridge has not been started sooner has been the inability [Mar, 12; of the railroads to agree among themselves as to where the bridge should be located rather than opposition from anv other source." Undoubtedly the lack of adequate railway facilities at De- troit is a serious handicap both to the railways and to the city. This is shown by the falling off in the number of passengers and the volume of freight handled during the winter time. Both producer and consumer are equally interested in this question. When it is remembered that about 14 miles of railway trains -are ferried across the river every day in the year the total loss of time becomes staggering. In the winter time when ice fills the ferry slips a general embargg in traffic occurs. The blockade of last January was felt from Chicago to Niagara Falls and it was weeks before the railways had the congested freight moving again. There is not likely to be serious opposition to the bridge project by the vessel interests so long as the paramount right of navigation is safeguarded. Of course navigation has the right of way but if both can be handled without one inconveniencing the other there is no reason why the bridge should not be built. Mr. Livingstone is right in saying that the main cause of delay of late rests with the railways. MODEL OF THE CITY OF DETROIT. Mr. R. J. Barrow, of No. 102 Woodbridge street, Cleve- land, has, with a great deal of patience, constructed a model of the City of Detroit of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co.'s fleet. It is 37% in. long and is constructed to a scale of % in. to the foot. The model was constructed from the same drawings as the original steamer. These drawings are ™% in. to the foot, © so that they had to be reduced one-half. Mr. Barrow worked upon the model for two years at odd intervals. The hull is con- structed of wood and paper, cardboard being used for the cabins. Model of the City of Detroit. The funnels are of tin, the walking beam of brass and the rail- ings of fine wire. The walking beam is fully-connected with rods and journals and Mr. Barrow utilized the works of an old eight- day clock for motive power. When wound up the walking beam will run for forty-five minutes. Mr. Barrow has never learned any trade. He was during his young days a sailor on the lakes in his father's vessels. He left the lakes about twenty years ago and is at present a patrolman on the Cleveland police force. The accompanying illustration shows how faithfully the model has been constructed. IMPORTANT CONTRACTS FOR HARBOR WORK. Major J. G. Warren, United States engineer at Milwaukee, has been opening bids recently for several important harbor jobs on Lake Michigan. Probably the largest job is at Waukegan, Mi, which will exceed $300,000 in cost and involves the building of crib piers, crib breakwater, pile revetment, removal of the old pier and dredging. The Lydon & Drews Co. of Chicago was the lowest bidder for the pile revetment and dredging part of this work and the Housler & Lutz Towing & Dock Co. of Chicago lowest for the pier extension and breakwater work. Other bid- ders were the Fritz, Simons & Connell Co. of Chicago, Bennett & Schnorbach, of Muskegon, Adolph Green of Green Bay, and the Lake Superior Contracting & Dredging Co. of Duluth. Nelson J. Gaylord, of Green Bay, was the lowest bidder on the work of building and sinking crib piers at Sheboygan, a con- tract involving an expenditure of something more than $80,000, and Adolph Green of Green Bay will very probably be awarded the job of building a small crib breakwater at Manitowoc at a cost of about $40,000, The Housler & Lutz company and the sige & Drews company also submitted proposals on these two jobs. The Duluth Dredge & Dock Co. will be awarded the contract for 1,500,000 cu. yds. of dredging and for the removal of 3,000 cu. yds. of rock at Sturgeon Bay. On the rock work their bid was $16,500, while they offered to do the dredging at $148,500, work- ing sixteen hours a day or at $157,500 on regular time. Other bidders for the work were the Lake Superior Contracting & Dredging Co. of Duluth, Samuel O. Dixon of Milwaukee, the Fitz Simmons & Connell Co., Housler & Lutz Towing & Dock Co. and the Lydon & Drews Co. of Chicago, G. H. Breyman & Bros. of Toledo, and Rogers & O'Brien of Buffalo. Other proposals related to the furnishing of Oregon fir tim- ber and plank for harbor improvements. The lowest bidder in