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Ww A eG YM Ug TRADE CONDITIONS AT BUFFALO Burrato, May 9.--Nine vessels from the ice fleet at the dry-dock and a mile and a half of ice in front of the harbor yet, was the report for Buffalo at the end of the first week in May. It was not very inspiring, taken as a commentary on the practice of the vessel owners of the lakes, especially as it is merely a little worse than is commonly the case with our spring openings. The man who rushes to the car door before it stops and gets all his wraps and overshoes on at the theater for a plunge outside ahead of everyone else is the same man as the one who tries to force his vessel through the ice before it is safe to do so. We are always bound to con- duct our affairs in that fashion, apparently. The incomprehensible part of the foolishness in the lake opening is that the insurance companies will pay losses year after year without trying to prevent their repetition. They could easily take steps that would prevent these losses, which are practically without hope of gain and therefore quite use- less. For the vessel owner cannot be expected to do any- thing of the sort. If fftere.is-a° chance of getting out next spring ahead of the disappearance of the ice it will be taken with all the readiness that it was now. Vessel. men say that the lake trade to date has been very badly demoralized by the opening that did not come off as was expected, so that there is as yet no settling down to anything. Nothing reached destination when it was expected. Mills in Buffalo stood still because the wheat they must have was fast in the ice somewhere, coal that was sent out for upper-lake ports with some view to unloading as fast as it arrived, was so bunched by the detention that some ports were crowded full of cargoes. The hard-coal shippers here made haste to cut down their shipments as soon as they saw what was going to happen and have since confined their busi- ness to side ports. Only about a third of the average shipment has been made for some weeks and a single jag was all that went out for the head of Lake Superior all last week. It is quite likely that there was much the same state of things at the big ore and soft-coal ports and this at the outset is anything but inspiring, for the vessel owner has been saying from the time the spring rates were made that the only hope of a fair profit in the trade was good unloading speed. Still there is prospect of better things before long. The ice is about out of the way and the demand is such for practically everything that it is predicted that after the middle of the month things will settle down to a pace that will give both carriers and handlers the right cue, so that there will be much less falling over each other than there has been so far and it is believed less detention generally, for there is more demand for practically everything than there was a year ago and that alone is enough to make a difference, while there is at least some improvement in the ore-unloading accommo- dations. Buffalo will receive considerably more ore than last season. The amount has increased pretty rapidly right along for sev- eral years, but furnace capacity has increased very fast lately. The new Buffalo & Susquehanna furnace is to start up its sec- ond 309-ton furnace as soon as possible, but is not able to take ore direct as yet.. The canal is finished and the appar- atus is ready, but there is a bar formed at the mouth of the canal and the ice still drifts about in such liberal fashion that no work can be done by the dredges as yet. It was a matter of disappointment to find that the smash- ing of the May wheat corner did not reduce prices to an export basis, either for wheat or flour, the latter being, of course, the product that we care most to sell abroad. It is not ex- pected that any further decline will be made in prices till more is known of the growing crop, so the lake movement of grain js not likely to be very heavy right away, though the condition of the corn has improved so much of late that car shipment through has dropped off and it is coming by lake in R EB VY @ B oe fair quantities. The big 10,000,000 bushel early grain fleet that used to be looked for here is a matter of history, but this port some 'days ago passed the 5,000, 000 mark and is doing fairly well. There is a.dittle stir in lumber carrying, but the eit amount cannot be great and the midsummer drop-off promises as certainly as it did some time ago to drive the lumber fleet largely after grain or ore. With these conditions it seems to be ore quite as much as ever that must make the season and it is pleasant that there are old heads in the carrying trade who are looking to see it do it. JOHN CHAMBERLIN. WORK ON LAKE NAVIGATION The International Correspondence Schools, Scranton, Pa., have recently added to their library of technology three yol- . umes relating respectively to marine engitieering, ocean and - lake navigation. In each volume is crowded an enormous mass of information, but so beautifully systematized and so completely indexed that every part is available for immediate consultation. A The work on Jake navigation first explains the principles on which the position of any point on™ the earth's surface is determined, followed by numerous' 'examples showing the re- lation between latitude and longitude and time. About fifty printed pages are devoted to the compass, its errors and adjust- ments, beside describing the methods of determining and tab- ~ ulating any error the compass may have after being com- pensated. Special attention is given to the subject of course corrections and the diagrams accompanying each problem on this subject will be found of great value in avoiding errors in applying corrections for leeway variation and deviation. All the methods of practical utility in coast navigation are explained, including the use of vertical and horizontal danger angles. The methods for fixing a ship's position at sea by keeping accounts of courses and distances run are carefully considered. Determining the errors of the compass by means of observa- tion of the sun is next taken up. Amplitude tables and a variation chart, expressly prepared for the great lakes, ac- companies this subject and matters relating to time, declination, azimuths, amplitudes and the use of the pelorus are here fully explained and illustrated by examples worked out in detail. Notes relating to the propulsion of vessels with ex- planation of the pitch and slip of the propeller, speed problem and notes on coal consumption are included. Then follows a thorough treatment on the causes of storms and the baro- metric changes attending them with suggestions as to the handling of steamers in heavy weather. Included in the volume on lake navigation is the treatment of nautical astronomy. While this subject should have natur- ally followed that of dead reckoning, it was necessary to in-, clade it in the volume devoted to lake navigation in order to preserve uniformity of size. The volumes are excellent specimens of book work and are invaluable to those contemplating a study of marine engineer- ing, ocean or lake navigation. Wellbanks, Crandall & Co., of Duluth, Minn., have issued a really sumptuous book under the title of Minnesota Iron Mines. The historical data was prepared by Mr. Dwight E. Woodbridge, of Duluth, and the photographs with which it is illustrated were taken by Mr. R. S. Crandall. The Review has not been privileged to see a work that is more pictorially representative of the great iron ore business of the lakes than this book. The illustrations are in every instance su- perb ones and the brief data concerning them is absolutely correct because no one has made a greater study of it than Mr. Woodbridge. The price of the work is $1.00.