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LAKE FREIGHT SITUATION. If anything, the outlook for busi- ness on the lakes is gloomier than it was a week ago. It is true that the port of Cleveland is quite busy. re- ceiving ore and shipping coal, but that is because it is taking care of Ashtabula's tonnage. There is con- siderable congestion at the Cleveland docks, many boats waiting to re- ceive and discharge cargoes. In fact, vessels are badly bunched at all Lake Erie ports where docks are in opera- tion, some of them remaining in port nearly a"week. Ore cargoes are very scarce, ore shippers having all that they can do to take care of their own tonnage. Independent boats that take up coal. have to come down light. Ob- viously such trips are unprofitable. It would lend great firmness to the trade if the wild boats could be re- tired for a sensible period of time. Some of the leading shippers have not as yet put all their own vessels in commission. Conditions on the lakes will not im- prove until there is a better demand for iron ore. It is observed that some furnaces are going into blast and. Mt. Ee HacGary; chairman: of: the board of. directors of the United States Steel Corporation, issued a statement just before sailing for Eu- rope that the iron and steel business is visibly improving. The ore shipments for June from up- per lake ports amounted to 2,585,682 tons, a loss of 3,847,687 tons, compared with June, 1907. The increase over May, when only 285,315 tons were shipped is marked and the indications are that July will show a much greater tonnage than June. To July 1, the total shipments amount to only 2,870,997 tons, compared with 12,- 685,624 tons during the same period last year, a decrease of 9,814,627 tons. The shipments by ports were as follows: June, June, June, 1906. 1907. 1908. Escanaba is ae: 814,664 809,876 254,496 Marquette ..... 398,490 392,186 119,014 Ashland] o...7.- 556,701 554,168 250,449 Superiore oc. 885,588 1,217,729 345,845 Duluth 4.3.5.3... 1:656,831% 2,156,216 2 £078,118 Two Harbors .. 1,176,982 1,303,194 537,760. é Total... 82 5,489,256 6;433,369 ; 2,585,682 1908 deeuee! DTS circ, Sak ene aA 3,847,687 To July1, To July 15 To Jauly-1, 1906. 1907. 1908. Eseanabas ic 23: 1,738,408 1,824,215 260,741 Marquette ..... 802,887 769,059 119,014 Ashland = ....2% 1,188,763 1,049,357 2/4,577 Superior = i430 1,753,275 © 2,318,911 478,633 Datuth: oo oas vs 3,181.235 4,094,046 1,164,809 Two Harbors.... 2,566,576 2,630,036 566,193 POtale cscs 11,241,596 12,685,630 2,870.997 PODS decrease: <= oe eis oes bee es 9,814,627 PIG IRON SITUATION. While the iron and steel industry is now. passing through the usual dullest season of the year, trade con- ditions are not without encouraging - Works on the "TAE. MarRINE. REVIEW features... The. yolume. of new orders, particularly, bars and. like products, is larger than at any time since Octo- ber last. Specifications in all finished lines are being more freely received by the mills. Aside from a slight weakening in the price of southern iron, which can now be had at. $11.50 Birmingham for No. 2 foundry, quotations in other centers are fairly. well. sustained. Good. sized purchases of pig iron have been made in the past week in the central west by implement and pump makers. Blast furnace. statis- tics show a production, of 1,134,355 tons in June, compared with 1,168,002 tons in May, a slight decrease. How- ever, the daily average production for june was -37,811- tons; against 37,6/7 tons in May. Nine blast furnaces have been added to the active list for June: WINTOSH-HANNA COLLISION. The new steamer H. P. McIntosh owned by the Gilchrist Transporta- tion. Co. was sunk in collision 'with the steamer M. A. Hanna owned by John. Mitchell at. Port: Huron. on Tuesday morning. The McIntosh had grounded on a-new shoal which had formed during the winter. directly opposite the Standard Oil Co.'s dock at Sarnia. It. so happened that she released herself, drifting broadside down the river, just as the Hanna was passing. The collision was in- evitable and wtnavoidable, the Hanna striking the McIntosh just forward of the boiler house on the port side, breaking a number of plates. Capt. Byers succeded in getting the McIn- tosh out of the channel before she sank, water meanwhile pouring into her hold in hundreds of tons. She sank just above the Canadian Chain Canadian side. The Hanna "was < not badly damaged through her stem was twisted. The McIntosh was bound down with a cargo of ore and the Hanna was load- ed with coal for the» head of the lakes. The Hanna put back to De- troit for repairs and Capt. Harris W. Baker of Detroit was ordered to the McIntosh. AROUND THE GREAT LAKES. The steamer H. W. Smith and I. L. Ell- wood collided at Lorain last week. The Smith has two damaged plates. The arbitrators in the Saxona-Zimmer- man collision case have fixed the damage for repairs on the steamer Saxona at 21 $27,842.60 and $8,236.50. for loss of time. The collision occufred in April, 1906, Car dumping machine No. 2 on ee B. & O. docks at Lorain dumped 241 cars in nine hours into the steamer Earling last week. The highest previous record was 231 cars by the same machine. Wm. Campbell is in charge of the machine. The Federal government has consent- ed to the transfer of the life saving sta- tion at Milwaukee to McKinley Park on condition that the city of Milwaukee do- nates to the United States government a strip of land 206 ft. by 500 ft. Judge Swan, of Detroit, has decided that the steamer Selwyn Eddy and the barge Maida were equally at fault for their collision in the Detroit river last season and divided the damages between them. The barge Alex Holley grounded at Lorain 'this week. She was. being towed into port by the tug Kunkle Bros. when the tow line parted and she drifted into shoal water. The steamer P. A. B. Widener, of the Pittsburg Steamship Co.'s fleet, which stranded on South Manitou, will be docked at Lorain. She is leaking in No. 7 tank, but the extent of her injuries will not be determined until she is placed in dry dock. - The Hanna coal dock at Superior un- loaded 9,727 tons of hard coal from the steamer James E. Davidson in 1634 hours with three hoists. This is at the rate of 194 tons per hoist per hour, and is said to be the fastest work ever done by any coal dock on the lakes. The Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. have started daily trips between Cleveland and Detroit and will continue them on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Satur- days until September. The fare is fixed at one cent a mile or $1.10 for the pas- sage. Undoubtedly many travelers will take advantage of this daylight trip, es- pecially as it affords an unequalled op- portunity to inspect the new steamer City of Cleveland. The steamer Siemens recently struck © an obstruction below the car ferry dock at Sarnia, and an examination by the United States engineer has resulted in the discovery of a small shoal running from the docks to a point below the line of the international tunnel. It is about 700 ft. from the Canadian shore. Heavy laden down-bound boats after straight- ening out for the turn near the mouth of Black river should keep a course parallel to the Canadian shore until well below the tunnel. The steamer Kotcher, upbound with coal, went aground in the St. Clair river last Saturday night, but was re- leased without damage by the Reid Wrecking Co. It is understood that the cause of her stranding was the parting of her wheel chains.