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October, 1909 Great Lakes Engineering Works are 600-footers for the Pittsburg Steamship Co., to be practically duplicates of the Thomas F. Cole. In part payment for this construction the Great. Lakes En- 'gineering Works has taken over seven of the old whaleback barges belonging to the Pittsburg S'cariship Co., namely mee 118, 130, 161, 332,133 "ae eee It is understood that the barges are to go to the coast. They will have to be cut in two, however, to pass through the Canadian canals, though no difficulty is offered on the score of beam. SEPTEMBER LAKE LEVELS. The United States Lake Survey reports the stages of the great lakes for the month of September, 1909, as follows: ee Ft. above tide- Lakes. water, New York. BU PERION ssw sve es Ween: oe 602.39 eeMichigan-HuUton Vi. dasa. 3 580.82 HETLG. 66 si cieie even d shecetel ee ate ee a 572.38 ROTIGATION os cao 4 Sts enero score oe 246.28 Since last month, Lake Superior has fallen 14 in., Lakes Michigan-Huron 24, in. Lake Erie 5 in. and Lake Ontario 6% in. During October, Lake Superior is likely to fall 14 in., Lakes Michigan- Haron 234° in!, Lake Erie $. in. and Lake Ontario 4% in. ' Lake Superior is 9 in. lower than the average September stage- of the past 10 years and about 4% inches ower than last: year, = it is 6 a: higher than in September, 1891, but 1314 in. lower than in September, 1899, and 11% in. lower than in- September, 1905. Lakes Michigan-Huron are 2% in. lower than the average September stage of the past 10 years and 5% in. lower than last year, but 13 in. higher than September, 1899. In September, 1885, the water was 29 in. higher. Lake Erie is exactly at the mean September stage of the past 10 years and 314 in. lower than in September of last year, but is 13% in. higher than in 1895. It is 1834 in. lower than in September, 1876, and 17 in. lower than in September, 1885. Lake Ontario is 3 in. higher than the average September stage of the past 10 years but 10% in. lower than in September last year. In 1870, it was 12 in. higher, and in 1883 it was 13 in. higher than in 1909. In Sept- ember, 1895, it was 2714 in. lower than this year. CHICAGO RIVER TUNNEL. The contract for the new Washing- 'ton street tunnel, under the south branch of the Chicago river, at Chi- THE Marine ReEvIEw cago, has been let to George W. Jackson, Inc., Chicago, and work. on it will be commenced in 30 days. The main section of the tunnel extends from Canal street to Franklin street, a distance of 1,200 feet, and the con- tract price is $590,000. The La Salle street tunnel is progressing, and the ~ Van Buren street tunnel is completed. In the latter, the rails for the street cars will be laid in a few weeks. The purpose of the tunnels is to relieve congestion on the bridges, and to prevent delays to street car traffic on ~ account of being "bridged".' The old tunnels interfered with navigation of the Chicago river, and the government ordered them lowered. é --$--$__-- CONVERSATION ON A LAKE PASSENGER STEAMER. The following conversation took place on the day boat between Cleveland and Detroit. The trip had been very. dull from Cleveland across the lake, and consequently one was willing to listen to anything in order to pass the time away, for one cannot read forever. The steamer had just come in sight of Point Pelee when a party of five sat down in front of the writer and for' the balance of the trip he had no lack of entertainment. There were three men and two wo- men in the party, and the men were trying to show the women how mth they knew about marine affairs. "QO, see that. land away off: there." said one of the women. "That," replied man No. 1, who seemed to know more about such things than the other two, as they constantly referred all obscure points to him, "that is Point Pelee, the most dangerous pointon the great lakes. More vessels go ashore there than on all the rest of the lakes put together." "I wonder what that boat is doing out there', said man No. 2. "That is one of those Canadian warships watch- ing for American fishermen," said No.. 1, nodding towards the light- ship, "and that's why she isn't going fast enough to make a swell." A freighter trailing a log line passed just now. "What's that rope out behind her for?" asked one of the women. "Q, they're trolling for Ash." said wise No! 1° 3gaia. "Thats the way they get the food for the crew. Some- times they get enormous quantities of fish that way and have to throw some away." It was now No. 3's turn to efter- vesce some information. "You see that water coming out of that boat just in front of where that 415 man is looking out?" said he. "Well, that water is coming out of the hold of the ship. These big new _ steel boats always leak a lot of water. You know they can't make a_ steel boat perfectly tight like a wooden. ship. The plates are so thin that the oakum, (that's the stuff they force in between the plates to keep the water out) won't stay in» very long. The plates are only about two inches _ thick." "Goodness," said one of the women, "how can' people be so daring as to go on board such leaky things." The water referred to was the dis- charge from the air pump. "Is that boat loaded?" asked one of the women. "No", said No. 2, ooking <at' 4 freighter with her anchor awash, "when a boat is loaded, the water nearly flows over her deck." "What makes that water foam in front of her like that?" was asked. "O, that's the wind coming against her bow," returned learned No. 2, "I have seen that go half way up the bow. The boat I'm thinking of had just passed ours and the wind from our boat made it splash away up her bow." "That's Canada over there, isn't it?" one of the men asked No. 1. "Yes," he answéred. "Then do we go into, Canadian waters, before we get to Detroit?" he continued. "No sirree, you bet we don't," prompt- ly answered: No. 1. "If we went into Canadian waters right here that battle- ship back there would fire on us right quick, you bet." "Why is that,' he was asked. "O, it's just a quarrel that the United States Congressman Burton (he's the fellow from the Cleveland district) had with some of the members of parliament of Canada, and so _ they forbid American vessels to sail in Ca- nadian waters." ROCK AND GRAVEL SHOALS OFF CHICAGO LAKE FRONT. The U. S. Lake Survey steamer Search, which is engaged in sweeping the lake front off Chicago, Ill., reports the existence of a shoal area of sand and gravel with outcropping rock, lying to the northward of Lake- view Waterworks Crib. Depths of 24 feet and less, at existing stage, prevail over this area, which extends 314 miles easterly from the lake shore at Rogers Park, with the north and south limits 414 miles and 2 miles, respectively, north of Lakeview crib. A few of the least depths found at the time of the sweeping are located