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142 . THE MARINE REVIEW April, 19]¢. Tow Barcr For MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TRANSPORTATION Co. round trips each month. The trans- portation company estimates that she will be able to load at St. Louis 1,000 tons' of packing-house products and 1,000 tons° of dry-goods and _ other wares on- each trip. She will then eross: to. East St. Louis and fill up her remaining compartments with coal. On the return trip she will be loaded with sugar, coffee, jute, sisal and lumber. When the. lock at Keokuk Ia., is finished, this type of boat will be able to go to St. Paul and take on 2,000 tons of flour, while drawing three feet of water, then: come down to Davenport and take on another 1,000 tons, 2,000 tons at St. Louis, and still draw only six feet of water for her journey to New Orleans. The tow-boat also has a hull like a yacht. The cabins of the boats are on the main deck, where the boilers would be: in the old fashioned river boat. The pilot house, looking more like the pilot house of an ocean liner than that of a river boat, is immediate- ly above the forward cabins. All the fuel will be taken aboard from overhead, as in the case of a locomotive tender, thus saving time and labor. The tow. boat will have engines of 2,000 horsepower. The engines, which do not appear in the photographs, are double-compound, very fast. working engines. The whéels are designed 'to turn 40 revolu- tions per minute. Steam capstans and bitts will be placed forward and aft, so that the boat may lash up with her tow ahead of her or tow it by a long stern line. Smaller boats of the same type wil' be built for use on the White river. Yazoo and other smaller streams. The freight barges will be long stee! affairs, absolutely lacking in super- structure, even to a shed roof. 'The decks will be cut by a succession of hatches, through which every part o' the hold may be reached. The boats and the barges will be supplied with hoisting cranes, so that freight can be handled with the least possible' waste of time 'and ata minimum cost. The transportation company intends to erect model dock- ing and terminal facilities at the more important points along the Mississippi river. The company is capitalized at $10,- 000,000, one fourth of which will be expended as rapidly as possible in building and equipping the river fleet Wee tM Kavanaugh, -of St, Louis, is president of the company. THe Review freely but regretfully concedes that there are many yachts with which it is not familiar and the term yacht may have a local definition in the Mississippi valley, but it may be stated without fear of contradiction that there will be more than one Opinion as to the "yacht-like"' lines of 'the new river craft. So as to the package freighter. The "modification" of a Great Lakes freighter will be con- ceded without argument. Why the latter is taken as a prototype is not by any means clear, since there is no more resemblance than between a flat boat and a Sound steamer. The boats, however, are very probab- ly excellently well adapted to their purpose. Certainly Mr. Kavanaugh and his associates understand the river traffic thoroughly and know what they want to accomplish, but if the figures as to estimated powers, capacities and speeds are correctly reported, we fear that there is bitter disappointment in store for them.:. That the boats will be models of ingenuity there can be no question. To build a craft of the dimensions quoted, and powered for. even much lower speeds, on a light draft displacement of 1,000 tons is no ordinary feat, even though built for river work. Loading and unloading and stranding strains, however, cannot be eliminated, and even with 2,000 horsepower the displacement available for the hull and equipment cannot be much, of anything, over 600 tons and naval architects will watch with in- terest the methods of construction followed. MORAN COMPANY TO BUILD. ANOTHER BOAT. The contract for a new freight and passenger steamer for the Alaska Steam- ship Co., to cost about $350,000, was awarded recently to the Moran Oo, Seattle. Work on the new vessel will commence at once and the hull will be delivered in five months. The Alaska Steamship Co. is short on tonnage and, it is understood, has offered a large bonus for every day saved within the specified five months. : The new vessel has not been named. She will be about 250 ft. in length and 44 ft. beam, built of steel with double bottom and water-tight compartments. She will burn fuel oil. The machinery will be installed by the Heffernan En- gine Works, Seattle.