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214 Dollar Co., of San Francisco. Capt. Dollar is one of the strongest advo- cates of an American merchant ma- THE MARINE REVIEW June, 1913 rine, but like many other Americans tered under the British flag; 'There i. he finds it more profitable to have his hope that this condition of affairs may ships built in British yards and regis- some day be changed. Great Lakes Transportation Its Great Growth During the Past Decade Reviewed President of the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. by the T the annual meeting of the A American Iron and Steel Insti- tute in New York on May 23, Harry Coulby, president and _ general manager of the Pittsburgh Steamship Co., delivered an address in which he recounted the wonderful growth lake commerce has made in the last decade and predicted its future growth to: be even greater. at The subject allotted to me is "Prog-. ress in Transportation on the Great 'Lakes, and What We May Expect in the Way of Development in the Future." I know of only one stand- ard by which to forecast the future, and, that 15, by what Has been done in the past. All of you, no doubt, from time to time have read in the trade journals of the increase in the size of ships and cargoes and the in- ' creasing yearly movement of freight on: the Great, Lakes. other way to graphically illustrate the wonderful growth of this lake commerce than by compating 'the: tonnage of 1901 (the year the United States Steel Corporation was formed)' with that of 1912. a.period, of: 12 years. In 1901, the total movement of iron ore on the "Great Lakes.,was 20,157,000 gross tons, and in 1912 it was 47,435,000 gross: tons. «1 also want to call your attention to one significant fact, and, that is, the per- centage of the total movement of the Steel Corporation for its own use' was 10 per cent less in 1912 than in 1901, demonstrating very clearly that, even with the large expenditures made by them at Gary and other plants, the other consuming interests of lake ore have grown more rapidly than the Steel corporation. Growth in Size of Cargoes The movement of bituminous coal on the lakes in 1901 was 6,533,000 tons. In 1912 it was 23,336,000 tons. Last year the movement of grain was 485,000,000 bushels as compared with 255,000,000 bushels five years ago. _ The total amount of freight moved through the Detroit river last year was about 95,000,000 tons. In 1901, the average lake freight on iron ore of iren ore the movement of 1901. Statistics are always dry reading, but I know of no. the This will require 250,000 tons of ore from the head of Lake Superior to Lake Erie ports was 80c per gross ton. In 1912, it was 50c per gross ton. In 1901, the largest single cargo carried on the Great Lakes was 8,- gee efoss- tous, and in. 1912, the record single cargo was carried by the steamer Col. J. M. Schoonmaker, 13,511 gross tons: In 1901, the total value of freight moved through the Sault canal was estimated at $298,- 000,000 as against $791,000,000 in 1912. All this will give you a fair idea of what the growth of lake commerce has been during the last quarter cen- tury. It is estimated the movement on .the Great. Lakes this year will exceed 50,000,000 gross tons, or a 150 per cent increase over Bear in mind the season of navigation on the lakes does: not. éxteed an average of 240 days, or about 200:working days at loading and unloading docks. to be handled every working day in and out of the ships during the sea- son of navigation. The terminal companies have been equal to the de- When I « 'first became connected with the busi- ness about a quarter mands made upon them. ofa' century ago the ore was loaded into ttbs in the hold» of the vessel, hoisted up onto a staging with a small engine, dumped into barrows and wheeled into cars, and the task of discharg- ing the largest ship then engaged in the trade, carrying about 2,000 tons, was satisfactorily performed: if ac- complished in a week's time. Today thé record for unloading is 10,636 gross tons. taken out of the hold of # Siip.and put~into cars' in two hours and 50 minutes. The modern unloading machine is indeed a mar- vel in engineering skill; electrically operated, and each unit capable of transferring ore from the hold of a vessel into cars at the rate of 400 or 500 'tons per hour without the nec- essity of any manual labor in shovel- ing the ore; a striking illustration of the elimination of manual labor as in the early days every pound had to be shoveled by hand. Until this type of unloading machine was adopted 50. men. were required to. do the shoveling necessary to unload a 2- 000-ton cargo in a day. Size of Ships The new ships that are being built for this trade are about 600 ft. long, 58 ft. wide and 32 ft: deep, built under the arch construction plan, with double sides, triple expansion engines of about 2,000 I. H. P., with an average speed of 11 miles per hour, and burning about a ton and a half of coal per hour. In 1912, the greatest amount of freight carried by one single steamer was 374,000 tons, and the greatest number of miles run by one steamer was 46,835. If the estimated movement of ore during the present season of navi- gation is accomplished it will re- quire a. weekly movement of iron ore, coal and limestone through the office of the Pittsburgh Steamship Co. (the lake arm of the United States Steel Corporation) of over 1,000,000 tons. Lake commerce has had a wonder- ful growth in the past, not equalled in any other locality in the world. The ease and regularity with which it is handled is due to the spirit of hearty co-operation that exists be- tween those engaged in this business; and I know of no greater exemplifi- cation of what can be accomplished by co-operation and team work. We are working along the same lines as this institute. Every winter' we have a convention attended by representa- tives of the mining companies, the railroads and_ terminal companies, the captains and management of the ships, government officials in charge of the canals and aids to navigation, and matters are discussed pertaining to the business. These men get bet- ter acquainted with each other and talk over the difficulties that occur in their part of the work, reports of delays and interruptions to the busi- ness are made and discussed, and all join together in formulating ways and means to avoid delays and keep the tonnage moving. The question of safety to life and property is also given very serious consideration, and committees are formed to care-