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HE few dingy schooners left on the Great Lakes today, tot- ing lumber on Lake Michigan or coal on Lake Ontario, are like the remnant of a noble race that has passed. One of the old-time captains told me that in the seventies he had counted 125 sailing vessels in one SCHOONER IN FLOATING DRYDOCK IN BUFFALO HARBOR IN 1878, IN TWO OF THESE DRYDOCKS BUILT FROM HULLS OF OLD SIDE-WHEELERS FROM A SKETCH MADE BY THE AUTHOR _ The Heyday of Lake W The Busy Scenes of Bygone Days When Sailing the Great Lakes Are Recalled and Graphically Described S-hour watch on Lake Michigan. An- other skipper, who commanded a tug in Buffalo harbor in the sixties, told me of seeing 40 to 50 sailing vessels in the lake in the early morning, wait- ing for tugs to bring them in. Their white sails dotted all the lakes and often the harbors were choked with BUFFALO, THERE WERE 234 indjam Vessels Were in Their Glory on lers oe an Eye Witness Bu. F.R. Rosse el them. They were an inspiring sight, Speaking of the sailing vessels of that period, the old tugman said: "They kept them up like dolls." A paragraph by a Chicago writer in 1897 referring to sailing vessels then in the Chicago river paints a charming pic- ture, one with a touch of sadness. He.-wrote: "The branches of the river contain many vessels which will never know another fitting-out time, When they came out they were the pride and wonder of marine' men. When the wind went to the south- ward, they started out 50 strong. Their sails were new and white, their masts were scraped, their decks were scoured and as they drove past Grosse Point they made a beautiful picture. Those were the days when the cap- Song of the Seventies ye her, catch her, jump up in her ju-be-ju, Give her the sheet and let her go, were the boys to put her through; You ought to hear us howling and the wind a-blowing free, On our lively trip from Buffalo to Mil-wau-kee. ae Memory recalls this chorus of a | lake sailor's song of the seventies. It suggests the dash and color-in } the life of the lake sailor of those | days when great fleets of sailing vessels competed for business and carried a large part of the bulk freight. tain was a captain, for he generally owned his own boat and sailed her as he willed." The fleets that sailed 50 strong were grain vessels and each sailing meant a grand "free-for-all" race up Lake Michigan and down the length of Lake Huron, with close sailing and great carrying on of canvas. The rivalry to be first into Lake Erie was, of course, very keen. Other fleets carried whole forests from Wisconsin and Michigan ports south to Chicago or east to ports on Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence in the shape of lumber, timber, Staves and shingles. Coal was the