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THE MARINE RECORD. DEEP WATERWAY TO THE COAST. It is not yet known who will be appointed on the na- tional committee by the President to make a preliminary 4gquiry concerning a deep waterway between the lakes and the coast as authorized by the late Congress ina joint resolution introduced in the Senate on Feb. 8 by Senator Vilas, of Wisconsin. The question has been frequently asked, where is the money to come from to build this canal? Senator Alli- son, who is very much interested in the matter, is authority for stating that if the survey proves the scheme feasible, enough money will be found to have been raised to insure the success of the enterprise as a private undertaking. The scheme of the projectors is understood to be to purchase at least equal interests of the Canadian rights in the Welland and Lachine canals and so deepen and widen them as to permit the easy passage of the largest lake steamers. Then whena point on the St. Lawrence is reached from which a canal can be constructed most readily to Lake Cham- plain, work is to start there and continue to the north- ern extremity of that sheet of water. If found necessary, a canal is to be dredged and at its southern extremity a connection is to be made with Hudson river by means of another canal, wide enough and deep enough to accommodate the same class of ves- sels as those which pass the St. Mary’s Falls canal when the work there is completed. The United States is at present time spending some $500,000 in deepening the Hudson below Troy, but this work contemplates a depth of only twelve or fourteen feet, so that when it is completed, if this great private scheme should materi- alize, a large sum of money would be required to make a deep water channel to the head-waters of the Hudson. The importance of the waterway transportation is becoming more and more manifest every year and it will not be surprising if, should the present projects fail, Congress would take action at an early date looking to the preliminary work of providing an all-American water-way between the seaboard and Buffalo, either by the route or Mrie and Hudson River or by a canal around Niagara Falls and thence south easterly from * Oswego to the Erie again, where the Black River falls canal connects with it. While the public at large doubtless appreciates the fact that a large volume or traffic is carried on the Great Lakes, the following extract from the report of the committee on railways and canals, on Mr. Chicker- ing’s bill is nevertheless interesting: ‘’The traffic of these Great Lakes is simply amazing. Through the Sault canal, at the outlet of Lake Superior, there passed in 1890, 10,557, having a net registered ton- nage of 8,454,435 tons. The actual freight tonnage was 9,041,212 but the registered tonnage is used for the com- parison. Through the Suez Canal there passed during the same year 3,389 vessels, having a net tonnage of 6,890,014 tons, so that nearly three times as many ves- sels and over 1,500,000 tons more of freight passed through the Sault canal, away in the center of the con- tinent, than passed through the Suez canal, which is an international work and a highway for the commerce of the world. And it should be remembered, too, that the Sault canal was open but 228 days for navigation, and the Suez canal was open, of course, during the entire year. And this represents the business of Lake Superior alone. “The entries and clearances in New York in 1889 rep- resented 11,051,236 tons, and the entries and clearances in all the seaports in the United States represented 26,- 983,315 tons. The entries and clearances from London and Liverpool during that year were 33,430,617 tons. The entries and clearances on the Great Lakes in the same year were, according to the United States census, 27,700,000; and in 1890 the total freight traffic of the Great Lakes was 33,303,324 tons, exceeding by 6,000,000 the combined entries and clearances of all the seaports of the United States, Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific, and equaling the combined: entries and clearances, both coastwise and foreign, of London and Liverpool, the great commercial centers of the world. ‘These shipments embrace 9,000,000 tons of iron ore, 5,000,000 tons of grain and flour, 8,000,000 tons of lumber and forest products, 7,000,000 tons of coal, and 4,500,000 tons of miscellaneous freight. This was carried by a floating equipment of 2,784 vessels, having a carrying capacity of 1,254,275 tons,.and a commercial value of $48,809,750. “Of the total tonnage of shipping built in the United “States during the year ending June 30, 1889, 5 per cent. was built on the western rivers, 8 per cent. on was built on the Pacific coast, 41 per cent. on the Atlantic coast and 46 per cent..was built on the Great Lakes. “The ton mileage of the lake marine for the season 1889 was 15,518,360,000; and in 1890 it amounted to 18,- 849,681,384. The ton mileage of all the railways in the United States for 1889 was 68,727,223,146. It is thus seen that the ton mileage of the lake marine is more than one-fourth than all the railways in the United States. ceived by all the railways of the United States for the year ending 1890 was $0.009 per ton mile and at that rate the transportation by rail of the lake cargoes would have cost $169,647,132. ‘The average -rate on all freight carried upon the Great Lakes is not over $0.0012 per ton mile, making a total cost of water transportation $22,619,617,66, equal to an economy over the cost of transporting the same freight by rail of $147,027,514.”’ _e_ EDP -; <a MICHIGAN’S COAL SUPPLY. Statistician EK. W. Parker of the National Geological Survey, has prepared the annual report of the different coal fields of Michigan. Of our coal product he says: The Northern field is altogether in Michigan. While it covers an area of 6,700 square miles and is spread over nearly all the central portion of the state, its import" ance commercially is comparatively insignificant. The coalis much inferior to that of adjoining regions in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and the facilities for bring- ing the superior coals, either by rail or water, being ex- cellent and transportatlon cheap, there has been little inducement to develop the Michigan mines. What mining is done is principally to supply a local trade. The annual output has not varied much during the past decade. The largest product was in 1882, when 135,339 short tons were mined. ‘The smallest was in 1884, when the output declined to 36,712 short tons. Since then it has ranged from about 45,000 to 80,000 tons annually. In 1894 the product was 70,022 short tons. TACOMA’S OCEAN COMMERCE. Harbor master Clift makes the following report of the ocean commerce at the port of Tacoma for the month of June: 5 IMPORTS. One cargo consisting of 2,900 tons of tea, silk and general merchandise from China and DADAM Vallee cst a wi ce oie ne $429,959.84 Total previous month..... ees Mas Caen 300,000.00 EXPORTS. 177,962 bushels wheat, value.......0/......... $103,200.00 15,874 barrels flour to China........../....... 33,811.00 (,4/8, 040 tect lumber anche, 77,196.00 Di AMOG TONS sCOdt. ss en he ee SEE nae econ 81,078.00 463,662 pounds raw cotton to Japan.......... 34,837.00 ‘40,640 pounds condensed milk to China....... 3,175.00 Miscellaneous general merchandise to China anid: MAPA ecwatwer me icw ou sae eee 11,211.00 Total CXportss eT Nee Os 7 aS $344,508.00 Total exports previous month........... 272,735.00 Inward registered tonnage....... Ee ari 46,090 tons Outward ss SS RH Be sages eeaneeiavave ore 44,637 ‘< Inward Cargoes coast eco. a cet aoe eon 4,868 ‘ Ontwatd pec. en cee ee ec Ay S02 se Deep sea arrivals, 30; departures, 33. So re OBITUARY NOTICE. Capt. AMBROSE SNOw. One of the best friends to American shipping passed away last week in the person of Capt. Ambrose Snow of the universally known firm of Snow & Burgess, New York. Capt. Snow was a man that came through the hawse- pipe and worked his way to distinction through his own efforts and this feature at least should entitle him to the respect of all seamen. It is a pleasure to see that his home paper Zhe Marine Journal of New York speaks so highly of Capt. Snow whom every one sailing out of New York is or ought to have been acquainted within the past. ‘The /owrnalin its notice says he was ‘‘Admirable in all the relations of life—as husband, father, friend, citizen, christian and patriot, his career has nobly filled all the require- ments of honor and duty and may safely be commended as an example to succeeding generations. None knew better than Capt. Snow himself that his life’s book was nearly written up, that exhausted nature would soon demand a rest; and the summons came just as he so often expressed a wish that it would, quickly and surely. He realized that God had blessed him beyond the aver- age man with the enjoyment of a lifetime of good health, his faculties and the companionship of his friends to the last. What more could he ask? What more could his friends ask? <A beautiful life, a peace- ful death.’’ And we would add what more could be said relative to the passing away of a sailor? The average rate of charges for freight re- . SSS eee 000060 eee —————————— eee DETROIT RIVER POSTAL SERVICE. Postmaster Enright, at Detroit, is thoroughly satisfied with his river postal service thus far. He says that tel- egrams, presumably from the owners, as they are ad- dressed to the masters, are already beginning to come > by way of the postoffice, and these are being given prompt delivery. Many letters bearing special delivery stamps are also being received at the postoffice since the inauguration of the scheme, Saag Reliability, the Detroit Aree Press says, is the one thing that will insure the ultimate success of the Service, and if the postmaster wishes the co-operation of the vessel owners he must perfect this quality by giving specialat- ©. tention to the delivery of telegrams, for upon them the owner depends entirely for the transaction of business between himself and the masters of his vessels. Here is a suggestion made by a Detroit owner that if followed out will make the postmaster a vessel agent. Suppose a telegram from the manager of a vessel to her master comes by way of the Detroit postoffice. It has a special delivery stamp on and is hustled to the river station. But the vessel has passed down. Now, to guarantee the delivery of that telegram the postmaster must have the authority to open the telegram and telegraph or tele- phone its contents to an agent stationed at Ambherst- burg, who will intercept the steamer as she passes there and deliver. If she has already passed through into Lake Erie the telegram is of course useless, but this is not likely to occur, because her movements are closely watched by the manager and he rarely gives her too much headway. The same rule will apply for the de- livery of telegrams to up-bound boats, the telegrams to be sent to Port Huron, the ‘‘ Soo’’ or Mackinaw City as the case may be. rE Or TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYERS. The well-known firm of Thornycroft’s have under- taken to construct three torpedo boat destroyers which are to attain to a speed of 30 knots per hour. They have completed five vessels of the same type which have given most satisfactory results. It is worth no- ticing that all the torpedo boat destroyers thus far de- |” livered have had either Thornycroft or Normand boil- ers, aud the similarity of the two types is most striking, particularly in the adoption of curvilinear tubes in- stead of straight tubes and ‘‘elements’’ of tubes, the characteristic features of most other types of water tube boilers. None of the builders deny that difficulties have had to be contented with, but these have been over- come, and when they have satisfactorily passed through the trials they have obtained data which makes the increase of speed a matter of comparative ease, al- though, perhaps also of cost. The power for 30 knots is put at 6,500 I. H. P., and to attain this on a displacement of 220 to 250 tons is a triumph absolutely impossible with the multitubular boiler of ordinary marine type with its great weight of shell and water. Mr. J. I. Thornycroft, in his remarks at a recent meeting of the United Service Institution, said that the conditions for high speed in reference to the size of ships were held to be such that a speed of 30 knots could only be obtained with an approach to economy, either in a vessel of the size of the destroyers, or one of the largest dimensions, such as the Blake. The strain of the engineers and others in the torpedo boat de- stroyer measured by the horse-power which each helped to produce or govern, was represented as six times greater than in the ordinary merchant steamers; so severe were the demands on eye, ear and hand, that the substitution of automatic for hand-governed machinery was insisted upon. qn <a FINE GRADE OF ORE, It is learned this week from Marquette, Mich., that one of the diamond drills being operated by the Lake Superior Iron Co., in the Lake Angeline basin, struck more ore about 100 feet north of the Cleveland-Cliffs Co.’s pump. A sample of the ore assayed 69 per cent. in iron and .012 in phosphorus. This is about the best grade of ore found in the lake bed.. The local officials of the Lake Superior Co. feel greatly encouraged over the result of the exploratory work in the lake bottom. They knew that ore would be found there, but had little expectation that the deposit would prove so extensive. Ore has been found in most of the shafts thus far put down. ‘Theholes have been bored from 75 to 100 feet apart, running north and south, so that the extent of the vein may be fully determined.