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ENGINEER SYMONS’ OPINION. Capt. Thomas W. Symons, Engineer Corps, U.S. A, who succeeded Major Ruffner at Buffalo, is very much in favet of damming Lake Erie at the head of Niagara river, with a view to regulating the level of the lakes. He recently gave his views in an interview as follows: ‘Tam very glad tosee the question of regulating the level of water in the Great Lakes receiving the attention of Congress. ‘This matter must come up for decision and action sooner orlater. The reduction of level due to various causes in the lake harbors produces great inconvenience and isinreality an enormous tax on commerce. The main cause of the present low water in the lakes is un- doubtedly the general lack of water due to the dry sea- sons which we have been passing through. But added to this is the fact that we have been excavating chan- nels and expediting the flow of water out of the lakes. ‘This cannot go on forever without producing a general diminution of lake levels. “Added to allthis is the prospect of the abstraction of a large volume of water at Chicago. This adds to the magnitude of the problem and the necessity for con- trolling the lake levels. “Right herein . Buffalo and in Lake ‘Erie, where -we are all more particularly interested, the water is nearly three feet ‘pelow mean lake level and will go lower. “The natural rem. edy to keep the water ‘at full depth is to emulate the example of the beaver and build a dam at the outlet of thelake. If Lake Erie were a small lake entirely _ within the control of the United States there would proba- bly be no question of the propriety of building at its outlet adam with regulat- ‘ing works to guard against excessive floods and hold back the water during low water periods, and with provisions for the passage of ves- sels into and from the waters below. The fact that it is a large lake with many and important harbors, and that it is controlled by two nationalities does not change the general condition of the problem; it only complicates and magnifies it. “The interests of the two countries run in such par- allel lines that it would seem reasonable to expect that a mutually satisfactory agreement could be reached. The Welland canal is now seriously incommoded by lack of water. It is easy to see how advantageous it would be to it were Lake Erie kept up to mean lake level or higher.. “It is quite possible to conceive of adam being built across the Niagara River near its head which would so control the waters of Lake Erie that they would never fall below a specified plane, say that of mean lake level, or nearly three feet above the present level at Buffalo. A portion of this dam could be movable, so that the sec- tion of discharge could be enlarged during periods of high water, and thus prevent excessive rises in the lake. "In connection therewith a dock would be essential for ‘the down river commerce. : “Of course there would be an enormous number and variety of interests concerned in the results of such a structure. -To harmonize them all would be a work of SS rer ame a res THE MARINE RECORD i oor cE on LN RT great magnitude, and perhaps an impossibility bly some few would have to suffer a little for the great benefit of the many. “The.alternative of this will be the expenditure of vast amounts of money in the lake harbors, trying’ to keep the bottoms far enough’below the lowered lake sur- face for the accommodation of the vessels engaged in commerce. This alternative would still fluc- tuations in the lake levels to annoy and inconvenience commerce, ‘I do not speak as a settled advocate of any particu- lar plan. This plan for regulating the lake levels is mentioned as a reasonable possibility of the future. As an engineering proposition I believe it to be feasible and entirely practicable, and that it would be found a most satisfactory remedy for the ills of low water beset- ting commerce in Lake Hrie and its harbors.’’ oe ——__— TRADE NOTES. Proba- leave the Philip Braender, of No. 283 West 118th Street, New York, bas been notified by Superintending Engineer Walfred Sylven, of the Lighthouse Service, announcing that the Lighthouse Board has decided to fit Lightship 2.—INTERIOR OF PLANT OF ALMY WATER TUBE BOILER CO. No. 67 with a Braender Automatic Bilge Syphov. Mr. Braender issues a pamphlet giving full information abont its use. The Continental Iron Works, of Brooklyn, N. Y., have just issued a handsome catalogue, in board covers, de- scribing the Morison Suspension Furnaces and in- ternal furnace tubular boilers for stationery service, and also their corrugated furnaces. i The General Nerino is to be the name of the new steel sidewheel gunboat being built at the yard of Hugh Ramsay, Perth Amboy, for the Colombian government. She is to be equipped with a Roberts safety water-tube boiler and will have 15 knots speed on a maximum draft of 3% feet. ee ————— The new Hydrographic Office Chart of Lakes Hrie and Ontario, is something no master sailing the lower lakes can afford to be without. It contains the latest infor- mation regarding depths of water, compass variation, lights and fog signals, and includes Lake St. Clair and St. Clairand Detroit Rivers, besides the lower end of Lake Huron, the southern part of Georgian Bay and all of Saginaw Bay. . These charts can be obtained at the office of THE MARINE RECORD, No. 144 Superior street, Cleveland, at'75 cents each. IN ITS NEW HOME. (SEE ILLUSTRATIONS. ) The Almy Water Tube Boiler Co., of Providence, R. I., was formed in September, 1889, Mr. Darwin Almy being the prime mover, and was incorporated the fol- lowing year, making that gentleman president and treasurer, D. D, Spence vice-president and secretary, and F. D. Almy superintendent. The company was formed expressly for the manufacture of a water tube boiler especially adapted for marine work. Six years ago this month they placed their first boiler in the steamer Queen City, of Providence, and their sales have increased so rapidly and steadily that the company have been obliged to erect a fine new plant for the construc- tion of these boilers, An illustration of the newly fin- ished building and one of the fully equipped interior are herewith presented. The building is 150 feet long by 60 feet in width, and is two stories high in front, fur- nishing commodious offices on the second floor, while the monitor roof in the rear affords ample light and space for the traveling cranes to work. There are two of these five-ton traveling cranes that run over tracks the entire length of the building of 25 feet span. The machine shop is well equipped with all the modern machinery for turning out the best of work in this line in the most economical manner. They are equipped with a boiler of the Almy manufacture, and an engine de- signed to carry 200 pounds of steam and built by James H, Paine & Sons, of Boston, which also furnishes power for their electric light plant. The Almy company have received orders for their boilers from all parts of the United States, and from Kogland, Car- ada, Mexico and other foreign coun- tries. Among the boilers of this make which have been placed on some fine steam yachts are those «n the Bally- mena, owned by John Nicholson Brown, of Provi- cence; Admiral, owned by Richard W. Comstock, of Providence; the For- mosa, Geo. Fabyan, Boston; Oneida, F.C. Benedict, of New York; the Aida, L. H. Tillinghast, of Providence; the Alcedo, George Drexel, Philadelphia; the Varuna, K. H. White, Boston; the Free Lance, F. A. Schermerhorn, of New York. These boilers range from 200 to 1,000 horse-power. The fire-boat Clevelander. owned by the City of Cleveland, is supplied with these boilers, and the government torpedo boat Stiletto con- tains one which has done excellent service for the past four years. Some 25 passenger boats are supplied with these boilers, all of which have given good satisfaction. rrr + Se Past Assistant Engineer John R. Edwards, of the Navy, whose lectures on the Navy created such a sensa- tion last summer, has been promoted to the rank of Chief Engineer. 6D + <> + a SENATOR HALE has introduced a bill providing for the construction of 25 torpedo boats at a cost of $175,000 each, and of six sea-going coast line battleships design- ed to carry the heaviest armor and most powerful ord- nance afloat, on 11,000 tons displacement, and to cost, exclusive of armament, $4,000,000 each.