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THE MARINE RECORD. i eee eer ner eineenesetnnireniocnennainiamsasisnlilaidiciiieiai LAKE 6UPERIOR AND MISSISSIPPI CANAL. Major Clinton B. Sears, Corps of Engineers, U.S. A., has submitted, under date of March 10, the report of his survey of the route of a proposed canal from Lake ‘Superior to the Mississippi River, in compliance with the provisions of the river and harbor act of August 17, 1894. Major Sears states that the information obtained from examination made of various routes considered for the location of the canal justified a survey on two routes ‘only, one of which extended by way of Allouez Bay and the Brule and St. Croix rivers, and the other via St. Louis, Kast Savannah, and Prairie rivers, and Sandy Lake. These routes are known in the report as Route No. 1, and Route No. 3, the second route proposed having been discarded as impracticable. - The cost of a barge canal 80 feet wide at water sur- face, 59 feet wide at bottom, and 7 feet deep, along the first route is estimated to be $7,050,000, exclusive of the compensation for the vested rights of the logging interests. The costof a canal of the same dimensions along Route No. 3 mentioned is estimated to be $10,575,- 715.90, exclusive of the vested rights of water companies on St. Louis river. “A-steamboat canal 100 feet wide at bottom, 121 feet wide at surface, and 7 feet deep along the latter route is estimated to cost $18,015, 112.87. This ship was the first of the new fleet of 1895 to go into commission. from Lake Superior to St. Pauland Minneapolis; but the wording of the law, ‘‘a canal connecting Lake Superior and the Mississippi River,’’ has prevented the expenditure of any money for an examination or survey of any portition of the Mississippi as a connecting link in the proposed waterway or canal. ‘The work has stopped when this river has been reached, leaving the Mississippi River end of Route No. 3 over 300 miles from St. Anthony Falls. The amount appropriated for the work, $10,000, was too small adequately to cover the ground, and it has been a matter of close and serious study to use the money so as to get the greatest amount of useful and practical information. ‘The territory to be covered com- prised some 12,000 square miles of country, for the most part covered with forests and swamps, very much broken up by hills and ravines, very sparsely settled, and with few lines of communication. To get across the swamps much work had to be done in the winter during very cold weather, and the work of the spring and early summer has been very greatly retarded by heavy rains and swollen streams. (‘The field work was not completed until the middle of November, 1895. ‘The work has been in the immediate charge of Lieut. C.H. McKinstry from its inception up to the titne he was relieved from duty under my orders. He discharged his duties with in- dustry, ability, and good judgment, and I regret that he was not continued on duty until the work could be com- pleted and the report submitted. The total length of the waterway from Lake Superior at Allouez Bay to the Mississippi River, at the mouth of the St. Croix River, is 210 miles. The height of summit level above Lake Superior is 416 feet; the total height (up and down) is 767 feet; the number of hydraulic lifts is 24, STEAMSHIP W. D. REES. OPERATING AN ORE ROAD BY GRAVITY. The weight of the freight carried on the railroads has always been the energy which is overcome by the vari- ous applications of steam and electricity. Until lately no attempt has been made to utilize this energy. It is now to be done on a railroad where peculiar conditions exist, and it promises complete success. ‘Che new Mar- quette & Iron Range Railroad runs from Lake Superior fifteen miles inland to the mines, and in this distance the total grade amounts to a rise of 800 feet. The freight will be exclusively iron ore. The cars will be run in trains of ten each, each train to be supplied with an electric generator, connected with the axles. The grade is such that the loaded cars run down by their own weight, and the dynamos generate a current, which is taken off upon a trolley wire, and used to haul the empty cars back. It is thought that the difference in weight of the loaded and empty cars will result in enough power to overcome all leakage, friction, etc. The engineers are figuring on using the dynamo0s as motors on the return trip, to save expensive machinery. The road will be open very soon and the result of the experiment will be awaited with interest. TD ee THE LIBRARY TABLE. “Know Your Own Ship,’’ by Thomas Walton, is the title of a book of handy size for the quarters on board of every ship’s officer. It is the first of a series designed She was completed about the opening of navigation, and was built by the Cleveland Ship Building Company to the order of the Wilson Transit Co., of Cleveland. She isa400-footer, and on Thursday last arrived at Buffalo with the largest cargo of wheat ever received at that port, 136,000 bushels, on oniy 14 feet draft. This picture is reproduced by courtesy of Seaboard, New York. If the final objective for the water-way be the Mississippi River, near St. Paul, the selection of Route No. 3 would necessitate the improvement of the Missis- sippi from Sandy Lake to a point below St. Anthony Falls, and Major Sears is of the opinion that the cost of such waterway having a minimium depth of 7 feet from Lake Superior to the Mississippi River below St. Paul via St. Louis River, Sandy Lake, and the Upper Missis- sippi, will be at least $19,000,000 for barges, and for steamboats, if practicable at all, over $30,000,000. ' Assuming the total cost to be immediately available, the construction of the waterway by Route No. 1 would take four years, and by Route No. 3, as far as the Missis- sippi River only, would consume ten years. For these reasons Major Sears is of the opinion that Route No. 1 is the most feasible route. Major Sears’ report opened by giving the clause of tlie law authorizing the survey, and comments upon it as follows, this comment indicating that he is not very en- thusiastic over the proposition to construct any canal whatever. He says: The law prescribes the consideration of three routes, but precludes an opinion as to whether any one of them is feasible, or whether the commercial benefit to be derived will justify the expenditure. *,* * Ihave, therefore, confined myself to the question as to which of the routes mentioned is ‘‘the most feasible.’’ From conversation with the promoters of the law I understand that the intention was to provide for a canal The total length of Route No. 3, from Lake Superior, at the Duluth Canal entrance, to the Mississippi River at the outlet of Sandy Lake is 94 miles; the height of summit level above Lake Superior is 634 feet; the total lift (up and down) is 660 feet ; the number of hydraulic lifts is 9, and of locks is 23. Major Sears estimates the cost of a seven foot chan- nel from Pokegama Falls, 60 miles above Sandy Lake, to St. Anthony Falls at least $6,000,000, and $2,265,159 to get around St. Anthony Falls. For these reasons he reports in favor of the St. Croix River route. rr 0 COAST AND FOREIGN SHIP‘ BUILDING. During April English builders launched 28 vessels against 24 the previous month. _ The twin-screw steamer Canada, the latest addition to the Dominion line, was launched last Thursday by Harland & Wolff, at Belfast, Ireland. The steamer is 510 feet long, 58 feet beam, and 36 feet deep, and far exceeds in size any vessel now running between Can- ada and Europe. She has a tonnage of nearly 9,000, being in many respects like the Majestic and the Teutonic. During April Scotch shipbuilders launched 25 steam- ers, of 42,228 tons (against 28 vessels of 41,040 tons in March, 1896, and 26 vessels, of 29,146 tons April, 1895). For the year so far 140,112 tons have been launched, against 91,106 tons for the same period last year, 97,972 tons in 1894, 74,661 tons in 1893, and 145,492 tons in 1892, to meet the growing desire on the part of officers in the mercantile marine for a more scientific insight into the principles of their profession, and the sciences upon which the art of navigation is founded. ‘The author is a naval architect and lecturer to ship’s officers at the British Government Navigation School, Leith, and is consequently well qualified to treat the subject ina manner thoroughly scientific, yet as free as possible from abstruse technicalities, and the style is such as will render it easy for the young sailor to gain a knowledge of the elements of his profession by private reading and without difficulty. It is published in America by the J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, at the price of $2, bound in cloth with decorations in gilt. The young tars who are going afloat this season for the first time will find much that is useful to them in a little book entitled ‘‘The Amateur Sailor,” by Alex I. McLeod, the Detroit yachtsman. The booktreatsin a plain and practical manner of the rudiments of sailing and yachting usage; and while intended mainly for the less experienced yachtsmen, it has many little points that will repay the older hands for a perusal. It is published by K. H. Gilman, Detroit, Mich. The Safety Valve is now printed in magazine form and is very attractive in appearance. The wreck of the schooner Ferret, which was sunk in Maumee Bay by the Idlewild last fall, has been removed from the channel,