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NEWS AROUND THE LAKES. a BUFFALO. Or® RECEIPTS RATHER LARGE THIS SEASON—GRAIN Stin1, ARRIVES IN LARGE QUANTITIES. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record, BUFFALO, September 8. With the grain from Chicago pouring in as it never did before at this time of the year, and with the Duluth rates going up in a way to promise a good fleet from there right along, it will have to be confessed that the expected increase of coal shipments did not materialize, though they have all along been fair. If other ports were affording up freights in the same proportion there would be no cause for complaint. There is a good prospect of ore receipts for the rest of the season, especially at one or two docks. The Minnesota dock of Pickands, Mather & Co., is doing all it can, and reports enough booked to last far into next month, with prospect of a continuation till the ore freezes up. ‘The Buffalo furnace will take in a consider- able amount yet, as the 125,000 tons or so that it needs for the year is not all here yet. This dock does not ship any ore. The other Buffalo ore docks are not so active as these two, and it is feared that the new furnace building at Punxsutawney, up the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg, will not be ready to take any ore this season, The Tonawanda furnace received 21,844 tons of ore last month, and has taken in 77,468 tons by lake this season, which is hardly as much as was expected of it when it was doubled in capacity last spring. Still, it is situated so that it draws considerably from the mines in the. Adirondack region. There isa good showing of lumber receipts at this port and Tonawanda, but hardly enough to keep up the average of former seasons. Buffalo received 148,000,- 000 feet to September, and Tonawanda 274,700,000 feet. It is certainly remarkable how well the lumber fleet has kept itself in business, considering the general situa- tion. After all, there have not been any buats laid up here of account; the number has scarcely exceeded half a dozen at any time. There are three liners, the R. A. Packer, Mercur and Grand Traverse, all too small to cut much figure in business, and the Pasadena, Palmer and schooner Kdward Kelley. The Stone and Adriatic were here awhile, but are gone now. The Pasadena was steamed up at last accounts, and was going into dry-dock for repairs. The papers have lately given Mr. William A. Living- stone any amount of notice of his proposition to get the marine interests together, and lay up half the fleet or so by the method of horizontal reduction. Mr. Living- stone has tried to interest the Buffalo owners in the idea, and wrote to Capt. Brown, of the Lake Carriers’ Association, about it, but it looks at this distance as though Mr. Livingstone has forgotten how hard it is to combine the owners on any scheme, especially where it touched the individual pocket so directly and so largely as this. The plan now is to tie up a boat when she fails to get a load, and to bring her out again just as soon as there is one in sight, and it would take a large amount of moral suasion to change the plan. Capt. Brown does not say much about the project beyond that he would not like to try it. We were just bragging that the Glaistone came in here without touching bottom with the load that had cost her a round $500 in tug bills to get out of Chicago with, when the Shenandoah spoiled everything by strik- ing right in the channel at the mouth of the Blackwell canal and broke her wheel, disabling her so that she will have to be towed to Detroit for repairs. She was loaded down to 17 feet, though, and started out with the water a foot down on account of the east wind. ‘The harbor is slowly getting into shape for the 20-foot channel, the dredgers having already opened a channel on the reef at the lower bend of the creek that fills the bill. The deep-draft vessels have been kept out of this part of the channel for a month or so and if the new channel is cleaned out well it will afford a certain pass- age right away in a place where vessels were often get- ting on in low water. It is a sorry sight to see the dock at the Northern Steamship Company’s office full of boiler tubes day after day from the North West. She has given the company adealof anxiety this season with her steam-making apparatus, but has done no harm beyond delaying her- self and the boilers will no doubt be thoroughly rebuilt next winter. There was never so much attention turned towards the lake passenger business as now. Old line managers are pointing with pride to the large increase. of traffic and there is any amount of speculation over possible new routes. It would not be surprising to find a through line opened to Toledo from here before many seasons. With a fast night boat that would carry as much freight as could be handled while the boat was in port, there ought to be money in it. Charles Hebard, the gamey superintendent of the Minnesota ore dock, is up again after the accident in which his leg was broken. It will be a good while before he can walk on his foot again, but he does not let a mis- hap like that keep him on his back all summer. It is pleasant to find Capt. Elnen in so good a job as sailing the schooner Algeria after losing the schooner THE MaArINE RECORD. G. W. Davis last fall. It is a trick of these canal schooners to take their captain along with them when they make their Jast dive into the deep—as, for instance, Capt. Duff, of the Benson, Capt. Riordan, of the Finney, and Capt. McKay, of the Little Wissahickon; but Capt. Eilnen is afloat yet. : One industry that has flourished in spite of everything this season is the carrying of pulp wood from the St. Mary’s River’ to Niagara Falls. For a wonder the underwriters take to it in spite of the fact that it is often taken in vessels that are uninsurable. They say that the practice of stowing it in the hold solid keeps Tt afloat in spite of the condition of the vessel and if she waterlogs the water does not injure the cargo, so there is no charge unless she goes to pieces. JOHN CHAMBERLIN. DULUTH AND SUPERIOR. GRAIN YHAR ENDED AT THE HEAD OF THE LAKES— Tu Crop YEAR SHOWING—LAKE SUPERIOR NEws. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. DuLurH, September 8. August 31 closed the crop year, which gives the head of the lakes an unprecedented record in the amount of grain handled at the ports of Duluth and Superior. A comparative statement of receipts and shipments durigg the crop year follows: RECEIPTS. 1895-6 1894-5 Wheat | 6.108 Sis teu, aiP. 57,533,171: 32,601,517 Corayicr. ad In edolasiiaas : 234,553 2,931 Oatenc: sna aes ke ol en 4,007,602 1,112,243 Rye oie eee a eae 1,188,126 99,556 Barley. oe Beet 4,243,674 2,169,078 Wik 02 2). Uoeeh ee 8! 5,462,882 672,760 MBG tales sa nacn eee eas 72,670,008 36,658,085 SHIPMENTS. 2 1895-6 1894-5 WHA ee eee 53 183,849 24,350,811 Cogn. S82 BOs. 215,500 2,931 Ontetis BC Ca eosin Sone. 3,781,344 1,087,295 Rye sis ede fo Bes oko eo 1,888,576 20,302 Pacley ns icy cet hope sec 4,029,494 2,214,028 Big oe ee ee es eo 4,522,924 667,573 otal as ee 67,621,683 28,392,940 Nearly 900 cargoes of wheat left this market during the crop year under review. The Queen City, a Duluth steamer, has succeeded, within the past few weeks, in carrying out of this harbor 156,000 bushels of wheat at one trip, thus establishing for this market the record for shipping the largest cargo. The number of cargoes shipped during each month and the range of lake freights were as follows: WHEAT RATE. No. Cargoes. Cents. aoe BeplenIDeH sce. kc cies cette eens: BT. Seto CTO REH tile ee is Soe arene emiaes 5 Es BORGES gs ens INTO Veer heck oes ces siae were eleginie’s NGO Sis rie OS ss lO Yer svee) oY 2h, sae 3 ae a Reo peice oe eyes 38 Eee IAB ae oo a eg h dels os cau se sa 38 3 WWE Wiis ool let sain PRate ne as 'c tele s aiainiane 163 234 @3 RUTH Ghe ea eee, OS So ie cat ee 93 2% @23% Poe ee 108-134 @2 PROSE eter cis vane ws os poe secs 108 14% @1% The flour movement in this market shows a falling off, compared with the crop year of 1894-5, of over 900,- 000 barrels, or about 4,500,000 bushels when measured as wheat. ‘The falling off is chiefly in the product of Minneapolis and other interior mills which is shipped through this market. The receipts, from interior mills, were 650,000 barrels less than during the year that pre- ceded it 1895 6, 1894-5 Receipts of flour from interior IMISEDOIS PEP A cits 5 oe ab inane aie 3,727,790 4,372,096 Produced by mills at head of lakes. 3,403,475 3,324,025 Exported direct from mills........, 1,308,215 898,120 Total Soipments. aps eye sees te 6,080,692 6,935,519 The production of flour at the head of the lakes did not increase in the same proportion as the grain move- ment. The chief reason for this is to be found in the disproportionate rates prevailing for the carrying of flour and wheat down the lakes. There is now a dis- crimination against flour of almost 100 per cent, and though this has been increased by the falling wheat rate since the opening of navigation, the difierential has still been high all season. : ~ COLLINGWOOD. THE OLD PASSENGER STHRAMER Barric a Torar, Loss From FrireE—SOMETHING OF HER HIstTorY. Spectal Correspondence to The Marine Kecoré. CoLtaNGwoop, September 8. Saturday morning at.2:45 o’clock the citizens here were aroused by the fire alarm witnessed the destruction by fire of the Baltic, one of the pioneer steamers of the northern lakes. Since the close of the season of 1893. the steamer has not been in commission, and has occupied a berth in the harbor, the greater portion of the time in the Huronland street slip, in which she was lying when burned. The boat is a total loss, agains which is insurance of $15,000. iccree Although there was no wind, the fire burned fiercely for nearly an hour and a half, the dry wood of the cabins and the many coats of paint supplying good material for the element to devour. Although the fire- men were promptly on hand, it was evident they could do nothing toward saving the steamer, conse- quently they directed their efforts to the surrounding valuable property. Some tugs, a schooner, and a num-_ ber of skiffs which were in the slip were quickly re- moved to places of safety. The town wharf was partially destroyed, and some cordwood owned by Messrs. Craig & Darling, which was piled on the wharf opposite the steamer was burned. see The burning boat was‘a grand sight for a time, as the flames leaped from point to point and enveloped the good old ship which had come through hundreds of storms.. The Francis Smith. as she was formerly called, was built in the winter of 1866-67 by Melancthon Simpson at his shipyard at Owen Sound, and was launched in June of the latter year. ‘The steamer was built for Capt. H. Smith, to take the place of his river steamer Clifton, which had done service on the route between Colling-_ wood and Owen Sound for a number of years previous. Capt. Smith commanded his new boat until his death in 1872, when she was placed in charge of Capt. Lute Robertson, who has been prominently connected with marine matters ever since. ‘The boat plied on the Col- ling wood-Owen Sound route until 1874, when she was put into the Lake Superior trade, between these two points and Port Arthur and Duluth. For three years she ran independently on this route, after which she was put into the Lake Superior Transportation Co.’s line, with © the side-wheelers Cumberland and Chicora. Of these two the Cumberland was lost many years ago on Lake Superior near Isle Royale and the Chicora is one of the Niagara line running out of Toronto. The Baltic was after operated in company with the steamers City of Owen Sound and City of Winnepeg and later with the steamers City of Owen Sound and Campania. In 1879 the Smith was rebuilt at the Owen Sound dry-dock. In 1888 she was purchased by the Great Northern Transit Co., of this port, and received her second rebuild, this time at the dry-docks here, at a cost of $36,000. In the spring of 1889 she was turned out with new hull, new boilers and elegantly builded cabins and was placed on the Collingwood, Sault Ste Marie and Mackinac route, along with the company’s steamers Pacific and Atlan- tic. It was at this time that her name was changed to Baltic. She plied on this route until 1893, when she was run between here and Chicago. The fire was no doubt the work of an incendiary, as there had not been any fire under the boilers or on board for some months. The watchman reports having visited the steamer at 8:30 o’clock Friday evening when there was no indication of fire. Se D. W. CLEVELAND. A SECTION OF THE New Prer GRILLAGE ALREADY IN_ PLACE—SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED IN PLACING I'v. CLEVELAND, September 9. The 322-foot section of the new east pier has been put in place by contractor.Donnelly. The section, as built up, is some 23 feet in depth, and as the water had gone down about a foot the crib got aground once or twice, and seriously delayed matters Monday. It was finally brought into the river again, and early Tuesday morn- ing was set in place and ballasting begun. The timber work will come about to the water level at the normal stage, and will also come about three feet higher along the middle of the pier, leaving a shelf ‘four feet wide. On this will be placed large blocks of Berea stone, 9x4x3 feet, which will make the upper surface level. On this will be put the superstructure of concrete. To protect the stone and concrete from collision damage, fenders will be erected a short distance. ‘These will consist of of three 12x12-inch timbers placed close together. These will be spaced 27 feet between centers, and will” be on both sides of the pier, being held against the pier by rods running through both fenders and through the per, pipes being laid across through the concrete, for the reception of the rods. The l. P. & J. A. Smith Co. had the sub-contract for dredging out the old pier, and the company’s tug assisted in placing the grillage. The work of filling in the stone ballast is proceeding rapidy and this will be followed closely by the laying of the stone and concrete, so that a good piece of finished pier will be on exhibition before the weather breaks up. ‘The construction of the outer end of the pier, on which the light stands will also be pushed rapidly to com- pletion. oe Capt. Dan McLeod, manager of Inland Lloyds Vesse Register, celebrated his 61st birthday anniversary last Monday. He received a handsome cane from some of his Buffalo friends. : The lighthouse steamer Haze was in port Tuesday. Capt. John Baxter is looxing as hearty as ever. : _ Weare sorry to state that Capt. W. S. Mack does not improve, and his family are very much discouraged by — his condition. He lies in a comatose state much of the — time, and is delirious in the intervals. ee