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TO LOWER THE CROWNS OF THE THREE TUNNELS AT CHICAGO. Capt. J. S: Dunham, president of the Chicago River ‘Improvement Association, in a letter to The Record, says: ‘‘ The tunnels at Washington, La Salle and Van Buren streets must be lowered, no matter what the cost, or Chicago will lose its marine commerce. The chan- nels of the Chicago river must be deepened, so as to con- form to the draft of the vessels now being built, or the city’s great marine commerce is bound to seek other ports, and with it will go railway and elevator properties, with the result that irreparable injury will be done the city. No port can hope to retain its commerce with the handicap under which Chicago is now laboring. Vessels have been taking grain charters at South Chicago at 7% cents per bushel, while Chicago shippers cannot obtain better rates than one cent. It is simply due to the fact that vessels of deep draft can reach the former place which cannot possibly get up the river here.” Capt. Dunham is collecting evidence to forward to the Secretaty of War showing the extent to which navigation in the river has been obstructed. In this connection it may be noted that the city of ‘Chicago owns the Washington and La Salle street tunnels and a street railroad company the Van Buren, but it uses the three tunnels almost exclusively, and as a matter of business it should meet the! expense of lowering the tun- nels so as to be no longer an obstruction to navigation. Working along the lines brought out and emphasized by Capt. Dunham, the Chicago Post recently printed the following editorial: “There can be no doubt that the entire sentiment of busi- ness in Chicago is behind the demand of Capt. J. S. Dun- ham for the immediate lowering of the three tunnels under the Chicago river. Today these tunnels are the terror of deep draft vessels using the Chicago harbor, and scarcely a day passes that some heavily laden lake barge does not scrape or hang upon one of them. The grounding of the City of Rome on the top of the Washington street tunnel Monday, where she stuck for 24 hours, was only a single instance of the delay and danger occasioned by tunnels less than sixteen feet below the water level. “With the standard of lake draft fixed at 21 feet by the contracts let by the government for the dredging of the channels between Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior, no argument is needed to emphasize the necessity for the immediate lowering of the tunnels under the Chicago river. At present their tops fix the maximum draft of the ship- ping using our harbor. This‘is at least five feet less than the present standard of lake navigation and ten feet less than the minimum of deep-water ocean navigation. “Tt is impossible to estimate the extent of the handicap placed upon Chicago’s--great ‘shipping interests by the roofs ofits river tunnels. They form a barrier to the further development of its ‘mercantile supremacy which only their depression can remoye. Already the annual loss to Chicago is incalculable, ‘and no one can compute what the continuance of the obstruction will cost. “Congress has appropriated $750,000 for deepening the Chicago harbor, which is not available for the actual im- provement of its navigation so long as the tunnels. at La Salle, Washington and Van Buren streets bar egress and ingress to its docks. “Tt is a plain duty of the United States to order the de- ‘pression of these obstructions to navigation. But the city of Chicago should anticipate the action of the gov- ernment by arranging with the street car companies for the immediate lowering of the tunnels. » | “Citizens of Chicago have a secondary interest in the ‘depression of thé tunnels as a part of the drainage canal ' scheme. shipping supremacy of Chicago it would still be demanded for the sanitary welfare of Chicago. Only the lowering of the tunnels ten feet can assure the 600,000 cubic. teer per minute flow gH: required by the drainage act.” — . Sick oe pS ; ANNUAL IMMIGRATION. : The number of immigrants arriving in the United States during the fiscal year was 348,267, of whom 340,468 were permitted to land and 2,799 were debarred on various grounds»prescribed, by law, and returned to the countries whence they came, at the expense of the steamship ¢com- panies: by which they were brought in. The increase in immigration over the preceding year amounted to 84,731. It is reported that, with some exceptions, the immigrants of the past year were of a hardy, laboring class, accus- tomed and able to earn a support for themselves; and it If it were not necessary in the interests of the See ORD: THE MARINE RECORD. is estimated that the money brought with them amounted to at least $5,000,000, though it was probably much i cess of that sum, since only those having less than $30 are required to disclose the exact amount, and it is known that many brought considerable sums of money to buy land and build homes. Including all the immigrants arriving who wefe over the preceding fiscal year. The aumber of immigr fourteen years old, the countries from which they came and the number of illiterates among them were as follows: Italy, 57,515, with 54.59 per cent.; Ireland, 37,490, with 7 per cent.; Russia, 35,188, with 41.14 per cent.; ustria- Hungary and provinces, 57,053, with 38.92 per cent. ; Ger- many, 39,544, with 38.96 per cent.; Sweden, 18,821, with 1.16 per cent., while from Portugal there came 2,067, of whom 77.69 per cent. were illiterate. There arrived Japan during the year only 1,110 immigrants, an the opinion of the immigration authorities that th pension heretofore existing to some extent ofa large i gration from Japan to the United States is without any substantial foundation. i : HOLLOW FORGED SHAFTS. The Bethlehem Iron Company of South Bethlehem, Pa. has recently invaded a new field with thet: hollow forged shafts. They have been introducing them on the Missis- sippi and Ohio rivers for stern wheel steamers. Last week they closed a contract with the Pittsburg & Cin- cinnati Packet Line, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for a hollow forged nickel steel oil-tempered shaft, 38 feet 9 inches long, 14 inches outside diameter, with a 7-inch hole running through it. Such a draft is 3,500 pounds lighter, and 3% times stronger than the shaft which ordinarily would be placed in such a vessel, which would be made solid of wrought iron. This shaft goes into the new vessel which these people are having built at the Cincinnati Marine Railway, Cincinnati, Ohio. The Bethlehem Iron Company also sold a shaft recently to C. Jutte & Co., through Shook, Anderson & Co., of Pittsburg, Pa. They are also arranging to put a similar shaft into the new steamer which the Mississippi Valley Packet Com- pany, of New Orleans, La., will shortly have built. In a paper recently read before the Western Society of Engineers by Mr. H. F. J. Porter, general western sales agent of the Bethlehem Iron Company, he spoke of these hollow forged shafts which he was introducing on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and said that, as compared with a wrought iron shaft 14 inches in diameter and 30 feet long, whose strength would be taken as unity, a solid steel shaft would be 1-3 times stronger. A solid nickel steel shaft would be 1%4 times stronger. A steel shaft of the same outside diameter with a 34-inch hole through it and oil-tempered would be twice as strong. A hollow nickel steel shaft of the same type would be three times as strong. A hollow forged steel shaft of the same weight but of 22 inches outside diameter and with a 17-inch hole through it would be three times as strong, and if oil-tem- pered, 414 times as strong. If made of nickel steel it would be six times, and if oil-tempered, eight times as strong. It is no wonder that boat owners on the rivers are glad to take advantage of this improved type of shaft in view of the great mortality in the past of solid wrought iron shafts, which break after short service, and when they bre the accompanying loss is usually very large. Lo, re aa: ee CcoAL TRADE es The following Statistics of the coal trade of Buffalo, N. Y., were prepared by Mr. William Thurstone, Secre- tary of the Merchants’. Exchange, showing the season’s business to December lst, 1896, and for a series of years: Railroad receipts and shipments of coal at Buffalo not reported by request. Receipts of coal by lake for this and for several years past, none. Shipments of coal westward by lake for the month of November, 367,610 net tons, as compared with 533,708 net tons in 1895, and 433,050 net tons in 1894; for the season to December Ist, 2,320,668 net tons, as compared with 2,496,033 net tons in 1895, and 2,386,405 net tons in 1894, The aggregate shipments of coal this season show a decrease of 175,365 net tons under 1895, and 15,737 net tons under 1894. Therates of freightfor Novemberthis year were30c.,40c., 60c. to Chicago and Milwaukee; 20c., 30c, 50c. to Duluth trance to cut leading from Sturgeon’ Bay to Canal, h and Lake Superior ports, Gladstone; 20c., 50c. to Ashland; 40c. to Saginaw, Racine and Green Bay, and 25c., 30c. to Toledo. A year since the rates were 75c., 90c; to, Chic- — ago; 80c. 85c, to Milwaukee; 85c., 90c. to Sheboygan; 85c. to Green Bay; 65c., 70c. to Saginaw; $1.00 to Racine; 50c, to Toledo; 50c., 60c. to Bay City, and 30c. to Ashland and Washburn. The distribution of coal this season was about as. iol lows: 984,157 net tons to. Chicago, 625,706 tons to Mil- waukee, 231,960 tons to Duluth, 88,090. tons. to Toledo, 36,334 tons to Manitowoc, 29,800 tons to Gladstone, , 10,- 950 tons to Ashland. 189,331 tons to Superior, 13,075, tons to Marquette, 12,489 tons to Fort William, 4,420.tons to Sault Ste. Marie, 1,070 tons to Portage, 11,860 toms to Lake Linden;-225 tons to Goderich, 74,300 tons .to.mis- cellaneous ports by vessels from Tonawanda, 1,750. tons to Marinette, 5,200 tons to Hancock, 400 tons to. Ontona- gon, 3,150 tons to Detroit, 1,200. tons to Benton Harbor, 388 tons to’ Midland, 800 tons to. Cheboygan, 530 tons to Sturgeon Bay, 475 tons to St. Clair, 678 tons to Windsor, 100 tons to Alpena, 300 tons to Manistique, 500 tons to Huron, O., 23,875 tons to Racine, 400 tons to Marine City, 450 tons to Algonac, 3,350 tons to Washburn, 26,- 200 tons to Green Bay, 8,890 tons to Kenosha, 200 tons to Oscoda, 14,665 tons to Bay City, 13,345 tons to Saginaw, 525 tons to St. Ignace, 2,050 tons to Menominee, 1,250 tons to Cheboygan, 300 tons to Bay Mills, 1,150 tons to Port Huron, 600 tons to Grand Haven, 2,100 tons to Port Arthur, 320 tons to Sand Beach, 2,125 tons to Michigan City, and 25 tons to Grand Marais. A few additions will be made to the Chicago, Superior and Milwaukee shipment figures for December, and then the preceding statement will show the year’s movement. WINTER NAVIGATION. It seems that the Toledo & Ann Arbor Railway people had other lines out while they were dickering for the char- ter of the Green Bay Hart Line steamers, for no sooner had negotiations in that direction fallen through than they closed a deal with the owners of the A. L. Hopkins and J. C. Ford, which secures the services of these steamers | for the winter route between Frankfort and, Kewaunee. The Ford is classed Al* with a net tonnage measurement of 598 tons, while the Hagkins classes A2 and measures 640 net tons. Supt. Blizard, of the Michigan division of the Big Four, states that the negotiations for the Big Four’s winter line of lake steamers to ply between Benton Harbor and Chi- cago and Milwaukee, connecting with the Michigan divi- sion of the first named’ point, were about concluded, and that the independent line would be put on next week unless satisfactory traffic relations with the Graham & Morton Transportation Co. are previously made. This lake line has two of its steamers equipped for navigation through the ice, and delivers about thirty cars of through freight to the Big Four daily. NOTICE OF REMOVAL. The firm of L. W. Ferdinand & Co., after being estab- lished for 23 years at 267 Federal and 25 to 29 East streets, Boston, will remove about January 1 to 176-180 Federal street. The new quarters will have over 4,000 feet of space in the salesroom on the first floor or neatly double o what they have now. The boat warerooms will be 218-220 ~ Purchase street, this location being handy to the large hardware and ship chandlery department.of the firm. Messrs. Ferdinands state that as the new location is more central they feel that, although removing is an unpleasant job to look forward to, it will in the end be for the a interests and benefit of the firm, ' : NOTICE TO MARINERS. Editor “Marine Record:”: The hydrographic office has, rebeied the following. n tice to mariners from Commander J, H. Dayton, . u Ss. Navy, Light-House Inspector, 9th. District, Chicago, A nois, dated December 15th, 1896: “Notice is hereby given that the Simmons. Reef, Whit Shoal and Grays Reef Light vessels, Nos..55, 56 and left their stations December. 12th, 1896, and have gone i winter quarters. “Also, that Sturgeon Bay Canal Beacon No. 3, at : been carried away by the ice, and will be ‘replaced: at tl opening of navigation in the Spring,” 289d ‘ Cleveland, Dec, 16th) ~~ : eieerr yaar rac tt