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THE MARINE RECORD. NEWS AROUND THE LAKES. SS CLEVELAND. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The River Machine & Boiler Works, Teare & Thomas, proprietors, are full of work, and the prospects are ex- cellent for the season’s business. : The Chase Machine Co. are meeting with a full share of patronage in the marine line and they have recently started several more skilled machinists at work. ; John Thomson, the engineers’ supply store on River street, is a lively place this week. I have met more en- gineers there during the last few days than ever before. Trade seems to be. brightening up again. : General Manager Newman of the C. & B. Line expects to be able to get into Buffalo about the first of the month. The big steamer City of Buffalo will be brought here from Detroit the latter part of next week. The Toledo boats will probably not be started out until the middle of April. The Globe Iron Works Co. have secured a contract ag- gregating nearly $400,000. In submitting their bid to the Treasury Department, the ‘‘Globe” was below all bidders and therefore will undoubtedly be awarded the contract for the construction of two revenue cutters to be finished in April, 1808. The thanks of the Record are due to-the branch hy- drographic office at this port for some valuable informa- tion given this week in their “Notice to Mariners.” The lieutenant in charge at present is always prompt in dis- seminating whatever information comes to hand. Further- more, I learn that his is courteous to all sailors who visit his office. The Cleveland Ship Building Co. are keeping busy at work on their present contracts and Superintendent Bris- tow is not losing a moment of time in handling his men. The yard is being kept going at its full capacity. The engine shops under the management of Mr. Steele, are also busy and the boiler works with our old friends Miller in charge are more than pulling up on the local industry of boiler making. Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau, Office ofthe Observer, Cleveland: The following information has been received from the Chief of the Weather Bureau, Washington, D, C. The display of wind signals will be resumed this season at the regular and wind signal dis- play stations on the lakes as follows: Lakes Pepin, Mich- igan, Huron, St. Clair, Erie and Ontario, on April roth; Lake Superior, May 1st. W. B. Stockman, Local Fore- cast Official. - : The steamer City of Detroit is due here today, and she will continue to make tri-weekly trips until about the first of next month, when the steamer City of Cleveland will be put in commission, and then daily trips will be made. To this will be added an extra service during day- light in the summer months, and patrons of Lake Erie travel will enjoy the greatest amount of pleasure for the least amount of money ever expended. During the sum- mer months a D. & C. steamer will leave here in the - morning and another one at night. Capt. Daniel McLeod has resigned from the manage- ment of the publication known as the Inland Lloyds Ves- sel Register. A revision of the Register for 1897 is being made at Buffalo with the least possible expense, by Capt. George McLeod, Cyrus Sinclair, John Perew and other representatives of the Chicago and Buffalo agents who have published it for many years past. It is understood that the new book will contain no valuations in cases where vesssl are above $50,000 in value, and in this feature is where the endeavor to modernize the register, which, however, under the changed conditions of shipbuilding, cannot be up to the standard until the rules in the publica- tion are thoroughly revised. Bartlett & Tinker, representing the Grummond Line, say that freight rates had not been reduced to meet the cuts made by the D. & C. Co. The second passenger and freight steamer will be placed on the route on April 1. In the meantime the large tug Swain will assist the State of Michigan. Many people are taking advantage of the low passenger rates, the City of Detroit being crowded almost to its full capacity. At the same time the Grumomnd Line are not losing any of their trade and their agents at this port are hustling for all there is in it, both in the passenger and cargo traffic. Messrs. Bartlett & Tinker will certainly corral all of the business they can for the Grummond Line. The Detroit Journal indulged a day or two ago in spec- ulation regarding the probable opening of navigation on Lake Erie this spring. It said: “The spring equinox oc- curs on March 21, and usually there is a stormy period of ten days or two weeks preceding that date. Now is it not time that we were about getting over this equinoctial craze and the various legends connected therewith? To even surmize that the celestial economy of the universe waits to be revolutionized and to set air in motion like a whirligig at a specfied date has now become an exploded notion. The changes of the seasons we are quite prepared and willing to take aboard, but these radical notions relative to the sun passing the equator (so-called) and its abnormal effects at such a time is simply beyond credence. or or CHICAGO. ‘Special Correspondence to the Marine Record. __ The Independent Tug Line towed the steamer John N. Glidden and barge Aberdeen from Milwaukee to Chicago Friday to load grain. They also towed the barges Geo. Warmington and Sophia Minch to the Santa Fe elevator. Capt. Alex. R. Sinclair arrived here from Duluth on Tuesday. : The engineers of the s. s. Curry are here fitting out her machinery. James A. Calbick & Co., chartered the barge Aberdeen for corn to Kingston at 4 cents. ‘ Capt. Thos. Beggs has been appointed master of the Warde Trans. Co.’s steamer Niko. At the Independent Line’s floating dry dock the tug E. E. Rice is in for general repairs. Capt. Joseph Lampoh, of the steamer John N. Glidden is here looking after the loading of the Glidden and con- sorts. The Dunham Towing Co. towed the steamer Lansing to the Neeley elevator and the barges Middlesex and Hal- sted to the Indiana elevator to load grain. Captain Thomas Gleason died at his residence 3104 South Park avenue, Monday afternoon, March 15th, of consumption, after a long and painful illness. The Northern Michigan Trans. Co. steamer Petoskey has received an electric light plant which will supply her with 200 lights, each state-room being furnished with an electric light. Capt. John Mitchell, John Corrigan and H. A. Haw- good of Cleveland paid Chicago a visit this week. Capt. James Davidson of West Bay City, stopped off here on his way home from the South. The Masters’ and Pilots’ Harbor 33, Chicago, gave a progressive pedro party and banquet Tuesday evening. There was a large attendance, and all present thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The steamer George T. Burroughs, Capt. Stephen Jones, is receiving a general overhauling of her hull ma- chinery and boiler .and will be ready by April ist to start for Cleveland, where her owners have contracted to build a water tunnel for the city authorities. At a meeting of the Masters’ and Pilots’ Harbor 33, Chicago, held Wednesday afternoon, March roth, at their hall, an emergency fund was created of $3.00 for initiation fee and 25 cents per month. The following were initiated as new members: Captains Samuel R. Chamberlain, John Isbister, George L. Cottrell, Wm. Gannon. Appointments to the Northern Michigan Trans. Co.’s steamers for the season of 1897: Steamer City of Charle- voix—Capt. Wm. Finucan, master; James W. Myers, chief engineer; Richard Donnelly, steward. Steamér Petoskey—Capt. Peter McGuiggan, master; Thos. Col- lins, chief engineer; G. O. Henderson, clerk; Frank Mc- Quillan, steward. George C. Williams has been appointed by General Mandger Gibson L. Douglas of the Western Transit Co. agent at Chicago, to succeed the late Hugh MasMillan. He is a son of Capt. Frank Williams, of Buffalo, and his appointment is considered an excellent choice as he is a very able and efficient young man and is very popular in marine circles in Chicago. The large steel barge building by the Chicago Ship- building Co. for C. W. Elphicke and others will be launched at the company’s shipyard at South Chicago, on Saturday, March 2oth, at 3 p. m. Her dimensions are 352 feet keel, 44 feet beam, 26 feet molded depth. She will be named the “Carrington.” The steamer Lewiston, which is being lengthened 50 feet amidships by the Chi- cago Ship Building Co., will go out of dock next week. or PORT HURON. Special Correspondence to the Marine Record. But very little ice is running in St. Clair River. Vessel owners look for an early opening of navigation. The steam barge Thos. Scott is being fitted with new furnaces at the Schofield shops. The work on the new boat, now being built by the Jenks Shipbuilding Co., is progressing rapidly. The marine engineers of the city will nearly all be placed for the season during the present week. A. H. Schofield is building a new boiler for H. N. Loud & Co., of Oscoda. It is to be placed in the steamer Wyoming. : At the Wolverine dry dock, the steam barge Cleveland is being fitted with new steel keelson straps, which will make ther a staunch craft. The steel used is 16 inches wide and % thick. The Jenks Shipbuilding Co. has just closed a three years’ contract to carry iron ore from Lake Linden to Black Rock. The contract calls for the moving of 40,000 tons annually. The contract will keep two boats busy during the entire season. Benjamin Colwell and Frank Fisher, of Buffalo, have taken their claim against James Cobell, of Marine City, for $226.50, to the supreme court. They allege that it is due them for lightering the schooner C. L. Young last fall. An attachment was secured. The body of Thomas Raney was found in the river at Sarnia on Friday. It was wedged in between a pile and the steamer Unique. Raney disappeared from his home about three months ago, and his family have been search- ing for him every since. The body was badly decom- posed. ' The attempt to break the windrows of ice in Green Bay, just outside of Sturgeon Bay entrance, has proved a failure. The captain of car ferry steamer Ann Arbor No. 2 has examined the work done by Ben’ Smith, ‘the dynamite expert, and concluded that his steamer could not be forced through the barrier. : Manager C. F. Bielman, of the Star-Cole Lines, an- nounces that the steamer Arundel will make her start The ice has_ for Port Huron within a very few days. L broken up in Lake and River St. Clair greatly during the past few days, and it is only a question of a short time _now until the Arundell can easily get through. The ice in St. Clair River broke away at this place Be last Thursday, and was taking one of Alger, Smith & Co.’s rafts, which was secured at the Toledo Salt block, down the river, until it struck solid ice, forming a gorge of ice and logs, 20 feet high. The force of the gorge was terrible, pulling up the piles and snapping large chains in tow. The timber all along the river suffered considerable damage. ; Diligent inquiry fails to find any change or feature in There is a degree of confidence and _ the freight business. a hope for a fairly successful season among all vessel owners, but as for anything tangible, there is as little in sight apparently as two months ago. The iron situa- tion must adjust itself before anything definite will be accomplished in lake freights. Vessel men are free to assert that if boats could or would remain idle until the middle of June or first of July, 1897, would prove a very good paying season indeed. Vessel owners are disappointed over their failure to secure needed aids to navigation. Several months ago they confined their work to lights and buoys that are considered absolutely esséntial to safe navigation. It became apparent very early that Congress was not dis- posed to be liberal and that the demands of the vessel owners would not be satisfied. Treasurer George P. McKay, and Secretary C. H. Keep, of the Lake Carriers’ Association, who were sent to Washington, induced the Senate to incorporate in the civil sundry bill an appro- priation of $25,000 for gas buoys. This is all that the great lakes will secure, if anything. There was a large attendance of marine engineers at their meeting held on Saturday evening, the occasion being the visit of National President Uhler. During his address Mr. Uhler said the first association was or- ganized at Cleveland on February 23, 1875, since which time there has been a rapid growth. Mr. Uhler said the association had brought .about many needed reforms which were apareciated by all marine men. President Uhler closed by saying that he would sooner be president of the Marine Engineers’ Association than President of the United States. No organization lives up to its laws as well as the Marine Engineers. The members are cour- ageous and sober. i oO a" DETROIT. Special Correspondence to the Marine Record. The steamer Mascot. is nearing completion at Steyen- son’s dock. She is to be ready for running by April Ist. The City of Buffalo is being scrubbed and painted. She will leave Detroit about April 1st. The Detroit Dry- Dock put a new channel plate in her engine this winter. The steamer Imperial will start on the Windsor-Pelee Island route about April ist. The engineer, Mr. James, a very popular and efficient officer, has decided to remain north this year, and the steamer loses a valuable man. Parker and Millen’s new dock and warehouse is as- suming shape. Mr. B. H. Parker says it will certainly be ready by April 1st. The steamer Arundel is now about ready to start as soon as ice is weak enough in the St. Clair River. The daylight service of the D. & C. Line for this summer will of itself prove a great attraction, and, so favorable are the circumstances attending the outlook of the line, there is just a faint possibility that the great company may add another ship to their fleet in the fu- ture. : In the language of the Mississippi River pilot, “the jig is up.” Either the Grummond Line or the D. & C. Line must soon succumb. The latter, on Wednesday morning put into effect a schedule of 1 cent per hundred weight on all classes of freight between Detroit and Cleveland both ways. Mr. Grummond had previously declined to meet the D. & C. passenger rate, and in an interview with the Record said he was chiefly attending to his freight business. The D. & C. Line, however, has carried the wat which Mr. Grummond inaugurated last fall, into the enemy’s camp, and it is simply a matter now of who can stand the struggle the longest. On Monday night the D. & C. Line carried 175 passengers to Cleveland, and the list will constantly increase as the season advances. All the Detroit vessel owners are patiently waiting for something new to occur in the freight situation, and give them.an opportunity to see something ahead for this season. Detroit vessel men will, many of them, refuse to tie themselves up at 70c or some stch rate; but the fact remains that if they are to carry iron ore they must carry at a low rate, and may not, if running wild, average even yoc for the season. The whole situation depends upon the iron market and its varying demands. It is probable that the general feeling of returning prosperity may in some measure increase the demand of this season above the stocks on hand, and create an active demand for more ore. But the price at which iron seems likely to sell for some time, of course, precludes in the estimation of many vessel owners a possibility for good freight rates this year. Then, too, the great and constantly increasing se ree =e