The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

THE MARINE RECORD. tory by water to Sandusky and thence by rail through some company other than the United States, The steamer Waldo C. Avery loaded 4,500 tons. of cargo at Escanaba this week; the Pathfinder, 3,400 tons, and the Sagamore, 3,600 tons, which goes to show that the foreign tramps are not “in it” with lake tonnage. The lake steamers also carry these cargoes on a draft of from fourteen to sixteen feet. The master of the little schooner Edward Blake, of Bay City, died when two days out from port. They were from Manitoulin Island, and the mate reported the loss of the captain at Port Huron. The master had been unwell for some time and his friends advised him not to sail this season. His name was Lewis Charbon- neau: The plan of utilizing a foremast as a smokestack first appeared on the lakes in connection with the oil barges built for the Standard Oil Co. feller schooners put out last fall it was not adopted, but later ones are using the smokestack spar. Another in- novation for lake vessels in the new schooner Jenney in the fact that the upper works are built entirely of steel, anes leaving no part of the vessel liable to destruction by re. Duluth vesselmen look for a good fall and are patient- ly counting the weeks that will intervene between now and September 1. There are signs that the vesselmen count on and one of these is that 2 cents is offered now for wheat tonnage in September. It is said that no vessel tonnage has been engaged at that figure, which fact is supposed to indicate that the fall will recompense them for the losses and lack of business of the first half of the season. Sodus Bay fishermen state that the water in Lake On- tario is fully three feet higher than last year’s summer level and at least 18 inches higher than a year ago at this time. This is in accordance with the long entertained idea about height of water in the lake. The fresh water sailors of Lake Ontario have always believed that the water rises once in fourteen years and then gradually lowers an inch or so a year, all during the thirteen years following, maximum high water coming with a rush with the fourteenth year. It is reported that there have been 29 vessel Charters made for lumber at Duluth. Only two or three have been made to go to Chicago. The lumber trade is not as brisk as it was a month or two ago. Firms that bought. stocks two weeks ago appear to be in no hurry to have the stuff sent forward. The cargo rate for lumber is still quoted at $1.623. Lumber brokers admit that there is no money in the rate for the vessel owners. They say the rate could be broken, but it is so low that there seems to be no disposition to do so. For.the first time since the panic of 1893 there is more freight to be carried by the schooner fleet than there are vessels, says a Chicago exchange. Large quantities of ties are being contracted for and while lumber is not moving freely the cedar trade much more than offsets the loss in lumber. Vesselmen are talking an advance in freight rates, something that has not been heard fflof no the lumber market for five years. During the long de- pression schooners have ceased to have any selling price and when put up at forced sale have gone for a song. The upturn has caused a great improvement in sentiment on the market. : Manitowoc is to be made a depot for the distribution of coal to northwestern points through the establishment of a large receiving yard on the car ferry slip of the Chi- cago & Northwestern Railway at the inner end of the harbor. The plant is to be erected and operated by the Pennsylvania & Ohio Fuel Co., and the dock room se- cured is 800 feet long by 400 feet wide. The frame work of the trestles will be of iron, and in addition to this 500,000 feet of timber and planking will enter into the construction of the plant. The hoists will be of the most approved kind, so as to assure rapid handling of cargoes, Work upon the plant is to begin next week, the intention being to have it ready for business by the first of August. The improvement will greatly facilitate the discharging of cargoes, something which is deemed absolutely necessary with the prevailing freights. oe or own LAKE FREIGHT RATES. Beginning with 1877 vessels tied up for the season to move ore from Marquette at $1.40, the average “wild” rate for that year being one cent higher, or $1.41. During the same season ore was shipped from Marquette at $1 on con- tract and the season “‘wild’’ rate was 98 cents. Freights were lower in the following year, the Marquette contract rate having been 10 cents less than the year previous. The seasons of 1880 and 1881 were tli€ most profitable to own- ers of tonnage, ore having been carried on contract for $2.75 and $2.45 a ton respectively. The decline in freight rates is displayed in the figures which folow, the season contract rate from Marquette be- ing used: 1882, $1.75; 1883, $1.20; 1884, $1.35; 1885, $1.05; 1886, $1.20; 1887, $1.63; 1888, $1.15; 1889, $1.10; 1890, $1.25; 1891, Go cents; 1892, $1.15; 1893, $1; 1804, 80 cents: 1895, 75, cents; 1896, 95 cents; 1897, 65 cents. At one time, 1887, the “wild” rate was as high as $1.87, while in 1880 the freight rate averaged $2.20, a period of prosperity for ves- selmen. In the seasons 1804, 1895, 1896 low “wild” freight rates prevailed, the average rates having been 60, 92 and 66 cents respectively. The average “wild” freight rate from Duluth was $2.23 in 1887. The contract rate shows a decline from $2 in 1887 to 70 cents this year. In the first of the Rocke- The average daily rate on coal from Cleveland to Mil- waukee since 1887, not including the current year, has been 61 cents; to Duluth, 49 cents. A statement showing the average daily coal freights to Milwaukee conveys a good idea of the reduction in transportation charges. In 1887, $1.06 was paid; 1888, 84 cents; 1889, 54 cents; 1890, 64 cents; 1891, 61 cents; 1892, 58 cents; 1893, 48 cents; 1804, 48 1-2 cents; 1895, 54 cents; 1896 33 1-2 cents. The indica- tions are that the Milwaukee rate will be lower in 1897 than it was in the preceding season. In 1880 5.7 cents was the average daily rate on wheat from Chicago, and there was a gradual decline until 1886 and 1887, when rates were 3.6 and 4.1 cents respectively. Freight charges continued to go down, and in 1896 the ay- erage rate was 1.7 cents. Taking the daily rates and strik- ing an average does not show the fluctuation during the different seasons. Late in the fall of 1887 a Cleveland ves- sel was paid 12 cents a bushel for carrying a grain cargo from Fort William to Buffalo. oO oO oo DAMAGED GRAIN. On the subject of damaged grain the Buffalo Enquirer has the following to say: “There is renewed complaint on the part of vessel, grain and insurance men on ac- count of the custom house ruling that obliges the owners of damaged grain that comes in here in bond to pay duty on it for its full value. They say that whenever any- thing else dutiable arrives here there is an appraisal made of it and the duty is assessed on the valuation thus fixed. If it is damaged there is an allowance, but grain must pay on the invoice and nothing else. When the wet wheat in the cargo of the steamer Sauber was to be sold there was an effort made to obtain an appraisal of it, but it was refused. At one time it was feared that the price offered would not equal the 20 per cent duty, and in this case there would be nothing to do but take the grain out into the lake and throw it overboard, for if itis landed it is at once subject to duty. This has been done in former seasons. Sometimes nearly a whole cargo has thus been sacrificed. As the government gets nothing out of the grain in such a case, it would seem to be good policy to treat grain after the fashion of ordinary mer- chandise.” There can be no two opinions about the injustice of exacting full duty on damaged goods. Damaged wheat when shipped through in bonds should be assessed at its market value and duty charged accordingly. or Ol ?V—lh A NEW ELEVATOR AT BUFFALO. The contract for the foundation of the new 1,000,000- bushel Eames steel elevator, which is to be built on Buffalo Creek about 500 feet east of the Ohio street bridge, was sub-let.on Friday to the MacDonald Engin- eering Co. of Chicago, by the principal contractors, the Steel Storage & Elevator Construction Co., of Conners- ville, Ind. The Eames elevator will be built of steel throughout, above the foundation, and its owners consider it so thor- oughly fire-proof that they will carry no insurance. Not only will everything about the building be of steel, in- cluding the stair-plate, beams and floors, but by a pneu- matic elevating process, which will be used for the first time in Buffalo in this new elevator, the grain in storage will be so thoroughly separated and aerated that there will be no danger, it is thought, of its heating or re- quiring to be turned. The steel storage tank system, which has been used successfully in many large elevator plants throughout the West, consists of a series of cylindrical grain tanks con- nected with a main power building by pneumatic tubes, through which the grain is delivered to the tanks, or can be pumped out again when wanted for shipment. By an arrangement of powerful fans there is practically no limit to. the height to which the grain can be elevated by this process. The Eames elevator will be provided with nineteen of these hermetically-sealed, air-tight and fire-proof tanks. Seven, of'the tanks will be of a capacity of 100,000 bushels each, and the other twelve of the elevator will hold 25,000 bushels of grain apiece. Sufficient land is controlled by the owners of the elvator, however, to allow of increasing: the total capacity from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 bushels in the future. Each of the grain tanks will be subdivided into compartments so that cargoes or shipments of any size can be kept separate. And all of the compartments will have hopper-bottoms, so as to be self-cleaning. The main building, in front of the tanks, will be 146 feet high and 4o by 130 feet on the ground. Both it and the tanks will rest on the solid rock, which at the point where the elevator is to. be built is found but seven feet below the water level. No piles will be required. The capacity of the elevating legs will be 30,000 bushels an hour. oro ANOTHER LARGE CARGO. The Lake Superior grain cargo record was again broken this week. The steamer Zenith City loaded 50,500 bushels of rye, 134,981 bushels of wheat, a weight of 5,463 tons, at Duluth. The previous record was held by the Andrew Carnegie on 182,000 bushels of wheat or 5,460 tons. The Zenith City loaded down to sixteen feet, and took the bottom while loading, but was subsequently floated and got away out of port all well, . NOT A FAIR RISK. Insurance companies chartered’ in Canada have decided not to insure barges known as pinflats, carrying grain. and no Canadian company will take a risk upon them, This means much to Montreal, as the pinflats engaged in the grain-carrying trade between Prescott and that port have a total capacity of 500,000 bushels, and that with quick dispatch these boats can handle 10,000,000. bushels of grain during the season. The engagements of grain this year via the St. Lawrence route are very heavy — and the grain will have to be brought to Montreal from Prescott and Kingston somehow. It the pinflats are ex- cluded from the trade altogether there are not nearly enough vessels to ship cargoes by water, and asa last re-. sort grain will have to be carried by rail from Prescott and Kingston to fulfill existing engagements. This, it is claimed, would act as a bar to the St. Lawrence route, and drive the grain trade to Buffalo. The objectionable features of pinflats from the underwriting point of view are that they cost from one-fourth to one-third the price. of ordinary barges; that they are made cheaply and run. cheaply, the ordinary Barges having a complement’ of from three to five men and the pinflats having only a man. and a boy; also. that if an accident takes place they open up and are apt to destroy the whole of their cargoes, par-. ticularly grain, whereas an ordinary barge would only damage a small portion. ‘ es THE ST. LAWRENCE ROUTE. It is learned that the Dominion minister of railways and canals is working at the transportation problem, and he hopes to very greatly reduce the cost of transporta- tion from the West. The deepening of the canals of the St. Lawrence to fourteen feet is only the first step. One of the possibilities is the establishment, in connection. with the proposed new fast Atlantic steamship service, of auxiliary freighters, which could take grain and other products at the head of navigation at Fort William or Duluth or at central points on the other lakes and carry them alongside the ocean liners in Montreal. With thor- ough organization vessels of large carrying capacity, and_ but one transient shipment between Duluth or Fort Wil liam and Liverpool, it is believed that the St. Lawrence route will.become the great channel between Europe and the West. — LARGE IRON RUDDER FRAMES. The Cleveland City Forge & Iron Co. is now at work on four rudder frames for the battleships Kearsarge, Kentucky, Illinois and Alabama, the first threé of which” are now under construction by the Newport News Ship & Engine Building Co., Newport News, Va., while the fourth is being built by the Cramp Ship & Engine Build- ing Co., Philadelphia. The rudder stocks are 18 inches - finished diameter, and each has a 5-inch hole bored axially through it. Owing to its intricate shape the/rud-— der stock portion of the frame had to be forged solid throughout and machined out afterward. The © stock forging weighed about 25 tons in the rough. | : These rudder frames are the heaviest and most intricate ever attempted in this country. In addition to ‘these the . Cleveland City Forge & Iron Co. has made seven, though not as heavy nor as intricate, for the following battleships and cruisers: New York, Columbia, Minneapolis, Indi- ana, Massachusetts, Iowa and Brooklyn. These seven and the four now building are fhe largest vessels in the new navy. ‘ —<— $i or A MERITED VERDICT. The grand jury of the criminal branch of the United States circuit court held in New York has indicted Capt. Edward M. Reed, of the ship T. F. Oakes, for malicious- ly and without justifiable cause withholding food from the crew of his vessel on the voyage from Hong Kong to the port of New York. ‘ or oa or HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. The object of the Hydrographic Office is to place with- in reach of mariners, at no expense to them, such useful information as cannot be collected profitably by any private individual, but which the government can readily gather, without additional cost, through agencies already established. A ; It is compiled in the Division of Marine Meteor- ology, from reports received by branch offices, maritime associations, light-house board, coast and geodetic ‘sur- vey, revenue marine, life saving service, weather bureau, newspapers, etc. These bulletins will be posted in all cities, where they can readily be consulted by masters of vessels and others interested. The maritime community is invited to send any information of value to this pub- lication, to the Hydrographic Office at Washington, or to one of its branches offices at Boston, Customhouse; New York, Maritime Exchange, Produce Exchange Building; Philadelphia, The Bourse Building; Baltimore, Customhouse: Norfolk, Customhouse; Savannah, Cus- tomhouse; New Orleans, Customhouse; San_ Francisco, ~ Merchants’ Exchange; Portland, Oregon, Chamber of Commerce, 31 First street; Port Townsend, Custom- house; Chicago, Room 1621, Masonic Temple; Cleve- land, No. 912 Arcade Building. These offices are fully supplied, with information and publications pertaining. to navigation, and masters and officers of vessels are cordial. ly invited to consult them,