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NOVEMBER 2, 1899. THE MARINE RECORD. than the American route. Your Erie canal from Lake Erie to the sea is about 500 miles long, and, when all its improve- ments are finished, it will have a 9-foot depth or 8-foot _ draught. Canada’s canal waterway from Take Erie is 374 _ miles long and is now 14 feet deep. Vessels of 2,000 tons can pass through, and new devices to lengthen locks 60 feet will improve even that.’’ The American syndicate asked for certain privileges and concessions in return for the vast _ monetary outlay which would be required to develop traffic _ via the St. Lawrence route to and from the seaboard. _ Mr. A.A. Jenkins, of this city, who spent a part of the _ past summer on one of the Lizard Islands, north shore of _ Lake Superior, says that the party with whom he was hunt- ing and fishing found large quantities of wreckage from _ the steamer Western Reserve, the Minch vessel that was _ lost with all hands, excepting one sailor, in Lake Superior _ seven years ago, and on which Capt. Peter Minch was lost with his wife and child. Among the wreckage was a board, probably from the side of the pilot house, containing the name of the vessel, and a hatch cover that was not at all broken. It isa strange coincidence that wreckage from the steamer Manistee, also lost with all hands (1882), was found in the same locality. But the Manistee was lost away up at the head of Lake Superior. She left Bayfield for Ontona- gon, but never reached the latter‘place, and the story of her loss is still untold. The Manistee was commanded by Capt. John McKay, brother of Capt. George F. McKay. Twenty- seven lives were lost with the vessel. et er DULUTH—SUPERIOR. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. __ Nearly 500,000 bushels of wheat in bond has been shipped out of Duluth this week. The Crete will take 120,000 bushels, the Penobscot, 140,000 bushels; the Rosemount, 80,000 bushels; the Myles, 80,000 bushels, and the Majestic, 10,000 bushels, All of this will go via Canadian waterways to the coast. The tug Record, which is receiving repairs made necessary as a result.of her having been sunk by the steamer Neilson, is at the West Superior shipyard. The Record has been the best tug and ice breaker at the head of the lakes for a good many years and she will be put in first-class order for the fall and winter work, including part new bows and a thor- ough overhauling of her hull and machinery. The fourth season’s work on the concrete breakwater at Marquette has been finished, 500 feet having been added this year. This is the first breakwater built out of natural ce- ment, although the Government has a section of the outer breakwater at Chicago constructed of cement for experimen- tal purposes. If appropriations are regular, the Marquette ‘pier will be completed in 1902, at a cost of $200,000. ‘The schooner Chris. Grover, with a cargo of dynamite, went on the rocks at Split Rock in the fog on Tuesday last. The point is located 4o miles up the north shore. The hull of the schooner is old and the rocks stove it up badly. Capt. Gibbon is stripping the wreck, which will be abandoned. The Grover was built in 1878 and is a small craft, being only 123 tons rating. She was owned by Jacob Werner, of Mar- quette. Capt. Ben Howard, of the steamer Bon Voyage, states that he passed the Harlem in Portage canal as the latter was be- ing towed to Houghton by the tug Merrick. He says that the boat looks better than might be expected after spending a year in an exposed position on Isle Royale. The reason assigned for taking the Harlem to Detroit for repairs in- stead of to the dry dock at West Superior is that she was built at Detroit and that all of her patterns are there. The little steamer Suit reached here this week witha small but valuable cargo from Point Sable. It consisted of 40 tons of the copper that was jettisoned a few weeks ago by the steamer H. EK. Runnells, seven miles this side of Au Sable, in 14 feet of water. Capt. C. H. Sinclair, of the American Salvage Association, secured the copper for the #&tna Insurance Co. The copper is worth about $13,700, and was all put on board the Suit by the crew and a diver in 12% hours of actual work. The copper has been shipped on the steamer Runnels from the Calumet and Hecla mine, and it will be reshipped in Duluth on the steamer Buell. Regarding next season’s business a broker and agent says: I do not think there is any ground for the belief which is - said to exist, that grain and coal freight will be largely shut out next year asa result of the heavy movement of ore that _ is now assured for the season of Igo0. Of course, every- thing that looks like a boat will be in demand, and some of the commodities may be greatly delayed, at times, and even -forced to be forwarded in part all rail. But asa general proposition the present vessel tonnage of the lakes will next year be able, undoubtedly, to handle a great deal more busi- ness than this year. A full month has been cut out of this season by the late opening, by strikes and the accident to _ the Houghton; add to next year the possibilities of one month’s business over that of this year, together with the new vessel tonnage that will be available during all or a part of next year, and it will mean a great deal. Next year is going to be a very heavy one in respect to the movement of - lake freight, and all records will be broken. There may, and undoubtedly will, be more freight offered than can be freely carried. OOS Wo. C. WHITNEY is the controlling power in the Electric _ Traction Co., which proposses to operate Erie canal boats - with trolley wires along the tow-path CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Grain freights are dull this week and have dropped to three cents on corn to Buffalo. The steamer Neshoto arrived Monday morning with wheat from Duluth, which is being unloaded at the Galena elevator. The schooner Mary E. Dykes has been abandoned in the Calumet river at a’spot not far from where the old whaler Progress is lying. At Miller Bros.,the steamer J. D. Marshall was in dock for a new wheel and repairs to stern bearing; the steamer Fayette for a general overhauling, some new bottom plank and recalking. James Hogan, assistant hull inspector, and James Kehoe, assistant boiler inspector in the Chicago steamboat inspec- tor’s office, have been notified that their services will not be required after Oct. 31. The schooner Oak Leaf has been sold by Lyman Feltus to the Pilsen Lumber Co. for $10,500. The schooner Oliver Mitchell is transferred from Mary A. Ackerman, of Oswego, to P. Myres, of Chicago, for $2,700. The Hines Lumber Co.’s steamer Santa Maria, Capt. Walter Hamilton, and consorts Wayne, Marvin and Shaw- nee arrived here Friday from Lake Superior with 3,441,000 feet of lumber, thereby breaking all former records. Capt. Charles Chapman and Joseph Dewherst, of Huron, O., are here to buy the tug W. E. Rice from Capt. Robert Charles. The Rice will be taken to Lake Erie for fishing purposes. She has hitherto been in the lake front excursion business. Johnson & Knudson, ship carpenters, have put a new bow and stem, bowsprit, jibboom, pawl post and mizzen- mast into the schooner Kate Lyons, and a new mainmast into the schooner Emily B. Maxwell. They have also raised the steamers Ivanhoe and Gordon which burned and sank at the foot of Van Buren street. Notice has been sent out by the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior Transportation Co, that all freight to be forwarded previous to the close of navigation must be delivered at the company’s warehouses not later than Saturday, November 11. The movement of package freight by lake from Chi- cago to the Northwest during the present season has been unprecedented. Receipts of anthracite by lake in Chicago since the open- ing of navigation up to Octobor 15, have been about 900,000 tons, says a leading coal merchant at Chicago. This is somewhat in excess of the lake business last year. The rail- roads have delivered us 300,000 tons during that time, which is also anincrease. But in the spring of 1897 there were on the docks here 250,000 tons of anthracite, whereas the docks last spring were bare. The steel rail record of the world was made October 25th when the South Chic@go mills of the Federal Steel Com-. pany produced 2,609 tons in twenty-four hours. This broke their best previous record of 2,585 tons. The production for October for this millalso made the record and aggre- gated about 60,001 tons. The company’s mills here have a capacity of 625,000 tons a year, and are to run at full limit for the next twelve months. The unexpected death of Capt. Peter C. Bassett, at his home in Detroit, of pneumonia, after six days’ illness, on the 25th of October, was heard here with much regret among the marine community by whom he was greatly respected. The deceased had been in the employ of Candler Bros., of Detroit, 28 years, and was with them until a few months ago when they sold the steamer M. M. Drake, of which he continued master until a short time before his death. He was master of the steamer Chauncey Hurlbut many years. The Chicago Dredging & Dock Co. has disposed of its fleet of tugs. The steel tug Alpha goes to the Barry Bros. for $5, ooo, and the Commodore and Frank R. Crane to the Haus- ler & Lutz Towing & Dock Co., at South Chicago. The price paid for the Commodore and Crane is not given out. The Alpha was built in 1881 and measures 86 tons and is 77 feet keel and 19 feet beam. She has a condensing engine and is well adapted to river towing. It is supposed that the Alpha will be used in an independent tug line on the river here, although no such announcement has yet been made. While Chicago has suffered a loss inits grain trade this season the port as a grain market has rather been benefitted than injured. Its competitors have not had the advantage of rail competition, and grain from Duluth, has steadily paid from 1% to 24 cents per bushel more to Buffalo than grain from Chicago. During much of last season the two ports were nearly on an equal plane. Duluth shippers complain that vast quantities of grain which ordinarily would have gone to that port for shipment have been diverted to Chicago from the northwest. For the remainder of this season Chi- cago vesselmen claim that the true policy of the railroads would be to send their cars to Lake Erie to take care of the “grain brought there, thereby preventing the usual fall block- ade at Buffalo. They insist that the railroads have no right to send their cars to Chicago to take grain, so long as they are threatened with a blockade on the short haul from Buf- falo to the seabord. A persistence in the present policy, they urge, is nothing more than unadnlterated selfishness, without regard tothe injury inflicted upon vesselmen and shippers, by the lake route. “The efforts of the railroad lines to control the grain traffic of the West,’’ said Capt. D. Sullivan this week, ‘‘shows vessel- men as it never has done before, the supreme importance of the improvement of the Erie canal. It is not impossible for railways to paralyze lake trafficat any time by not giving cars to take the traffic from Buffaloand Erie. ‘That is exact- ly what is being done now. Cars which ought to be used in taking grain from Lake Erie to the seaboard are being sent west to take grain from Chicago. In other words, the railroads seem to be plugging up one end of the lake route in order to scoop in the trade at the other. What other explanation can be offered for offerings of cars to take grain by the million bushels from Chicago, when the same roads cannot care for the traffic of- fered them at Buffalo. The only escape for vessel owners is in the Erie canal.’’ Another marine man charged that the shortage of coal cars was due to the same policy. Lake trade was to be crippled in his opinion in every way by with- holding cars to take freight to lake ports. Use for same~ cars was being found in the long haul from Chicago to the seaboard. Every ton of freight held back by these tactics woe come to the roads after the season of navigation had closed. A dismissal without charges or cause has been given to Assistant Inspector of Hulls James Hogan and Assistant Inspector of Boilers Thomas Kehoe in the local steamboat inspection office. The two men recently received notice from Washington that their services would not be required after October 31. The notice came direct from Supervising - Inspector-General Dumont and was entirely without warn- ing. It is said that the reason which will be given for the change is that Chicago has fallen below the number of © vessels inspected which requires assistants to the local inspectors, and they were accordingly dismissed. Vessel men generally were surprised at the announcement, and speak in high terms of the two men. James Hogan was formerly owner and master of the steamer Albert Soper and has been a prominent figure in the lumber marine fleet. Strong efforts will be made by the marine interests to have the men reinstated. It is said that Chicago’s fleet of boats to be inspected fell below the required number during the past year, owing to the exceedingly small grain fleet lying up here during the winter. It is believed that a large num- ber of boats will be on hand at the close of navigation and the local inspectors will have trouble to clean up their work without help. : _ OO or FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND LAGAN. The schooner Oak Leaf has been sold by Lyman Feltus to the Pilsen Lumber Co. for $10,500. The schooner Oliver Mitchell is transferred from Mary A. Ackerman, of Oswego, to P. Myers, of Chicago, for $2,700. The Falls Hollow Staybolt Co., Cuyahoga Falls, O. is not only doing a large business in the marine field but is also receiving patronage from the railroads. The safety hollow staybolt iron is specified to be used in the locomotive re- cently ordered by the A. T. & S. F. Ry. Co. Z The official marine report, at Ashtabula for the month of October, shows that the ore receipts amounted to 482,149 tons, an increase of 162,935 tons over the corresponding month last year and 22,642 tons more than the September. receipts. The total ore receiptsto date aggregate 2,934,490 tons. Coal shipments during October amounted to 146,880 tons, a slight decrease over September shipments. It is now stated that the Toledo & Ann Arbor railroad will build another car ferry steamer during the coming winter. The company is negotiating for the use of an ice-crusher to keep Sturgeon Bay canal open, so that ferries can run all winter. The railroad company want another boat, but it seems questionable where the material is to come from, though the keel could be laid at the yards of the Craig Ship Building Co., Toledo. Secretary of the Navy Long says he is heartily in favor of the upbuilding of the merchant marine and presents three reasons for: favoring it, as follows: First, by reason of the financial return which would follow from carrying our constantly increasing exports; second, from the increased business it would give our shipyards; and third, because it would furnish a reserve of seamen upon which the navy could draw in case of war. OO oon TRANSFER OF VESSEL PROPERTY. When the Central Vermont .railroad failed to meet its obligations last spring, the Ogdensburg line of steamers, which the Central Vermont had bonded ten years ago to cover partial cost of construction, was ordered into the hands of a receiver, the United States Circuit Court for Massa- chusetts appointed Percival W. Clement, of Rutland, Vt., to the position. Of the original mortgage for $775,000 there still remained unpaid $634,000, and as the controlling number of bonds were held by the Rutland railroad, the boats were transferred at Detroit this week to the service in connection with that road. Under the management of the receiver the line shared liberally in the prosperity of the present season, easing con- siderably the doubt as to the outcome of the transaction for the bond holders. The boats were all built in Detroit, and the fleet consists of the William J. Averill, Walter L. Frost, William A. Haskell, James R. Langdon, A. McVittie, Gover- nor Smith, Henry R. James and F. H. Prince, averaging 2,000 tons gross and all being built between 1884 and 18go,