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A DREDGE TRUST. here have been reports in Chicago all season that an ef- fort was being made to form a dredge trust. Itis said that Cleveland firm had asked for options on the dredging com- anies. In one instance it is said that an offer was made to sell and a price stated. ‘The first news of an effort at form. ing the combine outside of Chicago comes from G. H. Brey. ‘man of the firm of G. H. Breyman & Bros. Dredging Co., of Toledo. Mr. Breyman says that some months ago several ‘letters were received by his firm, asking for a price on his plant and good will. He says that as far as his company is concerned the attempt was unsuccessful. Speaking about e matter Mr, Breyman said: ‘‘I heardafew months ago ‘that a Cleveland syndicate wanted to form a dredge trust. Our company received letters asking for an option, but tha! isasfar asthe matter has progressed. There is no doubt’ : but the Breyman Co. will accept an offer for its dredg ing interests—that is, if the money is what we ask. I have grave doubts as to the success attending the attempt to form suchatrust. Itis hard to estimate the value of dredges; where one may make money, a smaller one will loose large sums. The same difficulties did not attend the forming of _ the tug trust. Where they could estimate the value of tugs, both large and small, with dredges the value would have to be set by the earning powers of each. And that would be a difficult proposition. I think the trust will not be formed, but am open for a surprise.’? It can be said, ‘however, that it has always been felt that some understand- ing existed among the government contractors and dredging firms on the lakes and that contracts were awarded according ‘to prearranged figures and at the desire of the temporary combination of business interests. ~ (i tt THE HEAVENS IN NOVEMBER. _ Astronomical data for November 1899, furnished the RECORD by the Washburn observatory : _ Considerable interest has been aroused by the remarkable clustering of the major planets in one vicinity of the heav- ens, that in which the sun also is now situated. Neptune stands far apart by itself, 40° away from the parallel of the sun, toward the celestial north pole, and is on the meridian at about 2 o’clock in the morning; but the remaining six major planets are all near the sun. They all follow that body and set soon afterward, except Jupiter, which is now west, and therefore preceeds the sun. Venus and Mercury are evening stars, but are not yet conspicuous. The former is drawing away from the sun, however, and will soon become the brilliant evening star. On Noy. 16th a planet may be seen close by Mars, a little higher than the latter. Mercury reaches greatest elongation east Nov. 16,and may be seen close by Venus, a little lower, on Nov. 25. The times of sunrise and sunset at Milwaukee for the _ month are as follows: : SUNRISE. SUNSET i Se ea cet oe na eee 6:26 4:24 Be ee coke x Lia ss secs teats ole 6:39 4:32 BI ces couse Snes sue Sas veces 6:52 4:23 eae eke cw ek eae ess 7:03 4:18 The times of the moon’s phases are : BNE WiAMOON 64/0. onc oe lh eek con geen Nov. 3, 4:27 a.m. “UC GY EET Wy cS Us oi ear ara {C107 ah a.m, <5 UC ELOYOY 01 Sea ea M17, AiO. PPRINCOUATTOR. voces cscs sds c eves sc cece ff 95, 12:35 a. 1. The principal fixed stars visible during the month are: In _ the evening hours to the west Vega, Altair, the bright stars of the square of Pegasus to the east; Aldebaran, the Pleiades and Capella. _ The Leonid meteors will be due again in force this month. For several years past a considerable number of them have been seen each November, but this year they may be ex- pected to make a more numerous appearance. They start apparently from the Sickle in the constellation Leo, which is high in the eastern heavens in the early morning. ‘These meteors are very swift in their flight, and differ greatly in brilliancy. The morning of Noy. 14 and 15 will be the most favorable times for seeing them, if the sky is clear. rr rr - TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES OF CHICAGO. ‘There is a falling away of Chicago’s marine business, and vessel owners in the grain or coal business are predicting a still further boycott of the city unless a radical improvement is wrought in the facilities of the port. The greatest hindrance is Chicago river itself. Narrow, winding, full of bridges, it offers great inconveniences for big freighters. The draw bridges delay the boats, many _have difficulty in getting by the piers, and only the recent THE MARINE RECORD substitution in many places of rolling lift bridges has made it possible for modern steamers to get through the river at all. At dock, vessels find antique unloading apparatus and lose from 12 to 30 hours in unloading on account of the poor means at hand, It is not strange that the boats steer clear of Chicago and goto some port where modern appliances, roomy vessel space and quick service enable discharging and loading of to be done with speed. rr WINTER NAVIGATION. What is the matter with stirring up Congress on the sub. ject of keeping navigation of the Great Lakes open during the winter season. The Star, published in Wasington, says that with the approach of winter, a vast current of commerce is checked, with a consequent effect upon many lines of in- dustry and trade. The question arises whether some means cannot be devised whereby the Great Lakes may be kept open during the winter months and thus prevent the cessa™ tion of the traffic upon which so many industries depend. The Star further says that the proposition is no longer absurd, and points to the success achieved by the Russian Government in keeping its harbors open all winter with the aid of powerful ice crushers. It also cites the work performed by the ice crushers in the Straits of Mackinac. The enormous growth of the lake commerce would more than justify an extensive experiment in this direction, and it would not be surprising soon to find some enterprising concern engaged in the undertaking, allured by the rich re- wards which would accrue to the pioneer in this direction. The influence upon the country’s industries of such a relief from the annual blockade would be incalculable. or oo oe MILWAUKEE TONNAGE. With the major portion of lake tonnage fixed ahead for next season, it is remarked that Milwaukee owners have not been a bit too eager in chartering. Nearly all the owners have so far held off and have refused to enter into contracts for next season’s business. The most important tonnage is made up of eighteen ves- sels, of which only two, the Helena and Neosho, of the Mil- waukee Tug Boat line, have been placed for contract ore next season. ‘The other vessels are as follows : R. G. Fitzgerald fleet—John Plankinton, P. D. Armour, Wiley M. Eagan, R. P. Fitzgerald. David Vance & Co. fleet—R. P. Flower, F. L. Vance. H. J. Pauley fleet—Thomas Davidson, Walter Vail, Baltic, Aberdeen. William Fitzgerald fleet—Denver, Pueblo, Omaha, Topeka. William H. Wolf fleet—Fred. Pabst, W. H. Wolf.. Just how many of these sixteen vessels may be placed at a later date is not known, in fact their owners have not yet decided what todo as regards fixing ahead, it is reported that the Pauly fleet is likely to be placed. OO OO Oe WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. The establishment of the Marconi system of wireless tele- graphy inthe northern part of Newfoundland, and along the Labrador coast, seems to be seriously contemplated by the Newfoundland Government, whose Minister of Marine and Fisheries, in a recent interview, stated that the plan at present thought of, if arrangement can be made with M. Marconi for instruments, fitting up, etc., is to connect the whole Labrador coast with the nearest telegraph station on the island, probably Tilt Cove. The distance between Tilt Cove and Rama, Northern Labrador, in a line along the coast, is something over 850 miles. This means that about 18 stations at a distance of about 50 miles apart will be placed. The system will probably be worked only during the fishing season of some four months in the year. DOO lO Tue following letter received by The Kenney Company, New York City, under date of Oct. 21st speaks for itself, and should be of interest to our readers. ‘‘Gentlemen:— In looking over a new ship, the steamer Angeline, that we have just received from the Detroit Ship Building Company, I was much pleased to note what seemed to be a very excel- lent steamboat closet, called the Flushometer. I would like very much if you would send mea catalogue with prices of these closets. Every now and then there are some of our closets on our vessels giving way, and this one seems to be of some value—the first one in fact that I ever saw that was. Very truly yours, The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. (Signed) J. H. Sheadle, Secy. REPORTED BY THE LOOKOUT. The steamer A. Y. Gowan, recently burned and sunk with her cargo of lime, has been repaired. The charter of the steamer Sardinia to take the Canadian contingent to South Africa will cost the Dominion Govern- ment $100,000, Capt. Andrew Tainter, the millionaire pioneer Wisconsin lumberman, who died at Rice Lake the other day, went west alone at the age of 18, and began work in a sawmill at $20 a month. The Countess Schimmelman, who travels in her own yacht doing missionary work among sailors and boatmen, is in Syracuse. She will be remembered as having been at the Thousand Islands a year ago, going from there to Chicago. She is now on her way to New York via the Erie canal. A Paris journal states that successful experiments have been made with an entirely new type of torpedo boat. These vessels are said to be quite smal], and are intended to be swung like ordinary ships’ boats to the sides of ironclads. They can be launched rapidly, and the object is to defend the parent ships. Capt. C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., will relinquish command of the Texas about Dec. 1, and proceed to Washington, D. C., for duty as Chief of the Bureau of Naval Intelligence, reliev- ing Comdr. Richard Clover, who will go to London as naval attache of the United States Embassy there, vice Lieut. Comdr. J. C. Colwell, relieved. Admiral Melville believes the turbine engine has a distinct field as an electricial generating engine, especially on ship- board. When the design of naval electricial machinery is sufficiently advanced to justify the use of large units, the Admiral says, the advantages of the turbine engines will cause a great saving in weight and space. The Collingwood Drydock Co. is the name of a new ship- building and steamship company that will shortly make public its organization at Duluth, Minn. Capt. Alex. Mc- Dougall, of Duluth, the inventor of the whaleback, will probably be a director in the company. They will build four steel ships of the Welland canal size, to begin with, and more will follow. The British steamiship Falls of Keltie arrived recently at Rangoon, from New York with 20 locomotives and 75 railway carriages and other parts of railway machinery for the Burmah railways. This steamer left New York June 24 with the largest quantity of machinery that was ever put aboard one boat, comprising railway material for Alexandria, Bom- bay and Rangoon and American oil for Colombo. Mr. McLeod Stewart, of Ottawa, who is nothing if not op- timistic, says work will begin on the Ottawa and Georgean Bay canal on May next, and the canal will be completed by July, 1903. Inside 18 months vessels will be able to go up the French river to North Bay, where elevators will be con- structed. The C. P. R. upper lake boats will run to North Bay instead of Owen Sound and transfer their cargoes there. Cleveland capitalists have bought the Welland canal size steamer being built at Port Huron by the Jenks Ship Build- ing Co., and have contracted with the same company for a 6,000 ton steamer, like the H. C. Frick, to be launched by August, 1900. All material for the boat has been ordered, and by taking the option on the Jenks yard, which is out of the trust, the Clevelanders have got around the Carnegie move in tying up all the trust yards till next spring with their own boats. A slack demand for boats at Chieago caused the grain rate to fall to 3. cents. At Cleveland ore and coal rates are un- changed, but coal is shipping forward from the mines a little more freely. With the large number of carriers on the mar- ket this week, there is some danger of a break in ore freights. Cars are more plentiful at Buffalo now, and coal freights are opening up. Boats can get all the coal they want at $1 to Lake Michigan and 60 cents to Duluth. The elevator situa- tion has improved, and the boats detained for so long are now unloaded. Captains of vessels in the grain trade complain that they are being subjected to what they call ‘‘blackmail.’’? With the system this year of consignments to individuals instead of elevators, vessels are entitled to ‘‘privileges of the port’’ after 24 hours. Thatis,; they can discharge at any elevator where there isroom for grain. Some captains charge that when their boats are consigned to companies whose elevators are already full, the privilege of unloading at elevators hay- ing room is sold by the managers of the port, who are alleged to receive from $25 to $100 for the privilege. The owners of the vessel property can tell more about this ‘‘address’? money than the masters. The Ogdensburg News says: Large flocks of wild geese have been seen making their way from their nesting fields in the far north to warmer latitudes. The wide and inviting waters of the old St. Lawrence, and the grain inadvertently scattered by the farmer in the harvest field, often entices many of them to stop in their transit through the latter part of the autumn monthsin this vicinity. They are exceed- ingly shy by nature, nor has their shyness been lessened by experience in these latitudes. Occasionally one or more has to yield to the unerring aim of the hunter with his Winches- ter. The number of these noble, sagacious fowls has been gradually decreasing for the last 4o years. This remark also holds true of wild ducks. The earliest settlers here can well remember of seeing acres of the bay and river literally cov- ered with these fowls.