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JANUARY 18, Igoo, Weather Bureau has this year taken up the duty of care- fully collecting the facts relating to the rain fall on the var- ious lake basins,and it has published in tabular form the statistics of rain fall in connection with the various gov- ernment records kept by the United States War Depart- ment, of the monthly changes in the water levels of the various lakes. The tabulation of rain fall and water levels will be published with the annual report of the Lake Car- riers’ Association, and should also be made part of the proposed pamphlet on the subject of lake levels. The an- nual report of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army for 1899, clearly shows that that department is alive to the importance of that question. On page 635 of the re- el the Chief of Engineers refers to the question as fol- Ows: “Of still more pressing importance for the time being is an energetic prosecution of the recently inaugurated work of investigating lake levels, the immediate practical purpose of which is to devise the best means of regulatine these levels, and of preserving or increasing the navigable depth of natural and improved channels in the lakes and their connecting waters. Operations under this project are now dependent upon small allotments from two pertient appro- priations, but, if any reasonable progress is to be realized, it is essential that means be provided for continuing them on a much more extensive scale; the work is so intimately con- nected with the lake surveys, past and present. as to induce the suggestion that its further prosecution be in connection with appropriations for these surveys. It will be abso- lutely impossible to make anything like satisfactory progress in these investigations unless an expenditure of. at least $100,000 be provided for during the year ending June 30, IQOI. “Tt is therefore recommended that the estimate for sur- veys for the year too1 be made to include the amount speci- fied in the foregoing paragraph, and that the appropriation be formulated as follows: ” “For survey of northern and northwestern lakes, includ- ing all expense of correcting, extending, and issuing charts, and investigating lake levels, with a view to their regula- tion. to be available until expended, $150,000.” The matter of this appropriation will doubtless come be- fore the committee of Congress during the present session. and the time is therefore opportune for the Lake Carriers’ Association to ask Congress to make the necessary provis- ion for careful examination of this subject. and at the same time to pave the way for the appointment of the interna- tional commission, which can alone deal with the subject in a comprehensive manner. REIMBURSEMENT FOR PRIVATE LIGHTING. The President of the association, soon after his election, called upon the Secretary and Treasurer to furnish him with full information as to the disbursements of the asso- ciation for private lighting for five years past, the informa- tion to show the amount of money that the association has paid out for the purpose, the lights which it has maintained, the necessity for the lights, and any reimbursement that the association has received from the government, from marine insurance interests or any one else. When this informa- tion had been collected the President suggested that in his opinion the association had paid out monevs for lights which it had been the duty of the government to nrovide, and that the association was fairly entitled to reimbursement. The information was therefore put in proper form for pre- sentation to the authorities at Washington, and a bill has been introduced in the Senate by Senator McMillan, of Michigan, under which the association can be reimbursed for its expenditure since the season of 1804. ‘Lue lights which the association has been paying for are of two classes; either they are lights which the association has maintained temporarily to light newly constructed channels built by the United States government until the Light-House Board could provide a permanent system for lighting the channels, or they are lights situated in Canada and used to light artificial channels built by our govern- ment for our ships, which can only be properly lighted from the Canadian side. It has been assumed that, our government was powerless in any manner to provide lights on Canadian soil. Thus the Ballard’s Reef lights at Bal- lard’s Reef, which were maintained in 1896 at an expense of $1,800, belong to the first of the two classes mentioned, and they have since been replaced by government gas buoys. To this class also belong the lights maintained this year in the Sault river, where the government has plans for lighting the various channels lighted by our lights, but it has not yet got the government lights into operation. To the sec- ond class belong the lights we have maintained for the whole of the six year period since 1894 in the vicinity of the Limekiln Crossing, where the channels are close to the Canadian shore and can only be properly lighted by lights on that shore. The Senate bill introduced by Senator Mc- Millan has been referred to the Lighthouse Board for re- port and has been in turn referred by the board to the var- ious district officers of the lighthouse service on the lakes. Full information from the point of view of the Lake Car- riers’ Association has been furnished to the district offi- cers and to the Light-House board itself. We are very glad to say that in this matter the position taken by the Lake Carriers’ Association has the hearty support of Senator Mc- Millan. In a letter dated January 6, 1900, addressed to the Secretary of the association, Senator McMillan says: “In my opinion the Lake Carriers’ Association should be reimbursed for all the money which they have necessarily expended, the necessity being settled by the subsequent action. of the government in replacing lights which the Lake Carrier’s Association has maintained. Also, it seems to me entirely proper that the Lake Carriers’ Association ‘THE MARINE RECORD. should be reimbursed for lights necessarily maintained in Canadian waters. In eae t agree entirely with your let- ter, and think the suggestion with regard to contract lights a valuable one. The principle which should govern, of course, is that of making the lake waterways as safe as human ingenuity can make them in order to accommodate the enormous commerce passing throtigh them. “T have referred your letter to the Light-House Board, and have notified the board of my entire concurrence in the views expressed by you.” The reference to the contract system made by Senator McMillan in his letter is to a suggestion coming originally from one of the district lighthouse officers that it does not follow by any means that because the Light-House Board was powerless to build lights in Canada, it was unable to light the channels built by our government for our ships near the Canadian shore; that while our government can- not acquire sites for lights in Canada and own its lights there, it was possible in case Congress made provision there- for, that the Light-House Board could contract either with the Lake Carriers’ Association or individuals for maintain- ing the necessary lights on the Canadian shore to light channels constructed by the government. It certainly does not seem right that one department of the United States government should expend millions of dollars on a channel and leave it unlighted, and that another department should not be able to find a way to spend a few thousand dollars in satisfactorily lighting this channel. Now that the prob- lem is before the Light-House Board we may fairly expect that they will take it up with a determination to reach a satisfactory solution in some way. If it is part of that solu- tion that the Lake Carriers’ Association is to be reimbursed for the money it has paid out for these lights durine the past five or six years, your Board of Managers will have rendered the association very useful service. BLOCKADES IN THE ST. MARY’S RIVER. The two blockades in the St. Mary’s river during the nast season have called especial attention to the difficiilties under which the great commerce of that river is now car- ried on. It is difficult even for our lake vessel owners to realize the rapidity of the growth of the traffic throuch the St. Mary’s river. In 1889 the total vessel tonnage passing through the river was 7,221,935 tons; in 1899 it was 22.000,- 000 tons. It is but a few years since night navigation in the river was begun, and while the opening of the Hay Lake channel and the improvements at the Encampment have greatly improved navigable conditions. it has been recog- nized from the start, even by those who had no\idea that the growth of commerce would be so rapid. that the chan- nels as they now exist must not be considered final, and that other extensive improvements will be necessary. It is estimated that the first blockade at the Encampment during the past season, although lasting only five days, involved a dead loss to those interested in the navigation of not less than a million dollars. It is even more difficult to esti- mate the loss of the shorter blockade near the end of the season. While the number of vessels detained was not so great as in the case of the wreck of the Douglass Hough- ton, the fact that the blockade was so near the close of nav- igation, made even the short delay involve a loss of a trip to many vessels. The damage would have been very much greater if the weather conditions had been such as to necessitate an early close of the Sault canal, or even the closing at the average date. It is appalling to think of the damage in dollars and cents, not to speak of the disturbance to the industry of the country. that might be caused by a serious and prolonged blockade of the St. Mary’s river. Yet, under the conditions as they exist, such a blockade is not only a possibility, but almost a likely occurrence, and the increase in the size and number of vessels is every year adding to the danger. The whole history of improvement in the St. Mary’s river, including the building of the new lock at the Sault, teaches the lesson that work begun by the government at the first warning is not completed any too soon. But for the building of the Canadian lock, the old government lock at the Sault would have been unable to take care of the business until the new lock was opened. Unless the new channels in the Sault river are begun at once. the existing channels will be overtaxed before the new improvements can be completed. The river and har- bor act of March 3, 1899, provided for a thorough investi- gation of the further improvement needed in the St. Mary’s river. The Secretary of War was authorized to “‘cause to be made and renorted as early as practicable a survey of the connecting waters between Lakes Superior and Huron, in- cluding Hay Lake channel, with a plan and estimate of stich improvement as will secure a safe and convenient channel twenty-one feet deep, between said lakes, the expense of which shall be paid from the appropriation for improving Hay Lake channel.”” Under this provision it is understood that the engineers in charge of the St. Mary’s river are pre- pared to make their recommendation to Congress for further improvements of the channels, and it is also understood that such improvement will take the form of deepening the channel through the West Neebish, thus doing away with the difficulties at the Encampment and providin+ two chan- nels through the most difficult part of the river, one of which can be used for ascending and the other for de- scending vessels. It is highly important that the assent of Congress to this project should be obtained at the earliest possible moment, and it is therefore deeply disappointing to the Executive Committee of the association to ascertain that there is a strong probability that no river and harbor bill will be passed by Congress this session. One of the most important questions to come before the annual meet- ing will be the consideration of the best method to hasten this improvement, whici is by far the most important now under consideration for the lakes. WATER ROUTES FROM THE LAKES TO THE SEABOARD. The continued growth of the lake traffic and the growing imnortance of the export business of the United States, not only in grain but in other products, such as iron and steel produced in the lake regions, has drawn public attention during the past year repeatedly to the various projects now pending for an improved waterway from the Great La«2s to the sea. The preliminary report of the Deep Waterways Commission, with its project for a dam at or near the head of the Niagara river, has already been referred to. In ad- dition to the making of that report, the past year has seen the completion of the St. Lawrence canals and the opening of a fourteen foot waterway from Lake Erie to the sea by wav of the St. Lawrence river. This has been promptly followed by plans for the development of an extensive grain trade through the St. Lawrence river, and a syndicate, largely composed of men familiar with lake navigation, has been formed to build large terminals at Montreal, and possibly at Port ‘Colborne, with a view to the development of this branch of the business. Meantime two commissions have been at work in the State of New York examining the problem with a view to the best interests of that state. One of these commissions was appointed by the Governor to - investigate the causes of the diversion of trade from the nort of New York. The second commission was appointed bv Governor Roosevelt to report to him as to whether the Erie canal should be abandoned or improved, and if im- nroved. what should be the nature of the improvement. The plans for diverting the grain business to Montreal naturally aroused public interest in the State and City of New. York in the work of both of these commissions. It is clearly apparent that the state is now more interested in the development of a connecting link between the lakes and the sea than at any.time in its history. The report of the Canal Advisory Commission is now in the hands of Gover- nor Roosevelt, and will be made public within a few days. The Governor has announced his intention of sending a special message on the subject to the legislature of the state. The commercial organizations throughout the state are taking an active interest in the matter and urging upon the state authorities a comprehensive plan of canal improvement, stich as will preserve to the State of New York the commercial supremacy which the Erie canal gave to the state in its early days. It is understood that the Advisory Canal Commission will report against the aban- donment of the Erie canal and in favor of improvement. It is also understood that the improvement which they will recommend is far more radical in its nature than any that has been under contemplation by the state in recent years. Briefly, the improvement recommended is believed to pro- vide for a canal with ten feet draft of water, with locks twenty-five feet wide, and capable of taking in boats one hundred and fifty feet in length. with all the single locks lengthened so as to permit two boats of one hundred and fifty feet length to be locked through at once, and with such enlargement in the prism of the canal as will reasonably ac- commodate boats of this size. A canal boat twenty-five feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet long, drawing ten feet of water, would carry in the neighborhood of a thous- and tons, and a tow of such vessels, consisting of steamer and consorts, would carry four thousand tons. Such canal boats are cheap to build and cheap to onerate. and this fact, together with the advantage of the New York terminals will, it is believed by the commission. enable the state of New York to hold the commerce of the lakes against any competition by railroad or: Canadian water route that may arise. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. During the past year the bill passed by Congress permit- ting vessel owners to file bonds in advance with the mar- shals of the United States Courts which will secure the im- mediate release of vessels libeled in admiralty, has gone into effect, and rules and regulations to carry out the law have been adopted in the various lake districts. A number of the principal fleets in the association have filed the neces- sary bonds in the offices of the different districts in which their business is carried on, and are now relieved from fear of detention under the old system by which libels for small and uniust claims were served just as vessels were leaving port. This result is one which the association has had in mind to bring about for several years past, and its final ac- complishment is a matter for congratulation among the members. A committee of the Lake Carriers’ Association appeared at Washington before the International Commission last spring, made oral argument and filed a written brief in favor of including the abolition of Welland canal tolls, among the subjects to be taken un and settled at the inter- national conference. As we all know the conference was unable to reach an agreement on the subject of the Alas- kan boundary, and adjourned without making report on any of the subjects which it was called for to consider. Since then a temporary agreement on the Alaskan boun- dary has been arrived at through diplomatic channels, and it is expected that the international conference will again be called together to consider the other questions which were before it. In that event the canal toll question will unquestionably receive consideration, The Committee on Aids to Navigation finds the most pressing need in the way of aids to navigation on the Great Lakes at the present time to be an additional supply of gas buoys for the St. Mary’s river, especially for lightine the cuts at the Encampment and at the head of Little Mud (CONTINUED ON PAGE 24.)