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THE MARINE RECORD. Kae mKKK be tr DULUTH—SUPERIOR. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. Grain chartering has been very slack this week, with a decline of another % cent, as 234 cents is now offered on wheat, with vessels holding at last week’s reduced rate of 234 cents. Alexander Sinclair & Co. have purchased the steamer J. C. Suit and will use her in wrecking operations on Lake Superior. They recently bought the McMorran outfit of pumps and diving rigs. Hingston & Wood’s dredge No. 10 started work on the Portage Lake ship canal, and after filling two scows, was run into by the barge Dayton towed by the J. P. Donaldson, breaking the two forward anchors on the dredge and dam- aging some planking on the barge. The business of the Philadelphia & Reading has increased in the past seven years from 37,000 tons coal to 235,000 tons. Among other extensive improvements, a winding track overhead system for distributing coal is being put in which is said to be the finest on the lakes. One hundred and twenty-five men are employed at the plant. Coal is shipped out and consumed as fast as it arrives and, although there is nothing like a scarcity, nor has there been, yet there is about 15,000 tons less on the docks this year than there was last. It is estimated that 28,000 tons would cover the stock piles on May 1, and with regular receipts from this on, a fairly liberal supply at moderate prices is as- sured. Some large sales of timber land were carried through last week. Bardon & Pleas of Ashland sold 21,000,000 feet of standing pine along the international waters, for $42,000. Moore Bros., of Itasca county sold to the American Timber Brokers’ Association some 25,000,000 feet in that county for $73,000. The biggest deal of all that has been figured on for some time is a tract of 580,000,000 feet, belonging to Cook & Turrish and others and on which an option has been given William O’Brien and others of St. Paul for $1,500,000. Itis stated that if the estimates hold the sale will be closed at the expiration of the option. Ahard fight is going on between the Lake Superior & Lake Michigan Transportation Co. and the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroad. The lake line has established a rate of 3 cents a hundred, which is ruinous even for the boats, and impossible for the railroad to meet. The lake line denies that it intends to put up the rate again, although there are rumors of the opposing forces coming to an agree- ment. There has been keen competition and a slashing of rates going on for some time past, the railroad being quite as aggressive as the steamboat line, but it is thought that this last minimum rate will ‘‘choke the luff’’ of the railroad company. The government work in the Superior-Duluth harbor is now well under way. The aim for the summer is to finish .the work in district No. 1, that is to complete the 22-foot channel 400 feet wide from the natural entry up Superior Bay to the Superior-Duluth bridge, and to make the chan nel 500 feet wide west of the bridge to the Ohio coal docks in Duluth. The channel in Allouez bay is already 250 feet wide up as far as the Omaha flour dock, and not much will be done there this year. The south channel from St. Louis Bay from the N. S. bridge to St. Paul & Duluth bridge will probably be widened to 200 feet this season. There is al- ready a 22-foot channel along the St. Louis river on the Du- luth side up as far as West Duluth, and on the Superior side up as far as the Y. & L. coaldock. The channel will be ex- tended this year nearly up to Spirit Lake. A notice of appeal in the admiralty case of the White Line Towing Co. vs. the steamer Arthur Orr, to the United States Court of Appeals, has been entered from the decree of Judge Lochren. The decree gave the libelants $10,500 and the amount of the appeal bond was $13,000. The White Line filed its libel in the United States district court that it be awarded salvage against the steamship and cargo. Subse- quently the British Marine Insurance Company made claim to the cargo, and having given bond for the release of the cargo, filed its answer praying that such libel be dismissed. The case was tried before Judge Lochren and on March 5 the court pronounced in favor of the libelant, the White Line Towing Company, and on April 23 rendered its decree _granting the company salvage mentioned in the foregoing, together with costs, amounting in all to $11,076.24. The libelants insisted that the final decree was erroneous in that it decrees the payment of the libelant’s claim and awards any sum whatever as damages to the libelant and therefore does not dismiss the libel. For this reason the case has been brought to the higher court, the next session of which will be held in St. Louis in September. DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. The passenger steamer Sterling, running on the St. Clair river, has had her name changed to the Mary. Capt. Rogers, inspector of the ninth and tenth life saving districts, with headquarters at Detroit, is on an inspection tour of the life saving stations in the ninth district. Charles Hayes, a sailor belonging to the steamer China, died at the Detroit Marine Hospital, Wednesday night, of tuberculosis, after an illness of a little more than a week. Charles Norton, the well-known grain shipper and broker, chartered the steamer Saturn and consort this week at 4% cents on Cedar ties from Georgian Bay to St. Clair River. A favorable report was made on Senator McMillan’s amendment to the sundry civil bill for the construction of a revenue cutter of the third class for duty in St. Mary’s river, to cost $75,000. Mr. Wm. Woollatt has been appointed general manager of the Lake Erie & Detroit River Railway Co. (F. H. Walker, president), with offices at Walkerville. The appointment became effective May Ist. John J. Hill, who was superintendent of the Morley Ship Building Co., of Marine City, has severed his connection with that firm and will ieave shortly for the Pacific coast, where he will be engaged in the shipbuilding business. There are some 4,000 vessels on the lakes, and at least 3,000 of these at one time or another go through the Detroit river and use the marine postoffice. A fair average of the number of men on each boat is seven, a total of about 21,000 men. Messrs. Shaw & Cady, admiraltv lawyers, have removed their offices from the Home Bank Building to numbers 904, 905, 9c6 and 907 Union Trust Building. The principals of the firm are John C. Shaw, Esq. and Wm. B. Cady, Esq., with whom are associated Messrs. Herbert K. Oakes and Geo. Wm. Cottrell. The elegant and speedy passenger steamer Tashmoo, owned by the White Star Line, has had a preliminary trial trip. Her builders, the Detroit Ship Building Co., as also her owners, are well pleased with her so far, but there is considerable finishing work to do to her yet before she is fully ready for service. The Pittsburg Steamship Co. (Carnegie) announces the launching of the first steamer of its fleet, the Harvard, on Saturday, May 19, at3 p. m., at the Wyandotte yard of the Detroit Ship Building Co., Wyandotte, Mich. Boat No. 43, now building at the Globe yards, Cleveland, for the same company, is to be named the Rensselaer after the well- known polytechnic school of Troy, N. Y. There was a meeting of lumber dealers at the Russell House on Thursday last and it was the concensus of opinion that there would be no decline in the prices of lumber this summer. Another of the points discussed was the freight rates, and it was the opinion that Detroit dealers should have a shilling better rate per M feet on lake cargoes than the Ohio points, because of the shorter trip. At the meeting of the Port Huron Common Council, on Monday evening last, Ald. W. G. Jenks stated, that in his opinion, no more steel boats would be built at the yards on Black river after the present one was completed. It is prob- able that a ship yard will be established on St. Clair river. It will likely be September before the new steel steamer now being built at the yards of the Jenks Ship Building Co. will be launched. At Iron River, Mich., several million feet of hardwood, belonging to the Buckeye Stave Co., burned up at the lJand- ing, causing a loss of $200,000. The fire was started by the forest fires. The Lillie Lumber Co., of Talbot, has lost too,o00 feet of hemlock logs on skids near Carney. The damage to standing and cut timber in the upper peninsula of Michigan through the fires of the past three weeks, amounts to nearly $1,000,000. It is interesting to note that, the work of improving the Detroit river was begun in 1874. At that time the cost of excavating a large portion of the channel was estimated on the basis of $25 a cubic yard. None of the contracts have ever been let at any such cost per yard and the above bids are all below $5. Nevertheless the actual work of improy- ing the river will cost the whole of the original $25 per yard estimate, and much more. The original estimate, however, was for a 300-foot channel, 18 feet deep, and now there is being completed a 600-foot channel, 21 feet deep. A dispatch from Washington, says: The rivers and har- bors committee has decided to report to the House an emergency bill and put it on its passage at once. Congress- man Bishop has inserted in the measure an item for the survey of Muskegon harbor, with the view of increasing the depth to twenty feet and making a uniform width. There will be provision for the survey of the St. Clair ship canal, with ‘the view of increasing the width to double present capacity, or building a second canal parallel with the present channel and of equal width, so that upbound vessels may take one route and downbound craft the other, thus obviat- ing the possibility of collision. There will be provision for continued improvement of the Detroit river at the Lime Kilns, and for the improvement of old St. George channel in the ‘‘Soo’’ river. There will also probably be included a few estimates for Lake Erie improvements. The bill has been prepared after repeated consultations with Speaker Henderson, who until to-day has stood out against allowing the bill to be put through. CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to the Marine Record. The Hines Lumber Co. intend to keep a supply of bitum- inous coal at their yards to supply their steamers with fuel, _ A large amount of business has been done here during the past week in grain charters on the basis of 134 cents on corn to Buffalo. MAY 17, 1900. John F. Hodell, for many years an employe of the O. §, 2 Richardson Fueling Co., now holds the position of foreman — at the Youghiogheny and Lehigh Fueling Co.’s south side dock. Jack is well liked and has a host of friends among the marine fraternity. The steel steamer Robert W. E. Bunsen was successfully launched at the Chicago Ship Building Co.’s shipyard at South Chicago, Tuesday afternoon. Bessemer Steaniship Co. She was built for the — Her dimensions are 461 feet over — all, 50 feet beam, 29 feet molded depth. She will havea carrying capacity of 7,500 tons on 18 foot draft. A remarkable record for the rapid handling of cargoes was made at South Chicagoon Saturday last. The steamer Robert Mills, with 2,600 tons of coal, reached South Chica- go in the morning and began unloading at the new Lehigh Valley dock at 7 o’clock. At 8 o’clock p. m. the Mills sailed with 85,000 bushels of corn. Such rapid handling of cargo can not be exceeded in any port in the world. The Western Transit Line steamer Vanderbilt collided with the steamer O. E. Parks lying at the Rock Island dock at Tenth street unloading ties Monday afternoon. The Vanderbilt was endeavoring to navigate the river with- out the services of a tug, but the current in the river rendered her unmanageable and caused the accident. The Vanderbilt had her bows stove in above the water line and the Parks received some damage aft and had her mizzen mast carried away. At Miller Brothers shipyard the steamer A. McVittie was in dock for bottom calking and new stern bearing, tug Kate Williams to have wheel fastened, the steamer I. M. Weston and schooner John Miner for bottom calking, barge D. R. Martin for piece of new keel and bottom calking, steamer M. F. Butters for some bottom calking, fire boat Geyser for repairs to stern bearing, schooner Ralph Campbell for calk- ing butts and searching bottom, steamer Nellie B. for repairs to her wheel. The Chicago Boiler Cleaner Co., which have had offices in the Monadnock block for several years, have leased and oc- cupied a store at 321 Dearborn street. The new quarters are much larger, the increase of space being demanded by im- proved business. The company sell besides the Chicago bailer cleaner, the Famous oil filter, and a line of flue scrap- ers. They are agents for the White & Middleton gas engine and for the Tweedale water purifier system for preventing the formation of scale in boilers. G. W. Atterbury is manager of the company. The steamer Fred Pabst when going down the river Sat- urday evening picked up a log in her wheel and three blades were broken off. She was towed to one of the Illinois Cen- tral elevators and after considerable of her cargo of corn had been unloaded she was towed to the Chicago Ship Building Co.’s shipyard at South Chicago, to be placed in dry dock to receive a new Sheriffs’ wheel, which was sent from Milwaukee on the tug W. H. Meyer. The Pabst will come back here and reload the portion of her cargo taken out at the Central elevator. The resolution made by the Licensed Tugmen’s Associa- tion here and sent to the vessel and dredging tug companies at this port, asking for a raise of $10 per month to tug engin- eers and for certain hours to lay up, has been granted by the tug companies and everything 1s working very satisfac- torily between the owners and the members of the Associa- tion. The Licensed Tugmen’s Association, Lodge 2, Chicago, now have their headquarters at 240 South Water street, where they have fitted up and furnished a large room on the second floor, where the members can assemble at all hours, Capt. John M. Twichell, aged 54 years, died Thursday night, May toth, at his residence 3811 Michigan avenue, from an illness which commenced just before the close of navigation last year. The deceased was in the employ of the L. M. & L. S. Transportation Co. twenty years and master of the steamer City of Traverse eight years, and would have commanded her again this season. He was a thorough sailor and was held in high esteem by his em- ployers and his many friends and much regret is felt at his passing away. He leaves a widow and two sons. Funeral services were held at his former residence Saturday and his pore wee taken to Manitowoc, where he formerly lived, for urial. _ Thomas O’Neil, aged 38 years, single, died Monday morn- ing, April 3oth, at the residence of his mother, 315 Wauban- Sia avenue. He was a marine engineer and a member of the Licensed Tugmen’s Association, No. 2, Chicago, also of the Knights of Pythias. One hour after Capt. C. McCarle, chairman of the funeral committee of the I). T. A. was notified of the death, one hundred dollars was obtained from treasurer Thos. Hunter and handed to the deceased’s mother. Twenty-five dollars was also expended for floral tributes emblematic of the Association and representing a steering wheel and propeller wheel, and twenty-five dollars for carriages for the members to attend the funeral of the deceased. The L. T. A. took full charge of the funeral and many members were in attendance. ms al aa il NG at | os