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Ee ee ee ee ee Re pe, eer Tbe wR DG cleans cerita : — = ————- ESTABLISHED 1878. AUNNUUIL U a VOL. XXIII, No. 28. CLEVELAND---JULY 12, 1900---CHICAGO. $2.00 Per Year. 5c. Single Copy LAKE CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION. Toconsider and take action upon all general questions relating to the navigation and carrying business of the Great Lakes, maintain necessary shipping offices and in general to protect the common interests of Lake Car- tiers, and improve the character of the service rendered to the public. PRESIDENT. W. C. FARRINGTON, Buffalo. 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT Cart J. G. KEITH, Chicago. SECRETARY. CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo. TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. . COUNSEL. HARVEY D. GouLDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE, JAMES CoRRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Gisson L. Doucras, Chairman, Buffalo, COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GEORGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. THE DEEP WATERWAY FROM LAKES TO COAST. The report of the deep waterway commission on a deep waterway from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic has just been completed. The commission consists of Lieut. Col. C. W. Raymond, of Philadelphia; Alfred Noble, of Chicago, and George Y. Wisner, of Detroit. The essential points and conclusions in the report follow: The report is made up of three parts. First. The report of the board’ containing a description of the original condition of the lake waterways and connect- ing channels, outline of the operations and investigations of the board, the physical conditions along the routes investi- gated, conclusions as to the relative merits of the routes and the estimated cost of 21-foot and 30-foot waterways. Second. The appendix containing 23 reports of surveys and investigations, which form the basis of the conclusions and estimates given in the report of the board. The papers of the appendix fill nearly 2,000 pages of manuscript, and are as follows: I, paper on locks; 2, lock gates; 3, breakwaters; 4, speed of ships; 5, comparison of waterways and relative advan- tages of routes; 6, Lake Erie regulations; 7, Niagara river discharge; 8, regulation of Lake Champlain; 9, instructions; 1o, Niagara and Champlain routes; 11, St. Lawrence route; 12, Champlain route, northern division; 13, Oswego-Mohawk route, western division; 14, Oswego-Mohawk route, eastern division; 15, tidal Hudson; 16, water supply; 17, lake channels; 18, materials to be excavated; 19, diamond drill borings; 20, precise levels, St. Lawrence river; 21, precise levels, St. Clair river; 22, description of bench marks; 23, secretary’s report. Third. One hundred and forty-one maps and drawings showing plans and profiles of the routes and design of structures on which estimates have been based. The report of the board, after stating the act of Congress under which the work was done, gives a brief history of the lake and tiver waterways and the improvements undertaken in the past. The operations of the board are then briefly stated and an outline given of the investigations which have been made by its members and assistants, the details of which are given in the appendix. The report on the control of lake levels, which was made the subject of a special report to the Secretary of War, last December, is embodied in the report without any modifica- tion of recommendations. The different routes from the lakes to the seaboard, and the channels through the lake waterways, are then discussed, estimates of cost given, and conclusions drawn as to the relative values of the different lines investigated. In regard to the routes from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the following comparison is made: “Referring to the estimate for the Tonawanda-Olcott route, it will be noted that it exceeds the estimated cost of the Lasalle-Lewison route by $6,060,550, for a 21-foot channel, and $2,136,900 for a 30-foot channel. “Following the method developed in Appendix No. 4, on speed of ships in the proposed deep waterway, it is found that a steamship of I9 feet draft in the 21-foot channel would consume one hour and nine minutes more time be- tween Buffalo anda point common to the two routes in Lake Ontario in traversing the Tonawanda-Olcott waterway than by the Lasalle-Lewiston route, and that in a 30-foot channel a steamship of 27 feet draft would be one hour and forty- three minntes longer by the Tonawanda route. “Since the cost of maintenance of the Lewiston waterway would be less than for the route from Tonawanda to Olcott, the interest and expense account will be much less for the former, and, as the actual time saved by a steamship on the Lewiston route would be from 11 to 16 per cent. of the time of passage, it is evident that both economy in construction and cost of transportation definitely determine the Lewiston waterway as the preferable route. “In the discussion of deep waterway routes to the sea in this report, whatever route out of Lake Ontario, which may be considered, all estimates of cost of construction, trans- portation and times of passage for ships of different speeds and dimensions will be based on the use of the Lasalle- Lewiston route.’’ The importance of establishing the final depth which should be given the lake channels is strongly recommended, and facts given in both the report and appendix which strongly indicate that for any depth over 21 feet the cost to maintain the channels, with interest on cost of construction, will exceed any decrease in cost of transporting the lake commerce due to greater draft of ships in which carried. In this same connection, the loss to ship owners from vessels becoming obsolete before worn out, where the depth of channels is being continually increased is one of the serious obstacles to obtaining low rates of transportation. The report continues: ; ‘‘The investigation of the routes for a waterway between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario indicates that the Lasalle- Lewiston line can be constructed at less cost than the others and can be traversed by a type of carrier between points common to all the routes in less time than by the other routes. “The natural harbor at the mouth of the Niagara river and the comparatively small amount of restricted channe] on the Lewiston line, make it a better location on which to construct a waterway than the route from Tonawanda to Olcott. ‘The route from. Lake Ontario to New York is 208 miles farther by the St. Lawrence river, Lake Champlain and the Hudson river than by the Oswego, Mohawk and Hudson rivers, but ‘has 292 feet less lockage than the Mohawk low level, and 366 feet less lockage than the Mohawk high level route. - “The length of standard canal prism is practically the same by each route, the difference being almost entirely in the open lake and river portions of the waterways. “The sailing time for a type carrier is 12 hours longer for the Champlain route than for the Mohawk route, which difference is due to the greater time required to sail 208 miles farther by the former than to make 18 more lockages on the latter. “The comparative values of the two routes depend largely upon the cost to construct and maintain the respective channels, the annual traffic capacity of each, and the time required for type carriers to make round trips, the details of which are given in the annexed tables. ; “The estimated cost of the 21-foot waterway and the sail- ing times between terminals are based on locks 600 feet long and 60 feet wide. If the locks should be made 80 feet wide for the purpose of passing large ships from the lake shipyards to the Atlantic, the estimated cost of the Mohawk route would be increased $4,221,000, and the Champlain route $2,560,coo, the annual capacity of the routes slightly diminished, and the times required for making round trips increased.’’ i oOo — THE ARMOR PLATE QUESTION. A correspondent of the New York Tribune calls attention to the fact that the advocates of Government armor works have largely based the claim that such an enterprise could be successfully operated and cheapef armor obtained on the fact that the government produces heavy ordnance at the Washington Navy Yard and at Watervliet Arsenal. But all the guns produced from these works have been made from forgings supplied by private companies, whose work on -them embraces all the metallurgical features of the process of manufacturing, beginning with the raw materials, and who supply them to the government rough machined and fully treated, after which they are simply machined to finish dimensions, etc. Every naval power of Europe has, at dif- ferent periods since the laying down of an armor clad ship, contemplated government works, only to find that armor could not be manufactured successfully in that way, or that the cost of successful production would far exceed the price at which it could be purchased from private works. An ad- miralty commission of Great Britain some time ago deter- mined the question negatively. Russia, being dependent upon foreign sources of supply, has spent more than §10,- 000,co9 upon a government plant at.Kolpino, but it is to be maintained regardless of cost, because the Russian ordnance experts concede that as a home resource it is invaluable. A largé percentage of the plate manufactured there has failed to meet the ballistic standard, but the government has since adopted the most advanced armor process of the time and is remodeling the Kolpino plant at a cost of many millions. DOO OS AS a result of an argument concerning the fabled harden- ing of copper, Mr. A. W. McCaslin, master blacksmith on the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Ry., at the McKees Rocks, Pa., shops, made trial of the case hardening process upon some pieces of copper. Four pieces were placed in a box filled with granulated raw bone and baked for fifteen hours. After being taken out, one piece was. quenched in fish oil, one piece in salt water, one piece in solution of saltpetre and yellow prussiate of potash in water, and the fourth piece was allow- ed to cool in the air. The only piece which gave evidence of being affected was the one quenched in fish oil, and that was affected but slightly. The same pieces were then baked in yellow prussiate of potash for 15 hours and then cooledin the air, but all to noeffect. There was no result expected from this experiment, which was made purely as such, but it is evident that there canbe no carburization of copper from this trial. $n EMILE C. GEYELIN, an eminent hydraulicengineer, died in Philadelphia June 25, seventy-five years old. Mr, Geye- lin was a native of Alsace, France, and studied engineering with Jonval, the inventor of the inverted turbine. He came to the United States in 1849 for the purpose of introducing the Jonval turbine. Later he contributed important im- provements to the wheel. Twoof the wheels arein the Fairmount Waterworks at Philadelphia. He also designed and superintended the construction of turbines used at Niagara Falls.