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-ESTABLISHED 1878. VOL. XXIII, No. 44. CLEVELAND---NOVEMBER 1, 1900---CHICAGO. Y $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- riers, and improve the character of the service rendered to the public. , t PRESIDENT. W. C. FARRINGTON, Buffalo. 1ST VICE-PRESIDENT Carr. J. G. KEITH, Chicago. SECRETARY. CHARLES H. KEEP, Buffalo. TREASURER. GEORGE P. McKay, Cleveland. COUNSEL. HARVEY D. GouULDER, Cleveland. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCE COMMITTEE. JaMEs CoRRIGAN, Chairman, Cleveland. COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. Gipson IL. DoucLas, Chairman, Buffalo. COMMITTEE ON AIDS TO NAVIGATION. GEORGE P. McKay, Chairman, Cleveland. DETROIT RIVER--ST. CLAIR FLATS CANAL. In his annual report for the last fiscal year, just made public, Gen. John M. Wilson, chief of engineers, says that Col. Lydecker’s report on the survey of the St. Clair Flats canal, with a view to doubling its capacity, will be laid before Congress at the beginning of its next session. “It is sufficient to state,’? says Gen. Wilson, that the re- port will indicate that prompt action in the direction above indicated is all important to the safety and convenience of the vast commerce of the Great Lakes. Traffic through the canal during the navigation period of the calendar year 1899—a'period of nitie months only—included the passage of about 40,000,000 tons of freight, but we have no data to estimate, even approximately, the extent of passenger traffic.” As to the improvement of Detroit river the report says that “the surveys called for by the act of March 3, 1899, were completed during last winter, and preliminary report, with plans and estimates for securing a safe and convenient channel twenty-one feet deep, was submitted to Congress. Projects were thereupon adopted for increasing the width of the channel at Limekiln Crossing to 600 feet, and deepening it so as to provide a clear depth of twenty-one feet at ordin- ary low water; also to make a channel of the same width and depth through the Ballard’s reef section. Contract for the work on the Limekiln channel was entered into May 18 and work was commenced June 23, 1900, by drilling and blasting bed rock. Up to the end of the year 413 blast holes, aggregating 2,197 feet in depth, had been drilled, and 2,087 pounds of dynamite used in blasting, but none of the broken tock had been taken out up to date. The area cover€d by this drilling and blasting measures 1,500 square yards. No work had been commenced on the Ballard’s reef channel, but an advertisement inviting proposals was published May 29, 1900, bids opened June 13 and a contract duly entered - into July 3: “Work was in progress from April to June 30, by hired labor, with derrick and scow and diving outfit, the object of which was to remove bowlders from the channel below Limekiln Crossing; the number of bowlders taken out was 780, aggregating 543 tons in weight. This work was:scat- tered over an area measuring 66,200 square vards, and its result was to provide a clear depth of 20 feet where a limit- ing depth of only 18 feet previously existed. “It is probable that work on this improvement under the contracts already made and others that will be made during the current year, together with such work as will be done _ that there is prompt and proper co-operation. by hired labor and plant operated by the government, will call for an expenditure of not less than $500,000 up to June, 30, 1902; the amount now available is, in round numbers, $300,000. An estimate of $200,000 additional is therefore submitted for the year 1902. “The commerce that passed through the river during the calendar year 1899 has beefi estimated as about 40,000,000 of freight tons, but it should be observed that the information on which the estimate is based is quite unsatisfactory, as it has been impossible to obtain accurate statistics having special reference to traffic through the Detroit river from the custom house records or any other official or private source. It isdeduced, however, from a careful consideration of all custom records on the upper and lower lakes, and in- dicates an increase of about 10,000,000 tons in the past five years. oo or NAVAL SHIPBUILDING. A contributor to the Army and Navy Journal who signs himself ‘‘Navy,”’ gives in that journal some facts that go to show some of the features in which navy yard work differs so radically from similar work carried on in private establishments. Taking a typical navy yard he shows that in it each of the seven bureau chiefs at Washington has his representative at the head of a series of shops and store- houses, each with its foreman, instead of having one set of shops and one foreman. Thus, at one yard, there is a machine shop for ordnance, another for construction pur- poses, a third for the steam engineering department, a fourth for the equipment department, and a fifth for the yards and docks department. In all, he finds that one navy yard has sixty foremen where but thirteen are needed, and that twelve navy yards and stations have four hundred and fifty more foremen than are necessary. Counting in the clerks, draughtsmen, and quartermen who could be spared by a consolidation, ‘‘Navy”’ finds that $1,872,000 could be saved on labor alone. Adding the interest on moneys need- lessly invested in duplicating machinery and shops and on renewals, he finds that $3,000,000 could be saved each year— “enough to build a battleship.” This, however, is indirect loss only besides which there is the loss by waste which results from several departments working at the same time without a controlling head to see It frequently occurs, for instance, that bulkheads have to be torn out after having been built, or that openings for the replacing of machinery are closed before the latter has been put back. The most ridiculous system of all is pronounced by ‘‘Navy’’ to be the method of guarding stores and material, under which a workman wastes endless time if he requires half a dozen screws. Furthermore, the stores are purchased by paymasters, who have no technical knowledge of the tools required, and as a result of these cumbrous methods thous- ands of dollars’ wortb of material had to be bought without warrant of law during the war with Spain. NE ee ConsuL SmirxH writes from Moscow, September 12, 1900, that in March last the Russian government decided to con- struct new dry docks in Vladivostock, which will be capa- ble of admitting ships of 7oo feet in length. The excava- tions for these docks are now being started. Near the docks will be constructed two large metallic shipbuilding yards capable of turning out ships up to 3,oootons. The old dock, the ‘‘Tsarevitch,’’ is being rebuilt, and six new boil- ers have been ordered theretor. The work is superin- tended by Military Engineer Savitzky, with three assis- tants. The government has also decided to construct and equip 60. new mechanical shops. REPORT OF CHIEF OF ENGINEERS U.S. A. The annual report of J. M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers, treats at length of the river and harbor improvements of the country, for which estimates for the fiscal year end- ing 1902, aggregating $20,000,000, are submitted, to which are added $200,000 for surveys and contingencies, $3,890,000 for the Mississippi river commission, $1,040,c00 under the Misssouri river commission, $15,000 under the California debris commission, and $72,800 to prevent deposits in New York harbor, : The expenditures for the year ending 1900 were $18,485,- 298, which does not include $125,000 paid the Eads estate for maintaining the jetties at the month of the Mississippi, and $61,000 for surveys and examinations for a canal from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic. The report is a review of all the work done during the fiscal year, and refers especially to a number of important subjects, includ- ing the. Chicago drainage channel, Pearl harbor, Hawaii, and the proposed memorial bridge to connect Wash- ington and Arlington. Of the Chicago drainage pro- ject the report says that all the interests affected cannot be satisfied and the subject must be referred to Congress for ultimate settlement. As to the lowering of the water level of the lakes, General Wilson says that investigations made under the direction of the deep-water way commission and by others may furnish data upon which further considera- tion of the question may be based. The estimates for the river and harbor work on and about the Great Lakes next year are as follows: Harbor at Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wis.....$ 320,000 Ashland harbor, Wisconsin..............5....... 40,00 Waterway across Keweenaw point, from Kewee- naw bay to Lake Superior, Mich.............. 155,000 Marquette harbor, Michigan............. Tee 54,500 Harbor of refuge, Grand Marais, Mich.......... . 470,000 Sturgeon bay and Lake Michigan ship canal..... 25,000 Sheboygan harbor, Wisconsin................... 48,000 Harbor of refuge, Milwaukee, Wisconsin......... I19,d00 Milwaukee: hatbor 3.02 ves eae hae ce 51,000 meuicago, Hathor, Mimosa: = ca.) a teas. cea 100,000 Ghitavolriver: TinoIs i he rs oi see bows ween 75,000 Calumet harbor, TMlinoisy is sexes 3 Sees ak 30,000 Calumet river, Illinois and Indiana.............. 60,000 Fox river, Wisconsin:........... aa liGie sia: wiaeie cay 50,000 Lllinoisiriver, Mlinoiss.) 7g ee ee alu an wees ,000 Illinois and Mississippi canal, Illinois............ 1,000,000 Michigan City harbor, Indiana.............. Sees 48,000 St. Joseph’s harbor, Michigan.................... 53,000 Kalamazoo: river: Michigana. 3. acm no ies 175,000 Holland: harbor, Michigan... ca: ccsa. oes ce ee 73,000 Grand) rivers MICHIpat soc cece ccs cree 175,000 Muskegon harbor, Michigan.................... 55,200 White Lake harbor, Michigan... 2... .5......000: 27,500 Ludington harbor, Michigan.................... 69,300 Manistee harbor, Michigan. 52... oc ose os oles 42,000 Harbor of refuge at Portage Lake, Mich......... 40,000 Frankfort harbor, Michigan...................4. 54,500 Petoskey: harbor, Michigan, (00.001. 055. 1000s ears 25,000 Saginaw river, Michigan 2). o2i03,. 22, conse 37,500 Detroit river, Michigans.t) in. Cota ca as de eee 200,000 Moledo harbor, ‘Ohio: 7 .c-eiei eee Aes 250,000 Sandusky. harbor, Ohio? ou 48s. 0. dies see ste cree 125,000 Huron HatborsOhioe |. cart ae hc toe cae chee « 50,000 Black: river harbor, Ohi0s oo. se cass fangs. cece ee ok 150,000 Cleveland nator Obi! 505 ccc aicies «nies clove cree 160,300 Kairport river, O]IO. oo. 5s wae Na ate cae tee 210,000 Ashtabula Harbor; (OHios a ein cic coer ene Crna ee at 210,000 Erie harbor, Pennsylvanias. so; eee pan 125,000 Gonneant harbor, OniI0 2 ie ceca nse a rere, 210,000 Buffalo harbor, New. York: ) 02. 200% c2 os scanuaes 250,000 Tonawanda harbor and Niagara river, New York. 164,000 Niagara river from Tonawanda to Port Day....... 26,000 Oswego harbor, New York 2.0400 jc ieee 160,000 Cape Vincent. harbor, New: York. 3... 2ek 50,000; —_—_———— OS OS THE steamer Colonial was released Sunday from the shoal. in St. Marys river and was taken to Sault. Ste. Marie for temporary repairs and further survey.