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NOVEMBER 21, 1901, barges is drawing to a close.. Some of the smaller boats will undoubtedly be kept on much longer, as they can han- dle the cargoes to better advantage. A portion of the fleet will be placed in the grain trade although every pound of iron .ore that they can carry will be brought down. ‘The big ‘company ‘seems to want the boats to earn money and won't cut rates to the detriment of other owners and the géneral trade. although it is in a position to do so if it wanted to. “It hasbeen decided to put off until next spring the work of moving to the seaboard: the two large steamers building at the Cleveland yards of the American Ship. Build- ine Co, for trans-Atlantic trade. It was expected that one of the vessels would be taken about this time in two parts to Montreal, there to be put together, and that the second vessel would follow early next spring, but unavoid- able delays have compelled the builders to put off the com- pletion of both ships unul the opening of navigation next year. These are the vessels that are building for interests represented by Charles EF. and W. F. Peck, of New York. They are to carry about 7,000 tons, and are to be suited for trade in all parts of the world. ‘These steamers will be classed at Lloyds, and are in every way the peers of any. The Elwell-Parker Electric Co., manufacturers of stand- ard and special electric machinery and apparatus, reports the following recent contracts: Two 200-k. w. direct con- nected engine generators for the Brown Hoisting Machine Co.’s new plant; five marine generating sets, a continua- tion of a previous order of eight compound marine gen- erating sets of 200 lights capacity each, for the American Ship Building Co., Cleveland; one 150-k. w. direct con- nected engine generator for the Northern Engineering Co.; a large and elaborate switchboard, also two 75-h. p. and two 50-h. p. hoisting motors forthe Brown Hoisting Machine Co.; one 150-Kk. w: belted generator with a dozen motors of various sizes for the Cleveland Bag Factory, and two special ' converter charging sets for automobile work to the order of the Baker Motor Vechicle Co.,.of Cleveland. The Elwell Parker Co. is one of the growing Ohio industries managed by capable men of canital There is still considerable talk of a combination being formed during the coming winter among the lumber cat- riers, but as yet the Lumber Carriers’ Association, as a bedy, has:taken no action. The Detroit Tribune says: Last spring the lumber carriers got together and agreed to hold together-on the rate question, but when a 25-cent advance was ordered on Sept. 1, some of the members kicked, and the rate was not put into effect until some twenty days later. A local dealer says: ‘It is not so much the wages we are forced to pay but when we load we never know what it will cost to unload, and, as a result rates are demoralized. What should be done is to. compel the shippers and con- signees to load’and unload the lumber, and pay the boat simply, the freight. Another thing in time of trouble, a master of a boat can get no police protection, whereas, if a local dealer was handling the stevedores, he could call on the authorities and demand protection.” Labor saving devices are what capitalists are after and every time a strike occurs efforts are being put forward to improye mechanical appliances. I now learn that G. A. ‘Hulett, the inventor of the clamshell, or automatic unload- ing: machine, said that his firm has: contracted with the Pittshurg, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad Co. for a small, clamshell machine to be placed on the P., Y. & A. dock at Ashtabula. It is also said that the P. & C, Dock Co., Conneaut, will increase the number of the Hulett un- loaders next summer. ewer men have been employed than last year, though the ore receipts have been half a million more. The men say that they will insist on a higher wage scale in the spring, as this has been a poor year for them on account of the clamshells. There is little use in the men forming unions in certain classes of labor when the labor is being done away with and’ it is likely that this feature will prevail more in the future than the past. The suggestion which George Uhler, president of the Marine Ene:neers’ Beneficial Association, made to the en- gineers, that they refrain from accepting the terms of the Pittsburg Steamship Co. has been discussed with apparent interest. In the office of the Pittsburg company it was said that the warning issued was a little premature, as the company has made no proposal to the engineers, and does not interid to do so before the end of the season. ‘All arrangements for next year will be made as soon 4s possible. that the details may form the basis of computations, but it is not proposed to anticipate next year’s business before ‘this season is over. In marine citcles it was thought that the caution, would augur well for the future peace of the Jake industry. Should the question he forced to an. issue, however, all efforts will be made to bring ahout an amicuble settlement.as soon as possible, and so thet work would proceed. on fair. and square terms, in.so far as labor and capital 1s concerned. 'sThe Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company has sent out'the following notice to its connections giving the dates at which the various divisions will end the season of naviga- tion: “This company will discontinue to receive freight for shipment: via its different divisions, as follows: The Lake Erie division, between Detroit and Cleveland, will discon- tinue to receive freight at Detroit, for shipment to Cleveland and points beyond, with close of day’s business, Monday, 2 December. g, and at Cleveland, for Detroit and points be- yond, with close of day’s business, Tuesday, December 10; ~ and.on the Mackinac division, between Toledo and St. THE MARINE. RECORD. Ignace, at Detroit and Toledo, for.shipment to, St. Ignace and intermediate ports, with close of day’s business, Mon- day, November 25. On the Cleveland and Toledo line, at Cleveland, for shipment to Toledo and points beyond, with close of day’s business, Thursday, November 28; and at Toledo, for shipment to Cleveland and points beyond, with close of day’s business, Wednesday, November 27.” Major Kingman, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., in’ charge of the conservancy and improvement of rivers and harbors within this district, makes it very plain that his action in framing a set of rules by which the bridges over the Cuy- ahoga river are to be governed, is not intended to give the boat lines a complete monopoly of that channel nor to de- prive them of any rights they have by seniority of pos- session. His effort is nothing more than to define the rights of both the railroads and of the boats, that the best possible results may come. It is the intention to conform as far as possible to the rules adopted by the city in case such rules are good and definite. A system of signals”for the various bridges is a possibility. The plan will be suggested of nam- ing each of the bridges, or of designating it by a letter.. In case this is done “A” bridge will have as its signal the telegraphic characters of the equivalent in whistle blasts to a dot and a dash or one short and. one long whistle. Bridge “B” under the same rule would be signaled by one long and two short blasts, and so on through’ the entire code. This scheme, while elaborate, it is thought, will prove effective. oe or io DULUTH-SUPERIOR. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: We received about 33,000 tons of ¢oal from Buffalo last week, and it would now seem as if the hard coal market would about fill the supply, but we are short on anthracite. Captain Kidd, after examining the ground where the Smeaton is stranded, says that she can: be floated again. Capt. Kidd is generally correct in his judgment of strand- ings of this sort. . Boe We have had lots of tonnage here this week and some de- tention has been experienced on account of the bunching of craft. Two Harbors caught the rtish also, and unless there is brisk discharging some of the boats will now be on their last trip to the head of the Iakes. es Captain’ Charles: M. York, local inspector of hulls’ at Marquette, is very low with pneumonia, and is not expected to live. Supervising Inspector Westcott of the steamboat inspection service stationed at Detroit was sent the notifi- cation from the boiler inspector at Marquette. ; Agents of the new coal trust have been in Washburn, and rumor has it that they are negotiating for the control of the Northwestern Fuel Company, whose principal docks and sheds are located there. Most of the large companies in the West have gone into the trust, and the Northwestern is one of the largest interests that has stood -out. A number of lumber camps in the vicinity’ of Ashland have been closed down by order of the government and nearly 1,000 men are thrown out of employment. The cause of the action is presumed to be fear of a’ smallpox out- break. The matter is a serfous blow to the lumber industry, owing to the fact that the logging season has just opened. There is no question but that timber cutting this winter will make the record. Messrs. Mitchell & McClure, A. A. Bigelow & Co., C. B. Simpson, the Keystone Lumber Co., the Red Cliff Lumber Co., the Tower Lumber ‘Co., the Nes- ter Estate and Merrill & Ring, also H. J. Wachsmuth & Co., of Bayfield, and a dozen of others are all working on log supplies for lumber next summer. ‘It is not believed the big steel tow barge Smeaton can be pulled off the beach at Rock river point by the tugs Schenck and Boscobel from Marquette.’ The chances of getting the big boat afloat this fall are said to be dubious by the men who have the work in charge. She is laying away half a mile in shoal’ water, and it will be necessary’ to dredge a channel for her to come out into deep water again. The season just about to close has been a satisfactory one to lumbermen and they will witness the cessation of ship- ments’ by water with an expression of content. Everything has been especially favorable this season, sticcess attending every movement of stocks. Next season, the Jumbermen say, will be even greater than the one just now drawing to a close. Indications, they say, point to the greatest activity in the lumber market that the head of the lake markets have realized. : ‘Messrs. Hubbell and Thomas A. Merritt are exploring for iron ore on the lands of the Mesaba Iron Co. onthe east Mesaba, and it ‘is reported that they have shown up more’ ore there than any other prospectors. This property consists of about 13,000 acres, and the Oliver Iron ‘Mining Co. at one time held an option for a lease on it, but after a certain amount of exploration they dbandoned it. It ‘is stated that the prospectors sold out for $125,000 to an east- ern furnace firm, and that there is not less than 5,000,000 tons of ore in sight on the claim. The government has been spending a large amount of ‘money here every year under the continuous contract sys- tem and some people are beginning to wonder what is to be done in the way of harbor. improvements after 1902. It is expected that if the growth of lake commerce continues. in the next decade as it has in the past, there will be plenty of work for the government to do. If the continuous contract system had not been adopted when it was it would now be very difficult, if not imtpossible, for the present commerce of the harbor to. be? Handled inthe big’ boats now engaged in the Lake Superjor wade. °° Nee agi Reports fromm; Marquette ‘state that all attempts to release | thaf stranded barge John Smeaton, whith lies’ on the rocks at Aw Train, have proved fruitless and the wrecking tugs Favorites *Boscobel,, and Schenck returned to Marquette without, having accomplished anything.. The Smeaton lies — en a rocky bottom and the tugs were unable to move her. Four compartments are full of water and the bottom: is evidently badly broken. Captain Kidd, wrecking master - tor the steel trust, has not ‘decided on the course he will pursue in further wrecking work. It is quite certain that if, Captain Kidd abandons the Smeaton no one on the chain of lakes will be able to do anything with her afterwards. , Lumber shippers complain that this has been the’ worst fall for getting despatch out of boats’ in all their experience at the head of the lakes. The cause assigned for this eee tion is the prevalence of westerly winds. But it is expected that the aggregate shipments of lumber from the head of the lakes and Ashland will be fully up to last. season and the season before. The head of the lakes probably will show..a record of between 425,000,000 and 430,000,000 feet, or about the same as for each of the past two seasons. Unless the next two weeks are more favorable than may reasonably be expected, there will be considerable sold lumber which ‘will fail to go forward this season. peas Capt. D. P. Wright of the steamer Zenith City, Capt. A. McArthur of the A. D. Thompson, and Capt. John Ward of the Sir William Siemens, united in making a signed complaint against the light-house keeper of La Pointe. The Zenith City passed the light-house' at 8 a. m: Sun- day morning, November 3, the A. D. Thompson’ at 9:15 a. m. During all this time a hard westerly snow storm raged, the storm being so. dense that the captains could not see a thousand feet ahead, and during this time. no. fog whistle was blown, as is required by law under such. con- ditions. On the other hand the special investigation may show whether the vessels were in the zone of sound or otherwise. It is certain that an immediate transfer’ of light-keepers will be made if the evidence shows that the fog signal has not been in action, providing, of course, that there was no mechanical defect or breakdown. ~ + © a4 Congressman Jenkins will renew his efforts at the com- ing session of Congress to have Port Wing made a harbor of refuge. An appropriation for this purpose has been rec- ommended by the Secretary of War, and was incorporated . in the river and harbors bill. An examination and survey of the harbor was made under the direction of Maj. Sears two years ago, and in his report he favored the harbor of refuge plan, which. has been incorporated into a bill by ‘Congress- man Jenkins. It is estimated that the work will cost less than $60,000. Port Wing is:'on the south shore of. Lake Superior, about midway between Ashland and.-Duluth,.-and * a sheltering harbor would provide safety from. storms for all boats caught out in Lake Superior in the vicinity going © either up or down the lake. Maj. Sears recommended a plan for the construction at the entrance, of two parallel piers 200 feet apart and 800 feet long, and the construction at the inner end of the east pier of a square return pile ’re- vetment, and the dredging of a channel 150 feet wide and 15 feet deep to extend 500 feet up a slough that exists at the end of the proposed piers.. The port can be very easily-con- verted into a refuge that will hold the whole Lake Superior fleet. Port Wing is the northermost town in Bayfield county. : pee PORT ARTHUR. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: The question of prolonging the season of navigation on Lake Superior is very simple, so far'as Port Arthur is con+ cerned. For twenty years, and without any artificial meth- ods, steamers have been trading between here and Duluth, and ordinary fishing tugs have done business on the bay un- til Christmas. : tah ; The trouble will be to keep open the Kaministiquia river. At Fort William, in 1896, three of the largest steamers on the lakes were frozen in there about the end of November, in spite of the efforts of two tugs to break the ice.’ The trouble with the Kaministiquia is not in breaking the ice, which is an easy feat, but in the river not having sufficient current at its mouth to make the ice move out when brok- en, and the cakes freeze together until they are so thick they cannot be broken. The Canadian Pacific can still handle an immense quan- tity. of wheat through their Port Arthur elevator, which jis always clear of ice until very late. The St.. Mary’s river can easily be kept open until Dec. 15, if the government will engage one of the Mackinac icebreakers. The cost would be small compared to the saving in interest and charges on several million bushels of wheat. Further, if the goverimment ‘would employ ‘an icebreaker in the spring, navi- gation could be opened here by April 1, which would still further relieve the congestion. oo or All shovelers and engineers on the docks of the Lorain Steel company have been laid off, and the shovelers were notified that their services would not be required next season... ‘This is taken as an indication that the dock will hereafter be worked by non-union men.