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THE MARINE RECORD. FEBRUARY 6, I902, ES aa Kk kkk a ote DETROIT. Special Correspondence to The Marine: Record: A revision in colors, of Coast Chart No. 3, Lake Erie, has just been issued and is now on sale at the U. S. Lake Survey Office, 33 Campau building, Detroit, Mich. at 15 cents per copy. The ice blockade in the St. Clair ship canal has lowered the water in Lake St. Clair about five feet and the water has receded from the shore for over half a mile. Farmers living along the shore are compelled to walk out half a mile for their supply of water. The water in Detroit river past the city is 27 inches lower than normal. Plans for improvement of the government harbor of refuge at Sand Beach, to cost $300,000, are now being made by the government engineer here. The entire crib work above the water will be replaced with stone and concrete, and this work will extend over two miles. The harbor will be dredged to a uniform depth of twenty feet. "The following meteorological observations are furnished by the office of the U. S. Weather Bureau, Detroit, for the week ending Feb 4th. Prevailing wind directions for the week, northeast; highest velocity, 36 from the west at 2:05 p. m. on the 4th. Mean terfiperature for the week 17 degrees; highest temperature 29 degrees on January 21; lowest, zero, on February 3. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. was held here on Tuesday. The following officers and directors were elected: Presi- dent, James McMillan; vice president, James H. McMil- lan; ‘secretary,. Philip McMillan; treasurer and general manager, Wm. C. McMillan. The directors are the officers and George M. Hendrie and James McGregor of Detroit. ‘Col. Lydecker, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., accom- panied by Maj. Bixby, the new United States engineer at Detroit has gone to the “Soo,” where Col. Lydecker will show the major over the work that is to be done next sum- mer in the vicinity of the “Soo,” for the improvement of navigation. ‘The work which Col. Lydecker had ahead of him is-so vast and intricate that he is spending a good deal of time showing his successor over the ground, and Col. Lydecker will probably not go to Cincinnati for some time yet. Considerable opposition against the proposed govern- ment control of navigation in the lower part of the De- troit river is being expressed. It is backed by the pas- senger lines, which do not wish the speed of their ships to be- restricted. It is expected that the opposition will find voice among the Michigan Congressmen in opposition to, the bill introduced by Congressman Minor, of Wiscon- -sin.- This bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to pro- vide suitable rules and regulations governing the move- ments and anchorages of vessels in the Detroit and St. ' Clair rivers, and to enforce such regulations he is author- ized to detail one or more revenue cutters for duty in these rivers... Denny Lynn of Port Huron, who is well known at_all thé lake ports, met with a serious accident at Detroit Sat- urday, while waiting to board a suburban car. ‘The trolley pojé on a passing car suddenly broke off and fell to the street, striking Mr. Lynn in the head and rendering him unconscious. At Harper hospital, where he was removed, in an, ambulance, it was found that he had sustained a severe scalp wound and was suffering from concussion of the: brain. Subsequently Mr. Lynn was removed to the home of his old friend, Detective Pat O’Neil, No. 304 Fourth street. There he was placed in the same room with his brother, George E. Lynn, who is suffering from pneumonia. _ Government officials do not see the necessity of main- ‘taifing a revenue cutter at the Limekiln Crossing. The _ revenue cutters on the lakes at present have plenty to do _and-could not be used for the purpose contemplated. It would seem sufficient to have a couple of cheap lookout stations, and a fast launch or yacht constantly at hand and. ready to. be utilized to overhaul the lawbreakers. _ After all, said an official, that is all a revenue cutter could’ do under the circumstances. I don’t believe any law would give a cutter the right to run down or fire upon a boat for violation of such a rule as is ito be enforced down there. The launch could get the name of the boat offending, and the matter could then be brought before _ the proper officers for action. On Tuesday, the annual meeting of the new Detroit and. Buffalo Transit company. was held in this city... Aside from the elecation of officers and di- rectors, among whom are several prominent Clevelanders, no business of importance was transacted. ‘The follow- ing officers were elected: President, George Hendrie; vice president, Thomas F. Newman; treasurer, W. Cc. Mc- Millan; assistant treasurer, George M. Black; secretary, B. C. Wilder. _Directors—W. C. McMillan; George Hen- drie, F. S. Masten, Calvary Morris, Harvey D. Goulder, -'T. KF. Newman, A. C. Angell, B. C. Wilder and A. A. * Schantz. William C. McMillan was appointed general manager. ‘The new officers elected were: B. C. Wilder, A. A. Schantz and George M. Black. A story is in circulation that the Pere Marquette railway will soon acquire the Lake Erie and Detroit River railroad. The road originally ran from Walkerville to Ridgetown, Ont., on the north shore of Lake Erie, but has been ex- tended to St. Thomas and London, Ont!, ‘a total distance of 210 miles. It also owns and operates the line formerly known as the Erie & Huron, running from Sarnia to Rondeau, a distance of 125 miles. It is said that Fred H. Prince, a heavy stockholder and director of the Pere Mar- quette living in Boston, is arranging to acquire a large amount of Detroit & Lake Erie securities, both stocks and bonds. It is also stated that the Pere Marquette officials have recently inspected the line. If the program is car- ried out a car ferry will be established between Port Huron and Sarnia. The Sandwich docks of the Pittsburg Coal Co., will be given a general rebuild between this time and the open- ing of navigation next spring, and when the work has been finished the docks will be as complete as any on the lakes. ‘'wo new clam shell scoops will be put in, the shoots will be repaired and made higher, new tramways will be put in and the channel at the rear of the dock will be deepened and widened. In addition to this, sheet piling will be put in all around the dock, about 900 feet alto- gether, the dock will be widened ten feet on the back and the largest class of steamers will be able to make the dock without difficulty. The channel will be between sixty and seventy feet wide and, have eighteen feet of water. An effort will be made to make the Sandwich dock one of the fastest on the lakes and the installation of the clam shells will be along the line of other docks putting in labor saving devices. The annual report of C. H. Westcott, supervising in- spector of steam vessels for this district on the lakes showed that 6,179,803 persons were carried by Detroit steamers from Jan. 1, 1901, to the same date of 1902. ‘These do not include the passengers brought into the city by the D. & C. and White Star, Northern Steamship Co., and other lines which touch at cities where there are govern- ment stations, but is a record principally of people who have taken passage at Detroit. The only exception is with the boats of the ferry company, of which a report is taken both going and coming. Chicago, with its 2,000,000 population, only shows 487,442 travelers by steamboat dur- ing the year; Marquette, 415,940; Grand Haven, 758,091; Milwaukee, 400,438; Port Huron, 617,113. Forty-seven pilots and 66 engineers and 16 masters and pilots were licensed during the year in Detroit. Supervising Inspector Westcott’s report was submitted to the chief of the de- partment at Washington in due course. Col. Lansing Beach, in charge of harbor improvements and lighthouses in the Lake Huron district, is making plans for the improvement of the harbor of refuge at Sand Beach. The cribs that form the breakwater have been going slowly to ruin, and the extraordinary heavy sea that sets in there has had the effect of tearing the up- per parts badly. It is proposed to replace the entire crib work above water with stone and concrete, and this work will extend over a couple of miles. Sediment and clay have also formed in the harbor, making a great many shoal spots, and a dredge will be placed at work to make a uniform depth of 20 feet. There is an appropriation of $300,000 for the work at present, but more wil) probably be needed before the work is completed. Next season the number of dredges at work making a deep channel at the entrance to Sebewaing river at the east side of Saginaw bay will be doubled, as the river, near its mouth, is becom- ing more important as a point of navigation. The Great Lakes Towing Co., Cleveland, has given an order to the Jenks Ship Yard, of Port Huron, for a new steel wrecking lighter. She will come out in June, this year, which statement is taken as extraordinary, seeing the crowded condition of the yards. The Jenks people happened to have a berth of that size open, and could fit the lighter in without inconvenience. The possession of this lighter, which will be stationed in the Detroit river, will give the Great Lakes Towing Co. about a complete mastery of the lake dredging situation. She will meas- ure 173 feet over all, 36 feet beam, and 15 feet in depth. She will have a carrying capacity of 1,500 tons when loaded to eleven feet. She will be fitted with an “orange peel” ore lifting device, which will be able to take from any boat about fifty tons an hour. According to the amount of ore which it is necessary to lighter from most boats in order to free them, it is expected that this lighter will be able to get them afloat inside of a day. The lighter will be stationed in the Detroit river, to be in easy reach of the vessels which go aground at the Limekiln Crossing. The court of claims has decided in favor of the crew of the Yosemite in its demand for bounty money for sinking the Spanish ship Antonio Lopez in the harbor of San Juan, in June 1898. The amount asked for was $50,000 and the court at Washington handed down a de- cree for that sum. ‘The court in its finding decided that the Yosemite had fought against a superior force, and was therefore entitled to double the amount paid in cases where the enemy in. inferior, as in Dewey’s battle at Ma- nila. Besides the Lopez, the Yosemite fought a cruiser and three gunboats. The court decided that for every man on the Spanish ship the Yosemite crew should get $200. The complement of the Lopez -was figured at 250 men, While this amounts to a judgment against the govern- ment, there is no certainty when the claim will.be paid. Tt will be necessary first of all to get an appropriation, and an effort is being made to get the claim into the urgent deficiency bill. The sum allowed will be divided among the officers and men according to the pay they re- ceived. ‘The officers, of course, will get the lion’s share. It is thought that the division will give each man about two months’ pay, which, among the rank and file of the” About forty mem- crew, would range from $32 to $48. ) t bers of the naval reserves from this city will receive sums amounting to about two months’ pay probably something: like $50 apiece. = os el PORT HURON. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: The barge Racine is in the lower drydock undergoing repairs. Nelson Mills will fit up the tug Harley as a ferry boat to run between Stag Island and Marysville. R.P. Thompson has purchased the tug Castle, of A.~ D. Bennett. He will take the boat to the “Soo.” The indications are that considerable vessel property will change hands in this district before navigation opens. Capt. R. P. Thompson paid A. D. Bennett $9,500 for the’ Mr. Thompson has refused $12,500 from. tug Castle. ‘ parties in Georgian Bay who are very anxious for a tug of her class. Colin McLachlan says there is no truth in the report published in the Detroit papers to the effect that he had pur- chased a new boat to take the place of the Kittie Forbes, recently sold. Since the resignation of Thomas Lomasney.as deputy United States marshal at this point, the name of Duncan Bradbeer has been prominently mentioned. Mr. Bradbeer ' has the time and ability to discharge the duties of the office. A marine engineer gives it as his opinion that the en- gineers employed by the steel trust and recently ordered to their boats will return home within two weeks... The managers of the trust merely wanted to make the calling out of their engineers at this time of the year a test case. The Captains’ Wives Club held a very interesting: meet- ing at the residence of Mrs. Dan Sinclair on Tuesday af- ternoon last. At the close of the meeting Mrs. H. Zealand on behalf of the club presented Mrs. Henry Davis with a handsome gold watch and chain as a token of esteem previous to her return to Milwaukee. Some time ago Charles (se Bailey, of the Treasury De- partment, seized two naphtha launches belonging to.Wm. Bedford and George Roberts, of Roberts’ Landing. Spec- ial Treasury Agent Burton Parker spent a number of days ~ -in Port Huron, and vicinity last week, and it is understood will recommend to the Treasury Department that the boats be returned to the owners. Just what evidence the treas- ury agent secured is not known, but it is claimed that the facts were misrepresented to the officials when the seizure was made. ~ The tug trust is to have a strong competitor in Robert P. Thompson and there is every appearance that Mr. ‘Thompson has sufficient backing to purchase an outfit which will affect business of the trust. Bennett and a deal has been about closed for the purchase of a lighter. Mr. Thompson will go to Bay City ina few days to close a deal for a new tug, or if suitable arrange- ments can be made, a tug will be purchased-at that port. It is his intentions to have an outfit at the “Soo” and also one in this city. ‘The onlv man engaged in the wrecking busi- ness outside of the tug trust at the present time is Capt. James Reid and it is claimed by marine men that vessel owners outside of the steel trust prefer to hire anti-trust outfits when they can be secured. A project is under way for a new line of ore carriers, to ply between Lake Superior ore docks and Point Ed- . ward and Sarnia, in connection with the Grand Trunk The Hamilton (Ont.) Steel & Iron Co. - railway system. is interested in the enterprise, and if the present nego- tiations are successful, the new fleet will carry ore for the company’s smelting furnaces at Hamilton. Mr. Horace Wilcox, of the company, and Mr. McKay,-of the Ham- ilton Steamship Co. together with Grand Trunk officials, have been the past two days inspecting the wharf facili- ties at Sarnia and its northern suburb, and have expressed themselves as well satisfied with the facilities that could be provided. If the project is carried through, steam apparatus will be provided to load ore at once on to’ the cars out of the holds of the vessels. The making of, Sar- nia the lower lake terminal for this line would furnish -em- ployment, it is estimated, to about fifty or eighty men. 4 On Wednesday Mr. © Thompson purchased the tug W. B.’ Castle from A. De