The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

be the probable opening rate. the head of the lakes for storage, pending shipment by kKaekknke DULUTH-SUPERIOR. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: The ice is leaving the harbor, and from the present ‘outlook navigation will be open in a week or two. There is about 40,000,000 feet of lumber on the Ash- land docks, from which vessel shipments will be com- menced as soon as nayigation opens. The steamer Yale has been chartered for the coming season. by the Canada Atlantic Transportation Co., to run in the grain and package freight trade between Du- luth, Chicago and Depct Harbor. She will take the place of the William L. Brown, which was under charter to that line last season. Reports from Whitefish Point, and other ports along the south shore of Lake Superior, state there is compara- tively little ice to be seen. In the rivers and in Mud lake the ice is fast rotting, and unless ‘severe cold weather sets in there should be no difficulty in forcing the passage by the latter part of this month. he United States Government has begun action at Duluth against Capt. James Davidson, of Bay City, to recover for damage done to the breakwater extension at Two Harbors, last summer, by the steamer Shenandoah. The Government alleges that the repair work to the damage done the cribwork amounted to $4,012.50. -A number of deals to charter vessels for the season for lump sums are on, and it is almost certain that some of them will be closed this week.. Lumber dealers are still in the market for boats, and a number of vessels that usually carry ore will be tied up for the season during the next few days. No chartering in the lumber trade has been done, but the general opinion is that the rate will open at $2.50 from ports from the head of Lake Superior, and that season contracts will be made at that figure, although vessels are holding for a $3 rate. The immense quantity of iron ore shipped from northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan and Minnesota points is a source of no little wonder to those who may have occasion to lock into the figures to obtain an idea of its actual di- “mensions. A conservative estimate places the probable lake movement from mines next season at 23,000,000 tons, an increase of 2,500,000 tons over the previous year. Some estimates have placed the figure at 25,000,000 but while an increase of 2,500,000 tons could be handled with- out overtaxing the railroad and transportation lines, it is doubtful whether 5,000,000 tons could be taken care of at the receiving ports, though the mines and vessels might be able to handle it. The magnitude of the business be- comes apparent, when great railroad systems especially equipped for it are siniply unable 10 remove the ore as fast as delivered. Of all the ore forwarded from the Lake Supericr region, Minnesota furnishes 52.5 per cent. the Mesaba 43.8 per cent. and the Vermillion 8.7 per cent. -'There has been a great deal of talk of ore being char- tered for delivery from the head of the lakes at 75 cents, but as néar as can be learned in Duluth none has been placed at that figure. It is also learned that the report that the Pittsburg Steamship Co. is engaged in pounding the rate down to 75 cents for the opening, or for any - other time, is wholly unfounded. It is well known here that it is not the policy of the Pittsburg Steamship Co., which is the vessel corporation of the United States Steel C€o., to take advantage of its power to try to fix vessel rates at a figure less than conditions warrant. ‘Their policy, on the contrary, has been to support the market in every reasonable way. ‘here has been considerable tonnage chartered at 80 cents for ore, and that seems to The movement of grain to lake, has been disappointing this winter, but is not re- garded as necessarily a factor calculated to weaken the lake freight market materially, for the reason that the grain is sure to move sometime during the spring or sum- mer. It.can be said, however, that there is not in store, or rather in the elevators, as much as formerly. » Se ls ge The railroads have won over the steamboat lines in the matter of ticket commissions and it is stated in a dis- patch from Chicago that the defeat of the steamboat men was owing to the action of A. A. Schantz, general pa:- er agent of the D. & C. and D. & B. lines in surren- THE MARINE RECORD. CHICAGO. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record: From all points where ice blocks the way to vessels, reports indicate an early opening of navigation. The Barry line boats Empire State and Badger State will be run in competition with the Goodrich line between ‘Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay.’ The upper’ lakes are clearing of ice so rapidly that re- sumption of navigation by April 1 is freely predicted. Boats have already made the trip from shore towns of Michigan to Chicago, and the ice in Mud Lake and the “Soo” is thinner than usual, while it’ is breakipng up fast. The traffic ahead of vesselmen for the season lessens the fear they otherwise would entertain for a longer period of business than the lakes generally afford. Outside of the one item of grain there was never anything seen like the volume of business the Great Lakes will carry before the close cf next December. The following meteorological observations are fur- nished by the office of the U. S. Weather Bureau, Chicago, for the week ending noon, March 12, 1902. Prevailing wind directions for the week south; highest velocity 44 miles, from the south on the 11th; mean temperature for the week, 44°; highest temperature, 65° onthe 11th; lowest 32° on the 6th. At St. Joseph on Monday, the steamer C. W. Moore was sold under the hammer of the United States marshal, and bid in by J. H. Graham, president of the Graham & Morton ‘lransportation Co., fer $5,000. Claims against the steamer amounted to $45,000. She was the property of the West Michigan Traction Co., a concern which pro- posed building a railroad from Benton Harbor to Kala- mazoo. ‘Ihe Moore will be added to the Graham & Mor- ton fleet, and placed on the Chicago-St. Joseph run, open- ing the season early in March. There promises to be some trouble between the en- gineers and masters of tugs and the owners of the tugs. Trouble would seem to be brewing at both the head of the lakes and at Chicago, and there may be a general strike of tugmen if something is not done in the near future to settle the differences. Increased pay is one of the de- mands of tugmen at the head of the lakes. The masters here last year received $125 per month with their board. They are now asking $150, while the engineers ask that their salaries be increased from $105 per month and board to $120 and board. The local tugmen also ask that all men employed last year be reengaged unless there is some good reason why some should not be. At the head of the lakes the tugmen have had ever~ fourth night and every fourth Sunday off. This was the wav the Chicago own- ers proposed to do with their tugmen this year. Last year they had every third night and every third Sunday off. Now the Duluthians are asking for Chicago’s svs- tem of last year. It is a matter of conjecture now how the matter will end. Upon the result of a series of conferences now being held in Chicago, apparently depends the inauguration of a lockout which may result in tying up navigation on the Great Lakes. This lockout, if inaugurated, will affect the 2,400 members of the Licensed ‘Tugmen’s Protective As- sociation, composed of the captains and engineers of the tugs running out of twenty-eight harbors along the lakes. The difficulty is over an alleged attempt on the part of the Great Lakes Towing Co., otherwise: known as the “tug trust,” to lengthen working hours., Capt. Charles Mc- varrol, national president of tugmen’s union, and Capt. Cyrus Sinclair, general manager of the trust, are con- ferring with a view to settling the differences. They have as yet reached no agreement, and the Great Lakes Towing Co. is refraining from any move tc employ any captains or engineers for the coming: year. Capt. Sinclair said that he did not expect to have any trouble with the men in making an agreement for the coming season. — Mr. Newtman, president of the towing company, is confident that there will not be any labor trouble. For the past year there has been some talk that the Barry Transportation Co. would expand its business, but the reports were to the effect that the company would only get two cities outside of Milwaukee and Chicago. Now, however, it has been settled that the Barry boats will touch eight ports north of Milwaukee. Capt. Peter Barry has just returned from a trip to Menominee, Mich., and intermediate ports, and has secured dockage, ware- houses and agents. ‘The cities to which the boats will run for general merchandise and package freight as well as passengers are the following, together with the names of the agents appointed to look after the business: She- boygan, Louis ‘Tistwuyde; Manitowoc, Samuel Hall; T'wo Creeks, Otto Bush; Kewaukee, George Duvall; Sturgeon, Bay, C. Cochems; Algoma, H. W. Walker; Marinette, Smith, Thorndyke & Brown Co.; Menominee, Carpenter & Cook. Some ofthe properties secured by the Barry peo- ple is in first-class shape and improvements on other property will be made immediately. “Indications are that the néw runs will be well patronized,’ said Capt. Peter Barry. “In many instances we have been requested to operate our boats riorth, and in some of the cities where we have opened offices we have been promised half the business at the very start which is a good indication that we are wanted.” Each one of the cities in which the Barry boats will enter have been giving business to the MARCH 13, 1902. Goodrich Transportation Co., and while Capt. Barry did not say so, the new venture of the company means oppo- sition to the Goodrich line at no less than eight ports north of Milwaukee. Nothing has yet been done regard- ing rates for general merchandise and package freight, but is probable that both lines will have the same rate. Should one company decide to cut its rates, the other will certainly follow and a rate war would result. At this time, however, a rate war does not seem probable. During the coming season the Barry Co. will operate four steam- ers. The two boats secured last summer—the Badger State and Empire State—will be on the northern run and the No. rt and the City of Fremont will continue on the Chicago-Milwaukee run. The northern boats will make two round trips from Chicago and Milwaukee to Menomi- nee and intermediate cities each week. Work on the craft is now in progress and they will be in readiness to open the season about April 15. All the docks in the cities north of Milwaukee are large and in each instance the warehouse on the dock is in good condition. At Manito- woc the company will have a~300-foet dock and the one at Sheboygan is nearly of the same size. At Two Creeks, which is a small. town about two miles north of Two Rivers, the dock owned by the Pfister estate has been secured. —$$ a ae BUFFALO, Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. During the coming season the steamer C. F. Beilman, sold bv the Stewart Transportation Co. to Port Huron parties, will tow the schooner Mary A. McLachlan. . Capt. J. W. Montgomery will command the Beilman, and Capt. Maitland will sail the. McLachlan. Another change of name for a member of the Western Transit Co.’s fleet has been effected, the steamer Mil- waukee havine been rechristned Yonkers. It has not-been announced, but there is a report that the new boat to be turned out this season at Chicago for the Western, will be given the name which formerly appeared on the bow of the Yonkers. : ive FE. T. Douglass, assistant general manager of the West- ern Transit Co.; is absent on a Western trip. . He will go as far as St. Paul, Minn., and will return to Buffalo early next week. Gibson L. Douglass, seneral manager of the line, is at Passadena Cal., where he has been spending the winter. He is not expected to return to Buffalo before the last of the present month. The grain markets are quiet all around and chartering is as dull as it has been at any time since the closing. Elevators at the head of Lake Superior now contain 13,- 938,350 bushels of grain as follows: Wheat 12,859,970 bushels, corn 144,343 bushels, oats 170,163 bushels, rye 455,800 bushels, barley 308,074 bushels. Flaxseed in store 1,850,094 bushels. ‘The fact that shippers have: not at any time since December been in the market for ves- sels to hold grain cargoes on board, and even thus late in the season do not manifest any particular desire to make charters, does not seem to disturb vessel owners in the least. When Louis Lautenslager, manager of the Independent Tug Line, gets his fleet overhauled and put in shape as he has designed, the boats will present a fine appearance. The Delta, which has been practically rebuilt during the winter, months, is now nearly ready for service, and she will be a good craft. . Workmen are now engaged in put- ting the F. S. Butler in shape. She will have a new cabin, deck and bunkers, and when complete will be practically as good as new. An outlav of $1,000 will be made on her. the tue vVallister was thoroughlv overhauled last season, and will require no repairs. Regarding the addition of other boats to his fleet, Manacer Lautenslager said that’ tf business, warranted, new boats of a good class would be added as rapidly as required. Bids were opened at the office of Major Symons, in Buffalo, on ‘Tuesday last, for the removal of the sunken wreck of the steamer Gov. Cushman, which lies in the Erie basin, just north of the Reading coal dock. ‘They were three in number, as follows: William D. Johnston, of Lewis, N., Y.,$4,417; Buffalo Dredging Co., of Buffalo, $3,735, and J. E. Hingston, of Buffalo, $3,500. The Gov. Cushman was totally destroyed on May 1, 1868, by a ter- rific explosion of her boiler, which occurred shortly after daybreak, when all hands aboard were asleep. Several were killed instantly, and a score injured. The Gov. Cushman was a freighter, owned by George Rushington. The explosion occurred while the steamer was moored at a dock in Buffalo creek. In less than an hour after the disaster a number of tugs attempted to tow the burning vessel into the Erie basin, in order to lessen the danger to other craft near by. It was while these tugs still had the burning steamer in tow that she sank while off the docks of the Reading Coal Co. Several futile attempts have been made since that time to raise her. oro or i The Cunard Co. has decided to build two new steamers for Atlantic passenger trade, which will eclipse in size anything afloat. ‘The vessels will be over 7oo feet long, with engines of 48,00 horse power, and have a speed of 25 knots. ‘This will be a great advance on anything hith- erto, attempted in the British mercantile marine. ‘The general outlines of the company’s steamers, the Campania and Lucania, will be followed.