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RIL, 3, 1902. DULUTH-SUPERIOR. Special Corresbondence ‘vo The Marine Record. George M. Brush, traveling freight agent of the East- season. The Merrill & Ring Lumber Co., of Duluth, are prepar- ng for a 50,000,0c0 feet cut this season. ‘They have 6,000,- 000 feet of logs in the ice at the mill left over from last The coal roads are now moving’ soft coal to this port ' large quantities and unless a strike should be declared West Virginia, there will be plenty of lake coal to keep the vessels busy. : The Northern Navigation Co., of Ontario, Ltd., an- nounces from the office of Vice President John J. Long, at Mr. A. b. Pratt is appointed assistant manager of the company, and that Mr. Wm. Askin is appointed assist- ant manager of the Northwest ‘Transportation Co. of Sarnia. Articles of incorporation of the Zillah, the Jenness, the ’ Hopkins and the Goshaw ‘Transportations companies have been filed in Duluth. The names of the incorporators in each case are Wayland W. Sanford, Herbert R. Spencer, | and Frank A. Searle. Each company represents a line of . lumber carriers, the owners of which have formed Minne- ° ~sota corporations in order to enroll their boat property at Duluth and thus take advantage of the favorable vessel | taxation laws which prevail in this state. ” Capt. D. D. Gaillard, United States Engineer in charge of improvements on Lake Superior, has received 102 re- , plies from vessel masters in the Lake Superior trade to, his circular letter requesting information. and suggestions _ tegarding compass variations on this lake. Among other things they were asked if they considered a magnetic chart of the lake desirable or necessary. The concensus of* opinion was that there. is much local attraction at the western end of the lake, especially at Knife ‘Island, and elsewhere along the north shore, ‘cdusing an abnormal needle variation. Capt. Gaillard has referred the entire’ matter to the chief of engineers. A majority of the mas-’ ters favored a magnetic chart. ; ene We It is reported here that what is believed to be a valu- able find of iron ore has been made near Koochiching, on. Rainy River, and that S. S. Curry, of Detroit; has taken an. option to buy a large tract embracing the find for $1,500,- oco. No details of the transaction are available, though. several Duluth men are interested in iron ore properties in that region. It could not be definitely stated whether the ore strike near Koochiching was on the Minnesota or the Canadian side, though up to the present, as far as known, no iron has been reported in that section.except on: the Canadian side Some Duiuth iron ore men have. sent’ agents into the country around Koochiching. ' Many of them are experts at the work and something of itnportance may be developed during the present year. ‘The reports of the discovery of good iron ore in the Rainy River dis- trict are persistent. They were first heard of last fall and: everybody that comes down from the international border has something to add to the stories. The arrival of a boat from a lower lake port this week will establish a new record in Great Lakes navigation, as far as Duluth is concerned. Up to this year the first boat in was April 12, 1878. ‘That winter was very similar.to the one just passed. Last year the first boat was the Osceola on May 2. The tug E. J. Maxwell had arrived a few days before that. Local boats, however, had been running up the north shore before that time. The E. T. Carrington cleared on April 16. May 2 is set down by the marine sta- tisticians as the average date of opening of inter-lake navigation. At the present time there is no ice in the lake and but little in the bay. What there-is is from six to twenty inches thick and it is honey combed and easily crushed. April 1, ro90r, the ice field extended for eight miles down the lake and was thirteen inches in thickness. The present year the ice never froze more than 10% inches.* In the harbor it was twenty-three inches thick and’ covered the entire bay. It was March 27 before it disap- peared. ern Minnesota road for the past five years, has been ap- pointed assistant general freight and passenger agent of the White Line Transportation Co. Mr.. Brush recently returned from Chicago, where he met Capt. W. H. Singer, president and general manager of the White Line Co., and where the arrangements were made. Mr..Brush is one of the best known transportation agents in the North- west and his wide acquaintanc in all branches of the field _ which he will occupy will be of special value to him. The appointment will be effective April 1. He will be the ac- tive outside man of the White Line Co., which will cut, a more important figure this season than ever before in the freight and passenger business of the western end of Lake Superior. It is understood that Mr. Brush’s duties _ will also extend to the Lake. Michigan & Lake Superior Transportation Co., the Duluth-Chicago line, but his title at present applies to the White Line Co. only. His duties for the past five years as traveling freight agent of the Eastern Minnesota road have brought him considerable experience with the steamboat business, the Eastern being a lake and rail line, with the Northern Steamship Co. as a connection. ' point: THE MARINE RECORD. Duluth people are up in arms against the Northern Steamship Co. for abandoning that route. The Duluth News-Tribune states that the business men of that city will make an appeal to the management of the company to continue their Lake Superior service. When the North- Land and North West were taken off last season the steamer Miami was brought to Lake Superior to run be- tween Duluth and Mackinac, making two round. trips a week and connecting with the white boats at the latter It has been expected that some other boat would be put on to provide the same service this.season. Man- ager Lowrie is quoted as saying that the reason the Lake Superior passenger business of the company has been abandoned is that they have been unable to get a suitable boat. Duluth people are inclined to be skeptical about the report. They think that the Lake Superior passenger business, which is growing every year, would not be dropped by the Hill interests after assisting for 10 years in building it up. Lake Superior is the most attractive part of the lake system for tourists. ‘The Northern Steamship Co. «in running between Chicago and Buffalo can offer its patrons nothing except .a trip from one warm body of water to another. ‘The difficulty last season with the Lake Superior end of the Northern Steamship Company’s pas- senger business was that the big white boat§ running be- tween Chicago and Buffalo were often behind time at Mackinac. As. the Miami was supposed to wait for one or the other of those boats she was frequently thrown off her schedule and everybody was disappointed. But the ‘ white boats are in shape this year to make close connec- tions and it is thought that a Lake Superior connection with a single boat could be worked successfully. It would seem that there will be room for another passenger boat in the Lake Superior trade if the Northern Steamship Co. *pulis out. oo orn oo ’ CLEVELAND. Stecial Correspondence to 1he Marine Record. John Marron, agent for the Erie & Western T'ranspor- tation Co., announces the departure of their first boat to leave, Cleveland for Lake Superior ports April 15th, con- necting with Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette, Hough- ton, Hancock, Dollar Bay, West Superior and Duluth and other points. Two steamers will be launched at the yards of the Amer- ican Ship Building Co Saturday. At South Chicago the: steamer: Luzon, building for E. D. Carter, of Erie, will be dropped into the water and the Steel King, the last ' of the steamers. biulding. for. Mr._J..C. Gilchrist, will be launched at Lorain. The entire fleet that wintered at Conneaut will weigh anchor and leave for upper lake ports this week. ‘The steamers are the Ellwood, Bunsen, Seimens, Malletoa, Saxon and Matoa. The barges are the Marsala, Roeb- ling, and Nasmyth. The steel tug America, of Erie, will be here all simmer, replacing the Scott. The following meteorological observations are. furnished by the office of the United States Weather Bureau, for ‘the week ending April 2: Prevailing wind direction for the week, west; highest velocity, 56 miles from the west on he ;30th; mean temperature for the week, 44 degrees; highest temperature 64 degrees on the 27th; lowest; : 30 degrees on the 31st. Sunrise and sunset data computed for local time: April 3rd sun rises, 5:40, sets, 6:28; April 6th sun rises, 5:35, sets, 6:31; sets, 6:34. The Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill which was re- ported to the House last week carries these appropriations for Cleveland: Marine hospital boiler plant, $6.c00; con- tinuing harbor improvements, $107,000.. Appropriations made for other Lake Erie ports are: Continuing harbor improvements at Toledo, $223,000; continuing improve- ments at Lorain harbor, $300,000; continuing improve- ments at Ashtabula harbor, $200,000: Included in the bill are a number of items pertaining to improvements along the Great Lakes and connecting channels. ‘The most im- portant is an appropriation of $150,000, recommended for investigating the lake levels and for re-surveying, and printing charts of the Great Lakes and northwestern lakes. The agreement between the longshoremen and the dock managers is now all settled and the conference for this year is at an end. This is the best agreement for the workmen that has ever been granted in the history of the chain of lakes. For the first time in fifty years, if not longer, the dock men will work less than twelve hours a day, in addition to which there are ‘little advances over last year’s scale. The agreement is doubly important when it is known that it affects 20,000 men and that it entails an outlay for the coming season to the workmen alone of $12,000,000, a sum which few, if any, had any idea was spent for this service. A meeting of the tugmen was held Wednesday after- noon, after which .an official of the association said that the men would not return to work unless their demands were granted. “We are not asking for an advance of wages,” he said, “but we want a reduction in hours. ‘There is not a class of men in any trade that puts in as much time as we do. I don’t. think,” he said, “that we are un- reasonable in wanting to be off twelve hours out of forty- eight, and’ that is all we are demanding of the company.” The official referred to said that the men would be on April 9th, sun rises, 5:20,: iv saad kala 2h ER STS a etter ml hand and ready to take out ttigs in cases of emerge but no work would be done. until the officials of e. ing company accepted their proposition. ; The big freight steamer building at the yar Jenks Ship Building Co., at Port Huron,. will | from Cleveland. Capt. W. W. Brown and other parties have purchased the steamer from the ship building company. A new company will be organized to operate her with Capt.. Brown as general manager of the company. Th price paid for the new ship.was not given out. Th steamer is, 440 feet over all, 420: feet keel, 50 feet beam and 28 feet deep. She will have triple expansion engines and thre2 Scotch boilers. The new boat, which will come out — August 1, will: carry about 6,300 tons, on eighteen feet of water... She will probably be named after an old-time vesselman. This deal gives Capt. Brown six new stee steamers that will come out this season. He will also handle the steamer George Presley and the schooner Nellie Redington. : Bie Another steamer. was added to the big fleet of Capt. John Mitchell last Saturday afternoon, when the James Gayley was set afloat in the slip of the old Globe ship yard of the American Ship Building Co. The new steel steamer is one of the type that has become so popular during the last year, and is about the size that most vesel owners — have been ordering. She is named after the head of the © ore department of the United States Steel Corporation. The Gayley has a 436 feet keel, 50 feet beam, and 28 feet molded depth She will have triple expansion engines and_ steam will be furnished by. two Scotch boilers. Her finish- ings will be in accordance with the type of Mitchell boats, — therefore of the best. She was christened by Miss Mary | Gayley, daughter of the man after whom the boat was named. With her on the stand were Miss Lucy Lybroker, a guest of Miss Mitchell, and Miss Mabel Mitchell, Mrs. John Mitchell, Miss Shepherd, Dr. H. A. Shepherd, Frank Seither, James McBryer, J. F. Wedow, J. R. Mills, Capt. John Mitchell, Capt. Alfred Mitchell and E..C. Collins. At the annual meeting of the Wellman-Seaver Engineer- ing Co., action was taken to change the name of the cor- poration to the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Engineering Co. The desire was to give proper recognition by this change to the ability and seryices to Thos. R. Morgan, who for several years has been secretary of the company. Mr. Morgan, before his connection with the Wellman-Seaver Co., was general manager of the Morgan Engineering Co., at Alliance, O. He has had a wide experience in engineer- ing lines, and his connection with the Wellman-Seaver Co. has contributed much to the marked growth and prosper- ity of that company.. The title of Mr. Morgan has also been changed to secretary and works manager. He will have direct charge of the large manufacturing plant of the — company now nearing completion. The list of officers, the others remaining as before, is as follows: S. T. Well- man, president; J. W. Seaver, vice president; C. H. Well- man, general manager; J. R. Morgan, secretary and works manager; A. D. Hatfield, treasurer; C. W. Comstock, purchas- ing agent and assistant secretary. —_—_— OO eS BOND ISSUE OF THE STEEL CORPORATION. At a meeting in New York April 1, the directors of the United States Steel Corporation formally approved the conversion plan under which it is proposed to retire pre- ferred stock to the amount of $200,000,000, upon which dividends are paid at the rate of 7 per cent. per annum, and issue bonds to a total of $250,000,c00, with interest fixed at 5 per cent. May 109 was fixed as the date upon which the project will be submitted to the shareholders. The directors also issued a statement showing that the earnings of the corporation for the first year of its exist- ence, which ended on March. 31, with the last month estimated, reached a’ total of $r11,067:195, being as fol- lows by months: April, 1901, $7,356,744; May, $0,612,349; June, $9,304,747; July, $0,580,151; August, $9,810,880; Sep- tember, $0,272,812; October, $12,205,774; November, $o,- 795,841; December, $7,758,208; January, 1902, $8,901,016; February, 1902, $7,678,583; March, 1902 (estimated), $0,- 700,000. The statement said: “The net earnings were arrived’ at after deducting, each month, the cost of ordi- nary repairs, renewals, and maintenance of plants. Of the net earnings sinking’funds on bonds and depreciation and reserve funds claimed $15,300,605; interest on bonds, $15,200,000; and ‘dividends, $56,017,783, while the undivided earnings were $24,440,717. + Judge E. H. Gary, chairman of the board, stated that the extra $50,000,000 of bonds above the $200,000,000 to be used for retirement of preferred stock would give the corporation a working capital of about $106,c00,000 to be used in anyway that the directors might deem best. He would not say that this implied the acquisition of any new plants. No preferred stock:-is:to be retired without the consent of the holder. Pao. “Wuy a ‘Truscott: Beat is the Best”, is the title of a neat booklet being distributed by The Truscott Boat Manufac- turing Co., St. Joseph, Mich. It also refers to the special features of the gas engine which this company manufac- tures. ‘The catalogue is very, fully illustrated and well worth a perusal by anyone interested in gas engines and launches.