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creek bottom next week, and they would have been started before now but for the delay of the contract in the common council. The work is 20 feet, but it is a hard matter to get it with this stage of the lakes. The head lines in some of the papers tore up the Union _ Steamboat Company into small bits this week in trying _ to report the changes that have taken place there, the reality being merely that the line is now centered in New York, except asto operating the fleet. The same thing was done with the Anchor line in a measure sev- eral years ago. The idea in both cases being the re- duction of expenses. There was no occasion to suggest an obituary in heading the item, as one Detroit paper did. JOHN CHAMBERLIN. DULUTH. OPENING MOVEMENTS AT THE HEAD OF THE LAaKES— CONDITION OF GRAIN FREIGHTS. Special Correspondence to The Marine Record. : Duturs, Apr. 21. * The announcement of the opening of the Soo canal came about a week sooner than vessel men at the head _ of the lakes had looked for. Several owners were anx- - ious to get their boats out early, but had no idea that they would get out for a week yet at least. The Northern King, of the Northern Steamship Co.’s fleet was the first boat to clear for Buffalo this season. She left on Monday last with a cargo of flour. Few of the boats which wintered here are in shape to go out, many of them being still in the process of spring overhauling. It is expected that the City of Duluth will clear some day this week for Chicago, being the first vessel of that line to clear this season. Ris The lake in front of Duluth harbor is now entirely x clear of ice, and the only obstruction to Lake Superior navigation, if there is any, exists at the lower end of the lake between Whitefish Point and the Sault, where there is believed to exist a large field of float ice. Within ten days of the first arrival here, Duluth eleva- tors will load out, providing the boats arrive, nearly, if _ not all, of 9,000,000 bushels of grain, of which, 7,500,000 will be wheat. As near as can be determined now about 7,000,000 bushels of this grain is chartered for Buffalo and the balance to various ports on Lake Erie and Onta- rio, about 1,000,000 going via Kingston. Wheat in store at the head of the lakes is apportioned among the various terminal elevator lines as follows: Belt line, 1,295,698 bushels; Consolidated, 5,360,097; Globe, 4,359,707; Great Northern, 1,584,292; Superior Terminal, 1,401,089; Consolidated B, 364,731; Consolidated’H, 96,- 315; aggregate, $14,546,929; in store at Minneapolis, 18,- 906,480 bushels. The American Steel Barge Co.’s dry-dock opened for business Monday and the North Wind was the first boat to enter. The labor disturbances on the Mesaba range which have been threatening, are now thought to have blown over. The collapse of the Ishpeming miners’ strike was responsible for it. ‘The Mesaba miners would have gone out, to make a fight for the eight hour day had the meet- ing at Ishpeming given the word. Now, however, no trouble is looked for. : Four of the Bessemer Steamship Co.’s boats, the Rockefeller fleet, will be registered at the Duluth cus- toms office this week. They are the Pillsbury, Wash- burn and the barges 102 and 103. The work of widening the channel approach to the Duluth & Winnipeg ore dock in Allouez bay will be begun as soon as the dredges can get to work. Con- tracts for this dredging will be let ina few days. The new extension to the dock will probably be completed by April 25. Orereceipts are expected tocommence by that date or before. The mines have begun loading out ore already and the Duluth, Missabe & Northern ore dock will begin receiving ore the latter part of this week. Many of the mines have large stock piles. Whistle signals of the United States Weather Bureau will be blown daily by Elevator E this year announcing the winds expected for the succeeding 24 hours at the western end of Lake Sxperior. The signals will be blown always at 10:20. During the season of navigation the whistle of the Imperial Mill will blow these signals at 10 p.m. whenever the information then at hand is of especial importance. Force-of-wind signals are as fol- lows: Light wind, one long whistle; fresh wind, two long whistles; brisk wind, three long whistles; high wind, four long signals. The direction of the wind is indicated by short whistles as follows: North, northeast and east, one short blast, southeast and south, two short blasts; southwest and northwest, three short blasts; vari- able, four short blasts. The wheat rate remains at 3c, though the shippers are becoming more earnest in their demand for a cheaper rate. Yesterday there was considerable bidding for tonage for less than 3c, but there was no break. Some of the shippers assert that the rate will be as lowas 24c before the season is far advanced. While lumber shippers think the rate to Buffalo will reach $1.75, nevertheless charters have already been made at $1.87. K. KE. EK. FLOTSAM AND JETSAM. -. ‘The Welland Canal will open for navigation May 1. The Kendall Marine Reporting Agency, Port Huron, THE MARINE RECORD. have attached a small lightship to the buoy on the middle ground, opposite the mouth of Black ,River, which is lighted every night. Lauriau Roleau has been appointed assistait keeper of the light-station at St. Mary’s Falls Canal. Henry J. R. Baker has been appointed assistant keeper of the light and fog signal at Marquette. The Northern King was the first to leave Duluth, and the Zenith City the first to leave Gladstone with ore. Col. G. J. Lydecker states that according to the Sand Beach record Lake Huron is 10 inches lower than a year ago. The signals on Duff & Gatfield’s docks to indicate the depths of water at Limekiln Crossing will be the same as last fall. THE RECORD is glad to announce that the prosecution at Milwaukee, of Capt. Robert C. Parsons, of Buffalo, on charge of criminal assault proved a case of black- mail, woven out of whole cloth. The Milwaukee wage rate for seamen has been re- duced 25c. per day, to correspond with the Chicago rate. This move was taken by the owners, and it is said the union seamen will accept the rate. The death of Capt. James Niland, who formerly sailed the Alaska, of the Anchor Line, is announced from Cape Vincent, N. Y. He wasa brother of Capt. Martin Niland, of the Northern Wave. United States Engineer Symonds is setting out alarge number of sycamore, locust, willow and other hardy trees on the neck of the peninsula at Erie, to aid in building up new land by the deposit of sand. The tug Ro f lies sunk on the course between Bar point and turtle light, about nine miles from Bar point dummy. Craft bound for Toledo or going from Toledo to Desroit should exercise care and keep a little to the eastward of the course. Port Wing, situated 25 miles east of Duluth on the south shore, will be quite an important lumber-shipping point the coming season. There is a large amount of lumber at Port Wing and there will not be less than 14 feet of water for the accommodation of vessels. Capts. James Playfair, W. H. Featherstonehaugh, and W. A. Clark have issued a writ against the Reli- ance Marine Insurance Company, of Liverpool, Eng- land, for $17,300 on a policy. The insurance was on the steam barge W. B. Hall, which was wrecked last fall. The new ore dock at Escanaba has been completed. It has 226 pockets (26 more than the old dock) and its capacity is 30,000 tons. The capacity of the five Esca- naba docks is now 160,000 tons. The new dock is 12 feet higher than the old dock, which will facilitate loading. Soundings at Ashtabula shows that over the sand bar just outside the piers there is less than 15 feet of water. Masters should keep well to the eastward until inside the piers, and then proceed along the west pier where there is a channel 80 feet wide, with over eight feet of water. An examination will be held at Washington early in May for candidates wishing to enter the revenue cutter service as cadets. There will be 12and possibly 14 va- cancies. Candidates must be between 18 and 24 years old and unmarried. ‘The pay is $500 per year, and one commuted ration. The death of Thomas Peterson, a veteran lake cap- tain, is announced from Ahnapee, Wis. Capt. Peter- son sailed out of Chicago as early as 1836, and he is said to have taken to Chicago on his vessel stone from Milwaukee for the foundation of the first Cook county courthouse. Capt. Peterson’s age was 80 years. Capt. W. P. Garden, who was master of the Union Liner Tioga last season, died at his home in South Scriba, near Oswego, last Saturday, of a complication of diseases which appears to have ended in pneumonia. He was a good sailing master anda man respected by all. He entered the Union Line in 1889 and has sailed varions steamers in the line since that time. : Capt. Joseph Rouleau will establish three lightships in St. Mary’s River at the Encampment, Two will be sta- tioned at the turning point, at the foot of Sugar Island, on the black stake side, and will carry two lights, a green and a white one. The third ship will be anchored on the redstake side of the Dark Hole. This ship will have a red anda white light. Capt. Rouleau will also place a light at the head of St..Joseph’s Island. With these increased facilities;*the navigation of the river after dark will be practically as safe as in daytime. E eee LAKE ST. CLAIR AND DETROIT RIVER NAVIGATION The following notice has been furnished the RECoRD for publication by Lieut. J. B. Cavanaugh, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., Detroit, in charge of the twenty- foot channel improvement: as Owing to unavoidable delay in dredging operations, it is impossible to throw open the new ship channel from the head of Detroit River into Lake St. Clair for the full width of 800 feet, but a channel 15,000 feet long and 400 feet wide at the upper end in Lake St. Clair, widening to 800 feet at the head of the Detroit River, has been buoyed for the use of deep draft vessels. The point at which this channel is to be entered from the eastward by boats bound down and to be left by boats bound up, is marked by the last red buoy, num- bered 16. At night the channel will be lighted by three lights on its eastern edge, placed upon pile clusters and maintained by the Lake Carriers’ Association. ‘The Lightship will shortly be moved to the eastern edge of the channel near the last red buoy numbered 16, and at night will mark the point where the channel is to be entered by boats bound down and left by boats bound up. The channel thus buoyed out will allow a draft at least 18 inches greater than can be carried through the Detroit River at Ballard’s Reef and below the Lime-kiln Crossing, and no other part of this channel should be used for the present; therefore, vessels bound up coming abreast of the last red buoy or at night abreast of the Lightship should turn sharply to the right until clear of the dredged cut; and similarly, boats bound down should keep to the eastward of the dredged cut and until nearly abreast of the last red buoy or at night of the Lightship and then turn sharply into the dredged cut. When passing the dredges and sweeping scows which are at work immediately west of the buoyed channel boats should check down so as to interfere with the work as little as possible. The supposition upon which this part of the channel is thrown open to navigation is that vessel men will show a proper appreciation of the trouble and inconvenience taken to give better water facilities at this point, and it is expected that they will use only that portion of the dredged cut buoyed out as above described and will also endeavor, by checking their speed and keeping ‘near the eastern edge of the channel, to interfere with the work as little as possible. The eastern half of Section 8 of the Ship Channel, at the mouth of the Detroit River, will also be thrown open tonavigation, and, as soon as the requisite authority is obtained from the Canadian Government for the use of buoys, the eastern edge of the channel will be buoyed out. The black buoys marking the old channel will remain in their present position so that boats can still use the old channel. 2 The eastern half of Section 8 gives them a channel 400 feet wide} ‘and in using it boats should keep within® this distance of the line of buoys, as the western half has still much work to be done upon it and should not be used at present. ll EEE Capt. 'T. C. Herrick, of the steamer Sage, presented Mr. E.G. Ashley, in behalf of Toledo Branch, Ship Masters’ Association, with a heavy gold watch chain pendant on Wednesday of last week. ‘The pendant is one and one-half inches long, and an inch wide. On the face is seen a twisted rope of gold all around the pend- ant. An anchor the full length of the pendant, with a gold rope in the eye of the stock appears in bold relief and across it is the flags of the association, with the side is engraved the following: ‘‘Presented to KE. G. figures ‘854,’ his number in the lodge. On the reverse Ashley, April, 1896, by Toledo Lodge No. 9, S. M. A.” a NR ey GOOD WORDS FROM OSHKOSH. UNION IRonN WORKS, OsHKOSH, WIs., April 13, 1896. Alex C, Bates, Cleveland, Agent, Empire Boiler Cleaning Compound: Dear Sir:—After using your compound one month, I opened the boiler and cleaned outthe dirt, then I let it go for one month longer, and cleaned it out; took out scales 3 to 4 feet long and about % inch thick, and now the boiler is just as clean as it was when made. Iam highly pleased with it and shall recommend it to any one having use for it. Yottrs.truly, ie H. C. DoMAN, Prop. -