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Plavine Becora. Published Every Thursday at 144 Superior Street, {leader Building) Cleveland, 0. A. A. POMEROY, EDITOR AND PROP’R. TERMS OF SUBSOREPTION: One year, postage paid.............ecsee ceeeeneee Six months, postage paid Invariably in advance. THE MARINE RECORD can be found for sale by the following news dealers: CLEVELA>. D, O.—G. F. Bowman, corner of Pear] and Detroit Streets. CHICAGO, ILL.—Joseph Gray, 9 West Ran- dolph Street. BUFFALO, N. Y.—A. C. Brideson, Michigan Swing Bridge. Also, Miss McCabe, Elk Street, near Ohio DU. UTH, MINN.—C. F. Johnson, 117 West Superior Street. ESCANABA, MICH.—Wm. Godley. Subscribers and others are respectfully invited to use the columns of the MARINE RECORD for the discussion of pertinent topics. ADVERTISING RATES MADE KNOWN ON APPLICATION, Entered at the Post @ffice at Cleveland as second- class mail matter. €LEVELAND, @HIO, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4. THE KEY TO LAKE NAVIGATION. While we do not advocate rates for trans- portation that will not pay carriers a good dividend, any improvement in the lake cys- tem of navigation that will lessen the diffi- culties sailing masters have to contend against are heartily welcomed. The im- provements in mind consist in the deepen- ing of the channels and of making many available harbors of refuge and all essen- tials to the assistance of carriers in making quick and safe transit with their cargoes. Chief among the improvements demanded by the Lake Superior district, and in fact, by the whole country, is the enlargement of the locks at St. Mary’s Canal, and the deepening of the channels leading into Lakes Huron and Erie. As has been seen, cheap rates of transportation have kept pace with increased depth of water in the chan nels connecting the lakes. To more tully _ elaborate this fact we quote from a letter, written by Hon. Heratio Seymour, jr., late civil engineer for the State of New York, published in the Marquette Mining Jour- nal. ‘‘These cheap rates of carrying have kept pace with the increased depth of water in the channels connecting the lakes. In 1857 the largest vessels were 600 tons, and the charge for carrying a bushel of grain from Chicago to Buffalo was 1814c, the depth of water at this time on the St. Clair flats was only 944 feet. In 1871 the depth on the flats was increased to 18 feet, and in 1874 it was made 16 feet, and the charge was reduced to 4c. In 1881 the lock at the Sault was finished and the charge was 32-10c. In 1884 it was 21-10c, and this last year it was 2c. The reason for this is that the cost of transportation decreases as the size of the vessel increases. This may be seen by the following table of the largest of the cargoes that vessels have been able to cairy into Marquette harbor, and the rate of freights for the corresponding years: Size of Cargo, Rate of Freight, Tons, Per Ton, atk GOe $2 33 MBO Z ecossinopansnkoes 1,538 I 65 + ene 021343 22 oon0e2ghO7 I 12 sisciciesae is - ee 2,405 I 05 *Water one foot low at the Sault. The saving tothe port of Marquette by the deepening of the water at the Sault was $3,763,401.65 on the ore business that was done between the years 1882 and 1885. ‘This would more than pay the cost of the work on the St. Mary’s River. England, France, Germany, and Russia are making every effort to take our trade from us. England is spending $50,000,000 to improve the facilities for transporting grain in India, France is expending $200,- 000,000 on canals, Russia is building a ship canal from the Baltic to the German Ocean at a cost of $40,000,000, and Germany is spending great sums to improve her water- ways. “We will lose our supremacy in foreign markets unless we can cheapen and facili- tate transportation, and we can do this by deepening the channels and allowing larger vessels to navigate our lakes. The aim of the government is tomake twenty-one feet of water between Lake Superior and Lake Huron and across the St.Clair Flats, and in the Detroit River; that this would cheapen transportation all who have studied the Whe Marine Record. fuel, and could travel when the present boats ure forced to seek protection from storms. Itis proposed to commence this work atthe Sault, because the only lock on the channels between the lakes is there and it will take eight years to complete the work. Besides the benetit that would ac- crue tothe whole country trom this improve- ment, there are many in addition that would be gained by the cities lying on the shores of the lakes. “The greut advantage that all the cities; on the lakes possess is the facility for cheap transportation which the waterways afford, acting as a check upon the charges of rail-' roudg, both in winter and summer, and en-} abling manufacturers to place their pro- ducts in the hands of the farmers at a low coat. “Whoever examines the wonderful pro- gress of this country, will see that it is due to cheap transportation. Our exports of manufactures in the decade ending 1860, averaged $39,000,000 per annum; in the de- cade ending 1879 they averaged about $60,- 090.000; and for that ending in the year 1880 the average was $124,000,000; while in 1881 our exports amounted to $170,000,000; in 1882 they reached $187,000,000, and in 1883 they were $188,000,000. “While the value of our export of domes- tic agriculture in 1860 was $266,560,672, in 1870 it was $361,188,483, in 1880 it was $685,- 961,000, in 1881 it was $730,000,000, in 1882 it was $552,219,819, and in 1888 it was $619, 269,448; showing that the United States, be- yond question,is a grain producing country, and if we maintain our commercial pros- perity, we must do all we can to facilitate this industry. If it were net for cheap transportation we could not compete in the markets of the world with our products. India, Australia, aud Russia are strong com- petitors for the grain traffic. These three countries together prodnce nearly twice as much grain as the United States, and with as cheap transportation would have advan- tages over us in the markets of the world. “The growth ot our immense foreign trade has had a marked effect on the prosperity of our country, The balance of trade has been turned in our favor; instead of purchasing foreign merchandise and being forced to ex- port gold to pay our debts, we have been able to sellin foreign markets more than we bought, and gold has come to our shores to pay for the grain we have sold. We have become by the business of exporting food preducts the creditor of the old world in- stead of its debtor; this has benefited all classes of our citizens and brought thou- sands of emigrants to our shores. That the bulk of this foreign exportation was raised west of the region of the great lakesis a condition of things that has been no injury to territory lying further east; on the con- trary, it has been an advantage. No one now looks for Genesee Valley wheat in the market, but the farmers of that section of New York State are no less prosperous. Their attention has been turned to other classes of agriculture. “The country is gradually separating it- self into districts devoted to a particular kind of business. The West produces wheat, corn, and ecattle, and the East no longer raises the great bulk of the food that it con- sumes. Instead, it finds more profit in pro- ducing such manufactures as are suitable for the use of the West, and exchange these for bread and meat. “The commercial activity, which is a re- sult of sending grain and eattle from the far West to the East or to Europe, and the shipment of coal and manufactured articles to the West, has created prosperity from one end of our land to the other. Railroads have done a paying business, and the lake fleet has been actively and profitably em ployed, “This state of things has been brought about by cheap transportation, At onetime last year grain was carried from Duluth to Buffalo for 14ge a bushel, and a ton of coal was carried from Buffalo to Duluth for 68 cents. (But they are not paying rates.) The average lake freight from Chicago to Buffalo for 1885 was 2c a bushelon wheat. “Colonel Poe estimates that the commerce going through the lock at the Sault is worth $58,413,472, except the grain; this repre- sents the value of the local business that is done by water between pointson Lake Su- perior, and such places as Detroit, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, and Buffalo. The most valuable of it is the unclassified freight, (which I think is under-estimated), which consists of valuable merchandise that is sold by the merchants of the cities [have named to the people residing on the upper lake. Is it not for the interest of those cities to build up and increase the business ? “The freight charges from Escanaba to question of luke traffic agree. The vessels | Cleveland have always ruled lower by about could be run with about the same crew and! 25c than from Marquette. This is because of the delay and danger of passing the | of two passenger steamers of steel, 400 feet Sault, the key to lake navigation. channel between Lake Huron and Lake Su perior, both above and below the lock, can. | between Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo, ” not be run in the night; the result is that all vessels not reaching the lock from either direction about noon must tie up until next day, Ifthe lock should be injured in any way the whole traffic of Lake Superior | would be stopped, or so much of the cargoes | would have to be taken off as would allow | | prostrate business. | ‘The Lake Superior region is developing new iron centers at three different places; there isa vast body of lumber that must be floated through to the lower lake markets, |and in a short time the bulk of the wheat from the Northwest must be loaded at Du- luth. Will the lower lake ports hinder this development? Will they check the growth of a region that puts millions of dollars into their pockets every year? ‘*lhe government has expended $28,262,- 237 for the pa-t ten years upon the Missis- sippi River, and but $4,000,000 on the chan- nels between the lakes, including the St. Clair Flats ship canal and the Detroit River, although the business through the lakes has been vastly greater than that upon the Mis- sissippi River. The reason for this is that all the States lying upon its waters, have made a persistent, united effort to develop vhat waterway. ‘Those lying on the shores of the great lakes should do likewise.” CHICAGO LAKE FRONT. The navigation interests of Chicago de- mand close and unremitting attention to the protection of her lake front, from the encroachments of the aggressive railroads. The recent ordinances of the council of that city in closing the draws of many of the bridges against navigation during certain hours of the day is un evidence that the outer harbor must soon be put in condition for more general use. But how can that be done if the federal and city government pay so little attention to the squatter sovereignty system of the railroad lines?- The question of the rights of either state or federal offi- cials to control these depredations has been much discussed and effort was made to dis- coyer whether the jurisdiction of control, if any, lies with the Secretary of War, or of the Treasury. The authority not having been located nothing has been done to pro- tect the pnblie rights. Under these ci:cum- stances it would be, to our mind, the proper thing for the government to restrain. the railroads from further encroachments and seek the proper restraining avthority in the sweet by-and-by. It is the opinion that the state and city governments could have interposed at any time to stop the en- croaching work of the railroads, and sur- prise is expressed by representatives of eastern maritime cities that it has not been done. There no corporation is allowed to put a stone in the water front, if thereby navigation would be impeded er public con- trol of dock privileges lost, a measure that is enforced by the policy of such cities. While this same question was being agi tated in Buffalo last year, the United States engineer, stationed at that port, assumed the jurisdiction and enjoined the Lackawanna road from further encroachment on the har- bor privileges. His action was sustained by the government. A complaint of a like nature, made by citizens of Chicago, that a railroad company is absorbing the entire lake front with a girdle of tracks and pri- vate docks, and by filling: up the harbor is not only impeding navigation but impair- ing the rights of the city, all working to- gether for permanent injury, on the theory that possession is nine parts of the law, should prompt the United States engineer to adopt the same course at Chicago. Vigor- ous action on the part of the government is demanded for the protection of its ward— navigation—and it is to be hoped that the problem will soon be solved, the rights of navigation upheld, and the railroad cerpo- rations turned back upon themselves. ee A SIGN OF OLDEN TIMES. A measure for thebuild ing and equip- ment of a mammoth passenger and freight steamer is under consideration by several of the representative men of the passenger traffic of the lakes. The move has a tend- ency to remind lake men of the good old times before railroad rate wars ruined the business of that trade. Many of the older class of lake captains remember the palatial and magnificent steamers which plied be- tween this city and Buffalo, and the travel- ing public remember with pleasure the relief they had in those days from the heat, smoke and dust of a railroad passage by a cool and exhilarating voyage on one of the old time passenger steamers. a Se Ge Se SS SEA OT I A ee a ae a a the boats to pass the old locks. This would | The|in length, with 50 feet breadth of beam, mentioned in the Recorp last fall, to ply each to have twin screws and engines, capa- ble of driving them twenty miles per hour. Captain G. W. Stoddard is now in this city in this interest, and before he completes his mission Buffalo and other ports will be visited with a view of inviting vessel men of enterprising views to subscribe to the | stock of a company to be formed. The plan is to fit these monster vessels with luxuri- ous cabins and accommodations for a very large number of passengers, while no freight is to be curried except such as can be taken en deck. Stops are to be made at this city and Put-in-Bay, and, perhaps, at Erie, and daily trips are contemplated, with close connection between the steamers and promi- nent railroads. The result of the establish- ment of such a line of steamships could not fail to stimulate public interest in the great lakes us highways of travel, and draw visit- ors from inland sections to the Lake Erie ports, and to none more than to Cleveland. The population of the lake region is becom- ing so great, and the number of those who have leisure and means to travel for pleas- ure is so much larger than it was a few years ago that a line of elegant passenger Steamers plying between ‘Toledo and Buf- falo ought to receive a liberal patronage from this source alone, and there is no rea- son why the lake should not be more used by those who travel fur business, and to whom a night or day on the water with its freedom from dirt and heat might well be an acceptable change after dusty and hot summer rides by rail. Some day the mag- nificent body of water which lies at Cleve- land’s feet will be much better appreciated than it ever has been in the past, and if the new steamship line operates, as it must, to hasten the coming of that time it will do this and other cities on the line, good ser- vice. The Saginaw Courier publishes its annual detailed review of the lumber products of Michigan, indicating that this State still heads the lumbering industry. In 1890, the census showed 1,649 establishments, giv- ing employment to 30,886 persons, with a total invested capital of $39,260,428, and pro- ducing $52,449,928 The Courier’s figures show 2,952,861,159 feet of lumber cut during the year, and there was on hand at the close of the year 1,098,526,397. During the same time the cut of shingles was 2,390,156,500 For the coming season prospects are bright and operators hopeful OBITUARY. On Monday morning another of our re- tired mariners crossed the dark gulf. Cap- tain Henry W. Hackett, at his home in Ambherstburgh, at the age of 54 years and 5 months. His tather, the late Captain James Hackett, who died at Malden in 1873, at the age of 86, was one of the early lake pioneers, dating back to 1816. He made a trip to the Sault in the full rigged brig Wellington, in 1817, having in tow the schooner Axmouth, a vessel of about 30 tons, which was hauled over the Portage and launched in Lake Superior for the Northwest Fur Company, and was the first vessel ever taken over the Portage. lakes for many years and was finally ap- pointed lighthouse keeper on Bois Blane island, at the mouth of Detroit river, which was and has been ever since, one of the best lights on the lakes. : i Captain Henry Hackett was a brother of the late Captain R. J. Hackett, who died in Detroit in March, 1879, both of whom for many years followed the lakes and were masters of vessels. They were instrumental in the building of tugs and steamers, among which may be mentioned the tugs E. M.. Peck, W. B. Castle, and Metamore. In these undertakings they were more or less associated with L. M. Coe and E. M. Peck, of Cleveland, — The most eventful incident of ‘Gepiain Henry Hackett’s lite was in 1854, which year he commanded the schooner Conductor. In November of that year she stranded and was wrecked a few rods from the shore at Long Point Cut, during a pitiless and iey storm. The vessel sunk beneath the waters with nothing but her spars visible, and the crew clinging to the rigging. In this terri-_ ble dilerxama they were seen from the shore © by Mrs. Abigail Becker, a perfect giantess, the wife of a trapper, who lived in a tem- porary shanty near the shore. She gave the signal to the perishing crew and waded outinto the icy lake, and as they, one by one, dropped, she dragged each to the land and soon had them all in her cabin and — made comfortable. For this noble act of bravery she was awarded a home near Port Rowan, Canada, by the Humane Society at Buffalo, beside money which she is nowen- eS The project in question is the bullding joying at her quiet home, The eld gentleman followed the pa Serica ia