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

6 MARINE REVIEW. a ee ae a EE ll CHICAGO LAKE INTERESTS. WESTERN OFFICE, MARINE REVIEW, No. 210 So. Water Street, CHICAGO, IIl., Dec. 24. The deep waterways convention at Detroit last week may prove of vast advantage to vesselmen on the great lakes or it may be very disas- trous. If Congress accepts the voice of that convention as the voice of the $62,000,000 invested in floating property on the lakes, the convention will not be a blessing.. It is not for the best interests of the lake marine that all efforts should be concentrated for a 20-foot channel, and all local improvements neglected. Important as the 20-foot channel is, every- thing else should not give way to it. Yet that spirit was strong in the convention. It is true that the convention was called to consider the 20- foot channel and the local questions were barred, yet they were not barred by many speakers. At nearly every port on the great lakes ap- propriations are now imperatively demanded. Are all of these ports to go without government aid, because a 20-foot channel is desirable? It would be better to let that channel wait, if Congress will not do all. Still better would be to let both general and local measures go before Congress without comparison or prejudice to one another. To one who has studied the actual movement of grain on the Chicago board of trade for yéars, much of the talk about a seaboard outlet was nonsense. The en- tire commerce of the country must be revolutionized before the canal could be generally used for through shipments, if constructed. As for national defense that argument was avery feeble one. One charge of dynamite would render the locks useless for weeks. Action in this mat- ter was forced by some determined enthusiasts from the northwest, backed by the interested efforts of Oswego. As a whole the convention was, however, an undoubted success. If it is to be the means of securing ap- propriation for a 20-foot channel between the great lakes, without preju- dice to local improvements, it will fully have repaid the generosity of the people of Detroit. The members of the Lake Line Agents Association will make an in- spection trip over both branches of the Chicago river next week and see where the most needed improvements are required. What the association will do after the inspection remainstobeseen. The association, although less than a year old, has made an enviable record for aggressiveness in the way of river improvements. It has fought through to the United States courts the famous Canal street bridge case, and inaugarated the case against the Ft. Wayne railroad bridge,which now bids fair to exceed in im- portance the Canal street bridge case. The line agents have acted on the principle of conciliation with the great public using the bridges, and of _education in showing the importance of the marine interest of Chicago. I am told that the association will be reorganized on a somewhat broader basis before the opening of navigation next summer. HOMER J. CARR. ___. [It might be well to explain in connection with the general trend of _ argument in the above that the correspondent Mr. Carr, was one of the Illinois delegates to the waterways convention, who sought to have the convention resolve in favor of Chicago harbor improvements.—ED.] Steamboat Earnings---Milwaukee Matters. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. MILWAUKEE, Wis., Dec. 24.—Owners of steam vessels at this port are nearly through with the task of striking balances on the season’s work _ of their property. Inquiry among them develops the fact that the net earnings of the boats engaged in the lumber and wood trade fall anywhere from 25 to 30 per cent. short of the season of 1890, while the earnings of grain, iron ore and coal carriers are fully 50 per cent. below those of last season. All acknowledge that the outcome is much better than they had been led to expect at the opening of this season. As an outcome of the grain blockade at Buffalo, suit has been institut- ed by the Wolf & Davidson Steamship Company against the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company to recover in the neighborhood of $4,000 for demurrage and incidental expenses incurred through delay in the delivery of grain cargoes of the steamers Fred Pabst and Thomas Davidson. The grain was shipped from Gladstone to Buffalo on a through rate to the seaboard made by the railway company, and consigned to elevators at the last named port which were unable to handle it promptly when the steamers arrived. Com. Wolf preferred proceeding against the railway company to attaching the grain in the elevator at Buffalo, and has placed an embargo upon a sum of money re- maining in the hands of agents of the railway people here, which amounts to considerably more than the steamship company’s claim. Preliminary steps have been taken for the incorporation of a transit company to run a line of steamers from Gladstone to Buffalo in connection . with the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Sault Ste. Marie Railway. It is under- stood that satisfactory overtures have been made to Capt. Charles E. Moody, of the steamer F. & P. M., No. 5, to take command of the pioneer steamer of the new line, and that he has tendered his resignation to the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway management, to take effect on January 1. Capt. Moody stands so well with the latter people, however, he may be in- duced to remain in their employ. * ; on of a line of railway to Kewaunee,having through con- Paul and Minneapolis has led to a decision on the part of the Delaware & LackawannaRailwayCompany which now has control of the ‘li Pere Marquette Railway and its connections, to arrange for run- ae = mer in the package freight trade between that port and Man- eta ae fe the winter months. It is given out that the Lake Michigan abe Game Transportation Company’s steamer City of Traverse has : rk. ee ae gape tees made appointments of captains for the Wolf ic Divideon Steamship Company’s fleet for 1892. He has done so thus early in order to be spared the annoyance of a flood of applications during the winter months, when he desires to enjoy 4 season of rest, The appointments are as follows: steamer Fred Pabst, Lewis Young; steamer William H. Wolf, William Lund; steamer Thomas Davidson, Jere eorge H. Dyer, William Jamieson. Up to the season which he served as first mate of the steamer Topeka, “Parson” Jamieson’s,lake experience had been confined to handling “wind jammers,” but he is now thoroughly prepared for the change, and no doubt will give as good an account of himself while handling the bells as i ile manipulating canvas. : a rorky encitiyoauiees attended the last meeting of the E. M. B. A., including a number of visiting captains. Whale Club members are beginning to resort to their comfortable quarters in the Marine block in large numbers daily. The exchange of experiences during the stormy period which marked the closing weeks of the past season would make a volume of goodly size and afford interesting reading for such landlubbers- as are inclined to associate only pleasant romance with travel on the The completi nections with St. Coleman; steamer G just closed, during great lakes. No Rebate on Ogdensburg Grain. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. KINGSTON, Ont., Dec. 24.—The Montreal Transportation Company here has been officially informed that the government will not allow a re- bate of tolls of grain stored at Ogdensburg. The people of Kingston feel easier. ; Perry Burns, of this city, has an interest in a large excursion steamer now being built at Buffalo to cost $15,000. She will carry 1,200 passengers run 17 miles an hour and will run between Buffalo and Grand Island. The new steel tug being built at Collinsbyby the rafting company, to be used for towing and wrecking purposes, will be ready tor service in the spring. She will cost over $30,000. The tug Active, owned by the Montreal Transportation Company, will be rebuilt this winter at a cost of $16,000. The government has decided to continue keeping a light in the city hall dome, notwithstanding that range lights will be erected in the harbor in the spring. Next season the harbor will be well lighted. The probabilities are that a very large cut of timber will be made this winter, but owing to absence of snow, work will be begun unusually late. It is stated that McLachlan Bros., will make a larger cut than any other firm in North America. Millions of feet will be brought to the streams. Last winter the cut was very small, which no doubt accounts for the great preparations now going on. : Toledo’s Coal and Ore Trade, Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW.. TOLEDO, O., Dec. 17—Following is a statement of the coal (soft) ship- ped from this port by lake and the iron ore received: _Coal—Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo, 650,000 tons; Toledo & Ohio Central, 263,470; Wheeling & Lake Erie, (Ironville), 158,000; total 1,071,470 tons. Tron ore—Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo, 83,000 tons ; ‘Toledo & Ohio Centrol, 111,245; Wheeling & Lake Erie, (Ironville) 12,000; total 206,245 tons. Iron ore on hand, Dec. 15—Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo 52,000 tons ; Toledo & Ohio Central 70,647 ; Wheeling & Lake Erie, (Iron- ville, 700; total 123,347 tons. : Lumber receipts by the lake for the season foot up 177,820,000 feet, and the anthracite coal receipts 83, 910 net tons. Grain shipments by lake aggregate 19,427,259 bushels, of which 17,702,884: bushels was coastwise and 1.72 b i hese shipments were divided as follows, eee ne rein Fe Coastwise, Foreign ; Sate BUSHE]S.cssseseecssssesssssnecen 2,835,246 160,064 bas DP setttesecnesseesseeseees 13,905,128 907,526 Me T | 724,375 QUIS vassccais oars sree 17,702,884 1,724,375 _ Some callers at the Marr R ae palgee suse E. Kremer, Chicago; C. H ss EVIEW Office this week: C. : : > &. T. Weeks, ; DR Gai Detroit ; 8. B. Hubbard, Saadeecy ads ariuls wide :