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4 THE MARINE RECORD. “Lhe Marine & Record. ESTABLISHED IN 1878, Eniered according to the laws of the United States at the Post Offic eat Cleveland as second-cliss matte i Published weekly at No. 2 South Water street, Cleveland, Ohio. A. A. POMEROY, Editor and Proprietor, BRANCH OFFICE, 244 SOUTH WATER STREET, CHICAGO. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION: One year, postage paid .. Six months, postage paid Invariably in advance, The MARINE RECORD can be found for sale at the following places: No. 2 South Water street, Cleveland. Joseph Gray, No, 284 South Water street, Chicago. D. MeMasters & Co., Sarnia, Ontario. George Pres on, Escanaba, Michigan. Wm. Godley, Escanaba, Mic higan. J.E. Somerville, Manistee, Michigan. Articles, letters and queries on all subjects are solici- ted. 8@The Editor assumes iio responsibility for the opinions of correspondents. To insure notice,..contributors must give name and address, and write on one side of ‘the. paper only. ADVERTISING RATES. Ten cents per line, nonpareil measurement, or $1.29 per inch, each insertion; tour weeks $4.00; with a liberal discount on orders amounting to $40.00 or over. THe regular meeting of -the civil eugi- neers’ club was held last ‘Tuesday evening at which Mr.°A. C. Getchel read a paper on steam boiler explosions and some of the causes, which will be fotind in next week’s issue. ‘ Ir is.said that the steamboat business is unusually active at Cincinnati, and that steamboats are getting unusually good freight rates. -The stage of water is good tind navigation is easy both upand down the river. A saLé has been made of the French Lum. ber Company’s mill to the State Lumber Company for the-sum of $30,000, with a small portion of land adjoining. ‘The pur- chasers rank ‘among the heaviest lumber concerns in the State, comprising among the incorporators, Kelleys, of Chicago; Bradley Bros., Milwaukee: Jenkins, of Oshkosh, and the Lovejoys, of Janesville. Possession is to be given immediately. Mucu complaint is made by shippers and vessel owners that no Warning by the signal service was given of this Jast great wind storm, probably the most severe and endur- ing that has eccurred for a number of years, After having taught the shipping interests to rely on the foresight of the signal service for warning of great storms on the lakes and then, as in this instance, to fail to give the accustomed warning, proves very disastrous to shipping, as captains, expecting to. be warned by the authorized authorities of storms brewing, as a general thing neglect to take the precautions that obtained before signal service came to be so generally relied upon, [tis trae this storm came upon us rather suddenly, nevertheless those sudden gates very ones that) navigators should be warned against by the scie.ice of the Government service, as they are usually the most severe and lasting. are the On Sunday forenoon O. M. Chase, super- intendent of Michigan State tisheries, accom- psnied by C. H. Brownell, his assistant, and George M. Armstrong, foreman of the Petosky hatcheries, went to Harbor Springs to give some directions in regard to the ship- ment of spawn. Having chartered the fish boat Mackinaw, manned by Moses Detwiller, his sons George and Charles, and his nephew George, all experienced and brave seaman, they endeavored to return, in spite of carn- est remonstrances, to attempt the perilous passage. When about half way across the boat was seen to capsize. Although it seemed impossible for a boat to live in such a sea, a volunteer crew made a desperate attempt to rescue two of the party, who could be plainly seen from the shore, clinging to the boat, but they were unable to reach them on ac- count of a blinding snowstorm and heavy sea, and were hardly able to get back them- selves. ‘he whole party was drowned. WE are again called upon, by the noble the lite-saver 3 at t this port in| ‘their efforts to rescue the distressed schooner John T. Johnson and her crew, to mete out to them the praise that is due to men who take the post of danger dyring the storm, and endure the harships of the position w ith. out the least complaint or semblance of fear, In the establishment of this inetitu- tion the Government deserves much credit, and the men who take their lives in their own hands’ to basten to the rescue of distressed seamen, cannot receive too much honor, It was owing to special Providence, we might say, that every man of them was not drowned atter their depart- ure from the Johnson, as their boat was cap- sized’ by the combing breakers from the shore, some of them being rescued only af- ter the most strenuous exertions. Captain C. C, Goodwin, «who was struck a severe blow by some object when the boat capsized, was for quite a while unible to attend tothe duties of his office, and other members of the crew beitg rescued ina nearly helpless condition. rifices of THE HENNEPIN CANAL, The daily papers of Chicago, almost with- out exception, have taken up again and are pushing with all their art, the project of the Hennepin ship canal to connect lake naviga- tion with that of the Mississippi river. It behooves us, in assuming to speak, not for the interests of Chicago, nor for any particu- lar State or quartet” of States, but solely for those of the lakes, to take up the subject. and examine it trom this point of view. If this “manner of treating it-should be de- nounced selfish, or as discriminating against general na‘ional welfare, to the interests of a.single class, we at least have the example for this line of argument in. the attitude ot the Chicago’ journals, which, notwithstand- ing their pious protessions to the contrary, are pleading for the especial benetit of their owt beloved city. This subject was taken up many years ago and the Fox river ssheme for connecting the lakes and the Mississippi probably has the precedence of age. The Fox river scheme proposed a waterway from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay, Lake Michigan; the - Wisconsin and Fox rivers were to be utilized and slack water made available instead of a newly constructed ca- nal the entire distance, about one hundred and sixty miles. Three millions and a half ot money have already been expended in improving Fox river for this object. © Min- nezota and Wisconsin, as particular .com- monwealths, were more nearly concerned in | this enterprise than any others, for the rea- | son that their waterway would furnish a sufficient outlet for their, products and en- liven the business of those regions, These millions, of course, did not go far, and the outery a year or so ago over What was called the enormous frauds of river and harbor ap- propriations, but which more truly had for its cause the overflow of jealous bile between the eastern and wesiern sections of the country, probably puta stop to the Fox river scheme for a good many years tocome, In the meantime the Hennepin scheme has been broached. While money was being expend- ed on the Fox river project the Hennepin agitators had to peep with a very small voice. Later they evidently saw the Fox viver scheme crumbling to pieces under the river and harbor cry with sonething like satisfaction, but now that the publie gorge raised by these appropriations has gone down, they have elevated their voices with redoubled volume in tie hope to completely crush the Fox river plan, in which they wilt no doubt be aided by the natural antipathy for anything that is old or in the least taint- ed with failure, no matter from what cause. ‘The state of feeling on this subject may be inferred from the heading of a recent edito- rial in a Chicago paper on “lhe Fox and Wieconsin River Humbug Prospect.” Of ceurse the public mind must be made to see the humbug of the old project in order to blind it against possible humbug in the new. What 1s called the Hennepin canal scheme proposes a route from Rock Island to Chi- cago, Sixty four miles of new canal would have to be dug from Rock Island to Henne pin, asmall town on the [linois river, Brom | Hennepin the Illinois river could be made navigable—so the advocates of the scheme claim—to Kankakee, whence the Ilinois and Michigan canal could) be made available by enlargement, The expense of this entire work, re Chicago Telbune says, is esiuiiated nen eb gaged in conducting the steamboat at less than ten millions of dollars. papers, have been laboring for the past two weeks to show that the Fox river route would cost twice or three times that sum. ‘They ridicule the slick water vavigation of the Wisconsin river, with its dykes and dams and other appliances. ‘The fall of the riv- er,” says the ‘Tribune, “is very great; the water runs eo low from June until winter that tnere is scarcely enough to navigote a canoe, and the changing torrent of tbe bed of the river is quicksand. ‘The probability is that the rapid current would wash the sand into any system of dams that could be constructed, fill them up in a short time and thus prevent navigation. .And dams would have to be.constructed every three or four miles forthe whole distance. All the ex- periments made up to this time indicate that adequate navigation along the Wisconsin river can only be obtained by the construd- tion of a ship canal; and if that be true it is in the interest of the Northwest and the whole country that the route between the Mississippi and the lakes should be from Rock Island to Chicago.”? This theory may be a very reasonable one. It is certainly the most natural at which a Chicago paper could by any possibility arrive. ‘I'he Inter-Ocean takes more elevated and patriotic ground in favor of the Hennepin canal. In ita mind all selfishness should be sacrificed ‘for the good of the common country. Minnesota and Wisconsin should join hands with Iowa and Ilinoia, let the Fox river project sink, and show the country that it is tor no sordid mo- tives that they ask the Government to build the Heanepin canal. In truth, considering the situation, the advocacy of these papers borders on the ridiculous. ‘There ¢an be little doubt that the Hennepin canal has the advantage over the.Fox river, but the ques- tion that arises to lake interests is whether either will Fe of any benefit to them. What will be the éffect on lake navigation of the building of either of these canals? This question is answered: by the result effected. ‘THe great object sought by shippers is an outlet to the sexboard. It seems to us-- though we put the matter, before the reader asa proposition merely—that a-ship canal from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi would furnish this outlet. That is, it would furnish an outlet to lake tonnage. It does not seem likely that the inlet to lake tonnage could be much augmented. This would depend upon the advantages possessed, one above another, if such there should be, by the Mississippi river or lake and Erie canal route to the sea- board. By this ship canal from Chicago to Rock Island ships could go to Rock Irland with cargoes, but what would they bring back? What profit there would be in tap- ping the Mississippi for freights must, until the matter is more fully developed, remain a problem. If our lake vessels brought. back niuch freight, it would be from above Rock Island. Whether this would be enough more than they now get from Lake Superior ports to make up the difference in| shortening the present route, is also problematical. It seems that lake interests would gain very little by the construction of the Hennepin eanal, —— STEAMBOATING — IN TIME, Special Correspondence of the Marine Record. Derroir, November 10. The ¢apital invested in steamboats on the lakes in 1836 was $1,000,000 or a trifle up- wards, ‘The expense of running those whieh performed regular trips through the lakes, including wages of men, wood, provisions and ordinary contingencies, was from $100 to $150 per day each. The amount of wood cousumed by a steamboat during a trip through the lake and back, from 100 to 300 cords, averaging, probably, 300 cords. Each boat performed from thirty to thirty-five trips during the season and, of course, con- sumed 5,000 cords of wood. ‘I'he whole amount consumed by twenty-four boats, the number ther employed and engaged in reg- ular trips through the Jake, was 120,000 cords. ‘The smaller boats and those employed on the rivers used 30,000 cords, making the total amount consumed 150,000. ‘The price of wood varied in different: perts from $1.50 to $2. per cord—average $1.75--making the average Cost of wood consumed by steam boats over $250,000 a year. The number ot hands employed on boats in’ those days was from twenty to thir ployed from 8 to THE OLDEN y—the smaller boats em- 15—the whole number of These | navigation being about 1,000, with ice and most of her eails gone, ‘The wagez of the men were various, The captain received for the season from $609 to 1,000; first mate, per month, $36 to 40; second mate, $18 to $28; steward, $25 to $35; engineer, $50 to $90; wheelsmen, $15 to $20; firemen, $18; suail- ors, $16; first cook, $25; second cook, $18; third cook, $10; deckhands, $10 to $15. The following named steamera with their tonnage and masters were plying during 1836: Michigan, 472 tone, Capt. A. Allen. Monroe, 341 tons, Capt. L. H. Cotton, Uncle Sam, 220 tons, Capt. G. R. McKenzie. Niagara, 210 tons, Capt. C. C. Burnett. Sandusky, 377 tons, Capt. T. J. ‘Titus. United States, 366 tons, Capt. A. E. Hart. DeWitt Clinton, 413 tons, Capt. A. H. Squier. Daniel Webster, 358 tons, Capt. Moris ‘I'yler. Gen. Porter, 342 tons, Capt. Walter Norton. New York. 325 tons, Capt. R. C. Bristol. Chas. Townsend, 312 tone, Capt. Simeon Fox. Sheldon ‘Thompson, 241 tons, Capt. Enos. O. H. Perry, 352 tons, Capt. D. Wilkeson. Columbus, 391 tons, Capt. A. Walker. North Ameriea, 368 tons; Capt.J.L.Edmonds, Robert Fulton, #68 tons, Capt. R. Hart. Thos. Jefferson, 428 tons, Capt.Thos, Wilkins Pennsylvania, 305 tons, Capt. J. M. Lundy. Wm. Penn, 251 tons, Capt. John F. Wight. ‘ J.W.H. {Concluded from Ist page.} Robinson in 1871, is 524 tons, aud is valued at $33,000. ‘The Quebec was laden with mer- chandise, and» was scuttled to prevent pounding to pieces. She was built at Chat- ham, Ont., in 1874, valued at $50,000, and is 700 tons burden. With the present etate of the weather her situation is dectdedly a pre- carious one. In the same locality the schoon- er Gladstone is also ashore with fair pros- pects of going to pieces. She was built on Lake Ontario, a Canadian craft, in 1869, and is 175.tons burden. At Bayfield, south of Goderich, the schooner Nemesis is ashore. She has.been thirteen yeurs.on the lakes, is also Canadian, and 78 tons. ‘he steambarge O. ‘Townend was driven back from Saginaw Bay with a loose wheel, and has arrived here and gone into the Detroit drydock for - repairs. ‘The schooner Melvina found shel- ter at Sand Beach durlng the blow, covered The Steambarge John B. Lyon and the boss ves- sel David Dows lie grounded at St. Clair flate. A large fleet are at Sand Beach, weather bound, among them the steamer City of Mackinac, propellers Toledo, Ontario, E. K. Roberts, Oconto, and ‘Tacoma also steamers Milton D. Ward and Pearl, steambarges City of Concord, Queen of the West, Chicago, Salina and tow, tugs Peter Smith, John Owen and Stranger, schooners: Curlew and T.S. Ames. The steambarge Escanaba ar- rived there on Monday nearly on her teams end, having shifted her cargo. The barge Merrimac broke adrift and is at the merey of the elements, without sails. At various points along the coast docks have been de- stroyed and contents lost. The instances are so numerous that it would be in’ vain to particularize. OSWEGO. The schooner Mary A. Leyden got iu with the logs of her main topmast head. George C. Finney is repo. ted ashore on the Ford Shoals. ‘The life savers are making efforts to tuke off the crew. The swall schooner Vision, of Kingzton, Captain ‘Tyo, was about half a mile outside the piers, when she was struck by the Sun- day gale and thrown on her beam ends, Ste quickly righted but at that instant her jib and staysail were carried away. She became unmanageable, and began drifting toward the shore and soon reached the vicinity of the lime kiln pier. She struck the rocks heavily five or six times but flually swung off and under her foresail worked outa short dis- tance in the lake. The gale meanwhile was increasing in severity aud Captain ‘Tyo, see- ing it was impossible to obtain an offing let goan anchor but the chain snapped like a pipe stem and the doomed vessel again drifted on the rocks, a short distance cast of the lime kiln pier and Immediately opposite the N. Y.O. & W. shops. ‘The life savers rescued the crew. ‘The Vision was owned by Captain Tyo and James Thompson of King- ston, the former having a third interest in her. She is valued at about $3,500. As she Jays at present the Vision is not as high as dnring the night and early morning,