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

DESCRIPTION AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FOUR DOCKS COMPRISING THE DETROIT DRY DOCK COMPANY'S DOCKING PLANT. ONE OF THE MOST COMPLETE DRY DOCKS ON THE GREAT LAKES. OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE DETROIT DRY DOCK COMPANY. The inside dimensions of this dock are: 378 feet long. 91 feet wide on top, 78 feet opening at entrance, 54 feet opening on mitre sill, 55 feet wide on floor, 16^ ft. of water over keel blocks, \SrA ft. of water over sill, A]4 ft. from top of keel blocks to floor of dock. 2Qy2 ft. from water line to floor of dock. y\,NLY the best is good enough, is the criterion of ww5>S quality for the Detroit Dry Dock Company, and the jM®M»f new dock which has been in operation two years is ^^^^ certainly an example of the above caption. For the past few years the necessity of larger and better docking facilities on the great lakes has been very apparent, but the risk of construction and uncertainty of the business has kept many from the undertaking. The Detroit Dry Dock Company, however, about three years ago determined to build a dock larger and finer than anything yet attempted on fresh water. And after almost a year spent in its construction, it is believed they obtained just such a dock, with every modern appliance to facilitate prompt and economical execution of all rebuilding and repair work. It is situated in Detroit, foot of Orleans street, where the offices, sawmill, engine, boiler, and general repair yards of the Detroit Dry Dock Company have been located during the past forty years. Mr. A. J. Dupuis, the well-known contractor and builder, carried out the work under the supervision of Mr. J. C. Parker, superintendent of the Orleans street yard. The keel and bilge blocks are five feet from center to center, averaging five feet high, thus leaving plenty of room under a ship for the movements of the workmen in making any necessary repairs to her bottom. There are two wells 12 feet deep, situated at each end of the dock, with cranes above them for hoisting out and replacing wheels, etc. The caisson gate, which, when closed, shuts off the ingress or egress of water, is of steel, constructed at the company's steel ship building plant at Wyandotte, Mich. It is 12 feet beam, 79 feet 5 inches long, with five 30-inch valves for flooding the dock, which can be very readily done in twenty minutes. Time required to pump the dock out is one and one-half hours. The whole dock is surrounded with a puddling wall filled with blue clay 5 feet thick, and extending down below the old river