Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-08-29

| inches of water nto Ashtabula this sea-
son (1873) as before noted. and the chan
mel since the MACY" discharged there
has been much improved by government
and corporation dredges.
Twelve feet deep is about all that Mar
ouette vessels ask for in harbor; they
can get no more than thirteen feet through
the ST. Mary's River, and even when en-
larged Sault st. Marie Canal locks give
them sixteen feet, they cannot increase
their draft beyond what they now load
to.
The steam barge "Selah Chamberlain"
brings one thousand four hundred gross
ions ore from Escanaba, but only 1,040
(S6O tons less) from MARQUETTE the same
vessel brings fourteen feet from Chicago.
The largest cargo of ore ever brought
from Marquette came in the John Mar
tin" and weighed 1910 gross tons the
same vessel brought 1885 tons of wheat
from Chicago. So Ashtab1la has 1odtes
enough, and is already to offer ample dock
age.
Rates of freight are only twenty cents
per ton more to Erie than TO Cleveland
from ore shipping ports, and TO Ashtabula
VIII Oe no more than to Cleveland The
towage fees will always be less at Ashta-
bula Than at Cleveland. A vessel of 1 900
tons now pays S2O towage from outside TO
the Old River Bed and the same outward
A vessel of 500 tons pays S1I from ont.
side to "Old River Bed" at Cleveland
A large proportion of vessels returning
from Cleveland to Marquette take btu
minous coal for cargo. Rate in 1878
fifty cents per ton, from Cleveland to
Marquette
Ashtabula offers as good opportunities
for getting this return freight as does
Cleveland, and, on the whole, better op-
pOrtunily for hauling or towing from
berth to berth IN Cleveland costs lar gely,
and except at the Cleveland & Pittsburgh
new slips, Nos. and 2 Ito which some of
the vessels discharging ore at the Cleve-
land 6 Pittsburgh docks can be moved
by simply warping across the slip) thus
hauling or towing is necessary.
Towage fees for vessels of 500 tons
from "Old River Bed" to Atlantic 6
Great Western shutes are $S, and from
"Old River Bed'' to the new slip of the
Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati 6 In
dianapOlis Company, $I6
Vessels can load 10 1919 feet at the At
lantic s. Great Western shutes but to only
lo15 attIe Cleveland, Columbus, Cincin-
natl 6 Indianapolis slip. The river, too, is
so crooked that there is much difficulty, or
loss of time, in getting the larger vessels
up to the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincin-
natl & Indianapolis slip (knOwn as the
Cincinnati slip,) and they cannot now
take full cargoes when they get there.
The towage of5OO ton vessels from
Cincinnati slip" to sea costs $40, and
from Atlantic & Great Western shutes to
sea, $11, same as from "Old River Bed :"
it costs no more to tow to or from Allan
tic & Great Western shutes from or to
lake, than to or from "Old River Bed"
In addition to the advantages above
named, that Ashtabula will enjoy she has
another, in being better situated as.
point of departure, for sailing craft, which
can make slant" off shore from Ash
tabula with the wind in any quarter,
while Cleveland lies at the bottom of a
"bight" or bay, and to get an ofing when
the wind is on shore" vessels baVe to
hire towage.
The manufacture ofiron in this cOun-
try is in its infancy.
There is no question of the increase of
the demand for Lake Superior ores
through all the country producing the
fuel with which they may be smelted.
Given at any point an ample supply of
suitable coal. the degree of facility with
which suitable ores may be got TO that
point governs the production of pig-irOn
at that point.
In order to increase the shipment of
Lake Superior ores over the Atlantic &
Great Western road from Cleveland, to
an extent that will bring the yearly bust
ness up to and beyond the figures given
above, all that we have to do is to push
the road into coal countries not yet reach
ed by it, and TO prepare means for hand
ling and transporting ore that will en-
able US (while making better net profits
than we now do) to offer iron masters
rates that will encourage the manufac-
ture of pig metal in the aforesaid coun-
tries.
In this connection, il is advisable to
bear in mind certain project heretofore
brought 10 your attention by parties con-
trolling very extensive tracts of iron lands
ID the State of New York, so situated as
to make Ogdensburg the most convenient
point for shipment of ore by lake.
1t is hardly practicable to make here a
full exhibit of the project, but 1 wish to
express my belief, that the plan is worthy
of you attention.
L nave NlSlleu luC leTTllOEy u MniCu
refer, and although the special duty that
l had in hand prevented my making
critical examination of the ore deposits,
I saw enough 10 satisfy me of the immense
value of the region as a source OF ore sup
ply. l saw in one place an opening
showing face of solid specular hemitite
not less than 90 feet in thickness. The
ore yields in the furnace about 60 per
cent of iron, slightly red short There
also in the region magnetic ores. and soft
brown and red Identities, the latter held
by some to be formed from iron disinteg-
rations of the hard ores. The distance of
the ore deposits from the lake is about
fifty miles. The owners of the tract have
the grading partly done for the railway
necessary to connect their mines with ex-
isting roads, and want somebody to finish
and iron 1t for them.
The distance from Cleveland to Odgens-
burgh, 0id the Welland Canal, By right line
measurement, is 48o miles, and from
Cleveland 10 Marquette by Taqht lines, UlG
the Sault Ste. Marie Canal $50 miles.
The lockage in the Welland Canrl is,
of course, much greater than that in the
Sault Canal
The coal shipped from Cleveland, dur
ing the season of
Coastwise Foreign. Total.
1873 was, s4ssss 297,s54 s55ss2 s55 ss2