New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-26
COMMERCE ON THE LAKES.
SURPRISING IN VOLUME THAT ON THE
OCEAN
THE CARRYING TRADE IN ORE AND GRAIN
sHIPBUILDING on THE LAKEs-cLosE


sHIPBUILDING on THE LAKEs-cLoSh
OF A PROSPEROUS SEASON
,vvcrx Az occAsIoNAr CORRESPONDENT OF TIE TRIBUNE
Cleveland Ohio, Nov. 22.-The closing III " ~"e,
each year interrupts Of tho most ih'er'.'s
important branches of interstate commerpo~ 'o w."
of the Great Lakes. Upon these waters noa's
moro than one-half greater in volume than inc COM
bined foreign and coastwise shipping OF the t"o ee"
English ports of Liverpool ana Lo'non' ~ 80
Of freight pass through the Detroo hNei .~' 49,
than the total exports and imports 0, u"o oi''1u :.
States for twelve month DuiHis inv - .os
1asa which was ga days in length there was
,o..h ,brouph the 500 Canal more tons OF freight
than nasse through the suez in the whole year, au
IN. volume Of Lake Superior commerce. Oh W'on ."o
"a Soo, Canal passages are the lnoeA' VIII oo sieN"
nv nearly million tons this year than iss.' e"ch
are a few OF the impressive comparisons ,ha' oi,ons
nn ,he magnitude Of the shipping interests OF those
fcsh-w seas and their great 'oi"o '" 'A0 P0'F'
nj the whole country.
w,,,o thar. are several fine fleets Of passenger
...r,.,s on the lakes tho freight traffic is by far
the most important feature OF the lake commerce.
ca, srain and iron are the great staples anu
make M more than NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF tic iah0
tra1c but of late years and with the increase III 'i
number Of fleets running In connection WIN eiV"'
railroad lines the package freight business mas a,so
,noresseh greatly In volume and Importance lhi'
5000 che ore trade has continued to increase IN
xonderful way The Lake Superior region VIII tu'n
mt a total during the season about Million "i,s
greater than last year and reaching the hhne'so D
A. nearly $500 900 tons. The development oi .i'
region In Che last four years has been rnaih.oi0
In 1887 the output reached the then great 'o'a VI
100000 tons and conservative souls prede.eu uo
preston Instead the next season saw a fur'her
.ooso =, 400 600 TONS while last season the pro
dncton leaned to 900 tons and this year to sti
q million more.
Miles of docks are required to accommodate 'ii'
immense traffic. At the Lake Erie ports-Cieveiahu'
Ashtabula Fairport, Buffalo, Erie, sandushy' ioouo
and Loran-whenee all the coal is shipped ana "i'ere
by far the larger part of the ore Is reeeveu' '"o41
are nearly sixteen miles Of dockaGe about % per 'o'
OF which is occupied by the ore business anu 'e o
mainder by the coal traffic The ore DOCKS Oh All
Average are $50 feet deep and their total dock space
is over 1OOoOOOO square feet. They can hanole
10000 tons Of ore daily and have storage capacity
of about $780, 900 tons This last Is very ipor'
matter, for with the autumn movement Oh gram anu
coal the railroads are unable to handle moro I.'A'
small part of the ore during the season Of navigation
Int with large storage docks they can lay up curing
the summer large amount of freight for the Stacker
winter months These ore docks are equipped Win
steam hosting apparatus, and every effort Is made 10
load and unload vessels with the utmost dlspaVh
Ioading ore has been reduced to simple matter vi run
ming the ore ont of great chute in long trcsues i1o
the hold Of the vessel, and can be done very eApeu
tously Vessels have been known to take on 2'ooo
ne. tons Of ore in this way in two hours Cnioadihs
cannot be done so quickly yet it, too far surpasses the
average time in unloading vessel on the seaboard
Tho hest record thus far was the present season.
when $500 net tons of ore were unloaded In seven
hours.
The coal business is not as large as the ore tramc
nor is it handled quite so expedi;ously. The seven
niles OF coal docks ut the Lake Erie ports can hanoo
over tons day Last season there were shlpped
from them over 100000 tons Of ore more than one
third Of which TO Chicago alone and the remain
der TO Milwaukee, West Superior, Duluth. apd other
minor points The amount handled this season has
been somewhat smaller. but from the present rush
of coal tonnage the record OF last year Is
likely to be nearly reached unless the sea"
son closes abruptly. The idea of using ucsues Tor
loading coal has not yet been generally adopted though
il possesses undoubted advantages, the principal draw
back being the lack of terminal facilities for the long
grade made necessary by the elevation
The grain trade is chiefly between Chicago, west
Superior Duluth and Milwaukee the West, and
Buffalo on the East. Last season these four ports
shpped "a 900 bushels Of wheat alone to Buffalo.
The total corn tonnage still greater, while the
-four traffic reached total Of over 3,e6O,oOO barrels
This year the grain season opened The second week IN
April and the grain feet its first trip brought down
from Chicago 10000 tons. distributed as follows
2sO2 COO bushels Of 118400 bushels OF wheat,
1877 900 bushels OF rye II 900 Of oats and $4,000 OF
Haxseed. During the first twenty four DAYS OF the
season. one-third as much grain was shipped from
Chicago as was exported from Newlork in the twelve
months Of 1859. Only heavy fall in rates prevented
the moving Of still greater quantity. The total foI
the season will probably be slightly less than that Of
last year. chiefly owing to short crops in the great
Western grain belt
The immense expansion of lake commerce in tho
last decade has led TO the equipment Of great ship
building plants and to the building Of vessels OF greater
carving capacity Ten years ago there were bat fe"
vessels that could carry 1000 tons OF freight. TO
dsy there are dozens that carry $500 tons on 1
1512foot draft and that could easily and safely carry
5000 tons were the rivers and harbors deepencd t.
eighteen feet number Of records in the way o
heavy loads have been broken this Ileretofor
the Onoko an iron steamer. launched at Cleveland II
1882 has been considered the greatest Francarrer OF
the lakes having brought down 100000 bushel
OF corn from Chicago 10 Buffalo, but tw
other vessels have beaten that the prescn
season. The Emily p. Weed, tho first set
steamer built at Congressman whceler's ward, a
Bay CITY, Mich, and launched last spring, brough
Town IO9, 900 bushels, and the America, a few week
later beat this by bringing down 11l500 bushels
3lo2 net tons. This record was surpassed, however
In the ore trade The steel steamer Pontiac, iaunce
at this port last season, brought down 1924 net Ton
Of oron draft Of fifteen feet eleven inches five inche
was smashed few weeks later by the Maryland
Detroitbuit steamship, which brought down 3,64O M
tons of ore draught of sixteen feet 1t Is not hke
this will soon be surpassed, although the preseI
fashion Of building vessels with greater beam makes
certain that few years at latest will see number
such carriers on the lakes. When 1t is rcmembert
that the Marylands load Is twice that carried by ar
vessel on the lakes in 1870 some idea OF the develo
nents Of recent years can DO gained
The speed OF lake vessels has increased with the
rize and carrying capacity. Five years ago there WI
not a twelve mile -an-hour freight boat on the Lake.
now there are dozens of them. Many OF the new ste
steamers can make fifteen miles an hour on
spurt and q number of them will make rour
trip from Cleveland to Escanaba or Marquet
at a rate little. II any, under fourteen mile
The record for speed however, Is held
the Union Line steel steamships roga and Owego. bu
In ButYalo in 1887 and 1888. The Owego has made u
romDd trip from Buffalo to Chicago at the rate Of 4
teen miles per hour running light going up and brn
ing down IS 900 bushels Of corn Some OF the Iii
steamers are managed almost with the regularity
express trains. For example, the Minnesota steal
ship Company's steamers Marsha and Manoa II
with such regularity this season that in making L