The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-12-11

comes mkt after Cleveland as q ship
owning port, and that is because the
headquarters of the line boats, which
are owned by the great trunk line rail
roads, are there.
Sailing vessels are rapidly being
driven off the lakes these later years
You see, 1t takes skillful officers and
first class seamen to navigate the lakes
for their waters are not 1ikerthe waters
of the ocean. practically boundless. The
shore is ever comparatively near at
hand, and there are dangers Of being
driven ashore suffered by sailing craft
that steam vessels are not subject to at
all Then the question Of dispatch, so
much more important here, as I have
told you, than on salt water, is driving
the sailing vessels out. Battling winds
may hold the sailing vessel for days,
while, unless the winds are very violent
indeed, they do not detain the steamer.
The evolution of lake steamers as to
size has made the port Of Chicago al
most second class in one respect-that
Is, the largest vessels cannot enter here
The river is SO shallow 1t will not take
vessels of : draft of more than 10 feet
inches, and it cannot we'll be made
deeper, whereas the big modern freight
steamers require IS feet of water Then
the river is too narrow to accommodate
a great many more craft than now en-
ter. The difficulties in the way of deep
ening the channel arise from the fact
that the street railway tunnels passing
under the river cannot be lowered with
out enormous expense and great incon-
venience all round. Besides new fOun-
dations for many buildings on the water
front would have to be made if there
were any more dredging In order to
widen the channel, there would have to
be extensive purchases of extremely val
liable property, and the total cost of
widening and deepening would be al
most incalculable. The bigger craft
however, can all enter at South Chicago,
and the harbor there is now really a
part of the port of Chicago.
The Vessels and the Men.
The total value Of the property made
use Of III lake navigation is not far
from $50, 600, 0OO This includes yes
sells, docks, etc. There are about 4, 600
vessels all told, a smaller number per
haps than in the past, but Of greater
aggregate tonnage, owing to the supe-
rior size of the modern vessels. These
vessels employ about 40, 600 men, and
the docks etc, say, about 20, 600 more
or so, 900 altogether. Certainly these
men are all thrown out Of work on the
lake at the close of navigation, but Ordi-
nary years only a few of them are
obliged to be idle during the winter. A
good many have been in the habit Of
wintering in the lumber camps. Others
get work in the Chicago packing houses,
which start up at full blast at just
about the time lake navigation closes.
Then many of them find their way to
the seaboard, especially to New Orleans,
where they do the work of stevedores-
The wages paid seamen on the lakes
are better, as a rule than on the ocean
As I have said, 1t requires better seamen
here than OH the sea Our sailors have
to work harder, for owing to the nature
Of our waters every sailing voyage IS
one long succession of tacks, and ports
being made so often there is the con-
slant work of going IN and out to be
done, whereas on the sea there are few
tacks, and entrances and clearances come
at long intervals For this reason, too,
the men have to be stronger physically
and of better personal habits. The ocean
captain need not worry as to the sobri-