St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-11
SUPERVISING INSPECTOR sTIB-
Balls TALKS TO A GLOBE
REPORTER.
SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
TWO LOCAL INSPECTION BOARDS
In THIS DIS
:, <, TRICT.
WHICH INCLUDES RAINY LAKE
And the Missouri River, in Adj
ditiOn to Upper mississippi
and Lake SUPERIOR.

Over the door of an office on the
third floor of the federal building
is sign that reads: Supervising
Inspector of Steam Vessels A
G b e reporter happened to read
it the other day, and he is probably
the first one since the sign was put
up some time in the dim and half
prompted him to inquire any further.
But the reporter timidly peeped
through the half-open door and saw
something that looked like a big
street scales, only so much larger
that it seemed as though it had been
constructed for weighing cars instead
of wagon loads of pumpkins and
cordwood. This further excited the
curiosity of the reporter, and he Won
dered what else he might be able to
get his optics on. He continued peek
ing around and squirting through the
crack Of the door-Sort of baShful
like-until finally the solitary occu-
and got a glimpse of him. Then the
scribe walked in just as though he
owned the office and the man inside
were some base intruder, and began
asking as many different questions
as a lawyer croSs-eXamining a wit
ness. To sum it all up, he learned
the following facts:
The occupant of the office was
Capt. W. r. Tibbals, the supervising
inspector of steam vessels, appointed
in February last, who came here from
Rock Island. This inspection dis
trict includes all the territory COW
cred by the Mississippi river and it's
tributaries north of Keokuk. 1t also
includes that part of Lake Superior
bounded by Minnesota and Wiscon-
sin. Then to the west it takes in
Rainy lake, Rainy river, Lake OF
the Woods, Red River of the North
and the Missouri river north of
Yankton. This makes a vast amount
of territory to be covered, and much
of it not convenient to reach, espe-
cially Rainy lake and it's tributaries.
The first boat was inspected on these
waters last year, but now there are
ten boats in all that have passed in
spection. Only four of these are
American, the others being Cana
dian, but they have to submit to
inspection by the American inspector
! on account of doing business on this
side Of the line as well as on their
own side. 1t is expected that num-
Der more will be put on before next
year rolls around. -
Next to Puget sound, the Rainy
lake region has become famous as a
stamping ground for smugglers, and
some boats have recently been seized
up there for carrying on a contra
band traffic. But the work of look
ing after smugglers belongs to the
customs service, and not to the
steamer inspection service.
DIVISION OF WORK.
There are two local inspection dis
tricts in this supervising district, one
at Dubuque and the other at Duluth.
At the former, George B. Knapp is in
spector of hulls and H. Nimrick in
spector of boilers, and at the latter,
John Monaghan is inspector of hullS
and Michael +. Chalk inspector of
boilers In all about 500 vessels were
inspected by these four officials last
year, those at Duluth inspecting the
greater nmber, as their district in
cludes the lake, the Missouri river and
all north of Wabasha on the Missis-
Sippi. The local inspectors report di-
rect to the supervising inspector and he
deals with the official at the head of
the bureau of navigation.
All collisions and accidents to YES
sells in which any negligence is sus-
pected on the part of the officers in
charge are investigated by the local
inspectors, and if found guilty, the
officers are liable to lose their license
which deprives them of the privilege
of serving in like capacity on any
other boat while under the ban.
The big apparatus in Capt. Tibbals
office that looked to the reporter like
a scales is a machine for testing by
hydraulic pressure the tensile strength
of the steel that is to be used in the
boilers of vessels. Samples of the
steel to be used must be sent to the
inspector, and unless it shows a GER
tain standard in tensile strength, the
material is ordered rejected. This in
sures great safety in the construction
of marine boilers.
One peculiar thing about the system
of government inspection of which but
few people evidently are aware, is that
no boat in what are known as distinct
lively state waters is inspected by the
OF the steamers on Lake Minnetonka
or White Bear lake is inspected by the
government. Of course in this state
the state boiler inspector looks after
the boilers in these vessels, but that
Is all.
LAWS THAT WORK WELL,