The times., 1898-10-31
COMMERCE ON THE LAKES.
Big Vessels Crowd the Little Ones
Out of sBusipess.


Out of sBusipess.
Buffalo. Oct. 3O-Thei agrowth and de-
velopment of the Transportation system
on the Great Lakes from the sloop of
the pioneer to the mamnloth freighter OF
the present day haye been most marvel
GUS. Today the trend Of shipbuildinS is
toward larger Vessels, and next season
may see the realization Of the dreams of
lake shippers. and f. the waters of these
inland seas be piQwed iby the PROV of
a 50O-foot steamer Today this mark Is
all but reached in 'the Bessemer Steam
ship Company's latest acquisition, the
new steamer Samuel b. Morse. Her
length over all Is i76 feet with 456 feet
keel. so feet beam, and depth of % feet.
Many other freighters have length of
400 feet or more, while many other of
larger size and capacity are being plan
ned but at the presegrthe Morse Is the
largest vessel on the lakes.
Slowly but surely these mammoth
freighters are driving out of the busi-
ness the smaller barges and schooners.
Ten years ago vessel carrying 5000 net
tons was the limit. and in those days the
owners of the 1,500 or 2,000-ton vessels
complained that the larger boats were
detrimental to the interests of the ves-
sci owners. But the past decade has seen
mighty change. and today vessels ca
pable of carrying 5000 to 5000 tons cargo
are being turned out, and the smaller
vessels must succumb before their COM
petition. With their enormous capacity,
| and. therefore, the lessened expense of
transporting freight, these enormous car
riers control the situation. and the trend
of events may be best noted by the fact
that some fifty of the smaller vessels of
| the lakes have been leased to New York
companies for use in the Atlantic coast
! trade. Their transfer to the coast will
place them where they may earn a liveli-
| hood, almost impossible feat when
! they are forced to compete with steamers
! of the size of the Morse.
/ Naturally, one result of the building of
mammoth freighters has been larger car
! goes, and the present season has seen
: some record-breaking cargoes on the
/ lakes. Yesterday the Western Transit
| Companys new i03-foot steamer. the Troy.
| put into this port with the largest cargo
| of flour ever carried on the lakes In all
| she carried Il, coo barrels. or nearly 500
! tons of that commodity, equal to 800 car
( loads. AT the prevailing rates of trans
I portation the New York Central, of which
/ railroad the Western Transit is the lake
| continuation, received s2l.s3i for carrying
! this shipment from Minneapolis to the
coast. thus effectualy settling the long
/ mooted question. Does it pay to build
| large carriers
Though the record made by the Troy is
! the best for a cargo of flour, larger car
| goes of ether commodities have been
| transported The largest cargo ever car
| ried on the lakes was one of iron ore, car
! ried by the Bessemer Steamship Com
/ pany's schooner John \. Roebling from
! Duluth to Conneaut. in all 1866 net tons,
Another of the same company's boats
| the John Fritz. carried from Duluth to
! Conneaut cargo of 7.7s5 net tons of iron
ore. 1t was expected that the company
| new steamer. the Morse. would break
these records on her initial trip. but ow-
| ing TO an accident. which prevented the
! removal of part of her ballast, she was
| able to load but 6 $50 net tons.
| The Superior City. owned at Duluth. {
! i15-footer. and the second largest vesse
| on the lakes, recently carried from Chi
| cago TO owen Sound a cargo of 255. 5ot
| bushels of corn. equal to T.i6S net tons
| The same steamer recently put into Buf
faiO with a cargo OF 10000 bushels OF
wheat and 10000 bushels of fiaxseed
weighing in all $50 net tons. while from
| Escanaba to Chicago the Superior City
| grain cargoes are: Steamer w. r. Linn
| Chicago to owen Sound 232 900 bushels o
corn, equal TO 6.i96 net tons: steel schoon
| er Australia, Chicago to Buffalo, 2l0 SO
bushels of wheat, equal to 6,3l6 net tons
| and the steamer Andrew Carnegie which
recently brought from Manitowoc u thi!
port 332 lc0 bushels of oats, making .
cargo of 5.313 net tons
Coal being the principal commodt,
| shipped by lake from this port many
enormous cargoes have been loaded thi
season. On her initial trip the steame
Hendrick S. Holden took from this por
to Duluth cargo of SAP tons of anthra
cite coal. breaking all records. the bes
previous record being that of the schoon
er Polynesia. which some time ago car
ried from Cleveland to Duluth 1854 ne
tons of bituminous coal.
The building of these large vessels anr
the mammoth cargoes they carry vii
necessitate the deepening and widenin,
of harbor channels in the near future
Especially at this season of the wear
when the water in the harbors is low
| are these monsters apt to get STRANDED
on the bottom, and during the past weel
several such accidents have occurred il
Buffalo, oftentimes delaying traffic TO
several hours. When the harbors are i'm
| proved and the facilities for handlin,
larger vessels are better than al present
the freighter with cargo capacity o
10000 tons viii become a factor in tn,
traffic of the great lakes.