The times., 1899-05-20
FON THE GREAT LAKES.
The Revolution From sniI to Steam
and It's Regrets.

The Revolution From SniI to Steam
and Its Regrets.
Chicago May 19-Most OF the tonnage
on the Great Lakes is now carried by
steam. and the sailing vessel is fast disap-
The tonnage of sailing vessels
reached the highest figure in 1884. when
it was 36T,933 tons. BY 1895 it had de-
clined to 100000 tons. In that year the
tonnage of lake steamers was three times
that of the sail craft. In 1895 and 1896
the new tonnage of steam craft constructed
was four and one-half times that OF the
new sail craft The causes which brought
about this remarkable change are not far
to seek. Most important of all was the
construction OF railroads from the btu
minous coal mines of Ohio and Pennsyl-
vania to the ports on Lake Erie. Every
little river and creek that flows into the
lake, from Toledo to Erie, has had its
mouth scooped out with appropriations
generously made by Congress and has a
railroad leading to the nearest coal field
and has thus been converted into a ship
ping port. This has greatly cheapened the
cost of coal. SO that the expense of run
ming a steamer is very much less than it
was twenty years ago.
The little schooner, with its handsome
spread of canvas survives mainly to take
" luc idhc Sttito tiOhu
located on little creeks in the pineries of
Michigan or to take cord-wood and railroad
ties into Chicago from northern Wisconsin
ports. The schooner costs almost nothing
to maintain when not in service, and can
be kept lying for weeks at a sawmill wharf
waiting for cargo without making
heavy bill for her owner. The great freight
movements of the lakes are now In grain
from Chicago, Milwaukee. and Duluth to
Buffalo. in iron ore from Duluth. Ash
land, Superior, and Marquette to Toledo.
Cleveland. Ashtabula, and Erie. and in coal
from all the ports on Lake Erie connected
by railroads with coal fields up the lakes
to Duluth, Chicago. and Milwaukee. and
nearly all of this immense tonnage now
goes in steam craft. There are six or seven
millions OF people in the Northwest who
keep warm in winter with coal brought by
water from the ports on Lake Erie, but the
freight rate on coal is now so low that
many vessels return in ballast to the upper
lake ports rather than lose the time re-
quired for taking aboard coal cargoes
You may live in Minnesota, nearly 1000
miles away from an Ohio coal mine, and
get your winters fuel at price no higher
than is paid in some Ohio town fifty miles
from the same mine. The vessel rate for
coal carriage last season from Cleveland
to Duluth got down to II cents per ton.
The lakes look lonesome now that the
schooners are disappearing. Stand upon
the bluff at Milwaukee or on the lake front
at Chicago, and look out on the great ex-
panse of blue water that gives no sug-
gestion on the horizon line of farther
shore. Twenty years ago you could count
the sails of dozens of graceful schooners.
making for port or tacking outward against
a head wind. Now all that you see are a
few long trails of smoke flung out like
black banners from distant steamers. If
you sailed the lakes many years ago on
one of the little side wheel steamers OF
that time, and now make voyage on one
of the huge floating hotels that carry tour
lists from Duluth to Buffalo or from Chi
cago to Mackinac. you might easily imagine
that the commerce Of these inland waters
has actually decreased, forgetting that one
of the great steel barges you pass prob
ably carries as many tons of freight as
ten Of the pretty little schooners you saw
on your early trips. These big steel barges
are built in Cleveland or at the whaleback-
yard at Superior. Their draught is as great
as the depth Of water in the locks OF the
Saulte shlp-canal and on the Limekiln
Crossing in the Detroit River permits. U.s.
ually each barge takes in tow two other
vessels, which are either old schooners OF
whalebacks without engines.
The only thing to regret In this revolu-
tion from sail to steam that marks the
recent progress of commerce on the Great
Lakes is the disappearance of the old type
of hardy, Intelligent yhilor. The salt water
tar used to laugh at the fresh-water sailor,
but the sailor who navigated the lake
schooner of old times was in reality a
better man than his Atlantic brother.
More skill and endurance were needed to
bring big schooner safely from Chicago
to Buffalo in the teeth OF a November gale
than to take a ship from New York 10
Liverpool, for all the way there was a lee
shore close at hand and the Straits OF
Mackinac. the st. Clair Flats, and the
group OF islands at the head of Lake Erie
presented obstacles and embarrassments
unknown to ocean navigation. The lake
sailor AYERS, too, that the storms which
he must encounter are more sudden and
vicious than those met upon the ocean. A
long list of wrecks every year used 20 add
to the romance and peril of lake naviga-
| tion. Nothing happens to the stout steam
barge, which makes its trips as regularly
| as a ferryboat. She does not run into q
pier while trying to make the narrow en-
trance to a harbor in fierce gale. as the
schooner might do, nor is she blown upor
| lee shore. Almost her only danger il
that of collision in fog. Her crew are
| only little ABOVE the roustaoout type VI
the Mississippi steamboat in intelligence
and spirit. The old-time sailor of the lake!
| general came as boy from tn,
farm, and he took to the water from low
| OF adventure and a desire to see large
world than that of the township where h'
was born. The fact that he could not sal
in winter when the lakes freeze up forceC
him to keep a home spot somewhere
ashore and after he became the master o
vessel he usually bought little farm
where he reared his family and where h
busted himself from November till May
He frequently knew as much about cattl
and wheat as about sails and tackle. Th
lake captain, like the stage-driver, was
hero of the West In the last generation
and both types have been eliminated, II