The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-05

crushers. In his Arctic work the adj
miral does not propose to use the for
ward screw, as he thinks the ice will be
so thick that it will have little effect in
sucking the water from under the mass
co be crushed. So the little Algoma
will have two giant sons attracting
public attention, one trying to reach
the North Pole and the other striving
to enable the vast empire of Russia to
keep up railway communication from
ocean to ocean. On it's trial trips the
Baikal succeeded in breaking through
ice thrty-elght inches thick with a
hard crust of snow on top OF 1T five
inches in thickness, and it has crushed
through sixty-five inches of solid Ice
To break through ice with a snow
crust ON top of it, is, it may be re-
marked, harded than to break through
mass formed entirely of ice. 1t is
expected that, loaded with its train of
cars, it will be able to crush ice as thick
as that through which the Ermack has
passed.
On the Great Lakes the greatest OBJ
stacles which the ice crushers have to
encounter are the "winrows" great
heaped-up hedges of ice piled high by
the action Of the wind when the lakes
are freezing over. But in spite Of all
obstacles the ships of the lce-crushlng
fleet of the lakes now manage to keep
open throughout the year. with only
now and then a temporary interruption,
passageways across such bodies of wa
ter as the Straits of Mackinac, the De-
troit river, the st. Clair river and the
Sault Ste Marie. Not only do these ice
crushers keep open waterways, but
they crush their way to vessels which
get imprisoned in the ice and either
open a passage for their release or at
least rescue their crews. The idea that
in time these vessels will be so perfect
ed as to be able to keep canals open
throughout the winter is probably only
a dream which will never become a re-
ality, but it is, nevertheless, dream in
which many people indulge because OF
the great benefits to commerce Which
would accrue If it could be realized.
Canal navigation now ends about the
first of November, and Is not resumed
until the breaking up of ice in the
spring, If open waterways could be
maintained all winter in the Great
Lakes and the Erie Canal and the Ca
madam canals kept free of ice the ben
efits to the worlds commerce would be
tremendous.
An ice breaker suitable for canal
work would also be of the greatest BEN
eft to Belgium which uses twenty-nine
miles of canals for her internal COM
merce, and Holland, which is a hetwark
of canals; for the canals of both these
countries are practically closed in WIN
ter. Russia, too, dreams and talks of
a canal over one thousand miles long,
the Baltic and Black seas
If this canal were built 1t would be
closed seven months of the year unless
an ice crusher were invented which
could keep it clear Besides the United
States and Russia, Denmark has rea-
lized the value of ice crushers, and for
winter service on her frozen seas she
has the Bryderen, built on the Ameri
can principle. The Bryderen does it's
best to keep open the Skager Rack and
the Cattegat, but devotes much of its
attention to Elsinore Sound. 1t does
excellent service In the hard northern
winters in rescuing vessels imprisoned
In the ice.
The ice crusher as factor in the
commerce Of the world is assuming
more and more importance every year,
md the test of the great Baikal this
winter on the far Siberian lake will be
with the greatest Interest,"
Chicago Tribune.