The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-18
FLOATING sToREHoUsEs.
Scheme for Placing Provisions or
Lake Boats.

Lake Boats.
The Pittsburg Steamship company
that most important factor of the steel
! trust, which controls its lake marine
! interests, has. for the purpose of saw
ing money. recently built a storehouse
and centralized OF Sault Ste Marie all
its vessel supplies. including provisions
and has put into service a large sup
ply boat, which can deliver all goods
ordered to the great ore carriers while
they are in motion.
The magnitude and far reaching eff
feet of this move can be appreciated
when it is remembered that the steel
trust controls more than a hundred
vessels on the Great Lakes In the
past these vessels have been supplied
by the individual merchants of both
upper and lower lake harbors and this
trade amounted to hundreds of thou
sands of dollars annually.
1t has been a common sight in the
past to see little deliverga boats with
supplies at the various harbors plying
to and from the vessels which are now
in the steel trust. These stores ct the
terminals still supply the vessels out
side the trust, the majority of them
having made contracts with provision
firms to supply them throughout the
season. When the vessels have no sea-
son contract there is a lively scramble
of competitors, as the vessel enters
port for the trade
The plan of the Pittsburg Steamship
company in centralizing supplies at
one point is in line with the policy re-
Gently inaugurated by some of the lead
ing railroads or industrial firms. The
new steamship storehouse at the 500 is
built of brick and stone, and is two
stories high. 1t is located below the
locks. Beside it at the dock is a large
and modern ice house. Ice is one Of
the greatest necessities of vessels,
which must take on provisions for an
entire trip.
| The boat which carries the supplies
to the passing steamers is the Superior,
large ferry ste1mer formerly used in
the excursion business at Cleveland
She was fitted up for her new line of
traffic at Port Huron. Her equipment
includes an elevator in the bottom Of
; the hold. There are huge ice chests in
| the forward part of the boat. This
| vesS is capable of carrying at one
| time sufficient supplies for quite num-
Der of vessels. No supplies are fur
| nished to any but steel trust vessels.
| The supply boat operates night and
day. There are seven men in her crew.
| AS vessel passes the locks en- route
! bn n, IL,
| it and receives it's requisition for the
next trip, also delivering such perisha-
| BILE goods as milk and meat, that must
I be taken aboard both ways. Then
when the ore vessel has discharged it's
cargo GA a lower lake harbor and is
! bound up it is again overtaken by the
! Superior and the goods ordered in the
requisition are delivered. The elevator
of the supply boat brings the goods to
the deck and from here they are placed
at the top of the chute, which carries
| them to the are vessel.
! The plan has been found very sue
| cessful. Often by this method not a
moments time is lost by an ore vessel
by reason Of loading supplies. In APP
preaching the locks the speed is neces-
sarily reduced regardless of the supply
boat.
In earlier days, according to the old
lake mariners, there was a supply
house for certain boats maintained at
the 500, but each vessel was obliged to-
stop at the warehouse dock, and much
time was therefore consumed. For a
vessel to stop at a dock to receive sup
| plies each way of a trip past the 500
would require from one to two hours
| time For one hundred boats to spend
this much time each trip would mean
big loss to the concern operating
| them. The expense Of maintaining a
supply boat is insignificant in compar-
| ison, and then the storehouse repre-
sents an economical feature. in that
supplies bought in such large quaint
| ties as to furnish more than a hundred
large vessels, are purchased much
cheaper than individuals or small COM
| pany owners could buy them at the va
rious lake ports. BY the storehouse
! system the Steel Trust has the retail
profits.
| But even with all the supplies put
aboard at the 500, often there are some
things found necessary at the terminal
ports Then too, there are a few of
the trust boats which do not trade at
points above the 500. 1t therefore be-
comes necessary for the trust to buy
some supplies Of the lake stores, after
ALL But here again the trust has a.
plan of it's own. Lately purchasing