The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-20
Descendants Of Vikings
Invade the Great Lakes

40--o-e-o -4-4r-lf-
Descendants Of the Vikings have in
vaded the Great Lakes, and vessels fly
ing the flag Of Sweden and Norway are
competing for a part of the cafrying
trade on those inland waterways which,
since the cession Of Canada to lGreat
Britain. have been regarded as the ex-
elusive cruising ground Of knglish-fpeak-
ing mariners The appearance OF Swed-
ish vessels In the lake trade has been
an unexpected and striking feature OF
the past season. In 1903 American cap
iialists interested IN lake shipping built
ten vessels of about 1900 tons burden TO
be used on a line between Duluth and
Chicago and Montreal and Quebec Hard
" had these vessels been completed at
an expense Of $4,000 each, when a rep
resentative Of Swedish vessel owners APP
owners or sell outright several Swedish
steamers. 1t was explained to the Amer
lean vessel owners that II they did not
care to enter into the arrangement pro-
posed the boats would come just the
same and would be operated by their
owners. They were chartered by the
American company and have been used
during the past season.
To run these boats under this charter
costs less than SlO0 a day, while the
minimum cost Oh operating the American
steamers was $135 day. The difference
was largely due to the lower scale Of
wages paid on the foreign ships. A
pensation Of 5000 a month; an Ameri-
can captains salary is 500. An Ameri-
can first mate receives 500 each month;
a Swede is satisfied with $31 80 About
the same proportion exists between the
wages of the other officers and engineers.
while the Swedish seaman works for
$3.50 per month as compared with
81. 30 paid to the American. Under
United States navigation laws, while
these Swedish ships cannot be engaged
In trade exclusively between American
ports, they may collect cargo IN several
cities on the American shores Of the lakes
and discharge It on the Canadian side.
or vice versa In other words. they sail
on a foreign voyage, going from one
Quoted is open to any foreign vessels
which can reach the lakes and capture
a share Of the business
These vessels are small in comparison
with some of the lake carriers, being Of
about 1000 tons burden, but in the
opinion Of steamship men they can be
operated with profit. Such ships are not
adapted 70 the transportation of iron
ore. but there is vast amount of other
carrying business on the lakes. The
boats are admirably fitted for the trans
quantities Of miscellaneous commodities
which help swell the total of lake COM
merce. There are said to be 400 foreign
steamers which could be sent here to
take hand in the business
To the thrifty Swedish vessel owner
and the hardy Morse seaman the pros
pect OF taking q hand in the lake trade
is allurfng. Nowhere in the seven seas
is there commerce TO be compared to 1t.
From the days when the Phoenicians,
bound to Britain for cargoes OF tin, sailed
the Mediterranean. that sea has been one
Of the greatest of marine highways but
never has its traffic approached the den
sity of that which makes the great Amer
lean lakes the most crowded Of the
worlds waterways.
When the lake commerce is represent
ed in figures, the quantities seem almost
fabulous. In 1908 domestic freight red
ceipts at the lake ports were nearly
f40 TONS DnTinp that the
freight carried through the Sault Ste
Marie canals exceeded "a 100000 tons. The
magnitude of the commerce on the Great
Lakes Is striking tribute to what Amer
ican enterprise can accomplish in the
creation of merchant marine when un-
hampered by ruinous foreign competition
This Swedish invasion" has brought
the question of American shipping home
to the shipowners, shipbuilders and ses-
men of Ontario and Erie and Michigan
and Superior, who have long fancied
themselves secure against foreign attack
while foreign ships have swept the ship
owners, shipbuilders and seamen of the
coasts out of American trade on the At
lantic and Pacific oceans. OF all the over
seas commerce of the United States only
about per cent Is now conveyed IN
American vessels. American overseas
tonnage has shrunk from 2, 100000 in 1861
to $40 900 now, and not one new order for
steamship for the foreign trade has
been given since June. 1901, to an Amer
lean shipyard.
Inc story OF the lakes 10 which the
developments OF the past season call at
tention is one of the interesting chapters
Of American history. Who were the
earliest voyagers on these inland aeas is
lost in the mlsts of tradition. In Indian
lore are stories of race Of men who
came TO the lakes for copper, and who pre-
ceded the red men as inhabitants of the
Middle West. The Indians early navigated
the lakes, and sometimes they made long
voyages. Over two centuries ago band
of Iroquois sailed in their canoes from
Lake Ontario through Lake Erie to the
Detroit river, across Lake st. Clair, and
thence through Lake Huron 10 Point lro-
quo =, where they fell upon the Illinois
tri- ana were defeated after six days
bata g.
Mt in a series representing the de-
vclofment OF lake navigation would be
a picture of the Jesuit missionary.
traversing che lakes to carry his cross
where the foot Of the white man had
never trod. Next there would come /
representation Of the hardy voya geaus
employed by the Hudson Bay company.
They have introduced a new method OF
transportation. for in place of the fralI
birch bark canoes Of the Indian they
travel In rude batteaux fashioned from
woodland sawed upon the shores OF
the lakes The Hudson Bay company
were the pioneers in the work OF improv-
Ing the natural waterways connecting
one lake with another. and there are still
to be seen at the SEQ traces OF the lit
tie canal constructed by the companys
men nearly two centuries and half ago
IL was nothing but "A ditch two and one
half feet deep. but ii was as important
and his creed to savage peoples in lands
to the lake traffic of its day as are the
great locks through which pass during
the season Of navigation the endless pro-
cession of the great steamships OF the
present.
To the French belongs the distinction
OF placing the first sailing vessel upon
the Ger3t Lakes. The chevaler de la
Sale built the Griffin at a point near
Buffalo In 1879. his purpose being to use
her in the establishment of trading and
trapping stations. The little craft made
one voyage. but on her return, laden
with valuable furs she was run ashore
by her crew. who thought to appropriate
the cargo but who themselves fell VIC
tins 10 the Indians. II was not until a
century and a half later that the lake
commerce commenced to assume c0nsid-
erable proportions. but with tle settle
ment OF the Middle West the growth OF
the trade became steady and rapid until
II has to-day assumed proportions which
astOnish the world
The men who have built UP the lake
commerce have created types of marine
architecture especially adapted to Its
needs. Years ago. those strange-loOking
craft, the whalcback steamers aston
shed the maritime world They proved
successful as carriers. although the type
high-sided monsters as the steamer Au-
for the largest cargo ever carried on the
Great Lakes. i2 $50 net tons OF Iron ore
having been stored In her capacious
| holds The same cnirif of pntprnrleN