The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-14

top to tell the story.
 Why Superior will continue to be the graveyard of the lakes is a matter of mere arithmetical calculation. While there are only about half as many wrecks on Superior as on either Michi- gan or Huron, from the fact that more vessels sail on those lakes, it's mortality $ twice as great.
 Winter navigation on the Great Lakes has been a record of terrible tragedy, and although better boats and higher class machinery have offset the dangers to degree. it still has its hor- TOTS and apprehended perils. Lake Michigan has been known to have piled up ice foes 10 such a height that nayi- gation against them was impossible. and the boats, loaded down with ice. have disappeared. never 70 be heard of again. or remained in the icy barri- cade until help reached the crew and the foes shifted. Beginning with Mo- vember come the storms. High winds sweep down from the north with pierc- ing blasts, they create heavy seas, and the waves dashing over the vessels prov, 'encaSe it in a shroud, making progress difficult and sometimes an ifn- possibility, which means the doom of the ship.
 On Lake Michigan the catastrophes of winter navigation so common in the early days of sailing, when captains had to depend upon the wind for their propelling power, have not been fre- quent for a number of seasons, and no | the Lake Michigan ports since the dis appearance of the Chicora in 1895. In a terrible winter storm the Chicera of the Graham & Morton Transporta- ton line was lost in January between Milwaukee and St. Joseph with a crew of twenty-thrae and one passenger. All that is known of the Chicora is that it left the dock at Milwaukee farbor, and to this day not one word has been heard of the doomed vessel. II was supposed that the Chicora foundered in deep water. It is not improbable that the prov and decks became enshrouded l in ice, and in the case of an accident to the machinery the vessel would be doomed. No wreckage, save one small piece, ever washed ashore, no body came to the surface-all is a deep mys- tery-one of the hidden tragedies of Lake Michigan.
 A few years previous to the loss of 1 the Chicora the schooner Thomas | Hume left Chicago. light, bound for Muskegon. Neither vessel nor crew were ever heard of again. That ves- sel in first-class condition, in charge of skilled navigator, should be so entire ly obliterated in these days of close communicative touch seems remark able.
 l Another unexplained calamity in Michigan waters was the complete ob- ! liberation of the new steel steamer, W. H. Gilcher, which disappeared with all hands in the fall of 1891. Capt Weeks was an able navigator and had q capa-
 ble crew of sixteen men, all of whom perished with their ship. Many &C., counts were formulated as to the dis appearance of this vessel, but none
 were ever verified. Lifeboats were nev-
 CT found, so it is supposed that the
 Gilcher sank before they could be taken from the davits.
 Lake Huron has long known as the grave of the lumber barge and sunken treasure. While there is a great deal of mystery about the ways of Superior there is more of romance about Lake Huron. Not sS many years ago, on
 the shores along Lake Huron were nu merous numbering camps, and each month hundreds of thousands of dollars were carried into the camps by ths boats. In those days, too. lumber
 barges without steam did nearly all oi the traffic. and hundreds of them lay among the reefs and shoals of the lake
 Millions of dollars in money have beer
 lost in these wrecks, and at least three great fortunes in ingot copper have gone to the bottom there. There are few ports of shelter along
 Huron, and in case Of storm a captain
 must run before the wind or try to get between the dangerous shoals on the
 Michigan side. These shoals, whict stretch from Thunder Bay to Saginaw have demanded a sacrifice of scores o1
 ships, and it was while trying to pass through them that the ship John Miner
 went to the bottom some time ago. Fol seven miles off Point aux Barques these
 traacherous shoals intercept passing
 vessels like a great trap. It was here
 that the City of Detroit sank with S60, 900 in money aboard it-a treasure thai
 has not been recovered. These. same
 waters also bury the remains of thf
 Water Witch and the load of copper
 which she was bringing down from the
 Michigan mines.
 In the tragedies of the Great Lake;
 many curious and romantic things oc I'cur each year. For instance, after g fearful storm freighter went to the bottom in Lake Superior only two ol
 three weeks ago. At the last moment
 the crew and six passengers, five wo-
 men and one man, took to the boats Three boats set out, and in that fight
 for life, Superior played another of her
 grim jokes. Only the five women and
 the two men with them reached shore
 in safety
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