Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-27
TRAFFIC OF THE LAKES
Development of the Shipping in
Thirty Years.
STEAM DISPLACES SAILS
Thirty Round Trips Instead of Eight
Made in Season.
MAGNITUDE OF THE VESSELS
Their Size and Cargoes Limited Only
by the Depth of the Channels
Which They Traverse.
MAGNITUDE OF THE VESSELS
DULUTH. September II, 1907.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence OF The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

| BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
| DULUTH. September II, 1907.
| Capt. Alexander McDougan the in
| ventor of the whaleback, and for twenty
| five years more commander of vessels
| of the Anchor Line fleet on the Great
| Lakes, has left the wheel house forever,
and is now one of the most prominent
and solid citizens Of Duluth. He is en-
gagged in several important enterprises,
| but has not lost his interest In shipping
| affairs. While we were sailing around
| the harbor the other day he talked about
Old times on the lakes and gave some in
teresting "reminiscences of the life of a
| lake captain and his own adventures. He
described the development of the ship
| ping industry and, speaking of the
| growth of the freighting capacity of YES
sells, declared that the hold OF the
steamer Thomas F. Cole, which has re-
Gently come out, in a single voyage would
carry a cargo equal to the combined ca
nacity of every boat of every description
that floated on Lake Superior al the be-
ginning of the civil war-every steamer
every sailing vessel every barge. every
battea u. and every canoe Mr. Philbin,
railroad recalled a speech which was
made the other day by Capt. A. Il. VOL
W WA at tine Of the 4ns
twenty years ago he was master Of the
steamer Victor Swain, which ut that
moment was moored to dock within
sight of the guests, and he declared that
1t would require every regular trip of
that vessel for two years and a half to
carry from Duluth to Cleveland as much
ore as would be carried by the Ward
Ames on her first trip.
Restricted by Depth of Channels
There are four big steamers Of the
type of the Thomas F. Cole being built
at Cleveland. Each will be able TO carry
1880 tons of coal, drawing eighteen feet
of water. If they are loaded down to
nineteen feet. they can carry IA 900 tons
of coal. If they could be loaded to their
full capacity, they would draw twenty
four feet or water and could carry 10000
or 10000 tons of ore, but the channels in
Detroit river, St Clair flats and the St
Mary river will not allow more than
twenty-five feet at the outside, and
twenty feet is the limit of safety. These
boats are Coo feet long, fifty-eight feet
beam, thrty-two feet deep and have
thirty-four matches for loading and I'M
loading. Everything Is done by ma
chinery, which has been invented and
come into use within the last three or
four years. Their crews consist of be-
tween thirty and forty machinlsts and
firemen. There are no sailors on the
| lakes today, Capt. McDougall says. They
can load with ore or coal III from three
| to four hours and can be unloaded in
| from seven to twelve hours.
These are the limit of draught and di-
mansions that can be operated upon the
| lakes until the channels are Gcepened
| which, Capt McDougall thinks must be
| done within the present generation to
meet the demands of commerce.
First Iron Ships in 1871.
The first fleet of iron ships upon the
lakes was launched at Buffalo IN 1871 for
| the Anchor Line" continued Capt. Nc
DOugall. They were called the China.
Japan and India and cost $3.50, 800 each
| the most complete, Stanch and expen-
sive freight and passenger carriers that
had ever been seen upon the lakes up to
that time They carried about fifty pas
sengers in comfortable and what were
then considered luxurious staterooms
and about loo tons of cargo. | com
manded the Japan for many years
These ships did not pay. The depres-
sion caused by the panic of 1873 was so
great that they couldn't make a living
for several years, but the business picked
up in 1879 and the development uas been
very rapid ever since
The next step in the evolution of the
lake carrier was the big wooden steam
barge that carried from LOO to /, 400 tons
in her hold and towed sailing vessel in
her wake. They were very useful and
profitable, but their construction stopped
fifteen years ago, when steel became cheaper
than timber. Steel and fresh water agree
better than fresh water and oak and steel
construction IS cheaper than timber. Those
barges, however, are now obsolete. Most
of them have been laid up. Occasionally
you one loaded with lumber.
The Whaleback appeared in 1889 as
conSort originally for those wooden steam
barges. 1t was my invention and built
forty-hVe Whaleback steamers and bargeS
here in Duluth, including one passenger
ship which was intended for excursion bust
ness during the worlds fair at Chicago and
carried 1,700,GO0 passengers that year 1t
has unioaded 300 people in five minutes.
1t is still running between Chicago and
Milwaukee. About twenty whalebacks went
to the ocean and carried cargoes along the
coast. Three are now carrying coal be-
tween Baltimore and Tampico. They do
very well on the ocean. They will outride
the heaviest storms. Some of them came
back into the lakes and had to be cut in
two and freighted up the ST. Lawrence, al
though they ran down all right. One whale
back was built in England. 1t is now rum
ming on the Danube river carrying wheat.
Mr.. Rockefeller's Big Purchase.
When the Mesaba mines were discovered
| the whaleback company had fifteen years
contract for carrying the ore and We're
building new boats at the rate of one a
week. They planned to turn out a thou
| sand whalebacks to carry the ore from
| these mines, but Mr. Rockefeller, who had
| become interested in the company, bought
| up the contracts, the patents and every
| thing else and laid up the feet while he
| was fighting the Carnegie company. This
| cost him al least 1000, 900 of money which
| they would have earned If he had con-
| tinued them in business under the contract.
| About forty whaebacks running now,
| carrying wheat, and coal, and they too,
| have had their day.
| riers was introduced in 1886 by Cleveland
| people, and they have been built mostly in