New-York tribune., 1908-09-25
ACRID FOG GRIPS CITY
BAY TRAFFIC TIED Up.
The Mauretania Held at Hdrbors
Gate Since Wednesday.

The blanket OF fog and smoke. like the wave OF
q poIicemar's hand at a street crosslne' paii
New York's incoming ocean traffic IN the Ao"et
Bay yesterday while keeping the outgoing ooats a'
,bas- r,,ers A land smoking from q month OF no
rain and abnornally high temperatures eree1eo uie
Homecoming traveiers-a depressing "elcoihe "
a place of many forest fires
The C,,narder Mauretania, which left her pier
a. -be >o--h River at . O'Clock Wednesday after
moon was stfl anchored in Gravesend bay carry
this morning Captain Pritchard fearing 10 laAe
her through the Ambrose Channel on account oi
the Fog and her crippled condition The Ham
80 a -oa-3can steamship Deutschland, which
sailed Yesterday for Hamburg, was also iogoouhu
for the night in Gravesend Bay
Mr. CARROT the forecaster of the weather bureau
IN washington has predicted that the beginning OF
NEXT week will bring fairly copious rains over an
.be hinge region which lis shrivelling from
lack of moisture. The forest fires he says nave no
e4fecting in preventing rains nor VIII they nave IN
the future, contrary 10 a behef more OF iess Pie'
alent But for the next three or four Gays inc
damage 70 forests and cops is expected to con-
tinue
The smoky fog OF yesterday completely paralSDsa
for q time the ferry service the East River ana
came near tying up the Staten Island ana Nor'A
River ferries
Although the steamship Teutonc. Bjilow and
KONG Albert were expected at Quarantine in
the morning, the revenue cutter HUDSON oiu
not venture down TO them in the Lower Bay until
noon when the fog lifted little Waiting with
these fig boats for the fog TO lift large
feet of smaller steamers from all over their num-
bers giving some idea OF the huge daily traffic in
and out Of New York Harbor. Among them were
the Porto Rico of the Baltimore Transportation
Company; the fruiter Salvatore d Giorgio the
Apache OF the Clyde Steamship Company: the
Esperanza, Of the Panama Railroad Steamship
7 inc: the Manzanillo Of the New York and Cuba
Steamship Company; the Southern Pacific. steam
ship El Vale. the Russian steamer Korea and the
freighters ossabawa, Vincenzo Bonanno. Regina
Elena and Hormod
The history of New Iork's weather conditions
during September tells the story for practically
the whole territory east of the Rockies and north
of Mason and Dixon's line. In this state since
August 2s the only rainfall 90-1O0 Of an inch
on September 6. This is mighty near the month
minimum record in the state, which is 15-10O OF an
inch. recorded in 1854, also Presidential year. IL
may be remarked The high record is Il 5l-loO
snches recorded in >7ptember 1882 and the aver
age precipitation for the month here is 3 6s-lOO
inches.
Although up TO the close Of August there was
an accumulated excess of rainfall since January
of 5s-loo inches the present drouth has been Sc
we're enough more than to Offset these eight months
Of excessive moisture, and for week or more New
York City has been breathing the acrfd smoke OF
forest fires raging in Minnesota, Wisconsin Lower
Canada. Michigan, Pennsylvania, New hork state
and New England.
Tens of thousands. sometimes whole commune
ties have turned out to fight the flames, but still
the sun has glimmered hot and red through the
rnurxy pail and the blazes have taken on fresh life
Though still fighting. many towns have taken to
praying special services being held in packed
churches for rain and do what they in
their puny might, have failed 10 do
The Patten Line steamer Thomas Patten. rum
ming between the Battery and points on the
Shrewsbury River, which left the Battery Wednes-
day night. was seen passing Atlantic Highlands at
noon Yesterday. The fog had compelled her to
anchor down the bay for the night. There was
only the crew aboard. The Sound steamers Provi-
dence Harvard and Chester w Chaplin which
usually pass the Battery wall before o'clock IN
the morning were five hours late.
on account of the frequency with which the
smoky fogs have been settling over the harbor ana
rivers recently many of the boats of the New York
Yacht Club which anchored off East I'D street
are being put out Of commission for the season.
though ordinarily they remain in use much later
into the fall. The Kanawha, H. H Rogerss big
yacht. was ordered Of commission on Wednes-
day.
In the thick fog in the Lower Bay the west
Indian fruit steamer Senator down and sank
the barge Josephus. The Senator, which arrived
here yesterday after rough voyage from the West
Indies. in which her captain was washed overheard
and her cargo ruined, outward bound for the
dumping grounds TO get rid of her load OF decayed
bananas when tie collision occurred.