Evening star., 1955-06-12
PHILATELIC NEWS
By JAMES WALDO FAwCETT

The Scent 500 Canal COM
memorative, slated to 60 on
11rst-day sale at Sault Ste.
Marie, Mich, June %, has a
background which may not be
Of great national Importance
and yet perhaps is worth re-
porting even to people who
never have seen an iron ore
boat.
There is nothing lovely
about such a craft. but they
are useful as carriers of the
crude material of hundreds Of
familiar products Of the steel
industry. Loaded at Port Ar
thur and Fort William, Onta-
rio; Two Harbors, Mimi; Ash
land. Wis. and Marquette.
Mich, they bear the ore Of
Steep Rock, Vermilion, Mesabi,
Cayuna, Gogebic. Menominee
and other Lake Superior de-
posit area points through "the
miracle mile" of the 500 Locks
10 manufacturing centers on
Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie
and Ontario including Milwau-
kee, Chicago, Gary, Detroit,
Toledo, Cleveland, Lorain, Erie.
Conneaut, Ashtabula, Niagara
Falls, Hamilton and Toronto,
where blast furnaces refine 1t
for further processing.
Huge Freight Volume
The 500 system opened
June 18, 1855, and since that
date more than 4 billion tons
Of ore. grain, fuels and other
freight have been transported
through it. It is said that the
locks annually handle weight )
exceeding that of the Panama,
9uez and Kiel canals combined.
The boats are dropped 81 feet
from the Superior to the Huron
level, allegedly In Is minutes.
AS usual in such matters,
credit for the 500 Canal ID
due primarily to one individu-
al. His name was Charles T.
Harvey, and he was western
agent for the Fairbanks Scale
Co., st. Johnsbury. VT. With
considerable difficulty. he per-
suaded Erastus and Thaddeus
Fairbanks, inventors of many
different weighing devices, to
organize the st. Mary'S Ship
Canal Co., and to build the
original canal within two stip-
ulated years to meet a State
of Michigan requirement for
such a convenience in ex-
change for 100000 acres OF
public land.
Active Local Opposition
The Fairbanks brothers and
their associates appointed Har-
vey their general agent: and,
in the face of active opposition
on the part of local residents
engaged in the portage buSi-
ness, he saw the first two locks,
each $50 feet long and 10 feet
wide, constructed in % months.
Navigation began on June 18,
1855.
Later improvements were
the Weitzel lock, 1881: the Poe
lock, 1896; the Davis lock,
1907, and the Sabin lock. 1919.
The 50th anniversary of the
500 system was celebrated in
August, 1905, as a token OF
international cooperation.
During World War II in
creased demands for iron ore.
copper and grain led to the
building of the Macarthur
lock, replacing the Weitzel. 1t
is 300 feet long and 81 feet
deep.
Varieties of Boats
Boats of different types
have been developed to meet
specific needs at different
times. The variety Of ships in
service in 1901 is represented
on the Scent brown, violet
and black Pan American
Exposition commemorative re-
leased on May l of that year.
Another style was the cigar
shaped whaleback ste eamer
with rounded decks for mini
mum wind and water resist
ance owned and operated by
Capt. Alexander McDougall
between 1888 and 1910. The
type most commonly observed
in the locks now is to be pic
tured on the centennial stamp.
A better design-and one
more instructive in truth
than the Great Lakes map
composition reproduced in The
Star Sunday. May 80. would
have been a gallery of por-
traits of the 500 Canals
sponsorS-Charles T. Harvey
and the Fairbanks brothers.