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6 MARINE REVIEW. CHICAGO LAKE INTERESTS. WESTERN OFFICE, MARINE REVIEW, No. 210 So. Water Street, CHICAGO, IIl., Mar. 10. t Just now the great question among Chicago men who go down to the Jake in ships is that of water transportation tothe World's Fair. Over six months ago the World's Fair people called upon ship owners for pro- _ positions to carry passengers to the fair grounds at Jackson park, a run of about 7 miles from down town. No definite responses were received un- - til Capt. J. S. Dunham asked for the exclusive privilege of landing at the " exposition piers. Hesoon convinced the committee on transportation ». that this was the only manner in which the traffic could be satisfactorily _ handled, without any profit to the exposition company. The committee jinen announced that propositions would be received up to a certain date. "When that time came Capt. Dunham's proposition as to exclusive privi- - leges was accepted, but the committee advertised for bids. These bids were opened in secret March 1, and to this day no one knows, outside the fair's coterie, what they were. It is now given out that the committee is . investigating the financial standing of bidders and will report next Mon- "a day. _ Just before the bids were tendered, Gen. Miles gave a dinner to offi- cers of the whaleback company, at which some forty prominent citizens were present. . Some of the speeches were suspiciously enthusiastic. One 'speaker drew a beautiful picture of steamiers carrying 6,000 people and running 25 miles an hour on their way. between the fair grounds and ., down town.. Some 50,000 people were thus to be carried per hour. The __ fleet to carry such a crowd would not cost less than $7,000,000, and the 'Doats would be of no earthly use after the fair was over. They would not 'make: expenses during half the World's Fair season. Nevertheless the ». whaleback people seem in earnest. There is a well-grounded suspicion that the big passenger.boat,so much heralded in the press, will never be » built at all, The earnestness comes from ascheme to use the ordinary __ freight whalebacks i in the passenger service during fair year. Although a the expense of fitting them up for pessengers would be material, yet it . i would be quite another thing than putting money into steamérs sek one " geason's service costing $700,000 a piece. _Ex-State Senator Richard Burke will become icant collector at the ..barge office next Monday. Mr. Burke isa very genial gentleman and will be well liked by vessel captains. The present incumbent resigned to take the management of. the. Lake Marine News Association, recently in- col aaa by the Chicago Tribune, Inter-Ocean, Times and Herald. Vesselmen may protest against this bill and that, providing for bet- 'ter statistics of lake traffic, but something is absolutely required. The "government i is now under heavy expense to secure statistics, but what is -" the result worth? There ought to be an easy way, involving no hardship ~ on captains.or owners, whereby the desirable end of knowing the traffic gf Py the lakes can be gained. The Graham & Morton people hare chartered the propeller City of 'Marquette. They will commence running her between St. Joseph, Ben- "ton Harbor and Chicago March 15. - Charles Councilman, lessee of the Rock Island elevator, has pur- pales dock property on the Calumet river at South Chicago, and. will erect thereon this spring a large elevator. It is said that other railroads _ are contemplating building elevators this summer at South Chicago. ; s _ March 17 bids will be opened by the transportation committee of the 5 -World's Fair and the contract let for the steam launch privilege in the . lagoons at the fair grounds. The specifications require the construction ee of fifty launches, 34 feet long, at a cost of $5,000 each. 'The boats must be "new and have a speed of 15 miles an hour. There is 2 miles of navigable water in the grounds and sixteen landings. Capt. Robbins, a launch 2 builder of New York, and others from Philadelphia, Baltimore and De- as troit are now in the city. A Sub-Marine Gun. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. : - WASHINGTON, D. C., March ro.--The House committee on naval af- fairs, has recently had nue consideration a bill, looking to the addition 'to the navy of a novel craft, which, if the assertions of its designers are _ realized, will revolutionize the present practice of harbor defense. The vessel will be known as the Berdan iron-clad destroyer. It is to be 260 feet in length by 4o feet in breadth and 16 feet draft, giving a displace- ment of 2,400 tons, with a speed of 20 knots per hour. The vessel in size 3 wil] be larger than the Yorktown and smaller than the Charleston. The feature of the design is found in an enormous submarine gun carried at the bow below the water line. Submarine guns have been tried before this, notably by Ericcson, and the navy department is experimenting in ' this direction, but the projectors of the pending bill feel that they have successfully overcome the difficulties encountered in these attempts and have now a practicable means at hand to drive an enormous shell loaded - with an explosive charge of gun powder or gun cotton into the hull of any iron-clad afloat and explode it in the very vitals of the ship. Accord-. _ ing to the design submitted to the committee and explained by Gen. Ber- dan, a hydraulic buffer projects from the bow of the vessel. 'This is: so _ and lodges within it a shell carrying a bursting charge of 450 pounds of bottom. 'nance of the army, has approved the plans and, as Gen. Berdan staied to 'the committee, Cramp & Sons stand ready to guarantee the per _ of the vessel. ent opinion from his predecessor on the subject, Secretary Tracy is more : strongly than ever of the opinion that the change is desirable. the layers ' exact result of the recent visit of the Canadian ministers to Washington, -- "They fear that the rebate of canal tolls will be allowed on grain- tran- shipped and stored at Ogdensburg for Montreal. . forwarding companies will likely shift to Prescott, some fifty miles down It is now almost beyond a doubt that the reciprocity in wrecking bill will -be passed during the present session of parliament. . "steamer for the lumber trade, they calculated to put the Germania's adopted and the following officers were elected for the enstting - Livingstone, secretary and treasurer; R. N. White, member of -- _ #@°SEND YOUR ORDER FOR ' PATTERSON'S NAUTICAL DICTIONARY" ($5) TO THE "MARINE REVIEW" AT ONCE, adjusted that it will stop the boat at adistauce of eight feet from the en: my's ship without injury to the boat. At this short range the buffer auto- matically discharges the submarine gun directly at the hull of the shi powder, sufficient to blow down every bulkhead in the ship and wreck tl The details of the boat have been carefully worked out, and the calculations have been verified by experts. Gen. Flagler, the chief of ord- ' Secretary Tracy of the navy a few days ago submitted ina very, long letter to Hon. Eugene Hale, chairman of a snb-committee of the Senate committee on naval affairs, his views on Senate bill No. 67 "to transfer the revenue cutter service from the treasury department to the navy, Notwithstanding that the present secretary of the treasury is of a differ- The let- ter is a complete ree of the change and goes wal all a of Reciprocity in Wrecking. 'Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. ' KINGStoON, Ont., March 10.--Forwarders here are anxious to learn' the e If that is the case the the river on the Canadian side and about the same distance from. Mon- treal as Ogdensburg. It appears they are determined to compete. Kings ston, however, would be a heavy loser. This is the talk in marine circles, . It is being, intro- duced by Hon. MacKenzie Bowell, a member of the cabinet, and is about the same as the Kirkpatrick bill introduced last session. The Richelieu and Ontario Steamboat Company cleared $150,415 last season, an increase of nearly $49,cco over 18g0. Encouraged by this re sult the company has contracted for a new large steel steamer. The schooners Hyderabad and Bangalorr are being converted into stone carriers, to work at the Sault Ste. Marie locks. _ J. B. Fairgrieve & Sons of Hamilton are building a new steel hull to replace the propeller Canada, which is worn out. 'The engines of the Canada will be put into the new hull. The boat will be 180 feet long and carry 1,300 tons. MacKay Bros. of the same city have purchased the pro- peller St. Magnus. Her former owner, Capt. Robertson, fell into her hold and was killed. The price is said to be $16,coo. # There has been no shipbuilding in Kingston this winter to speak of, -- The two forwarding coinpanies have done considerable repair work, how- | ever, and in a few weeks the Montreal Transportation Company is ex- pected to lay the keel of a lar ge lake barge witha cannes, of about | 35,000 bushels. Toledo Items. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. - TOLEDO, O., March 1o--When Bills & Koch let the contract to fhe Craig Ship Building Company last fall, to build for them a new steel -- A machinery and boiler into the new hull and they contracted, accordingly, with Capt. Wm. J. Harlow of the steamer Ida M. Torrent to tow their bar-_ ges the H.C. Sprague, Wim. Case and Wyandote. They have since con- cluded to put other machinery in the new boat, as itis understood that, Robert Hannon and Jeremiah Shampaign of Bay City, engineers of the © Germania have purchased her. The price is not made public. Capt. Chas. Peltier will sail the new boat and Mr. Hannon will be her chief engineer, engineer Shampaign taking the Germania. Under the terms of Capt. = Harlow's contract it is doubtful if the Germania can secure her old tow _ again, within sixty days unless her owners buy the Torrent off. ' Messrs. De Wolf and McGrath, government inspectors, were here on -- Monday to inspect Capt. Gillespie's plans for storing and burning crude oil in the sand barge Laura D. 'They will make a favorable report to Washington. Only 1% cents a bushel is offered on grain to Erie. ic Nt --- At the annual meeting of the Detroit Vessel Owners' Associ- q ation, Tuesday, a protest to the now famous Frye bill was -- year: Eber Ward, president; BE. M. Peck, vice-president; W.A. a of directors, to take the place made vacent by 'the election) or Capt, iV Peck to the vice-presidency. .