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ee - MARINE REVIEW. Another Season of Active Building Operations. As shown by estimates in the accompanying table, lake ship builders have already begun work on contracts for new ves- sels aggregating in capacity 30,800 gross tons, and involving an expenditure of $2,050,000. 'These vessels are to be ready for the opening of navigation in 1893, and in most cases work on them is well advanced. With this large amount of work on hand, before some of the vessels contracted for last winter have left the ship yards, it is evident that the winter of 1892-93 will also be marked by active building operations. _ Following are the names of builders and owners, with estimates of capacity and value of the different vessels: Estimated Tsieaated Builders. Owners. capacity, : ae € gross tons, varus F. W. Wheeler & Co.,|Mitchell Transportation Com-| ~ W. Bay City, Mich.. pany, Cleveland, O............ 2,700 $225,000 F. W. Wheeler & Co.,/Hawgood & Avery Transit Co., W. Bay City, Mich.. (Chloweliainel (Qe zsconcasndnpqnccoge 4,300 240,000 F. W. Wheeler & Co., W. Bay City, Mich..|D. C. Whitney, Detroit, Mich ...| 4,300 240,000 F. W. Wheeler & Co., hs W. Bay City, Mich..|Collin McLaughlin, Detroit, Mich} « *2,500 + 75,000 Detroit Dry Dock Co...)Eddy Brothers, Saginaw, Mich...| 4,500 225,000 Detroit Dry Dock Co.../Western Transit Co. ,Buffalo,N.Y| 2,000 - 225 ,006 Cleveland Ship Build-| _ ING CO...eeeecsereereetes Por 'Builders: .:.-.:.05... -.2-000+.--| ~ 3,000 185,000 Chicago Ship Bldg. Co.,)Kelderhouse syndicate, Buffalo, Woletoui Wc eseces ON Nee ce erste erg ee to, WON) 175,000 James Davidson, West! Cs oS ; : ~ Bay City, Mich....... For. Builders............- epamaeeeeseaeal ee ,00O> malate. GOS O00, Craig Ship Bldg, Co.,/Toledo, Ann ,Arbor & Northern) _ Moledor Ob. ceutese Michigan R.R.Co.,Toledo,O.| *1,000 200,000 Craig Ship Bldg. Co., Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Toledo, O ....-sseeee0 Michigan R.R.Co.,Toledo,O,; *1,000 200,000 30,800 $2,050,000 * Wooden vessels. 7 Sail vessels, All others steamers. In addition to the contracts shown here, the Detroit Dry Dock Company has begun work ona costly ferry boat for ser- vice in the Straits of Mackinac, and it is more than probable that this company will also build two big passenger steamers for the | Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, to replace the City of Alpena and City of Mackinaw, just sold to a Cleveland company, for service between Buffalo and Cleveland. At the yard of the American Steel Barge Company, West Superior, the - world's fair steamer will be built, and several keels for freight barges to be operated asin the past by the builders will un- doubtedly be laid. Other important contracts, including the proposed passenger steamers for the Great Northern Railway, are receiving attention from managers of the different plants, and it is now prebable that all yards will be full by the close of navigation. The New Cleveland and Buffalo Line. 7 The Cleveland vessel owners who have just closed a bargain with the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Company for the steamers City of Alpena and City of- Mackinaw, which are to go into service between Cleveland and Buffalo next season, agree to pay $270,000 for the boats, $100,000 of which will be in cash from the stockholders of the company and the balance secured through the issuance of bonds. 'The investors were brought to- gether through the efforts of Mr. T. F. Newman, the Cleveland representative of the Detroit ond Cleveland company, who will be general manager of the new line. Among the stockholders are M. A Bradley, Capt. George Stone, T. F. Newman, William Chisholm, W. J. White, George W. Gardner, Harvey D. Goul- der, E. S. Page, J. K. Bole, John J. Shipherd, R. Ll. Moody and John C. Fitzpatrick, all of Clevelond. With two or three excep- tions these gentlemen are already largely interested in vessel property, and are acquainted with the history of freight and passenger business between Cleveland and Buffalo. They prob- ably look upon the venture as an experiment to some extent, and there will be no great expenditure of money in the start, out- side of that required in the purchase of the boats and the acquirement of leases covering terminal facilities. The steamers, although low in the guards and not up to the present require-_ ments of the Detroit and Cleveland company in its Lake Huron service, are known to have withstood some very heavy weather on that lake and will answer very well in a new line. They were built to run between Cleveland and Detroit, where there is only a few hours of probable exposure to heavy seas in crossing the lake, and on this account will be somewhat at a disadvan- tage in the long shore course to Buffalo, but a new steamer will undoubtedly replace one of them after one or two seasons if the venture is successful. It is announced that the Detroit Dry Dock Company, which is closely connected with the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navi- gation Company, has begun work on plans tor two new steamers to replace the Mackinaw and Alpena next season on the Lake Huron route, but as yet no detail regarding cost or even the style of boat has been given out. Coal Movement to Lake Superior. As shown by the following table, coal shipments, hard and soft, to Lake Superior from the opening of navigation to Aug. 1 were 315,246 tons in excess of shipmeuts on the corresponding date in 1891: 1892, 1891, Months. net tons. net tons. ACT ULae ,-ceiscnis dhe sete ee aecle meses eine 151,495 10,919 MANY ieee s wastes ocr ase aomeareeeeer 401,729 404,698 JMU Sores craeeh asoeee os cates a eeemec coer 462,564 390,674 MATL yeas cu ther ewes ence unten t eeaeeaers 542,003 439,254 Total 2 SS ee 1,557,791 1,242,545 The figures are taken from the monthly statements 'of St. Mary's Falls canal trafic. Although the hard and soft coal ship- ments are not separated, it is again evident that the great bulk of this gain is in soft coal, as the aggregate shipments of hard coal from Buffalo on August 1 to all upper lake ports was 1,162-, 100 tons, showing a gain of only 40,000 tons over shipments on the same date last vear.. Lake Freight Matters. Iron ore shipments are a little more than 52,000 tons ahead of any previous year in the history of the business. Coal ship- ments to Lake Superior alone are 315,246 tons in excess of ship- ments at this time a year ago. The movement of freight through the St. Mary's Falls canal-during June was only a few tons short of two millions, and during every month since the opening the records of the corresponding months in previous years have been broken. 'These statements of facts will serve to show the im- mense volume of business on the lakes this season, and yet stocks of wheat and. corn in Chicago are full 4,000,000 bushels larger than they were on the corresponding date a year ago, and ore shippers have not had up to the present week tonnage enough to move the ore accumulating at shipping ports. 'That the ore shipments will be reduced during the remaining portion of the season, there seems to be but little doubt now, however, and the question of fall. freights is still very uncertain. Im- provement in the iron market would undoubtedly cause a boom, but the more conservative shippers and owners are look- ing for only a moderate closing market. Ore rates are $1.15 from Ashland and Two Harbors to Ohio ports, $1.10 from the same ports to South Chicago, $1 from Marquette and 80 cents from Escanaba to Ohio ports. 'There is no change of import- anee in the coal situation. Messrs. Arthur Sewall & Co. of Bath, Me., are preparing eer and specifications for the first iron sailing vessel ever oa ne She will be a four-masted vessel registering Wet Giasts Will be oP Ue tine eee cam pe OF iron as well as the hull. 'This firm is put- ig 1ts yard in condition for the building of iron vessels, and expects to lay the keel of the first ship early in the sorter! <i é oe emf ee Dale ak caer a a IE Ve Ek ae ll 'igh