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MARINE REVIEW. 9 ~The Minnesota Steamers. An engraving of one of the boats in the Minnesota Steam- ship Company's fleet is presented with this issue of the REVIEW. Within the coming week two steamers of increased dimensions will be added to this line, and the Globe Iron Works Company ef Cleveland is about to put down on its own account another duplicate of the big boats. As steamers of this kind are opera- ted at an actual expense of about $225 a day, some data regard- ing the work of the boats already in commission will prove in- teresting. The dimensions of the hulls of the first six steamers of the fleet are 292% feet keel, 308 feet over all, 40 feet beam and 24% feet deep. The engines are 1,300 nominal horse power and the cylinders are 24, 38 and 61 by 42 inches, steam being furnished by two 14 by 12% feet boilers. 'The hulls of the two new boats are 330 feet keel, 350 feet over all, 45 feet beam and 24% feet deep. The engines for the new boats are 24, 39 and 63 by 48 in- ches, the nominal horse power being 1,800. The boiler powerinthe new boats has been increased to three 12 by 12 feet boilers. In addition to the duplex ballast pump, there is a centrifugal pump on the new steamers for pumping out the water compartments. Last season the average time per trip, Lake Superior and return, for all boats in this line was 8 days. In 1890 the average was 7 days and 18 hours. 'This average includes all time of loading and unloading, as well as delays in port. 'The difference in favor of 1890 will be readily understood when it is known that for about a full month last season several of the boats were engaged in the Duluth-Buffalo grain trade, where so much delay resulted from the Buffalo blockade. Running regularly in the iron ore trade between T'wo Harbors and Lake Erie, the boats make seven-day trips, and in one month last season three of the fleet made trips in six days. The round-trip distance between Cleveland and Two Harbors is 1644 miles and between Ashtabula and Two Harbors 1726 miles. In 1891 the season of navigation was almost a full month short of the ordinary season, so that the work of these boats in 1890 will be of more service in giving an idea of what may be expected of a modern steel steamer on the lakes. The Manola, having the best record that season, made thirty trips, all but one of which was between Two Harbors and Lake Erie ports. The exception was a trip to Escanaba. 'This boat carried dur- ing the season 71,170 gross tons of freight, running back light on all trips, and her average cargo was 2,295 tons on an average draft of 14 feet 7 inches forward and 14 feet 9 inches aft. The distance traveled was 50,584 miles, and the average time of trip 7 days 9% hours. The total amount of fuel burned, soft coal, was 5,528 net tons, an average of 184 tons per trip or 218 pounds per mile. The steam steerers, windlasses and capstans on the two new boats, as well as the last two of the original six, were built by the Globe Iron Works Company. Big Loads. Another of the big steel boats, the steamer W. H. Gilcher, has just brought down a record breaking cargo from Lake Supe- rior. "The Gilcher's latest cargo is 2,560 gross or 2,880 net tons of iron ore. 'This is very probably the largest cargo taken through the canal this season, although the steamer H. C. Pope last season carried 3,136 net tons on a slightly increased draft. Among other large loads is a cargo of 160,000 bushels of oats taken out of Chicago early in the week by the steamer Bra- zil and 105,000 bushels of wheat carried by the new steamer W. H. Gilbert. It is figured that five bushels of wheat will furnish food for one person for a year. At this rate the Gilbert's cargo would feed an army of 21,000 for that period. The U. S. S. Marblehead described on another page of this issue, is fitted throughout with Blake pumps for fire, bilge and feeding boilers. For the latter purpose the Blake company have a special vertical duplex pump of admiralty pattern. C. R. Jones & Co., succeed Jones & Drake in the vessel brokerage business in Cleveland. A new schedule of wages will probably be arranged by the Lake Carriers' Association during the coming week. On a draft of 14 feet 6 inches the whaleback barge No. 118 last week took a cargo of 2,833 net tons of coal from Lorain to Superior. Messrs. Sloan, Cowles & Sloan of Buffalo will build another excursion steamer during the winter to cost about $30,000. She will have three decks for passengers. _ J. $. Sullivan and S. C. Schenck of Toledo have sold the tug Doan to the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway for $3,000. She goes to Frankfort, Mich. The Canadian Pacific passenger steamer Manitoba and the large steel freighter EH. C. Pope had a race from Detour to Sault Ste Marie. The Manitoba was beaten five miles. Business on the Owen Sound-Port Arthur route has slack- ened so much that one of the Canadian Pacific steamers, the Alberta, has been placed in ordinary at Owen Sound. James Watts, formerly master of the light-hous tender War- rington, has taken command of the City of London. Capt- Madden of the London will go into the City of Genoa. The steel steamers Mariposa, Maritana and Schuylkill, all ready to go into commission within the coming week, are fitted with electric light plants furnished by the Fisher Electric Com- pany of Detroit. There was shipped from Cheboygan in July 17,352,000 feet of pine and 1,075,000 feet of hardwood lumber, 1,450,000 lath, 2,858,000 shingles and 18,000 cubic feet of timber. Alpena has shipped this season 87,820,000 feet of lumber. A Toledo dispatch again revives the story that treasure hun- ters, this time from Chicago, will try to locate the schooner Favorite, which foundered in Lake Erie off Monroe, Mich. ,about thirty-five years ago. 'The Favorite had a cargo of whiskey and wine, and it is thought that if the casks containing the liquor have remained in good condition the cargo will be very valuable. Capt. L. R. Boynton has bought the passenger steamer Riverside from the Clark estate of Detroit and will run her be- 'tween Mackinaw City, St. Ignace and Mackinac island, under a contract with railroads converging at the straits. The River- side is now in service on the Detroit river but will be replaced by the Wyandotte, a new boat just launched by the Detroit Dry Dock Company. The Sheriffs Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis., has taken a contract for engines fora steamer 85 feet long, 22 feet beam and 5 feet hold, building at New Orleans for the Mc- Ewan and Murray Lumber Company, to be used for towing logs on Lake Pontchartrain. The Sheriffs company also has an en- gine contract for a launch building at Minneapolis. This work will take the place of a compound engine for the A. E. Shores, just completed. It is 16 and 43 by 36 inches, fore and aft com- pound. 'The wheel from the same company is g feet 8 inches by 13 feet 6inches. 'The boiler was built by the Manitowoc Steam Boiler Works. Capt. George P. McKay, accompanied by Capt. Charles G, Penney, U. S. A., will leave Cleveland Friday for Duluth on the steamer Northern King, with the intention of visiting differ- ent places along the shore of Lake Superior down to the Sault and Mackinaw on the return to Cleveland. Capt. McKay will make an extended inquiry regarding aids to navigation on Lake Superior, and his trip will undoubtedly be a very pleasant one. Although Capt. McKay spent his boyhood on Lake Superior, his father having taken up a home at the Sault in 1845, he has not visited that country within the past ten years. He began sailing when there was not a single light on Lake Superior, and will undoubtedly meet many of the old pioneers whose remini- ' scences will be very interesting.