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MARINE REVIEW. tt Short History of Lake Navigation. (By CH. Keep, Secretary Lake Carriers Association.) EARLY ENGLISH NAVIGATION. | Immediately after the English took Fort Niagra in 1759, they commenced to build vessels above the falls. Sir William Johnson says that he visited Navy island, in the Niagara river where a sloop and a schooner were being built by the English. Two or three additional sailing vessels were built soon after at Street's creek, just above Navy island, on the Canadian side of the Niagara river. One of these vessels was named the Gladwin. This small fleet was prominent in the siege of Detroit by Pontiac in 1763. After the siege two.of them returned to a little bay at the foot of Grand island, Niagara river, where Sir William John- son says they were burned. The locality was henceforth known by the name of Burnt-Ships bay. In 1755 the English built two sloops at Oswego named the Oswego and the Ontario. In the same year Gen. Shirley placed on Lake Ontario a sloop and a schooner, each of 60 tons burden, besides a number of galleys and whale boats. Until the time of the American revolution, few new vessels were put on Lake Ontario. Merchant and whale vessels taken from the French at the time of the conquest of Canada continued to form the fleet of that lake. After the American revolution the commerce of Lake Ontario commenced to grow in importance and in the early part of the present century its commerce greatly exceeded in importance and value that of all the other lakes. 'The first American vessel ever placed on any of the great lakes after the revolution was built at Hanford's Landing, 3 miles below Rochester, N. Y., in 1798. She was called the Jemima, and was built by Eli Granger, and July 22, 1798,was sold to Augus- tus ana reter 8 Porter. About the year 1800 the Western Inland Lock and Naviga- tion Company completed improvements for inland navigation between the Hudson river and Lake Ontario, by the construc- tion of a canal from Mohawk river to Wood creek, which empties into Oneida lake, which locks on the Mohawk river and also on Wood creek. In the year 1800 there were three vessels on Lake Ontario owned by Oswego forwarders. In 1810 the commerce on Lake Ontario was principally in the hands of two firms, Porter, Barton & Co., and Townsend, Bronson & Co., who were the lessees from the state of New York of what is called the Niagara portage. A few years before this date, the principal course of business on Lake Ontario had been from Oswego to Queenstown, on the Canadian side of the Niagra river. In 1806 Porter, Barton & Co. built a road from Lewiston, on the American side of the Niagra river, to Schlosser's dock, a point above the falls, where the channel again,becomes naviga- ble. 'They did not succeed, however, in diverting the commerce from the Canadian portage until the embargo and non-intercourse acts of 1807 to 1809, which put an end to the business on the Canadian side of the river. By 1810 the commerce of Lake Ontario had grown so that it furnished regular employment to a considerable number of coasting vessels. 'These vessels were employed in carrying the Indian annuities, stores for western military posts, the goods and peltries of the fur company, Onondaga salt for the Pittsburg market, which was one of the principal articles of lake commerce, and provisions and supplies for the straggling western settle- ments. 'he schooner Charles and Ann, built in Oswego in 1810, of roo tons register, attracted great attention on account of its size. By 1818 the marine fleet on Lake Ontario numbered sixty vessels. Besides the trade above mentioned there had grown up a considerable commerce in timber and staves. 'These articles were picked up by schooners at points on the south shore of Lake Ontario. For want of harbors the timber was usually floated out to the vessels and the staves were carried out in scows. 'These articles were carried by the schooners to Cape Vincent and Carlton's island and other points at the head of the St. Lawrence river, where they were unloaded, made into rafts, and floated down the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec. The first American vessel built on Lake Erie was the schooner Washington, built near Erie, Pa., in 1797. She navi- gated Lake Erie during that season; was then sold to a Canadian and carried on wheels around the falls to Lake Ontario, where she sailed from Queenstown for Kingston in 1798 as a British vessel, under the name of Lady Washington. In 1816 the whole tonnage of the lake vessels at all Lake Erie ports, includ- ing Detroit, was 2,067 tons. 'The vessels ranged in size from 10 to 99 tons, except two, which were of 102 and 134 tons respect- ively. In 1805 Buffalo was made a port of entry, and at the district of Buffalo creek there were enrolled and licensed in the year 1817 seven vessels, with a total tonnage of 459 tons. In 1819 there were registered in the same district seven vessels, with a tonnage of 473 tons, but of these vessels one was a steamer. 'The first steam vessel that ever navigated the lakes was the Ontario, built at Sacketts Harbor, N. Y. She was 110 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 8% feet deep, measuring 240 tons. She made her first trip in April, 1817. The Ontario was the first steamer ever placed on water subject toa swell. She was built under a grant from the heirs of Robert Fulton, and marks an important era in steam navigation. So long as steam navi- gation was confined to the rivers the weight of the shaft and paddle-wheels was relied upon as sufficient to keep them in place on their bearings.- The Ontario was constructed on this plan. On her:first trip she encountered considerable sea and the waves lifted the paddle wheels, throwing the shaft off the bearings and causing the revolving wheels to tear to pieces their wooden coverings. 'The vessel was taken back into port dis- abled, but her repairs included a proper device for securely ae the shaft in its place. After this shé navigated success- ully, 7 In 1818 the steamer Sophia, 75 tons, was built at Sacketts Harbor to run as a packet between that port and Kingston. In the same year there was built at Black Rock, now part of Buffalo, N. Y., the steamer Walk-in-the-Water, which was the first steam vessel that navigated any of the lakes above Ontario. She was launched May 28, 1818, and started on her first trip from Black Rock to Detroit on the 25th of August in the same year. Her machinery had to be brought from Albany to Buffalo, a distance of 300 miles, in wagons drawn by five to eight horses each. As this vessel ran regularly to and from Black Rock harbor and not to the present harbor at Buffalo, she had to pro- ceed a short distance down the Niagara river. While she could navigate down stream very safely, her power was not sufficient to enable her to make headway against the strong current at the head of the Niagara river. Resort was therefore had to what was known in the early days asa "horned breeze." The Walk-in- the-Water was regularly towed up the Niagara river by a number of yokes of oxen. After she reached the head of the river above the swift current, she would proceed on her way without such assistance. 'The Walk-in-the-Water made her trips regularly between Black Rock and Detroit, making the round trips in nine to ten days. She was wrecked and lost on the beach at Buffalo, in November, 182i, but during the winter of 1821-22 a second steamer was built at Buffalo named the Superior. The machinery of the Walk-in-the-Water was used in the Superior. Soon after this the first high-pressure steamer on the lakes was also built at Buffalo. She was named the Pioneer. Her machinery was built at Pittsburg, Pa., and brought to Buffalo in wagons. In 1841 there was launched at Oswego, N. Y., the first lake propel- lor, said also to be the first screw steamer ever built for business purposes. Her building came about in this way: A Canadian shipowner living at Brockville, Ontario, wrote to an Oswego friend, who was temporarily in New York city, saying that he had heard that there was on exhibition at the iron works of Hogg & Delameter, in New York, anew kind of steamer wheel invented by Ericsson, and asking him to go and look at this model to see whether it struck him favorably. As the Oswego gentleman had no particular knowledge of machinery, he asked Capt. James Van Cleve, of Lewiston, New York., a lake naviga- tor, who was also in New York on a visit, to go with him to see Ericsson's new wheel. Van Cleve examined Ericsson's model carefully, and was so favorably impressed that he asked to see the inventor. He had a two-hours' conversation with him, and became an entire convert. At the close of this conversation Ericsson offered Van Cleve a half interest in his patent for the northwestern lakes if he, Van Cleve, would place on Lake Ontario within a year a steam vessel, using the new method of propulsion. Van Cleve assented to this proposition, and a writ- ted contract was drawn up on the spot. This interview took place in December, 1840. Van Cleve returned to Oswego, where he interested several other gentle- men with him and in 1841 they built the propeller Vandalia of 138 tons. She made her first trip in November, 1841, and proved a success in all weathers. In the spring of 1842 the Vandalia passed through the Welland canal to Buffalo, where she was visited by large numbers of people who were curious to see this new departure in steam navigaticn. The firm of Hol- lister Brothers, of Buffalo, seemed to have become satisfied that