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{3 Short History of Lake Navigation. (By C. H. Keep, Secretary Lake Carriers' Association.) EARLY HISTORY OF NAVIGATION ON LAKE SUPERIOR. Such was and continued to be the mercantile navy of the waters of Lake Superior until the supposed discovery of copper in working quantities on its shores, about the years 1843 and 1844. This increased the prospective richness of the Lake Sup- erior country to such an extent that capitalists and explorers began to turn their attention thereto, the principal objective points being in the vicinity of Copper harbor, on point Kewee- naw, and in the interior some 14 miles from the mouth of the Ontonagon river. 'Ihe early pioneers were obliged to make the trip from Sault Ste. Marie to Copper Harbor and Ontonagon > in birch bark canoes, Mackinaw boats or batteaux, the latter craft having been introduced on Lake Superior from river St. Lawrence by the Hudson Bay Company, for the purpose of moving their supplies, furs, etc., from one extreme end of that lake to the other. These boats were all open, without decks of any kind, and were propelled by paddles, ores, and sails, as circumstances re- quired. They followed the coast and its indentations, made their landings upon the shores for purpose of allowing crews and passengers to camp, sleep and prepare their food, as well as to seek shelter by day or by night from the storms with which they were unfitted to cope, and which were frequently en- countered, This mode of traveling, however, was tedious and distaste- ful to the copper seeker, and in 1844 and 1845 vessel owners began to seek employment and profit by hauling vessels across the portage at Sault Ste. Marie, a distance of about 1 mile, and in July +845, we find the mercantile navy of Lake Superior in- creased by several vessels, among which are the schooners: Algonquin, Uncle Tom, Swallow, Ocean, Chippewa, Siskowit, Merchant, Fur Trader and Whitefish, the latter being owned by the Hudson Bay Company. These were followed later on in the same season by the advent of the propeller Independence, of 260 tons burden, and commanded by A. J. Averill, of Chicago, the first steam craft that ever disturbed the waters of Lake Superior. The schooner Napoleon, in neighborhood of 200 tons, built at Sault Ste. Marie for account of Oliver Newberry, Esq., of Detroit, was also put in commission late the same fall (1845.) After this date as the business of the country demanded, other craft were hauled across the portage and added to the fleet as follows, viz: The steamer Julia Palmer in 1846, and at intervals prior to the opening of St. Marys Falls canal at Sault Ste. Marie in 1855, the propellers Manhattan and Monticello, schooner George W. Ford, propeller Peninsular and the side- wheel steamers Baltimore and Sam Ward. In the meantime, the schooner Napoleon had been converted into a first-class passenger propeller in about the year 1850. 'The foregoing sail vessels and steamers ranged from about 25 to 500 tons burden. As we have been informed by one of the Lake Superior pioneers of 1845, he made his first trip in July of that year on board of the schooner Chippewa, 25 tons burden commanded by Thomas Clark, sailed by himself and one man, who officiated in the capacity of mate, deck hand and cook. Atthe time, there were some forty passengers on board the vessel, among whom was the late Hon. David Henshaw, of Boston, president of one of the first copper mining companies organized (The Boston and Lake Superior Mining Company, ) and formerly secretary of the navy. The passengers were obliged to feed themselves and sleep as best they could, Mr. Henshaw occupying the captain's berth in the cabin, while the balance of the passengers slept, as circumstances permitted, in the hold of the vessel and on deck. Coincident with the building of the Astor, on Lake Superior in 1834 the American Fur Company also built a brig, the Ramsey Crooks, as a connecting link in their trade between the waters of Lake Erie (Detroit being the principal point) and Lake Superior, via the Portage at the "Soo" (that being the name which the Jesuit pioneers of the seventeenth century adopted as an abbreviation of the longer name Sault Ste. Marie. ) That vessel, with the schooner General Warren, built about the same time and owned by the late Dr. John L. Whiting, of Detroit, with the exception of an occasional steamer going to Sault Ste. Marie with troops and government supplies for Fort Brady and Fort Wilkins, formed the only water connection between Lake Superior and the lower lakes until after the dis- covery of copper. This warranted the placing of the side-wheel steamer Detroit, owned by the late Capt. EH. B. Ward (then of MARINE REVIEW. ae St. Clair Mich.,) on the route between Sault Ste. Marie, and in 1845 she commenced making regular weekly trips. In che spring of 1846 the steamer Ben. Franklin was put on the route, where she continued to run until 1850, when she was wrecked at Thunder bay, Lake Huron. These were followed at intervals, as the exigencies of the trade required, by the steamers Northerner, London, Tecumseh, Albany, Illinois, E. K. Collins, North Star, and the propellers Goliah and Penin- sular, as well as two small steamers, the Gore and Plowboy, which were put on the Cae route as between Owen Sound ian bay) and the "Soo."' epee pS ' rule, were all light-draught vessels, and had comparitively little difficulty in navigating the St. Mary's river as it then was, the greatest obstacle being found on that part known as Lake George, where the channel then ran in close proximity to the Canadian shore, and in which about two miles from the western end of the lake a bar existed that at times caused serious trouble, so much so that the American Fur Com- pany, after the building of the brig Ramsey Crooks, in the then absence of tugs or other steam assistance, was forced to build a crib or pier on either side of the bar for purpose of heaving the vessel over it and at times lightering her, again transferring the freight by small boats or scows to the vessel after getting her over the bar into deep water. This same pier, being kept in repair, was used more or less for the same purpose by other vessels until the deepening of a more direct channel through Lake George by the United States government atter the opening of the Sault canal in 1855. With a view to showing the extent of the transportation of freights, baggage, mining company supplies, etc., between Lake Huron, the Sault river and Lake Superior, it may here be well to say that the late Sheldon McKnight of Detroit, holding an official commission from the government as connected with the permits for the exploration of the copper lands of Lake Supe- rior, and residing at Sault Ste. Marie, during the years of 1844 and 1845,did all the transferring of such articles across the port- age thereat by means of one old gray horse and cart. In the spring of 1846 the volume of business seemed to justify Mr. McKnight in building a warehouse and dock below the rapids at Sault Ste. Marie to better facilitate the hauling of freights. During 1846 and 1847 this was done by the firm of L. W. Tinker & Co. (composed of L. W. Tinker and Sheldon McKnight.) The volume of freight had so increased in the meantime that they were obliged to add to the old gray horse and cart two double teams. In the spring of 1848, the firm of I. W.- Tinker @cGasG@os ip ? having b-en dissolved, Mr. McKnight employed Mr. J. T. Whit- - ing, then of Detroit, to take charge of the business. Mr. Whit- ing found himself again obliged to increase the teaming facilities by adding thereto two more two-horse wagons and the necessary horses. In 1850 the business had increased to such an extent that additional facilities fur carrying freights in either direction across the portage induced Mr. McKnight to procure a charter for the formation of the Chippewa Portage Company under which a light tram road was built, running across the portage, operated by horses, and connecting the warehouses and docks at either end thereof, which, with sundry changes in the loca- tion of the tram, in consequence of the building of the canal, continued in use most of the time by day and by night through the season of navigation until the completion of the canal in 1855. By this tramway under favorable circumstances the com- pany could move from 300 to 400 tons of freight, including mass copper, every twenty-four hours. About 1851 the firm of Spaulding & Bacon, general mer- chants at Sault Ste. Marie, with a view to accomodating business brought to them by the steamer Northerner, running from Cleveland and connecting with the propeller Manhattan on Lake Superior (said two boats being owned by Samuel W. and A. A. Turner, of Cleveland, Ohio,) placed teams on the route across the portage, but after some two years abandoned the same, and all such freights, as well as those carried by the steamer E. K. Collins on the Lake Huron route, and the side-wheel steamer Sam Ward on Lake Superior, were diverted into the hands of the Chippewa Portage Company, and there remained until the opening of the canal. TO BE CONTINUED. SEND 50 CENTS IN STAMPS TO THE MARINE REVIEW FOR TEN PHOTOTYPES AND GRAVURES OF LAKE STEAMERS NEATLY BOUND. : | :