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6 MARINE REVIEW. Coal and Ore Shipments Almost Equal to Last Season. The St. Mary's Falls canal report for August furnishes some figures for both vessel owners and shippers to ponder over. They prove conclusively that even had there been a reasonable increase in the movement of freight of all kinds this season, the vessel tonnage would be found to be largely in excess of require- ments. The active work of the shipyards has at last shown its effect in a most forcible manner. It will be surprising to learn that during the month of July just passed the shipments of hard and soft coal from all lower lake ports to Lake Superior alone reached the enormous total of 618,021 net tons, or 76,018 tons more than during July of last year, when the shipments were greater than inany previous month in the history of lake business. It will be even more surprising to learn that the total movement of -- _ freight of all kinds through the canal to August 1 of this season is but very little short of that ofa yearago. Inore the shortage on the same date ascompared with last season is but 329,704 net tons. Vessels have been carrying a very large amount of freight at the low rates that have prevailed for some time past, as shown by the following tables : LAKE SUPERIOR COAL AND ORE MOVEMENT. Coal up, Ore down, net tons. net tons. PACU BO 2s cts ececensrs scacasNownss deo 1,557,791 2,256,497 MUIR ple UO stuneeasteesecs nese seeker 1,501,210 1,927,793 DONC enntesecssncscreacscceass secon: 56,581 329,704 Freight of all kinds passing through the canal during the month of July, 1893, aggregated 2,017,183 net tons, of which 1,- 297,762 tons was east-bound and 719,421 tons west-bound. Dur- ing July, 1892, the total movement of freight was but 1,926,210 tons, so that the increase in July of this yearis 90,973 tons. 'The traffic during the month just passed was divided as follows: East-bound. West-bound. Gaal owes spas rcencemep cess siicsssincs sieene ster se 618,021 tons. OUR Secs creute sh ageeebscecaiscsresca' 1,042,845 bbls. 250. bbls. CCiraia eens se siecle ce teeiaee eacsccecstiencs See sesame teh «1g Sue yn eae Worms esse sscceteccesen canes ae sthas SG i29 2 Digester eee A\WVINCE Migatagabooonagecconsucodpacuadsonn A981 0G4sbU; ee Sie seceesee a Building stone ..................006 A UODetOUSee gee Masse oaceas.. (WO Delite ess caceceeecees ter eeeen ect Hid Om tO Sse ee ee senacee cs Mamnittactumed sito rarsesmass cicero ee 20,946 tons irons OLC:..csseee nics ccte es eens cis Soro 2 tOMSs iste ecaccns NOT, Pie enseaerersaasscstensta- ose AOL SLOWS met a taccce neces Ral tee cesceh cs ccremeee ances nienete hase etetacse 21,498 bbls SilVersOLels ces tecm ses itecee clescwes AD OSONSs hy a cadecs sche Unclassified freight............... 17,086 tons. 49 ,321 tons. IPASSCUPERS... cqtcetieestcst cae sae 2,445 2,906 Shipments of freight of all kinds through the canal from the opening of the present season to Aug, 1, aggregated 5,113,- 178 net tons, as against 5,390,134 tons on the same date last year. This certainly shows a large general business to and from Lake Superior this year, when it is considered that there was no canal business in April this season, on account of the late open- ing, while in April, 1892, the freight movement footed up 256,977 tons. An Over-production of Tonnage. The fact that the present depression in lake shipping is due about as much to an over-production from the ship yards as to the demoralized condition of general business is beginning to dawn upon the vessel owners in a most forcible manner. In proof of this, the official statement of the freight movement through the St. Mary's Falls canal, which form a most reliable basis to work upon, shows that, notwithstanding the late open- ing of navigation this season, the shipments of coal, hard and soft, to Lake Superior ports on July 31, were but about 50,000 tons short of the shipments on the same date a year ago, while the amount of ore brought down from I,ake Superior was in round numbers only 300,000 tons less. It may be claimed that Marquette shipments of ore, which are at present unusually large, on account of an advantageous rail freight, are drawn from Esca- naba, and that there is a corresponding loss in Lake Michigan business, but this is only a small item, in viewing the question from its broad side, and the fact remains that with all the low freights the volume of business in ore, coal, grain and flour has been immense. 'Then thereis also the wonderful movement of 618,021 tons of coal to Lake Superior ports alone during the month of July. These shipments of coal, which have proven a support to the low freight market for several weeks, and which have been prompted largely by low charges, seem destined to curtailment, however, and in this respect the market has suffered an additional set-back during the past week. Among the big soft coal ship- ping firms, it is announced that the Sunday Creek company, which has a very large working capital, has quit, almost en- tirely, the movement of lake coal, and the Northwestern Fuel Company has given out the announcement that its shipments in August will not be more than 20,000 tons, as against average monthly shipments of about 80,000 tons. It can be truthfully said, therefore, that a number of boats from which crews have been discharged during the past week are tied up in earnest, and will remain at the docks until improvement is in sight. A Distinguished Visitor. Mr. James Howden of Glasgow, the inventor of the How- den system of forced draft, intuse on the Atlantic liners Paris and New York, and the lake steamers Virginia, Pioneer and City of Alpena, visited Detroit and Cleveland during the week, on his way to Philadelphia after taking part in the International Engineering Congress at Chicago. In Detroit Mr. Howden visited Mr. Frank E. Kirby of the Detroit Dry Dock Company, -- who is the representative of the Howden system on the lakes, and in Cleveland he was the guest of Mr. W.D.Kearfott, who rep- resents Henry R. Worthington of New York. The new American line ships, which are being built by the Cramps of Philadelphia, and which will be fitted with the Howden apparatus, will have six double-ended boilers, with eight furnaces each, or fifty-two furnaces in all, so that in these vessels also there will bea grand opportunity for demonstrating the merits of the system, which has attracted so much attention. Mr. Howden says that all plans for the two new American boats are completed, and they are to develop 21,000 horse power each, but during his stay in Philadelphia on the way to Chicago, he had no opportunity to ex- amine technically the plans for maghinery, but was told that double engines were to be of the quadruple type with four cylin- ders. Canada's Canal Gates. The plans for the lock-gates for the Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie are now on view at the department of railways and canals, Ottawa. It is expected that the total cost of the gates will not fall short of $100,000. 'There will be besides the main gates at each end of the lock, guard gates also, and an additional set of guard gates at the lower or eastern end. The two lower main gates will each be 44 feet 6 inches in height, and the lower guard gate 27 feet 6 inches. The upper main gate and the upper guard gate will each be 29 feet 6 inches in height. By this arrangement it will be always possible to pump the Icck dry in order to set right anything that may get out of order with the filling and emptying valves, or any of the other mechanism of the lock below the low level. At the Water Commerce Congress in Chicago last week the lakes were not well represented, and yet the discussion attending subjects connected with lake commerce and the question of a ship-canal to the Atlantic seaboard attracted more attention than any of the numerous water-way schemes that were evidently sup- ported by many able advocates. 'These meetings tend to exem- plify the inevitable conclusion that sooner or later a deep water- way will be opened from the lakes to the Atlantic. Capt. J. C. Arnold, a veteran lake ship builder, died at Mus- -- kegon, Mich., at the age of eighty, ee ae "~~. eee