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MARINE REVIEW. 6 lron Mining Matters. The greatest falling offin Lake Superior ore shipments is, of course, in the movement from Ashland, the shipping port for the Gogebic range, where many of the smaller mines have sus- pended entirely and the larger properties are shipping only from stock piles. On August 6a year ago there had been shipped from Ashland 1,132,914 gross tons, while this year the total movement on the same date was only 692,063 tons. Shipments from Two Harbors on the oth inst. aggregated 536,670 tons, against 577,004 tons on August 6 a year ago, or a decrease of 40,- 334 tons. Although the figures from Marquette are not availa- ble, it is certain that that port, on account of its advantages over Escanaba in rail freights, has made a fair gain in shipments, which accounts for only a moderate general shortage in the move- ment from all Lake Superior ports. As the dock managers at Escanaba still guard the figures with great secresy, it is not pos- sible to make even an estimate of the decrease in shipments from Lake Michigan, but it is reasonable to suppose that the dif- ference is very large. Shipments from T'wo Harbors up to the gth inst. were divided as follows: Chandler, 261,448 tons; Min- nesota, 225,737; Zenith, 1,991; Cincinnati, 9,916; Canton, 21,- 449; Franklin, 14,929; Hale, 1,200. Shipments of Gogebic range mines through Ashland on the 6th inst. were: Ashland, 26,465 tons; Aurora, 103,901; Colby No. 2, 21,799; Tilden, 68,- 807; Germania, 4,975; Iron Belt, 7,544; Montreal, south vein, 1,347; Montreal, north vein, 21,175; Brotherton, 14,643; Comet, 5,035; Eureka, 20,867; Careys, 28,683; Newport, 61,309; Nor- rie, 134,215; East Norrie, 60,542; Pabst, 81,261; Jack Pot, 1,651; Davis, 7,515; Sunday Lake, 17,525. Managers of the big Messabi properties have demonstrated their ability to mine ore with steam shovels, but the entire range is being hit very hard by the tight times. Not more than 60,000 tons has been moved from all of the new mines, and operations have been so generally suspended that shipments for ten days past have amounted to practically nothing. The Biwabik com- pany is said to have expended about $100,000 for stripping a portion of the ore body before beginning steam shovel work, but it is probable that under the new method of mining this prop- erty, as well as a few others in the new district, would have shown big results if business conditions had been more favor- able. A Mass of Statistics on Iron Ore. In the August number of the Cassier's Magazine, John Bir- kinbine, past president of the American Institute of Mining En- gineers, has a second paper under the heading " From Mine to Furnace," in which he writes entirely of sources of iron ore sup- plies for the United States. Several etrigravings of mines, docks and machinery in the Lake Superior region, obtained from the Lake Superior Iron Company, Brown Hoisting and Conveying Company and other concerns around the lakes, are used in con- nection with the article, and the Lake Superior district is given prominence as the source of more than half of our supply. Re- garding this feature of the subject, Mr. Birkinbine, who was in charge of work of the census bureau pertaining to iron ore, says that the ores from the different districts vary in the yield of iron, and it is therefore of interest to place the sources in something near their relative rank by estimating their probable percentage of the country's total output of pig iron. Such an estimate was prepared for the year 1887 and shows the proportions about as follows : PER CENT. Take Superior ofes.... J... 00.20.2002 ee. eee 44 HOnelOMMAOHCS.inekane ork ems oe es Pete AE 10% Lake Champlain Ores. ..4..6-5 8. + nee es ee oe 6% (Chaser Ets re ee oe ob oman ce 5 MlabatirapOnesrn cish. 0 Geese or see cb eee Rea eee New Jersey oreS...... . sees ce ee et eee ee Se hennessee ores ti: ovis 12S 62 AR MUSSOIM/OLeS Heian. Satie. eee Sh tee ae B86 Virginia ores..... ee a Ba erat ee oc eee iveeyeed SBMOMOTES Stebel is sci eee cae 2% Salisbury. Fegion.¢...22-..--- trys ~~ ee or eOuOIAe ONES. geet se we Cs ses iy On account of changes that have taken place during five years since 1887, it is estimated that probably 60 per cent of the pig iron is produded from ores obtained from the Lake Superior district, and those mined in the southern states of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee furnish 17 per cent., while the foreign iron ores yield about 5 per cent., and the Cornwall ores 3 per cent. of the total pig iron output of the country. _ Around the Lakes. Jacob Johnson, whose death was announced from Chicago Monday, was closely identified with the lumber interests and owned several lumber barges. He was also a leading stockholder in the Chicago Towing Company. Chicago tugs are having long runs after schooners during these dull times. Four of them were out six days last week be- fore they finally returned with tows. Some of them were met over a hundred miles down the lake by passing steamers. At the yard of the Chicago Ship Building Company, Cole- hour, Ill., a large part of the excavating work on the new dry dock has been done, but it is not being pushed as rapidly as it _ might be if business conditions demanded urgent operations. ~ Chicago's lumber fleet is suffering more than the big carriers from the stagnation ot business, and it is said by men who pro- fess to know that fully one-third of the schooners will be sold at marshal's sale to satisfy supply bills before the season is over. On Saturday, August 26, Chicago will be the scene of the biggest yachting event ever held on Lake Michigan. 'The Lin- coln Park Yacht Club will give an open regatta, and every yacht in port will be invited toenter. It is expected that there will be some twenty-five entries, and preparations are being made fora gala day. Dispatches sent out from Ottawa a few days ago give statis- tics on Canadian shipping, from the annual list published by the department of marine. A lengthy summary of this report was published in the MARINE REVIEW of June 29, more than six weeks ago. Martin Knudsen, keeper of the Port des Morts light house on Pilot island, was presented with a silver medal by Command- er Brice, inspector of the Ninth light-house district. The medal was awarded by the secretary of the treasury for bravery in sav- ing the lives of a woman and four men from the schooner A. P. Nichols, driven ashore in October, 1892. A new life saving apparatus, consisting of rubber tubes which can easily be inflated, has been patented by Eugene J. Krieg, of Marquette, Mich., where the invention was given a test recently. It is to be manufactured in two grades, one for life saving crews and the other for travellers, to be carried with them when on the water. The advantages over a cork jacket claimed are many. The four-masted schooner Yukon, built by F. W. Wheeler. & Co., at West Bay City, was launched last week. She is 270 feet long, with 42 feet beam and 20 feet depth of hold. She is owned by Capt. William Forbes of Port Huron and Capt. Thomas Wil- son, and will be managed by the Wilson Transit Company in connection with its fleet. She will be taken to Port Huron and remain there until business improves. _ Few people in the vessel business are willing to believe the story that Capt. James Davidson, West Bay City ship builder, is making arrangements to construct five large wooden steamers during the coming winter. Capt. Davidson is probably able to undertake such a job, but notwithstanding the low cost of labor and material, he is shrewd enough to consider the question of overproduction in tonnage, which is playing a very important part in the present depressed condition of freights. The schooner George B. Owen was launched at the David- son shipyard in West Bay City last week. She is a beautiful craft, 205 feet in length and 34%4in breadth. The schooner has a raised deck forward, under which are a commodious forecastle and a pony boiler, steam windlass and pumps. She is steel strapped and has steel keelson plates. Her cabins are of hard- wood finish. Her cost is $38,000, and she will carry a million feet of lumber or 55,000 bushels of wheat on 14 feet draft. She is owned by the Ketcham Steamship Company of Chicago, and will tow behind the steamer W. P. Ketcham, which is now building at the Davidson yard, and will be launched in about two weeks. . Although arrangements have been made between the Detroit Dry Dock Company and Capt. E. M. Peck of Detroit to suspend work on the big steel freight steamer on the stocks at Wyan- dotte, delaying the delivery of the boat until next spring,. this does not mean that the steel plant of the dry dock company will be closed down tor a great length of time. With the present out- look in freights, Capt. Peck is not in a hurry for his boat, and this fact, coupled with the condition of money matters, is the cause of temporary suspension. A change'in the financial situa- tion will undoubtedly cause a renewal of operations at the. Wyan- dotte plant.