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22 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR ASSOCIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published every Thursday by The Penton Publishing Co. CLEVELAND. NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA PITTSBURG CINCINNATI BOSTON - DULUTH CHICAGO Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. Subscription, $3.00 per. annum. To Foreign Countries, '$4.50. Subscribers can have addresses changed at will. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on 'Thursday preceding date of publication. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the MARINE REVIEW through the regu- Jar channels of the American News Co. Fiescan Agents, The International News Com- pany, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, : London, E. C. England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as Second Class Matter. December 13, 1906. NORTHERN PACIFIC BRIDGE AT DULUTH. 7 For several years past the Lake Car- tiers' Association has consistently fol- ' lowed the policy of urging, whenever practical, the substitution of lift, or bas- cule bridges in place of swing bridges At the annual meeting of the Lake Carriers' Associa- across navigable streams. tion held at. Detroit, in January, 1902, the following resolution was adopted upon this subject: As the art of bridge building is now suffi- ciently advanced to render unnecessary the building of artificial obstructions in the centers of navigable channels, this association respect- ully requests the secretary of war to direct engineers of his department to withhold ap- proval of center-pier swing bridges in such channels and substitute therefor, when it is practical to do so, and when the same can be done at no greater cost, some one of the several types of vertically lifting bascule bridges which are successfully used in several lake cities, especially the crowded harbor of Chicago. It would appear as though no argu- 'ment were necessary to demonstrate the "TAE MARINE. REVIEW superiority of a lift bridge across a nav- igable stream over any type of bridge involving center piers or projecting abut- ments. Attention is now directed to this subject by the vessel owners, owing to the designs for rebuilding the Northern Pacific bridge at Duluth. This is the vailroad bridge between Duluth and Su- perior across the inner bay. At present the bridge consists of two draws span- ning the two channels, one on each s de of the river and connected by a long trestle across the shallow middle part of the basin. 100 ft. The draws at present are wide, and according to plans which have been approved by the goy- ernment engineers' department, the new On 19 vigorous protest against these draws are to be only 125 ft. wide. Oct. plans were made by the vessel owners. It is now understood that the Northern Pacific Railway is agreeable to the bu'ld- ing of a lift bridge, but this, of course, involves a modification of plans already The s:tuation has also been somewhat com- approved by the war department. plicated by, the recent transfer of govern- ment engineers at Duluth. Major Graham D. Fitch succeeding Major Charles L. Potter, who has been transferred to Long Island. quainted with the long campaign that Major Fitch is probably unac- vessel interests have made to substitute a lift bridge for a swing bridge when- ever any of the old swing bridges were to be rebuilt or replaced. Major Fitch is inclined to insist that the railroad com- pany build two swing bridges. li the railroad company is willing to substitute a lift bridge for the present swing bridges there is no sound reason why they should not be permitted to do so. The rights of navigation are paramount, and, alt things being equal, vessel owners should certainly have a preference as to the type of structure to be thrown across any navigable stream. The policy at Cleve- land, Chicago and Buffalo has been to substitute lift bridges for swing bridges whenever practicable. Sixteen have. al- ready been removed at Chicago and seven at Cleveland and replaced by Scherzer rolling lift bridges. Instances could be multiplied of the serious impediment to navigation by the old type of swing bridge. Two such accidents have oc- curred on the great lakes this year, one -wise, has been made _ public. the wrecking of the interstate swing bridge at Duluth, which inconvenienced the movement of vessels for many days, -- and the other the wrecking of the new center pier swing bridge at Houghton, Mich. have happened with a lift bridge. Neither of these accidents could The situation at Duluth is quite important, and it is not likely that vessel owners will permit the present plans of the war department to be carried out w.thout a stubborn fight. DULUTH-SUPERIOR HARBOR. The general purport of the recommend- ation of the board of engineers appointed to investigate conditions at the Duluth- Superior harbor, with a view to pro- seemed As will be recollected, their investigation in- viding such improvements as cluded a thorough examination, by the board; of the harbor and its present equipment, as well as a hearing of all the in the matters effected by conditions: at the head of the lakes. interests concerned At the time of the investi- gat'on, two general plans were urged upon the engineers, one for the con- struction of a breakwater extending out from the north shore of the lake for nearly a mile, to protect the Duluth en- trance; the other for the cutting of a new and much wider canal through Minnesota Point, opposite the entrance to St. Louis bay, with such other pro- tection as that opening would require. No suggestions of any importance were offered regarding changes at the Su- perior entry, all of the undesirable con- ditions being felt at the Duluth end of the bay. Th engineers' report provides for but little change in the present plans for the Duluth entrance, some $10,000 being the total appropriation, and it does not consider at all the opening up of a cen- tral canal. It provides, however, for tne expenditure of approximately $r1,- 800,000 for the building of a V-shaped breakwater at the Superior entry. This _ breakwater will be a mammoth struct- ure with Wisconsin Point as the base for one leg of the V, and Minnesota Point for the other, each leg to be 1,000 ft. in length. They will converge at a point opposite Superior entry, with