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the war depliaritment had accepted the deed and the engineering department had opened bids for the improvement. Three years have elapsed since funds have been available for tthe prosecu- tion of the work, but owing ito the complicated and exasperating legal situation not a single stroke of work has been done. Mr. Livingstone's complete report on this subject is as follows: STATUS OF WORK AT SAULT. The status of the proposed widening of the present canal above the locks is as follows: The attorney general of the United States has declined to approve the quitclaim deed of the Chandler-Dunbar Co. granting the Uni- ted States for a nominal consideration the land, needed for the widening of canal and as the same objections will lie against the deed for lands needed for the new lock, it is not seen how the work on lock can be started before the settlement of this vexatious prob- lem without further special legislation. The Rivers and Harbors act of March 2, 1907, contained the following clause after the item making the appropriation for the im- provement of the St. Mary's river: "And it is further provided, That the work of improvement shall proceed without delay by reason of conflicting or other claims of title or interests and without prejudice to any pending litigation in reference thereto." Congress evidently intended to have the work begin at once without waiting for the conclusion of pending' litigation, but this pro- viso was qualified by the' succeeding para- graphs of the act, hastily prepared during the last moments of the session, so that an at- tempt to go on with the work at once would be of doubtful legality in the opinion of those who have been consulted. A board of engineer officers, consisting of (Col, Clewies 18, Il, 18 IDenig, Col C, iWeb), Townsend and Maj. Charles Keller, has this matter now under consideration and will prob- ably render its report within a few weeks. Therefore it is impossible at present to predi- cate what conclusions the board will arrive at in its report. It is to be devoutly hoped, however, that it may find some solution of this exasperating and vexatious question by which the work can be commenced at once and the legal questions connected therewith be settled later on. In any event, we should in every possible way resist any attempt on the part of anyone to interject into the law any qualifying clauses that will limit the ap- plication or give occasion for troublesome liti- gation on the part of persons claiming to be unjustly treated, who might, by injunction or other legal resorts, still further tie up the work. In other words, the work should be allowed to proceed immediately and any claims for compensation by parties interested should be settled by regular legal procedure without in any way interfering with or delaying the immediate progress of this work. With reference to the status of the work on widening of canal so long held up by litigation of power companies and to get the latest data possible, I applied to Col. Davis, United States engineer in charge, for the in- formation, and his reply is so clear and lucid, I have given it herewith in full, as it 'shows the difficulties he has had to contend with: "Sir:--In answer to your request for infor- mation as to the present status of the widen- . ing of the upper canal at Sault 'Ste. Marie, Mich., I have to say: "First. The River and Harbor act of March 3, 1905, authorized the expenditure under con- tinuing contract of $1,020,000 for widening the upper entrance to the present canal in ac- cordance with project submitted in House Doc- ument No. 215, Fifty-eighth congress, third session. Of this $1,020,000 there remains to be appropriated $250,000. This money was to be expended in rock and earth excavation, concrete revetment walls, timber jpiers, filling, movable dams, including head gates, and su- perintendence and inspection, all in accord- ance with the project above mentioned. "Second. Negotiations for obtaining the land needed for the widening began at once, but as a suit was pending in the United States circuit court to quiet title to islands Nos. 1 and 2, owned by the Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Co., the department of justice advised that no steps be taken to acquire the land until this suit was decided, so the sea- son of 1905 was wasted. In November, 1905, I opened up the question of the land needed and on March 5, 1906, I obtained a quit- TAE Marine REVIEW claim deed for the nominal consideration of one dollar, and Mr. Chandler was notified March 21, 1906, that the war department ac- cepted the deed. The deed was returned Aug. 8, 1906, with the opinion of the acting attor- ney general, who found various incumbrances. These incumbrances were purely technical and much time and money, were expended by the Chandler-Dunbar company in the effort to re- move them but unsuccessfully, and another season's work was lost. "Finally a second quit-claim deed was pre- pared for the same nominal consideration and forwarded to Washington May 10, 1907, but was not acted upon by the department of jus- tice until Nov. 25, 1907, and then unfavor- ably, and the papers have only recently been received back by me. So a third season has passed and we are apparently no nearer a settlement of this question than we were at first, so far as the department of justice is concerned. "In anticipation of a speedy decision in the matter, for it seemed to me it would be look- 'ing a gift horse in the mouth to raise tech- nical points against a gift of a very valuable property for which the government might have been asked a very large sum of money, I prepared specifications for the widening in May, 1906, and bids were opened July 24, of the same year. Six bids in all were received, ranging from $957,200 to $552,530. As the lowest figure was an exceedingly favorable one for the United States, and within the estimate, I recommended its acceptance. "Aug. 3, 1906, the engineer department notified me that action on my recommendation would have to be deferred until the question of title was settled. The successful bidders were notified of this decision and as no settle- ment was reached all bids were rejected Sept. 24, 1906. "In the meantime a good deal of work has been done, a cofferdam has been built around the portion of the work that can be done in the dry, the concrete abutments and founda- tions for the movable dam--estimated to cost $400,000--have been completed as far as they can before the erection of the steel swing bridge forming the dam proper, specifications for the steel work prepared, and probably the bids for this work will be solicited in Feb- Tuary next. "Third. The condition of the appropriation is in tound numbers as follows: On hand from previous appropriation..$ 308,000 NikeGeahy -- Eipjor@jrienecl G5 66acdc oo uocee 770,000 Wetetol bewappLopniateds ns arte n ane 250,000 Oba ert hes tree weebaieie Sie ee ree $1,328,000 qovernvalerl" ena) - yo) "GENIE poco oo onoobo ou 179,360 Ballance cera, sheet at pn chicas ae een $1,148,640 "You will therefore see that so far as this office and the engineer department are con- cerned every effort has been put forth to start this important public improvement. "Very respectfully, "(Siened) CuHartes E. L. B. Davis, "Colonel, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A." You will note that this appropriation was authorized in March, 1905, that it is now 1908. In other words, almost three years have elapsed since the appropriation was made and the money available for the prosecution of this work lying idle in the treasury, and 75 per cent of the entire commerce of the great lakes held up 'by the throat, as it were, pending this litigation and technicalities. No problem in connection with the Lake Car- riers' Association has come up during my ad- ministration on which so much time, worry and annoyance has occurred as in all matters pertaining to work to be done at the Sault. In fact, it is difficult for me to speak tem- perately on the matter owing to the very many seemingly needless obstructions that have been placed in our way. In this connection I want it clearly under- stood that this criticism does not apply in any way to the United States engineer depart- ment, for so far as that department is con- cerned, they have used every possible exer- tion to start this work, and in conclusion would say that after having followed this mat- ter through every phase and difficulty that has come up since the appropriation was made, I most emphatically endorse every word of Colonel Davis' letter, but am now hoping that the board appointed to solve this difficulty of widening will be able to find a solution and report a plan that will enable the work of widening of the canal at least to re-commence at a very early date. I believe that every- thing in their power that can be done by this board to accomplish this result will be done. NEW DAVIS LOCK AT THE SAULT. It is with great pleasure that we are en- abled to report that the recommendations of Colonel Davis relative to the construction of a new lock north of the present Poe lock at Sault Ste. Marie, which were alpproved by 23 the board of engineers and transmitted to congress by the secretary of war, and by congress referred to the rivers. and harbors committee, as stated in our report to the as- sociation last year, received the endorsement of that' committee and were included in the rivers and harbors bill, which was passed by congress last spring, together with an ap- propriation of $6,200,000. Steps should be taken in the near future (not later, in my judgment, than the next session of congress) for the introduction of a bill for the building of a fourth lock, as Owing to the length of time it will take to build, it will certainly be needed very much before it can possibly be completed. It is estimated that the construction of the Davis lock and its approaches will require five years, during which time navigation will have to depend upon the three locks existing at present. The capacity of the Weitzel, Poe and Canadian locks under Ordinary condi- tions is estimated at 75,000,000 tons jper an- num, and with the traffic during the past year amounting to approximately 60,000,000 tons, it is apparent that we will, before the Davis lock can be completed, if the present rate of increase continues, be urgently in need of the facilities which it will afford. ~ ; And as time is such a factor in this case I regret to say that the present vexatious liti- gation above alluded to does not at the pres- ent moment, at least, look favorable to an early commencement of this work. If some way cannot be found outside of condemnation proceedings for the use of land necessary for building the Davis lock and approach, with the legal obstructions that can be thrown in the way by the opposing interests, may con- sume an amount of time that will bear heavily against the 'interests of navigation. Deplor- able as this state of affairs may seem, it is really the {present status of the Case so far as the new lock and approaches are concerned. That every effort possible to overcome these difficulties by the United States engineer de- partment, I feel warranted in saying will be made, and that our association will use every effort goes without saying. The ~Davis lock will be 1,350 ft. in length and 80 ft. in width, with a least depth of 24.5 ft. below extreme low water, and will have a capacity of 50,000,000 tons during the season of navigation, but with the increasing demand for iron ore and the great and grow- ing increase in the grain production of the northwest, this lock will soon be taxed to the limit of its capacity. As shown in the chart which accompanied our report last year and again in present re- port, the upper approach to this lock will be an independent canal 300 ft. in width, so ar- ranged as to provide entrance to a fourth lock when it' is needed in the future. Upon motion of G. A. Tomlinson, thanks were extended to Mr. Living- stone for his complete and compre- hensive report. Mr. Goulder took oc- casion to say that it represented inde- fatigable labor for a whole year. Before ithe morning session Mr. Goulder, in discussing 'the Chicago drainage canal made a fine plea for the non-depletion of our lake system, at the same time stating that the health of every community from the standpoint of common 'humanity should be given due consideration. INSPECTION OF STEAM VESSELS. At the afternoon session the 'com- mittee of fleet eng:neers submitted a report concerning the rules and regu- lations governing the 'inspection of steamers. This was one of the most valuable reports submitted to the as- sociation and is the result of a year's observation of the new rules formu- lated by the supervising inspectors of steam vessels. After the report had been read, F. B. Smith, fleet _engi- neer of the Pittsburg Steamship Co.,. said that it was common to have a