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oo kX OR. IN EE GRAIN SITUATION AT DULUTH. Duluth, July 15.--Freights to Buffalo on grain are down to Ic. a bushel, and very dull and slow at that. There is ab- solutely no life to the market, and the line boats, which have brought rates to the present ebb, are taking all stuff offered. Some flax has been chartered this week and a little wheat. There are only about 1,100,000 bu. wheat in store at the head of the lakes, all grades, and of coarse grains there is but 230,000 bus., all varieties. Flax is in greater quantity, but most of what is here will not be moved in any event. Delays in unloading coal cargoes have been numerous, for there has not been room at docks for all the ships that have been arriving lately. With freights low as they are ship- owners cannot be blamed for complaining at poor dispatch in port. Crop reports from the American northwest and Canada con- tinue coming with unfailing regularity almost as rose colored as ever, and there are few pessimistic farmers in that region. © The plant is growing. finely, as all say who have been in the northwest, and specimens of wheat coming in are excellent. Of course the crop is late, but it has been coming along well, and while straw is very heavy the indications are for a large berry. Canadian reports are also good, but the lateness of the crop is worse there than on the American side, and some predict a loss by frost, providing there is the usual fall weather. In the meantime preparations to handle an immense tonnage of grain are under way by the roads, on both sides the line. ° Flax receipts at Duluth are only 700,coo bu. less than for the entire crop year of 1902-3, and only 400,000 bu. under a year ago to this date. Flax is coming here in considerable volume and the shortage will be well made up shortly. WITH THE LAKE SUPERIOR MINES. Duluth, July 13--At Stevenson mine, Mesabi range, the Drake & Stratton Co. is stripping with three shovels, the mining company is mining with three more and exploring the ore body with several churn drills. The mine has been very much bethered this spring for want of sufficient cars to handle its product, and has not shipped an average of more than 7,000 tons a day, but on Sunday last there were plenty of cars and the three shovels in ore double shift, loaded 560 cars, or 17,000 gross tons. This was the mine's best record, and shows the possibilities of an open pit property, even though not arranged to the best advantage for handling cars and loads. The stripping shovels are working a cut along the north side of the pit and when they are through there will be an exposed ore body 500 feet by 4,000, and of varying depths. It has been found that some ore exists to the south of the stripping and drills are now examining its quantity and quality. It is stated that there are about 600 more miners employed at Ironwood and its immediate vicinity than two weeks ago. The mines have all taken on additional men and have re- opened parts long idle. They are loading their stocks as fast as weather permits. Mining has been resumed at the old Richmond, A. Mait- land, lessee, located on the Cascade range, and it will be a shipper of a considerable quantity of ore this year. This produces a lean silicon bessemer useful for flux with low silicon ores. Other properties in the same region are to re- open later. At Volunteer the Northwestern road is putting down several tracks to stockpiles, and the mine will ship at least 50,000 tons from the 200,000-ton pile accumulated during the opera- tions of the Donora Mining Co. and later. It is not probable that the mine itself will be reopened this year. At Breen mine, near Waucedah, Menominee range, active exploration will be undertaken soon. This property is in the R bove Al Ee OW hands of members of the Pewabic Mining Co. Diamond drills will be employed to test the formation. Bristol mine, Menominee range, has let out a number of its men and has almost wholly suspended mining operations. While it is idle the shaft will be sunk another level in the hope of getting into better ore. On the other hand Florence mine, that has been idle, has resumed with a full force. AROUND THE GREAT LAKES. The maiden cargo of coal of the steamer Sahara was 8,906 tons, 200 lbs. The maiden cargo of ore was 8,140 tons. A brief strike occurred on the Duluth, Mesabi & Northern docks this week, but it was settled by giving the men an ad- vance of 10 cents per day. The passenger steamer Island Belle was caught in a furious gale on the St. Lawrence river this week and the hurricane deck was lifted off its supports. No one was injured. The ice crusher Ste. Marie is undergoing extensive repairs at the yard of the Detroit Ship Building Co. She was con- siderably battered in her encounter with the ice last winter. The M. Rabbitt & Sons Co., Toledo, has chartered the tug Hallister of the Sullivan Line for an indefinite period. The company will use the tug on the St. Clair Flat ship canal. Andrew McGilvray, chief engineer of the Steel Corporation steamer W. J. Gilbert was killed last week by the blowing out of a cylinder head of the engine on the towing machine Car- ington. He was forty-five years old. The steamer S. C. Baldwin, sunk by ice last fall near Long Tail Point, Green Bay, is being repaired at Sturgeon Bay. She is to be converted into a tow barge and with a new keel and some planking will make a first-class carrier. The Western Transit Co. has given contract to the Lake Erie 'Dredging Co. to: deepen Coit's slip at Buffalo. The plans call for a channel 22 ft. deep and when completed the project will be a great benefit to Buffalo shipping. It is likely that the insurance companies having the cargo insurance of the steamer F. H. Prince, which struck a sub- merged pier and filled with water at Cleveland some weeks ago, will have a heavy loss. She carried a cargo of rubber goods not more than 15 per cent of which it is estimated is saved. q The lighter Rescue, building for the Great Lakes. Towing Co., was launched last week from the Lorain yard of the American Ship Building Co. She possesses certain novelties in construction and is expected to prove a most successful wrecker. She is so designed as to work in the open lake in rough weather, while the Newman is primarily intended for river service. H. H. Heiner, vice president of the St. Paul & Western Coal Co., announces the acquisition by that company of docks at Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wis., which will give it facilities for handling and shipping a large tonnage of Sunday Creek Flocking coal. The company now has, including its docks at Superior and Duluth, an annual storage and shipping capacity of 2,000,000 tons of bituminous coal. Capt. Knowlton and Chief Officer Milne, accompanied by a crew of ten men, are now on their way to England from Toronto to bring back the government steamer Canada, re- cently launched at the ship yard of the Vickers & Maxim com pany at Barrow-in-Furness. The Canada will be used for the protection of Canadian fishing grounds on Lake Erie from the invasion of American fishing boats. Robert Dollar, head of the,Dollar Steamship Co. of San Francisco, Cal., has let a contract in England for the construc: tion of a 7,000-ton freight steamer, to be used in the trade be tween San Francisco and the Orient. The new vessel will be about 400 ft. long, beam 52 ft. and depth 26 ft. It will be ready for launching in about seven months.