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VOL. XAXAILT. COMMERCE OF THE GREAT LAKES. The department of commerce and 'labor has issued a statement of the traffic' of the Detroit river during 1905. It is unfortunate that the figures cannot be regarded as absolutely accurate owing to the imperfect system of gather- ing them--that is to say there is no congressional enactment or specific appropriation for compiling the statistics and the work is therefore, not done with the same thoroughness that mandatory work is performed. Fortunately, however, there is an accurate gauge of a considerable portion of Detroit river commerce and that is the eommerce which passes through Sault Ste. Marie canals. This is measured to the pound and is but a part of the commerce of Detroit river. The total commerce of Detroit river is given by the de- partment of commerce and labor as 53,639,086 tons tabulated as follows: : South. North. Total. tl Months. Net tons. Net tons. Net tons. Ppt 4) 15575,977 792,711 2,368,588 Maye a esas 4,551,972 1,352,524 5,904,496 TURE ee 5,523,021 1,780,541 7,303,562 Jy) oe 5,911,625 1,041,534 7,853,159 AUGuSt (25. 6,300,003 2,314,810 8,614,813 September 72030 4,597,040 1,493,059 6,090,699 October ifr 5,582,089 - 1,522,905 7,105,504 November 05 v2.4. .e: 4,593,752 1,578,375 G172,127 December. .5 bce. 1,354,500 871,542 2,226,048 TPotabe yes ee 30,991,085 13,648,001 53,039,086 The southbound movement will be seen to be nearly three times as great as that in the opposite direction. This is largely due to the enormous eastbound tonnage of iron ore from upper lake ports to ports along the southern shore of Lake Erie, notably Cleveland, Fairport, Ashtabula, Erie and Buffalo, whence it is largely shipped by rail to the great iron and steel districts of southwestern Pénnsylvania. Were it not for this enormous traffic the through westbound ship- ments of coal, largely from the same Lake Erie ports, would make the total northbound freight movements through the Detroit river far in excess of those southbound. Of the freight carried in a southerly direction through this river during the past season of lake navigation, 1,090,997 tons were flour; 3,176,928 tons grain and flaxseed; 32,900, 685 tons ore and minerals (exclusive of coal, of which there was no southbound movement) ; 1,851,324 tons lumber, and 971,151: tons unclassified freight. Of the northbound movement, 11,928,158 tons were coal; 6,178 tons grain and flaxseed; 415,533 tons ore and minerals ; 11,940 tons, lumber, and 1,286,192 tons, unclassified freight. During the lake season of 1905 the difference between the amount of freight carried, respectively, through the Detroit river and the Sault canals amounted to 9,368,406, tons in favor of the former route, and this total may be said to rep- resent, with at least a fair degree of accuracy, the traffic through the straits of Mackinac, as what might be termed the local trade between Lake Superior or Lake Huron and CLEVELAND, M ARCH 22. 190e. NO... 2. _Lake Michigan is comparatively small. The traffic through the Straits of Mackinac consists largely of shipments of grain and flour from Chicago and iron ore from Escanaba, while the westbound cargoes consist largely of coal and package freight. ; The freight traffic through the canals at Sault Ste. Marie and Ontario during the past ten vears has been as follows: South. North. Total. Season. Net tons. Net tons. Net tons. , T8900 EPC EP oe 16,239,061 LOOP Oe ee 18,982,755 1808. kane, as ee pa 21,234,664 1900 55 oe 20,619,534 4,036,276 25,255,810 TQ00 fe 20,532,493 5,110,580 25,643,075 TOO ti ee ae, 23,087,742 5,315,323 28,403,065 1902 OUR ee, 30,275,980 5,085,157. 35,961,146 TOD3 3 eee 26,032,238 7,742,199 34,674,437 1004 fo Gt 24,213,902 7,332,204 . 31,546,106 TOO oe ee 36,778,738 7,491,042 44,270,680 During 1905 the total freight movement through the United States canal at Sault Ste. Marie amounted to 38,802,190 tons while that through the Canadian canal totaled 5,468,490 tons. ; In the following table, which presents the volume of water-borne traffic between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, by way of the Welland canal, built by the Canadian govern- ment, and which runs parallel with the Niagara river, figures representing freight movements for the canal seasons of 1904 and 1905 are not available. Down. Up. Total. Season. Tons. Tons. Tons. 1804 ee, Sot 745,042 243,592 989,534 THOS: 00. eee 621,926 230,100 852,026 TOO Fe Pe 957,928 285,667 1,243,595 TOO cece eee ees 1,026,458 218,292 1,244,750 TRO yee 902,519 218,211 1,120,730 1200 So ee 622,104 157,514 769,618 000. fo. oe eae 579,312 109;245 - 688,557 LOOT ee ee 501,035 89,301 501,236 M02 567,286 78,811 646,097 1963. 2 es 715,595 263,212 979,807 NO BLAME PLACED. An interim report has just been presented to the Domin- ion Government, at Victoria, B. C., through Senator Wil- liam Templeton, by the Canadian Commissioners investigat- ing the steamer Valencia disaster, declaring the available evidence insufficient to justify a positive conclusion as to whether or not the calamity: was chargeable to the inade- quate lighting of Vancouver Island and coast. Basing their views upon expert testimony, the commissioners, Capts. Gandin and Newcoimbe, of the government service, and Cox, Lloyds British Columbia agent, urge the immediate estab- lishment of a number of important aids to navigation along the western and southern seaboard of Vancouver Island. Wm. Woodhouse, proprietor of the Woodhouse Chain Works, Trenton, N. J., died on Wednesday, Feb. 28. -