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22 BUFFALO'S GRAIN FLEET. Buffalo, Dec. 22.--By far the big- gest winter storage fleet ever seen in Buffalo or anywhere else is now all laid up at the breakwater in the outer harbor, except that a few of the smaller cargoes managed to find room inside. This fleet is composed of 54 vessels, all steamers but one or two and they carry 15,520,500 bushels of grain and flaxseed, of which 9,700,000 bushels is wheat, practically all of it high grade, 4,500,- 000 bushels is flaxseed, there is a trifle over 1,000,000 bushels of oats, of which the steamer J. J. Boland alone has 482,000 bushels, and there is a little barley and rye. Corn, being more perishable than other grains and not usually well dried at this time of the year, not being represent- ed in the list. Buffalo is very proud of this list of course and it may never see the like again, for it has never seen more than about two-thirds of the amount before, so that the exceptionally bad lake season has managed to wind up with a bang, at least so far as this bom i concerned. Capt. J. J. H. Brown, in speaking of this fleet, said that the grain is worth practi- cally a dollar a bushel and that the vessels carrying it are worth just about as much as the grain is, so he is quite willing that the world should know that this pore has $30,000,000 worth of property tied up here in this way and that it has the facilities for Pevding it and takiné care of it easily. These vessels are not all owned here, though Buffalo has been gaining very fast lately in its tonnage of large size and there are about a dozen in this fleet controlled here and in Tonawanda, one remarkable thing in connection being that every one of them is capable of carrying 400,000 bushels of wheat at a cargo. The reason why so much grain came down here late and has tied up afloat instead of being put into ele- -vators is that a dispute over freights kept everything at a standstill until _the very last moment, so that in the neighborhood of 20 of the cargoes arrived in a single day in December, and the fact that the vessels charge only % cent for storage, where the el- evators charge 2 cents, did the rest. ' But for late storms and other com- plications at the other end of the route there would have been con- siderable more December grain brought in. . The harbor elevators are having an easy time of it, in fact rather too easy in some regards, for outside of the THE MarRINE REVIEW steel houses, they hardly got what winter storage they wanted, and the elevation was practically completed last week, the showing being about 7,000,000 bu. in elevator, some of which will be shipped out very soon. Grain sells pretty slowly and for this reason it is felt to be a good thing to have it here where it is costing the catrier but little and yet where it can be moved fast if trade should stiffen up during the winter. The array of 400 and 500-ft. steam- ers headed up at the breakwater cre- ates, it must be admitted, something of a feeling of apprehension as well as of pride on the part of people who have any interest in vessel, grain or insurance, as exposure to storm is greater than it would be in elevator, | though the first risk is perhaps less. There has been one bad storm in the winter fleet here (Jan. 20, 1907), but this is the best that can be done with it until the Niagara ship canal is fin- ished, when a better laying up front- age ought to be afforded. It is a source of disappointment to the vessel owner that the corn traffic has almost all been absorbed by the railroads lately. But for the fact that corn freights by rail are now so low that this grain almost all oozes out before the lakes open in the spring, or the great cargoes are so damag- ing to the grain that it seldom comes by lake even then, the marine hand- ling of grain here would be as much again in a season as it is now. But with more than 100 cars by rail of corn being reported daily to our grain inspectors and perhaps more _ than that amount coming here that is not inspected, the lakes must depend upon flaxseed and other grain for most that they carry in that line. Buffalo is the great eastern malting center of the country, having con- verted usually about 10,000,000 bu. of barley annually in that trade lately, and yet it is found that there is only about 250,000 bu. of barley in the win- ter fleet, which means that the Buf- falo maltsters are pretty well provid- ed with elevators of their own and are moreover not a little afraid of the trade this year on account of prohibition agitation, so have not laid in the stock that they otherwise would have done. JoHN W. CHAMBERLIN. AROUND THE GREAT LAKES. The tug American Eagle was burned to the water's edge at Toledo on Monday morning, Dec. 21. Fire broke out while the tug was steam- 'ing down the river and spread with great rapidity... The crew were res- that they. cued with some difficulty by the steam- er Sheboygan, which happened to be there. The American Eagle operated for years as an ice breaker and mail boat between Sandusky, Put-in-Bay and the Islands. She was owned by the Great Lakes Towing Co. The Chandler-Dunbar Co. has ac- cepted the offer of $250,000 for the land needed for the government locks at the Sault. The Grace Harbor Lumber Co. has purchased the lumber carrying steam- er Toltec from the Marine Transit Co., Marine City, Mich., for $22,500. The recommendation of Major W. V. Judson for the re-establishment of the North Point light in Milwaukee harbor has been approved by the lighthouse board. Wm. C. Campbell, for 12 years con- nected with the Baltimore & Ohio dock office at Lorain, has been ap- pointed Lorain manager for the Great Lakes Towing Co. Capt. Murray G: McIntosh, of De- troit, will sail the steamer John. A. Barlum, now building at Lorain for the Postal Steamship Co. Clarence O'Connor will be her chief engineer. The office of the Canada Atlantic Transit Co.:and the Ontario Car Ferry Co., Ltd. have been removed from the Board of Trade building to the Cana- dian Express building, 95 Magill street, Montreal. The tug Essayons, built by the Ra- cine Boat Mfg. Co. for the govern- ment engineer. at Duluth, was sup- plied with Webb perfection galley ranges by Elisha Webb & Sons Co., Philadelphia, Pa. The Canadian steamer Collingwood, which cleared from Fort William Dec. 10, discharged ther cargo of 250,000 bu. of wheat at Midland. The steam- er was paid 5 cents a bushel, or $12,- 500, which was the 'highest rate ob- tained by any Canadian or American tonnage in tthe season of 1908. Lieut. Col. John Millis, government engineer at Cleveland, will hold a public hearing next Tuesday in the matter of establishing harbor lines from 'the foot of East Ninth street to Gordon Park. All interested are vited to attend and those desiring to do so are requested to present their views in writing. The national officers of the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association met in Cleveland this week to discuss the form of individual contract now be- ing entered into between the engi- neers and some of tthe vessel owners. The Pittsburg Steamship Co. has made individual contracts with its en- in-