The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

vIn On ee ae pe offer be refused, that the land be at once condemned. Work has also been done to. enclose the lock pit. with a cofferdam, which is about 80 per cent completed and should be entirely fin- ished next spring. -A° 'contract is also in force for removing such earth from the site as can be removed without pumping. IMPROVEMENT MIDDLE NEEBISH. Regarding the improvements the Middle Neebish 'channel, dent Livingstone says: In the Middle Neebish channel the contract for deepening the channel from Mud Lake to Sailors encampment was completed June 29, 1908. The work of deepening the Middle Neebish channel btween Mud Lake and Hay Lake was advertised in four sections--flats at the foot of Hay Lake, Middle Neebish Rapids, Little Mud Lake, and Sailors Encampment' chan- nel, and contracts have been executed, but work in the restricted portions of the channel was not undertaken until the new West Nee- bish .channel was. practically ready to' be thrown open to navigation. Upon the opening of the West. Neebish. channel, the north half of the Middle Nebish channel at the dike was upon Presi- closed to navigation, being occupied by the dredging plant. The southerly half opposite the dike had previously been completed to a depth of 19.6 feet, and a series of six red float lights was placed on the northerly line of this available channel (the center line of the full" channel), vessels being required to hold *to the south side of the channel throughout this portion of the route. The contracts specify that the work shall 'be done in a certain number of good working days, and the approximate time for the completion of all contracts is figured to be in May or June, 1910, and the con- tractors are. all well ahead of their contract time. During the coming season operations at the dike will be confined to the northerly half of the channel, the southerly half being devoted to navigation as during the latter portion of the past season. In the south half of the chanel there is still a portion of the channel from a thousand. to fifteen hundred feet in length which'is not of the required depth on which work' will. be done after the 'completion of the north half of the channel. He discusses at sength the im- provements on Lake Superior, in- cluding Marquette' narbor, Portage Lake hdrbor of refuge, Duluth-Su- perior harbor, the Northern Pacific bridge, Fort William harbor and a harbor of refuge at Grand Marais. "<THE SITUATION AT CHICAGO. President decided views upon the somewhat complicated situation in Chicago. He declares himself universally in favor of the development of the outer harbor for commercial purposes, believing the Chicago river to be inadequate. In this view he takes issue with certain associations in Chicago as well as in- dividual vessel owners. He says: Attention was called in our annual report last year to the efforts that were being made by the Commercial Club of Chicago, acting in conjunction with the Park board of that city, to have the lake frontage from Grant Park to Jackson Park dedicated to park pur- poses, to the exclusion of its future use for harborage and commercial purposes, a plan which was authorized by the [Illinois state legislature on May 2, 1907. This plan was opposed by the mayor and city council of Chicago, the U. S. engineer and the associa- tion of commerce, an organization interested in the commercial development of the city, and their efforts have been directed toward hav- ing the lake-front. preserved for dockage facil- ities and to obtain an extension of the pres- ent breakwater .southward from the mouth of the Chicago river about five miles to the neighborhood of Jackson Park, at a distance of about 1,000 ft. from shore, leaving the large area inside the 'breakwater to be de- voted to 'commercial uses. Before the work Livingstone has TAE Marine REVIEW of filling in the lake front-can be commenced as desired by the advocates of the park devel- opment, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the secretary of war and the mayor, and others interested in the commercial develop- ment. of the port, have submitted to the secretary of war arguments in opposition to the granting of such permit. The inconven- ience' and inadequacy of the Chicago river has prevented its utilization by modern lake vessels and the development of the outer harbor for commercial purposes, and the im- provement of the river are both of great im- portance to navigation interests. Under the present conditions the largest boats on the great lakes 'cannot make free use of the Chi- cago fiver on account of its narrowness and crookedness and lake commerce that would otherwise go to Chicago will go to ports of edsier access rather than submit to the de- lays that hamper their movements, in addition to the heavy tug bills necessarily incurred by steamers trading to that point. During the season of 1908 the total num- ber of arrivals and clearances from the port of Chicago, as shown by custom house sta- tistics, were 11,196, as compared with 12,836 in the season of 1907. The tonnage of the above vessels was 14,291,640 tons, as compared with a total tonnage of 15,649,035 tons for a year ago, making a loss of 1,640 in the num- ber of arrivals and clearances and a loss of 1,357,395 tons in tonnage for the year 1908. President Livingstone also goes quite completely into a recital of the' various aids to navigation that have been established during the year. He also recounts the recommendations . of the lighthouse board. The board has recommended the establishment of a light vessel at the easterly end to the Southeast Shoal, North Manitou Island, at a cost of $50,000; the 'build- ing of a lightship at Lansing Shoal, Lake Michigan, at a cost of $250,000; the building of a lighthouse and a new? range. light * om the new west breakwater pier head at Lorain at a cost of $19,800; the establishment of additional lights at Huron at a cost. of $3,800; the establishment of a new light station at Buffalo to cost $43,200; the establishment of a light on? the north pier, Duluth harbor, at a cost of $4,000; the purchase of a site and erection of a double dwell- ing for the station keeper, Duluth range, at a cost of $10,000. AUXILIARY COMMITTEE OF CAPTAINS. There is also incorporated in Presi- dent Livingstone's report the recom- mendations of the Lake Carriers' As- sociation auxiliary committee on aids to navigation which held a meeting. in Cleveland on Jan. 4 and 5, 1909, which made an exhaustive canvass of the various aids which would be valuable to navigation. The aids rec- ommended by the committee were: Duluth--That we petition the U. S_ govern- ment to install a green light on the end of the North Pier at' the same height. as light- house on the South Pier. Superior--That a green light be installed on the end of the North Pier at Superior of the same character as that petitioned for at Du- luth. York Island--That an acetylene gas buoy be placed on York Island Shoal in the Apostle Group. Gull Island--That a lighthouse and _ fog whistle be established on Gull Island in the Apostle Group. Split Rock--That a lighthouse and fog whis- tle be established on Split Rock on the north shore of Lake Superior as soon as_ possible. _ Grand Marais--That a second order white light and fog whistle be established on Grand Marais, Minn. ' Blake Point--That an acetylene gas buoy be established at Blake Point at the east end of Isle Royale. Portage Entry--That the present main light be changed to a second order red flash light. That a fog whistle be placed on the end of the pier. ae Portage Canal--That a new straight chan- nel be cut from Portage Lake to abreast of Princess Point. That the river from abreast of Light No. 0 to abreast of light No. 1 be widened. ~-- Grand Island--That a gas buoy be placed at the S:.° W. Point of "Grand Island at: the intersection of the ranges with the turn to the eastward. Point Aux Pins--That a gas buoy be placed opposite Point Aux Pins on the American side. Loca Soo Piers--That a bell be placed on the up- per end of the South Pier at the Soo, to be rung in thick weather. oe Bayfield Rock Dredgings--Soo River--That a red light be placed on this pile of stone. _ West Neebish Channel--That center ranges ee established throughout West Neebish chan- nel. Point Aux Frenes--That a gas buoy be re- established at Point Aux Frenes. ie Sweet's Point--That an acetylene light be installed on the stone crib to replace present light. Present light has been out practically one-half the time during the past season. Pipe Island--That a red stake be placed on the N.. W. side of Pipe Island to show the limits of navigation. Garden Island Shoal--That an acetylene gas and bell buoy be placed on this shoal. : North Manitou S. E. Shoal--That a light ship and fog signal be established at this point. Big Point Sable--Michigan--That a fog sig- nal be stationed at this point. Port Huron--That a deep water channel be dredged on the American side at Port Huron. Stage Island--That'a set of three ranges be established down the West Channel by Stag Island, one range to enter the channel from the upper end and form a range with the third light to carry across to Mooretown. ; St. Clair Middle Ground--That an acetylene gas buoy be placed on the extreme ° westerly point of the middle ground at St. Clair, Mich. Somerville--That a post lantern light be placed on Somerville dock. Marine City--That an acetylene gas . buoy be placed on the shoal above Woodtick Island, to define the limits of navigation. i Russell Island--That the shoal above Rus- sell Island be dredged on a line with Locust Point and the east side of Russell Island. St. Clair Channel--That two additional gas buoys be placed on the west side of the down-bound channel at St. Clair Cut. One in the middle and one abreast of the lower light. ' ; Toledo--That the gas buoy on the west side of the Manhattan range be shifted to the east side of the channel. : Lake Erie Harbors--The committee endorses the recommendation of former committee rela- tive to harbor improvements. . Ashtabula--In addition to improvements al- ready asked for would request that the pro- posed change in the breakwater at the harbor entrance be proceeded with. Erie--That extensive dredging the full width of the piers be done at the entrance to. this harbor. x Buffalo--That the character of the light on the south end of the south breakwater be changed to a red flash. : That the South Harbor be dredged: out to the dock line. : That the gas buoy on the end of the ex- tension of the 'Stony Point breakwater be moved to the south to line up with the north side of the extension. That the shoals at the outer north en- trance be removed as soon as possible. : Watson's. Reef--That an acetylene gas buoy be placed on the east side of Watson's reef. Bois Blanc--Mackinac--That a siren fog whistle be established on the north side of Bois Blanc Island in connection 'with light at present there. Tin Shoals--Mackinac--That an acetylene gas buoy be established on shoal three 'miles east of Round Island known as Tin Shoals. Nine Mile Point--Mackinac--That a light and fog signal be established at Nine Mile Point 10% miles east of Cheboygan lighthouse, at the entrance to the Straits of Mackinac. Chebyogan Reef--That an acetylene gas buoy