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330 were no means of communication with the life saving station at Grand Ma- rais, ten miles away. The trip to Grand Marais was slow and tedious. Upon arriving there it was discovered that there were no telegraphic com- munications whatever and that the only telephone to Seney, 40 miles away, at which point the nearest telegraph office was located, was owned by the Manis- tique railroad. The Manistique railway runs one or two trains a day and shuts up shop at Seney when the last one is run, which apparently is about five o'clock in the afternoon. After that hour there is no possible way of getting information out of Grand Ma- rais until eight or nine o'clock the next morning. : The result was that the Zenith City was on the rocks about 17 hours before the home office received any word concerning her predicament. It is not necessary to emphasize the ex- treme danger of the situation. For- tunately there was no wind and the steamer suffered no damage from the sea; but had a northwest gale been prevailing she would have pounded to pieces before any help could reach fer. It would seem as though some sort of inter-communication should obtain between light-houses, life saving sta- tions and the outer world. The cost of installing such service would not be costly and it certainly would be an invaluable aid to navigation. Salving the Yucatan Editor Marine Review:--We notice in your July number an article entitled "Salving the Yucatan'. In this article you publish the bids for repairing this vessel and a comparison makes it ap- pear that our bid was extremely low and out of proportion to other bids. In the publishing of the bids it should have been stated that our bid had certain conditions attached to it which made it impossible to compare it with the other bids, as the other bidders bid on the specifications with- out reservation, and: we stated in our bid. that "we contemplated doing only that work which was traceable to the wrecking of the ship." It was well known that before the Yucatan was wrecked, a large amount THE Marine REVIEW of repair work had been decided upon as necessary in order that the ship would be in serviceable condition and pass inspection. The wording of the specifications was a little ambiguous and this repair work was apparently included with the other work. In or- der to avoid any misunderstanding we inserted the clause stated above. We have not as yet been awarded the contract for the repairing of the © Yucatan, and it is quite certain we August, 1910 will not be until it is definitely de- termined who is to pay for the extra work. We hope you will insert something in the next issue of THE Marine Re- view, which will correct the impres- sion which your article conveyed that our bid was so extremely out of pro- portion to the other bidders. Yours very truly, WILLAMETTE IRoN & STEEL Works. Portland, Ore., July 23. Upper Mississippi River Improvement Association HE ninth annual convention of the Upper Mississippi River Improve- ment Association was held at St. Paul, Minn., July 12-14. .The conven- tion, which was attended by engineers, merchants, bankers and others interest- ed, adopted a number of strong resolu- tions, the substance of which is as fol- lows: First--That the use of the Mississippi river for carriage of freight commen- surate with the future needs of produc- tion and exchange requires a_ 6-ft. channel from St. Paul to St. Louis; ample terminals, adequate facilities for handling freight and craft which will in- sure satisfactory freight service. Second--That it is the duty of muni- cipalities along the river to see that such terminals and landings are pro- vided. Third--That it is' the duty of Missis- sippi valley shippers to encourage the construction of modern craft and to use the river route, if possible, no mat- ter how small the cargo. Fourth--That five citizens be appoint- ed at each principal shipping point along the upper river to further the work of the association in its efforts to have the river improved for navigation. Fifth--That an educational campaign be inaugurated at once to include meet- ings at principal shipping points along the river and -a_ general propaganda through the press. Sixth--That the reservoir system of the upper Mississippi be indorsed and that reservoirs at the headwaters of all our rivers be advocated as a 'means of developing inland waterways. Seventh--That St. Paul's policy of local harbor improvement be commended and that in the construction of an en- larged harbor and' a new depot lie splendid opportunities for co-operation between water and rail to the advantage of the entire northwest. Particular stress was laid upon the necessity of constructing and operating river boats of suitable modern design to take care of traffic already existing and to commence now to enlarge this traffic. given to a resolution introduced by A. F. Perry, of Quincy, IIL, more attention be given to harbors and Considerable emphasis also was urging that port facilities -in .order that the 6-ft. channel, for which Congress has made provision, may be fully utilized. Thomas Wilkinson, of Burlington, Ta., was. unanimously re-elected president. Other officers were elected as follows: Treasurer, John P. Eckart, Guttenberg, Iowa; secretary, B. Boswell, Quincy, Ill. | Vice presidents: William: A. Meese, Moline; Missouri, John I. Martin, mt. Louis: lowa,.L.. A, Keokuk; Minnesota, J. CG. Armson, Stillwater; Wisconsin, Wm. A. Anderson, La Crosse. Lewis Illinois, Hammill, The next convention will be held at Alton, Ill. Between Minneapolis and St. Paul, instead of two dams, as_ originally planned, a high dam with a lift of 30 ft., provided with suitable locks, will be built. This will give a depth of 9 ft. to the Washington avenue bridge, Min- neapolis, and will provide 15,000 h. p. when the hydro-electric development at the dam is completed. Satisfactory progress was reported on the work on the dam and lock at the foot of Des Moines rapids, near Keo- kuk, Iowa. This dam will be 4,400 ft. long, 43 ft. wide at the bottom and 37 ft. high. The water power created will develop 200,000 h. p. a part of which will be immediately improved. A lock 95 ft. wide and 400 ft. long willbe built. . This is the largest engineer work of like nature now in progress within the borders of the 'United States. ia A ta