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6 MARINE REVIEW. oe CHICAGO LAKE INTERESTS. WESTERN OFFICE, MARINE REVIEW, t No. 210 So. Water Street, CHICAGO, DIL., Dec. 3. Chicago will be well represented at the waterways’ convention at De- troit. The sentiment here is strongly in favor of the convention and its abjects. The gathering ought to have been held in Chicago, but for many reasons that was impracticable. Detroit was certainly the next best place for it. The marine has been full of surprises the latter half of the season. Less than a month ago Chicago tug men were worrying over the winter fleet and where it was to be put. They estimated a fleet of 15,000,000 . bushels capacity, and it did not seem that their estimates were far out ofthe way. Now it is found that not half as many boats will winter here as was predicted. In fact the winter fleet will be the smallest in years. The ma- rine men who have not troubled themselves about the morrow, but have made most of the present, are the gainers this season. -Sometimes they come out behind. Carr’s marine news burean closes the season next Saturday. It began with four Chicago dailies—Tribune, Inter Ocean, Herald and Evening Post. It ends with eight dailies, five morning and three evening papers, all the journals that pretend to print the news. Since September addi- tional help had to be secured in order to get up a creditable report. In every way the season’s business of the bureau has been, satisfactory, and all the papers taking its service will continue next year. No Iron Plant for Milwaukee. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. MILWAUKEE, Wis., Dec. 3.—Simultaneously with the announcement that W. H. Wolf had retired from business and that the two local ship- yards had been placed under one management, it was given out that the establishment of a steel shipbuilding plant was an important object the new corporation had in view. This report, it is now claimed in certain quarters, emanated from talk ascribed to Com. Wolf while engaged in picking up some small blocks of outside stock before closing his deal. Indications, howeyer, render it extremely doubtful whether such a scheme - has for a single moment been seriously contemplated by the present management. They may put things in shape for the repair of damage sustained by steel vessels, which will require but little machinery additional to what they now possess, but that they have no intention of putting in a plant for building steel vessels and entering into competition with the mammoth plants already in existence at other points, the plans already matured and about to be carried into effect afford convincing proof. Chief among these plans is the abandonment of that portion of the south yard south of Washington street, where the large steamers R. P, Flower, W. H. Wolf, Thomas Davidson, Fred Pabst and Ferdinand Schlesinger were built, and the location of the building plant north of Washington street, on the south side of the slip occupied by the sectional docks, after the structures which now occupy the ground have been removed. This slip is about 300 feet long, and can be lengthened 50 or 75 feet whenever it may be deemed necessary. The property south of Wash- ington street, which it is proposed to vacate, is between 4oo and 450 feet long and about 150 feet wide, and may be leased by the Northwestern Fuel Company,which is seeking to extend its facilities for handling coal at that point. Then again it has been proposed to do away with the sectional docks at the west yard and lease or sell the lot fronting on the Holton canal and extending from canal street to he main river. Thomas David- son, however, is opposed to this scheme and may carry his point. Should it be carried into effect no building whatever, except of very small craft, could in future be done at the west yard, while at the south yard there will be room for the construction of only one large vessel ata time. Thus it will be seen that the present dry dock company has not the remotest idea at present of entering into competition with yards located elsewhere on the lakes for the construcfton of modern steel vessels. ‘To tell the truth, Milwaukee will never become an important shipbuilding point. There was a time when she could have been placed in the front rank in that direction, but the conservative coarse of Com. Wolf, taken in con- nection with a marked determination to enforce his own peculiar ideas upon those who wished to have vessels built, operated as a set back from which recovery is now almost impossible. But Com. Wolf was not alone in his conservatism. It extended also to the old Milwaukee Shipyard Company, and for years past neither establishment has taken kindly to outside building contracts because of fear of strikes and other adverse influences. In fact, Milwaukee lost the only opportunity ever presented to her for the possession of a steel shipbuilding plant when the Globe Iron Works Company decided to locate its branch establishment at South Chicago. Jones island, at Milwaukee, undoubtedly would have served the purpose of the Globe Company far better, and from hints occasionally thrown out the Globe people, or a cousiderable portion of them at least, are now of that opinion. However, they are a fixture at South Chicago, and Milwaukee will have to remain out in the wet for a long time unless, perchance, in the dim and distant future, outside parties with more money ‘land, ©.,’" on an envelope, write your address ona slip paper, enclose a dollar bill, and mail it for six month’s : ee than they know what to do with shonld see fit to locate a plant here. That local capital will ever enter into such a scheme is seemingly out of the question. : A good one is being told here at the expense of the captain of a large steamer of the Milwaukee fleet—a man reputed for breeziness of a de- cidely refreshing nature. Thanksgiving day, when along the north shore of Lake Superior the mercury was racing madly in the direction of the thirty degrees below zero mark, he wired the managing owner from Buffalo: “Will be unloaded Friday. Can get 12 cents on wheat from Port Arthur. You make the charter and I will make the trip, sure.” The managing owner, who is accredited with great shrewdness, swallowed the bait and expressed the most profound regret that the golden opportunity could not .be grasped because the steamer lacked proper ironing for an encounter with ice. Of course the captain knew that the trip could not be undertaken for this very reason, but no doubt reasoned that the opportunity to make himself solid for another season’s engagement must not be lost because of so slight a drawback. The Wadena on the Atlantic. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. OGDENSBURG, N.Y., Dec. 3.—The steel steam yacht Wadena was hauled out on the Ogdensburg marine railway here and was pontooned by Geo. Hall & Co. The pontoons, 40 by 14 feet made of pine, were placed under her stern, and the yacht’s draft was changed from 7 feet forward and 10 feet ginches aft to 7 feet 6inches and 8 feet respectively. She left here Sunday and ran the Galoup rapids Monday. This was a test for the pontoons but they never budged. Vice-president Wallace of the Cleveland Ship Building Company and Capt James Lowe, who took com- mand of the yacht here in place of Sereno Dayton, said that it was a most exciting experience. After the pontooned Wadena had passed through twenty-seven locks she reached Lachine basin and the pontoons were re- leased. From there to Quebec Engineer Smith made a nice run, turning up 15 miles an hour with 100 pounds of steam and arriving there Saturday. She left Monday for Boston wilh James Lowe as master and Bernier as pilot. It is expected that she will reach Boston next Monday. Within twenty-four hours after Mr. Wallace arrived forty men were at work on pontoons, ‘New Canadian Boats. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW.) KINGSTON, Ont., Dec. 3.—During the winter Capt. Noonan will build a new steamer for the route between here and Ottowa to cost $15,000. The Calvin Company will also build a vessel during the winter. She will carry about 30,000 bushels. The steamer North King, built last winter to ply between Charlotte and Port Hope, will be docked here and have her false sides removed and replaced by sides of a different pattern. Her speed will be increased. The new range lights for the harbor will be placed in position early in the spring. The steambarge Ceylon struck a rock near the Sisters, but, although leaking badly, she succeeded in reaching Clayton. The E. H. Rutherford; while in the narrows, above Brighton, went aground in al- lowing another boat to pass. She had to jettison 1,500 bushels of barley before she floated off. The Bullock which went ashore near Collinsby, ~ was hauled off without sustaining any damage. ; While the forwarders have had a busy season, some owners here have ‘not. The Calvin Company put some of their timber vessels into the grain “trade, expecting to be able to make up for the poor season in timber, but they had hard luck and their anticipations were far fromrealized. The D. D. Calvin and tow, however, secured a load at Port Arthur for Buffalo last week. Official Numbers and Tonnage. The bureau of navigation, W. W. Bates commissioner, assigned offi- cial numbers to the following lake vessels during the week. ending Nov. 21: Steam—Major Dana, Grand Haven, 52.57 tons gross, 26.29 net, No. 92,385. Unrigged—117, Buffalo, 1,310.82 tons gross. 1,265 92. net, No. 53,271. Barge, 118, Buffalo, 1,310.82 tons gross, 1,265.92 tons net, No. 53,272. The Providence and Stonington Line, Long island sound steamboat company, proposes an innovation in the introduction of steel screw propellers on the sound where sidewheel steamers have so long held sway. ‘The first of two propellers building _for the company was launched by the Harlan and Hollingsworth Company at Wilmington, Del., a few days ago. ‘The boats are 300 feet long and will have inverted, direct acting, surface con- densing, triple expansion engines with four cylinders 28;'45,51- and 51 inches diameter by 42 inch stroke. The propeller is of cast iron, left-handed, four bladed and 13'4 feet in diameter. _ Write ‘‘MARINE REVIEW, 510 Perry-Payne Bldg.,\Cleve- scription to the only illustrated marine paper on the /