698 



SHIPPING ON THE GREAT LAKES. 



23 iron and steel vessels, with a tonnage of 38,- 

 602 tons ; and, on the Atlantic coast, 41,776 tons. 

 The documented iron tonnage on the lakes was 

 29,327 tons, and on the sea coast 494,004 tons. 

 The tonnage on the Northern lakes/ June 30, 

 1890, was 1,063,064 tons ; on the Western rivers, 

 204,446 tons ; on the Pacific coast, 428,392 tons ; 

 and on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 2,638,595 

 tons. La Salle appeared on Lake Huron in 1679 

 with the " Griffin," but it went down, and for a 

 century nothing but canoes and bateaux were 

 seen on any Northern lake. In 1783 the " Glad- 

 win," a brig of 80 tons, was plying between De- 

 troit and Mackinac. Sometimes it was in the 

 service of the Government, and again it was deal- 

 ing in furs and supplies for the trappers in the 

 wilderness. It was lost on Lake Erie. Eli 

 Granger, in 1798, three miles below Rochester, 

 built the " Jemima,"* a vessel of 30 tons, which 

 was the first American ship built on Lake On- 

 tario. The first American vessel built on Lake 

 Erie was the " Washington," near Erie, Pa., in 

 1797. Others followed, but the demand for them 

 was not great, and ship-building as an industry 

 was hardly a recognized interest. During the 

 War of 1812 many of the vessels on the lakes 

 were purchased by the Government, and some 

 of them were used by Commodore Perry in his 

 fight on Lake Erie. The first steamboat on the 

 lakes was the " Ontario," which was made after 

 the pattern of the " Sea- Horse," then running 

 on Long Island Sound. The " Ontario " was 

 launched in 1817. It was 110 feet long and of 

 237 tons burden. The first Canadian steamer on 

 the lakes was the " Frontenac," of 500 tons. 

 The famed " Walk-in-the- Water " was built on 

 Niagara river, and put into service in 1818. 

 She was the first steamer to navigate Lakes Erie 

 and Michigan. Emigration to the Northwest 

 now filled the upgoing vessels, and the returning 

 vessels were freighted with furs. In 1827 the 

 schooner " Tiger took a cargo of 410 packs of 

 furs, valued at $62,000, from Detroit to Buffalo. 

 But the shipping interest languished, and from 

 1816 until 1836 only 41 vessels were built on the 

 lakes. The " Uncle Sam " touched at Chicago 

 in 1834, and thereafter during the season that 

 city was favored with one steamer a week. 



The slow development of commerce on the 

 Great Lakes was undoubtedly owing to the fact 

 that the water ways are open but seven months 

 in the year, and all efforts thus far to keep them 

 open through the winter months have failed. 

 Nearly all natural obstructions, like falls and 

 rapids, have been overcome, and other improve- 

 ments are now in progress, notably the increased 

 lockage at the canal around St. Mary's Falls. 

 The development of lake transportation has, as 

 a rule, followed the development of railroad 

 lines ; for, with the except ion of the ores of iron 

 and copper on Lake Superior, no loads were at 

 hand on the upper lakes for return cargoes. The 

 building of railroads from the interior to the 

 upper lakes brought to the vessels wheat and 

 other articles that could be carried in bulk. 



Even with this advantage, the development of 

 traffic upon the lakes was slow until it was found 

 that coal might be sent from the lower ports to 

 the upper as a return cargo. With this discov- 

 ery, the real trade of the Great Lakes took a sud- 

 den start, and it has been developed to enormous 



proportions. The passenger traffic of the lakes 

 began soon after the opening of the Erie Canal, 

 in 1825, and continued until about 1855. The 

 closing days of the immense passenger traffic 

 saw the building of such great steamers as the 

 " Plymouth Rock," which ran between Buffalo 

 and Detroit, and the " Western Metropolis," 

 which ran between Cleveland and Buffalo. About 

 1850 it became evident that the commerce of the 

 lakes would be almost exclusively a freight com- 

 merce. The building of wooden sail vessels of 

 large capacity had scarcely begun. Down to 

 that date the 2-masted or" 3-masted schooners 

 had an average tonnage of about 400. From 

 1854 to 1857 3-masted schooners were built. 

 About 10 of them, averaging from 800 to 1,000 

 tons, formed a fleet that carried grain and lum- 

 ber from Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland to 

 Liverpool or London. Return cargoes of sun- 

 dries were taken. But the broad-bottomed boats, 

 with center boards, did" not prove equal to the 

 long voyages across the Atlantic. They were no 

 match for the deep keels of the salt-water ves- 

 sels, and they were soon withdrawn. 



Soon after 1850 there was built a type of screw 

 steamers known as propellers. They were long 

 in body, and strengthened by a beam on either 

 side known as the " hog-back." The bow was 

 high out of water, and the engine was in the 

 stern. But one mast was carried, which could 

 be rigged, on short notice, with a large mainsail 

 and jib. Boats of this kind had lines without 

 beauty, and they were able to make but about 

 10 miles an hour. This style of vessel was suc- 

 ceeded, two or three years later, by a stern- 

 wheeler of more graceful lines, with the same 

 general features as the original propeller, but 

 without the hog-back frames, which made the 

 old style of freight boats so unattractive. The 

 style without the hog-back began to be built 

 about 1860, and what few were built during the 

 civil war were after that pattern. After the war, 

 when the ocean tonnage of the United States had 

 become small, men. who had been connected with 

 it went to several points on the Great Lakes and 

 took an interest in their navigation. They had 

 a fair knowledge of naval construction, and also 

 of the methods and requirements of navigation, 

 and their presence and their knowledge had a de- 

 cided influence upon the commerce of the lakes. 

 Nearly all those who had built vessels upon the 

 lakes down to that time had adapted to the lakes 

 the naval architecture of the canals and the 

 Western rivers. The ungraceful lines of the old 

 propeller were pointed out by the new-comers, 

 and it was soon agreed that the salt-water type 

 of vessel was not only more beautiful but more . 

 desirable, built with those changes that would 

 allow a small draft, so that the lake vessels could 

 pass over the several shallow spots along the 

 great routes of trade. 



The builders of sailing vessels began to see 

 that steam would soon take the place of wind as 

 a motive power, but they kept bravely at work ; 

 and in the last days of their prosperity, just be- 

 fore the civil war, they turned out some remark- 

 able specimens, both in beauty and in sailing 

 power. They still used wood for the hulls, as 

 also did the builders of steam vessels, long after 

 it had been discarded on salt water. Even the 

 makers of engines for the freight boats were a 



