SHIPPING ON THE GREAT LAKES. 



701 



65,000 of flaxseed. During the first twenty-four 

 if the season one third as much grain was 

 shipped from Chicago as was exported from New 

 York in the twelve months of 1889. Only a 

 fall in rates prevented the moving of a 

 till greater quantity. The total for the season 

 of 1800 was slightly less than that of 1889, 

 hit-fly owing to short crops in the great West- 

 ern grain belt. The mammoth proportions of 

 tin- carrying trade for 1889 and 1890 are shown 

 by a comparison with the figures between 1886 

 niid iss<. The year 1886 was the thirtieth in tin; 

 history of the iron-ore industry of the Lake Su- 

 perior' district. Over 8,500,000 tons were then 

 brought to the furnaces from the ports of that 

 lake. The quantity shipped in 1887 was over 

 4.(M (0,000 tons; in 1888, over 5,000,000 tons; in 

 1890, 6,000,000 tons: and in 1891, 6,500,000 tons. 

 In the season of 1888 100,000,000 bushels of 

 grain were shipped eastward from the upper 

 lakes. During two hundred and thirty-four 

 days of navigation in 1889 tonnage was 

 passed through Detroit river to the amount 

 of 10,000,000 tons, which was more than 

 the entries and clearances of all the seaports of 

 the United States, and 3,000,000 tons more than 

 the combined coastwise shipping of Liverpool 

 and London. In 1890 the net capacity of the 

 vessels employed on all the Great Lakes was 826,- 

 860 tons, against 634,652 in 1886: and their 

 value, $58,128,500, against $30.597,450. 



Cleveland is the greatest ship-building place 

 on (lie lakes; Bay City and West Bay City come 

 next, and then follow, in the order given, De- 

 troit and its suburbs, Buffalo, Chicago. Mil- 

 waukee, Marine City, and the ports of Gibral- 

 tar and Trenton on St. Clair river. At the sev- 

 eral ports on the lakes iron and steel steamers 

 for the freight traffic were built as follow: 

 In Cleveland, 1887, 4; 1888,8; 1889,11; 1890, 

 14. In Chicago, 1890, 2. In West Bay City, 

 1890, 5. In Buffalo, 1882, 1; 1883, 3; 1884. 1; 

 1885, 1 ; 1886. 1 ; 1887, 1 ; 1888, 1 ; 1889, 2 ; 1890, 

 4. In Toledo, 1890, 3. In Milwaukee, 1890, 2. 

 In Detroit. 1884, 2; 1885, 1; 1886, 1; 1887, 1 ; 

 1888, 1 ; 1889, 1; 1890, 2. In Duluth, 1889, 3; 

 1890, 5. Thus a total of 35 steel and iron vessels 

 was built upon the lakes during the season of 

 1890. This work is continued through the win- 

 ter months, and the output for 1891 was still 

 greater. All the vessels averaged a tonnage of 

 considerably over 2,000. Their average length 

 v;i* nearly 300 feet. A type of freight carrier 

 known as the " whale-back is built exclusively 

 at Dtiluth. It is claimed for this model that it 

 will carry larger loads with less expenditure of 

 fuel, and in a shorter time, than any other. The 

 performances of the "Colgate Hoyt," of this 

 type, seem to warrant the claim. One of the 

 whale-backs made a successful voyage to Liver- 

 pool with a cargo of grain in the summer of 1891. 



In the season of 1891, from April 27 to Dec. 7, 

 10,191 vessels, steam and sail, were locked 

 through from Lake Superior a number slightly 

 smaller than that for 1890. In 1891 less iron 

 ore and grain other than wheat passed through 

 the St. Mary's Falls Canal ; but of wheat tin-re was 

 an excess of 22,599,200 bushels over 1890. This 

 means that about 7 per cent, of the wheat crop 

 of the entire country passed through the canal ; 

 and there were also returned through it to West- 



ern consumers by Eastern shippers nearly 800,- 

 000.000 tons of merchandise. 



With the increase of size and carrying capa- 

 city in lake vessels there has come also an increase 

 in speed. Five years ago there was not a 12- 

 mile-an-hour freight boat on the lakes; now 

 there are dozens. Many of the new steel steam- 

 ers can make 15 miles an hour, and some of 

 them will make a round trip from Cleveland to 

 Ksrnnaba or Marquette at a rate little under 14 

 miles. The record for speed is held by the 

 steamships " Tioga " and " Owego." The " Owe- 

 go " has made the round trip from Buffalo to 

 Chicago at the rate of 15 miles an hour, run- 

 ning light going up, and bringing down 85,000 

 bushels of corn. All the lake ports are so con- 

 nected by telegraph service that up and down 

 cargoes are easily arranged long before the ar- 

 rival of the vessels at their destination. 



The importance of the St. Mary's Falls Canal 

 is well known to all familiar with the traffic on 

 the lakes. There passed through this canal in the 

 season ending Dec. 8, 1890. a grand total of 

 9,041,000 tons, against 7,500,000 in 1889. The 

 canal was operated two hundred and twenty- 

 eight days, six fewer than in the year 

 before. The number of vessels increased 10 

 per cent. ; lockage, 6 ; freight tonnage, 20 ; 

 coal, 34: flour, 45 ; manufactured and pig iron, 

 102; salt, 6; copper, 81; iron ore, 15; and 

 lumber, 3 per cent. In 1881 1,500,000 tons 

 passed through the canal, and in nine years the 

 increase was 480 per cent. 



The latest records show that small craft are 

 fast disappearing from the lakes and large ves- 

 sels are taking their places. The total cost of 

 carrying freight for the year ending in June, 

 1890, was $8.600,000. The value of the craft 

 engaged in this traffic was $25,500,000. Cana- 

 dian vessels carried 4 per cent, of the tonnage, 

 against 6 per cent, in 1889. 



The statistics for 1891 showed that the lake 

 fleet numbered 3,600 vessels, while the number 

 of vessels engaged in the foreign trade of the 

 Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts together was 

 only 1,579, and the average size of lake vessels was 

 considerably greater than of the ocean traders. 

 Reckoning ocean coasters with the foreign trad- 

 ers, it was found that the lake fleet was equal 

 to more than one third of the whole salt-water 

 fleet, its tonnage being 1,154,870 against 8,221,- 

 541 tons of the ocean fleet. The lake tonnage 

 was nearly double what it was ten years ago. 

 while during that time the increase in the At- 

 lantic and Gulf coasting fleet had hardly made 

 up for the loss of foreign business. In 1892 the 

 shipment of ores from the upper lakes exceeded 

 that of any previous year. The average profit 

 on the $50,000,000 invested in lake vessels was 

 between 9 and 10 per cent. 



The average size of a seaboard sailing vessel 

 is 128 tons, while the lake sailing vessel has of 

 an average of 258 tons. The ocean steamer 

 averages 299 tons, the lake steamer 428 tons. 

 The lakes have 272 steamers measuring over 

 1,000 tons, while the whole merchant marine of 

 the coasts and the Western rivers has only 207 

 of that si/e. To make a still more familiar com- 

 parison, the lakes carried about three fifths ns 

 much freight per mile in 1891 as ten trunk-line 

 railroads carried. 



