LIBRARY OF THE University of California. Keceived ^^HiMc/ ^^9^^ . Accession No. /^^ / / 3 ^ ■ C7ti5i A'a. f . ^ut, notwithstanding this widesiu'ead desire for information about the commerce on the lakes and its far-reaching importance to several of our great national industries, lake transportation has been well-nigh neglected, not only by writers on transportation, but by our Government as well; and this in the face of the fact that Congress is annually called upon to vote large sums of money to facilitate trafllic upon these waters. j^ot until the Eleventh Census was taken were full statistics gathered of the movement of commodities upon the whole lake system,' and since then (1889) nothing in the way of a comprehensive report has been made or even satisfactory data collected.^ This being the situa- tion, all hope of satisfactorily setting forth the development of lake commerce in all its aspects may as well at once be abandoned. In fact, the data are so meager and in part so unreliable that it is exceedingly difficult even to set forth the growth of the total movement on the lakes. As has already been stated, no statistics of the traftic moved on the whole lake system can be obtained i)revious to the year 1889. iJii 1852 a special report was submitted to Congress, entitled "Andrews' Report on Colonial and Lake Trade," but this report leaves much to be desired, and l>esides the period considered antedates that of this report. From this early date nothing com- prehensive was attempted until the Tenth Census was taken, and even then only commodities, carried in steam vessels were covered, and this portion of the subject was not fully treated. The liulk of this report was devoted to ship1)uilding and to the fleets and but little space given to the commerce moved. 2 See Appendix I for a critical examination of the data furnished by the Treasury and War Departments. Mr. C. H. Keep's report of 1891 will there be discussed. 2 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 3 YoY the later years we have nothing but the reports of the Chief of Engineers.^ In the earlier years, however, the commerce passing through the Detroit IJiver was very nearly equal to the total movement on the lakes, and thus jiretty accurately retiected the development of commerce on the whole system, and it is therefore a cause for sincere regret that we do not possess full statistics of the traftic moved through this channel.- Tn recent years business between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan ports has largely increased, with the result that the commerce through the Detroit River is not now so good an index of the whole movement on the lakes as formerly. The growth of com- merce on the Great Lakes, as retiected by the amount of traffic passing- through the Detroit River, is disclosed by the following figures, which, have for the most part been taken from the reports of Col. O. M. Poe, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. The statement covers the traffic passing both up and down the river: Commerce mored tlrrough the Detroit Bher.a 1883 1884 1885 Eegistered Freight tonnage. tonnage. 20, 285, 249 17, 572, 240 17,872,182 17. 695. 17-t 18, U4.5, 949 16. 777, 828 ] 8, 968,065 18, 864, -250 19, 099, 060 Registered tonnage. 1889 19, 646, 000 1891 22, 160, 000 24, 785, 000 1893 1894 26, 120. 000 1895 1896 i Freight tonnage. 19, 717, 860 21, 750. 913 28, 209, 619 26, 553, 819 23, 091, 899 24, 263, 868 /25, 845, 679 129,000,000 27, 900, 520 a See Appendix I for the sources of these figures. Assuming now that these figures are approximately correct and that they all vary to the same extent and in the same direction, we find that there has been a substantial increase in the traffic passing through the Detroit River. The traffic statistics show that there was a rapid in- crease from 1873 to 1880, but that during the decade ending with the year 1889 there was absolutely no growth. Inferences from these fig- ures, however, should be drawn very cautiously. I am forced to be- lieve that either the figures for 187."3 or those for 1880 are incorrect. I am of the opinion that the remarkable development of traffic from 1873 to 1880 did not take place. In discussing the points just raised I shall present what upon the whole must be regarded as the most satisfactory evidence we have of the growth of traffic upon the Great Lakes. It is the growth of the lake fleet. We have statistics of the tonnage of the lake fleet from the year 1868, and their accuracy can not be impugned. ' On one side changes in the volume of traffic would be reflected slowly by the size of the fleet. If traffic decreased the fleet would not at once decline, for 'Ttiese reports are based on the data collected by the custom-liouse officials. No attempt is made to give the commerce for the whole lake system— simply the total number of clearances, Avith the total registered tonnage. -This was true because there was very little local traffic on the lakes, and nearly the whole of the long-di.stance traffic passed through this channel. In 1889 the cargo tonnage carried through the river in American vessels was 19,717,860 tons, while the shipments from all American lake ports aggregated but 25,027,717 tons. (Eleventh Census, Transportation Business, Part II, pp. 27.5, 308.) 'That is, they are what they purport to be. All rigged craft, however, are classed with the sailing vessels, and consequently many vessels that are really barges are classed as sailing vessels. This is to be regretted. 4 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. the vshii)s would be in existence and could not be put to other uses or removed from the lakes. If, however, business fell ofi' for a few years in succession, the ton- nage of the fleet would surely be reduced. As the old ships became unseaworthy or as vessels were wrecked, new ones would not be built to take their places, and the tonnage would gradually decline, for ])eo- pie do not put money in a losing venture. An increase of traffic, unlike a decrease, is quickly reflected by accessions to the fleet. Years of heavy traffic are always prosperous years for the shipyards. It then appears that when the fleet is on the decline or stationary it may be inferred that there has been no growth of traffic, and that when the fleet is growing business is increasing. In order to present the variations in the tonnage of the fleet in such a way that the changes and the whole movement can be easily and clearl}- apprehended, the figures have been charted.' The relative amounts of sail, steam, and barge tonnage must be noted, for on the lakes a steamer is supposed to be able to do two and one-fourth times the work of a sail vessel of like tonnage.- The barges make as good time as the steamers that tow them, so the carrying x)Ower of the barge tonnage is also much greater than a like amount of sail tonnage. The efiective carrying power of all the vessels has been largely increased by the improved facilities that have been introduced for loading and unloading vessels. From the chart just mentioned, which may be found on the page opposite, it appears that from 18G8 to 1872 the lake fleet did not quite maintain its own, and then made rapid gains untd 1875, when the total tonnage stood at 587,234 tons. From this high point the tonnage steadily declined until 1879, when it stood at 552,002 tons. The next year the tonnage increased to 557,942 tons and during the two following years jumped to 048,815 tons and then increased slowly until 18S(), being but 090,359 tons in that year. At about this time the new era in lake transportation began ; the long stupor that had come over the lake car- riers was broken and lake transportation was transformed from an anti- quated to a modern industry. Since 1880 the tonnage on the lakes has almost doubled, large accessions having been made every year, the years 1894 and 1895 excepted.' The growth of and changes in the tonnage have now been pointed out, but the extent to which these alterations enlarged the carrying capacity of the lake fleet still remains to be shown. As has already been stated, it is generally held that a steamer can do two and one fourth times the work of a sailing vessel of like tonnage. It is obvious, then, that special importance attaches to the increase of this kind of tonnage, and by the introduction of more powerful engines the steamer itself became progressively a more efficient instrument. Improved facilities for fueling, unloading, and loading* vessels have also very greatly increased the carrying power of the whole fleet, to say nothing of the enlarged carrying power due to better locks aud the The figures may be found in Appendix I. 2 On the ocean it is generally held that a steamer can do three times the work of a sailing vessel of like tonnage. The greater superiority of the steamer over the jail- ing vessel on the ocean is due to the fact that ocean voyages are generally longer than lake voyages, and it is while at sea that the steamer gains on the sailing vessel. The sailing vessel is unloaded just about as rapidly as the steamer. 3 In examining the chart two facts should be kept in mind: (1) That the years given are the fiscal years, and therefore ended on the 30th of June of the calendar year; and (2) that vessels are built on contracts that freqiiently call for delivery at a distant day, and so building may continue for some time after a period of limited traffic has set in. G/?oss 5 - /O/^/VA 6E. ^ 3 r^ <7> CTj Oi O) ? 5 5 5^ 5 5 00 1^ J 1 \ - : -I 7 J J V ? z /. 200.000 __ , z_ _ ? ::^:: 7 I ^^^ It ,2 _ 4 ^ 1 . "^ ! ■^ y ^ /. ^ 1 1 > ^ - ^ • ^i!*^ 1^ z I'^^L - ,. . - '^ ' '' ' - -=-- --^ =■ ._ -= 1 1 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 5 lighting of dangerous channels so as to permit passage by night. Mr. A. B. Wolvin informs me that fifteen years ago 15 or 10 round trips were considered a very good season's work in the ore business between Lake Superior and Lake Erie ports, whereas 22 round trips are now considered notliing more than a fair season's work. I shall now show how the substitution of steam lor sails, aud other improvements, have enlarged the carrying capacity of the lake tleet. In the following esti- mates I have assumed that all the improvements other than the substi- tution of steam for sails have increased the efficiency of the steam tonnage by 75 per cent.^ It must be conceded that the estimates are conservative. In the subjoined table accouut has been taken of the greater carrying power of steamers and other improvements. Tear. Sail and barge, plus steam ton- nage, multi- plied by 3. 1 Sail and ' barge, plus Tear. steam ton- ' nage, multi- plied by 3. 742, 286 721,098 881,311 991, 848 982, 082 , 1885 1,351,516 1870 1889 ' 2,058,278 1890 2,301,335 1875 1895 2,912.855 1880 1897 1 3,326,592 This table shows that the working power of the fleet was less in 1870 than it was in 186S, but that it increased rapidly from the former date to 1875, but actually decreased from 1875 to 18S(f and increased rapidly from 1880 to 1885. ' From 1885 to 1890 the growth was phenomenal, the carrying power of the fleet being almost doubled in a period of live years. Since 1891) the capacity of the fleet has largely increased, in spite of several years of general business depression. Now let us return to the statement of the traffic through the Detroit Eiver. Can 9,000,000 tons for 1S73, and 20,235,249 tons'^ for 1880, and 19,717,860 tons for 1889 be considered as approximately correct? The chart opposite page 1 shows that from 1873 to 1880 there was prac- tically no increase in the floating equipment on the lakes, the ton- nage in 1873 being 520,811 tons and in 1880 but 557,942 tons. By the table above it will be seen that the effective carrying power of the fleet was increased by but 100,000 tons, steam having been substituted only to a limited extent for sails. ^Yith an increase of but 37,131 in the' gross tonnage afloat on the lakes, could more than twice the amount of traffic be moved in 1880 as was carried in 1873 .' Under certain cir- cumstances this feat would be possible. If the season of 1873 was an unusually dull one and a large portion of the fleet was tied up for a part or the whole of the season it would be possible, with no large accessions of tonnage, to carry twice the amount of freight in another season. But all the facts we have show that the year 1873 was more than a fairly good season. Eates, while not so high as during the preceding season, were nevertheless well maintained; the traffic through the St. Marys Falls Canal was large, shipments of flour and grain from Chicago and Milwaukee were heavy, and the receipts of these commodities at Buff'alo ' It seemed l>est to me to make the increase of steam tonuage the basis of the estimate, for the other improvements in a rough way went hand in hand with the increase of this tonnage. - It is to be noted that it has been accepted that the freight tonnage for 1880 Avas at least tMinal to the registered tonnage passing through this channel. This assumption is generally conceded to be entirely safe. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. O ligliting- of dangerous cluiiniels so as to permit passage by iiiglit. Mr. A. B. Wolviii iiiforius me that fifteen years ago 15 or 10 round trips were considered a very good season's work in the ore business between Lake Superior and Lake Erie ports, whereas 22 round trips are now considered nothing more tlian a fair season's work. I shall now show how the substitution of steam lor sails, and other improvements, have enlarged the carrying capacity of the lake fleet. In the following esti- mates I have assumed that all the improvements other than the substi- tution of steam for sails have increased the efficiency of the steam tonnage by 75 per cent.' It must be conceded that the estimates are conservative. In the subjoined table account has been taken of the greater carrying power of steamers and other improvements. Year. Sail and barge, pliis steam ton- nage, multi- plied by 3. Tear. Sail and barge, plus steam ton- nage, multi- plied by 3. 1868 742, 28« 721,098 881,311 991, 848 982, 032 1885 1, 351, 516 1889 2, 058, 278 1873 1890 2, 301, 335 1875 1895 2, 912, 855 3, 326, 592 This table shows that the working power of the fleet was less in 1870 than it was in 186S, but that it increased rapidly from the former date to 1875, but actually decreased from 1875 to 1880^ and increased rapidly from 1880 to 1885. From 1885 to 1890 the growth was phenomenal, the carrying power of the fleet being almost doubled in a period of five years. Since 1890 the capacity of the fleet has largely increased, in spite of several years of general business depression. Now let us return to the statement of the traffic through the Detroit Eiver. Can 9,000,000 tons for 1S7;5, and 20,235,249 tons^ for 1880, and 19,717,860 tons for 1889 be considered as approximately correct? The chart opposite page 1 shows that from 1873 to 1880 there was prac- tically no increase in the floating equipment on the lakes, the ton- nage ill 1873 being 520,811 tons and in 1880 but 557,912 tons. By the table above it will be seen that the effective carrying power of the fleet was increased by but 100,000 tons, steam having been substituted only to a limited extent for sails. With an increase of but 37,131 in the gross tonnage afloat on tlie lakes, could more than twice the amount of traffic be moved in 1880 as was carried in 1873 ? Under certain cir- cumstances this feat would be possible. If the season of 1873 was an unusually dull one and a large portion of the fleet was tied up for a part or the whole of the season it would be possible, with no large accessions of tonnage, to carry twice the amount of freight in another season. But all the facts we have show that the year 1873 was more than a fairly good season. Kates, while not so high as during the preceding season, were nevertheless well maintained; the traffic through the St. Marys Falls Canal was large, shipments of flour and grain from Chicago and Milwaukee were heavy, and the receipts of these commodities at Buffalo 'It seemed hest to me to make the increase of steam tonnage the basivS of the estimate, foi- the other improvements in a rough way went hand in hand with the increase of this tonnage. -It is to be noted that it has been accepted that the freight tonnage for 1880 was at least equal to the registered tonnage passing through this channel. This assumption is generally conceded to be entirely safe. 6 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. were fully up to the average. Eigliteeu hundred aud seventy-three was a panic year, to be sure; but business in general was good up to the time of the crash, which did not come until well along in the autumn. This, then, being the situation, it becomes difticult to understand how, if a fleet of 520,811 tons was kept busy, in 1873 in moving 9,000,000 tons of freight one of 557,942 tons could have succeeded in moving over 20,000,000 tons in 1880. A comparison of the statistics of the traffic through the Detroit Eiver for the decade ending in 1889 and the growth of the lake fleet during the same interval seems to discredit the traffic statistics. In 1880 the registered tonnage passing through the river was 20,235,219 tons and the tonnage of the lake fleet was 557,912 gross tons.^ During the succeeding ten years the registered tonnage never in any one year equaled this amount, and stood at 19,01(5,000 tons in 1889,- the year of largest traffic. The tonnage of the lake fleet, on the other hand, stead- ily increased from 557,942 gross tons in 1880 to 907, (iOl gross tons in 1889, and the effective carrying capacity grew from 982,032 tons to 2,058,278 tons, or much more than doubled. These diverse facts are difficult to harmoni/e. It can not be ottered in exj)lanation that only a small part of the traffic on the lakes found its way through the Detroit River in 1889, for the traffic of this river stood in about the same rela- tion to the total traffic on the lakes in 1889 as it did in 1880. Some change had taken place, but it was not great. Since 1889 the Detroit River has been progressively a poorer indication of the total traffic on the lakes, but still stands to-day as a pretty good index. What the growth of traffic upon the whole lake system has been since 1873 has now been shown in indirect ways. In conclusion, I shall pre- sent the scant facts we have showing directly the development of com- merce upon the whole system. It has already been stated that it was not until the Eleventh Census was taken that the total volume of goods moved on all kinds of vessels was ascertained. The total amount of shipments from American lake ports for the last census year (1889) was 25,027,717 net tons. The registered tonnage that cleared from all the collection districts on the chain of lakes for the year 1893 was 34,571,208 tons;' for the year 1894 37,565,229 tons, ^ for the year 1895 44,295,861 tons,-^ and for the year 1896 53,265,572 tons.'' As a rule the cargo tonnage is in excess of the registered tonnage." If it be assumed that the cargo tonnage was just eijual to the registered tonnage, there was a gain in the five-year period under consideration in the goods movement on the whole lake system of 12,537,512 tons and for the seven-year period a gain of 28,237,855 tons, which represents a ^To make this grand total every registered ton on the lakes would have to pass through the Detroit River 36.2 times, or a liftle oftener than once a week, for a season of eight months. -As given bv the census, the freight tonnage for 1889 was 19,717,860 tons. 3 Annual Report Chief of Engineers, 1894, p. 2378. ■•Ibid., 1895, p. 3068. •Ibid., 1896, pp. 2895,2896. Figures for 1894 and 1895 do not incliule Canadian tonnage; the report for the year 1893 leaves the point iu doubt. 'These iigures were kindly furnished by Lieut. Col. G. .7. Lydecker, the Govern- ment engineer in charge of the improvements of the' Detroit River. " In the case of the St. Marys Falls Canal the freight tonnage has been considerably in excess of the registered tonnage. Lieut. J. B. Cavanagh, in a report to Brig. Gen. William P. Craighill, Chief Engineer, says: "Since 18«5 the freight tonnage has exceeded the registered tonnage on an average by about 8 per cent." (House Doc. No. 110, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session.) The figures covering the commerce of the Detroit River also show that the cargo tonnage usually exceeds the registered tonnage. STATISTICS OF. LAKE COMMERCE. 7 gain for the shorter period of a tritie more than 50 per cent and for the longer period of 112.8 per cent. In 1889 all the railroads in the United States carried 019,105,030 tons of goods, and in 1894 074,714,747 tons, and in 1890 773,808,710 tons.' There was thus in live years a gain of 55,549,117 tons, a trifle more than 9 per cent, and in seven years a gain of 154,703,080 tons, or 24.9 per cent. The comparison, therefore, is very favorable to the lakes. As all the data have now been presented showing the growth of the total movement of commodities on the lakes, the development of traffic upon the great divisions of the lake system will be considered. Here again there is a great dearth ol" information, but the situation is not so bad as it was in the case just considered. The problem must, however, be approached in a roundabout way, for there are no data showing the growth of the total movement on any one of the cliief divisions of the lake system. The traffic on the lower lakes (Lakes Brie and Ontario) is pretty accurately reflected by the movement of goods through the Detroit River. This is true, because, as has already been said, the local business on the lakes is com[)aratively insignificant. The movement through the Detroit lliver much more accurately indicates the total traffic on the lower lakes than the commerce through the river reflects the aggregate business of the whole lake system, and for the simple rea- son that the local business is less in a small part than on the whole system. In 1889 there was a total goods movement througii the Detroit Kiver in American vessels of 19,717,800 tons, while the total commerce of Lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence liiver in American vessels was but 807,125 tons more, or 20,524,985 tons.- If, now, it be accepted that the grow^th of the traffic through the Detroit lliver may be regarded as a fair index of the development of commerce on the lower lakes, it is but necessary to refer to the table, on page 3, of the traffic passing through the river. Just as the Detroit Kiver furnished a statistical key to the traffic on the lower lakes, so the St. Marys Falls Canal supplies a key to the com- merce of the Lake Superior division of the lake system. In fact, it affords a better one, for all of the traffic going to and coming from Lake Superior must pass through the St. Marys Falls Canal,' while the lower lakes have two outlets. There is also less local business on the LakGi Superior division, and for this reason also the " Soo" is a, l)etter key than the Detroit River.^ As the commerce on Lake Superior has attained large i)roportions, the "Soo" occupies a very important position from a statistical point of view, and, fortunately, there are very full statistics of the traffic moved through it from the date of its opening in 1855.^ 1 Statistical Abstract, 1897, p. 335. ^ This amount is obtained by dividing by 2 the difference between the traffic moved through the Detroit Kiver and the sum of the receipts and shipments from all ports on Lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. In this operation all com- merce i)assing to or from the lower lakes through the Detroit River is regarded as loug-distiince traffic, and the remainder (local traffic) is divided by 2 because it appears twice — once as shipments and again as receipts. The result thus obtained is not to be regarded as absolutely correct, but it may be taken as a close approxi- mation. ■'This gateway is commonly knoA^n as the "Soo" — the abbreviation of the longer name of Sault Ste. Marie, adopted by the .Jesuit pioneers of tlie seventeenth century. 'During the year 1889 the local traffic on Lake Superior amounted to 3.51,997 net tons. This amount was ol)tain('d by dividing by 2 the difference b<'tween tiie sum of the shipments and receipts of Lake Superior ports and the tonnnge of tlie "Soo" canal. "See comments on these statistics in Appendix I, part, 1. STATISTICvS OF LAKE COMMERCE. The following table, taken from a re]iort of General Superintendent Wheeler,' shows the growth of trattic upon the Lake Superior division of the lake system : Commerce of ihe St. Marys Falls Canal. Tear, a Registered tonnage. tlZ^W Registered tonnage. Freight tonnage. 6 106, 296 101,458 180, 820 219,819 852, 642 403, 657 276. 639 3.59, 612 507, 434 571,438 409, 062 458, 530 556, 899 432. 563 524, 885 ' 1877 1, 439, 216 1,667.136 1,677,071 1,734,890 2, 092, 757 2, 468, 088 2, 042, 250 2,997,837 3, 035, 937 4, 219, 397 4, 897, 598 5, 130, 659 7, 221, 935 8, 454, 435 8, 400, 685 10,647,203 8, 949, 754 13, 1 10, 366 16, 806, 781 17, 249, 418 17,619,933 1856 1878 1857 1879 1881 1, 567, 741 2, 029, 521 18(51 1883 2, 267, 105 18.S4 2, 874, 557 3, 256, 628 1864 1886 4, 527, 759 1865 1887 5,494 649 1866 1888 6,411,423 1867 1889 7, 516, 022 9, 041, 213 8, 888, 759 1892 11,214,333 752. 101 014,735 1, 204, 446 1,070,857 1, 269, 534 1, 541, 676 10, 796, 572 1872 1873 1874 1894 1895 13, 195, 860 15 062 580 1896 16,239,061 1897 18, 982, 755 1876 nTho canal wa.s not opened until June 18, 1855. The traffic through the Canadian Canal, which was opened to comineri'e September 9, 189.5, is included in the above statement for 1895-97. 6 Xo record was kept of the cargo tonnage until June, 1881. The very rapid growth of the tonnage jiassing through the St. Marys Falls Canal is in striking contrast with the very slow increase of that passing through the Detroit IJiver. The growth of the traffic through the former gateway has also been much more uniform than that through the latter. Since the year 1880 bu.siness through the St. Marys Falls Canal has increased with surprising rapidity. This has been due for the most part to the astonishing development of the iron mines of the Lake Superior region during the last fifteen years. In 1880 but 077,073 net tons of iron ore were moved out of Lake Superior. Since 1884 the business has grown rapidly, and during the season of 1805 shipments slightly exceeded 8,000,000 net tons and constituted a little more than one-half of the total movement of freight through the canal. In 1896 the large business of the previous year was not realized, but the move- ment of iron ore during the season of 1807 surpassed all records, and amounted to 10,r);33,715 net tons. Lumber, grain. Hour, and coal are the other items which have made the largest contributions to the increased movement. There still remains of the lake system one division to be considered; it is formed by Lakes Michigan, Huron, and St. Clair. The growth of commerce on this group can not be set forth, even approximately. The traffic through the Detroit River conveys some idea of the develoi)ment of the business of this group, but not a very good one. This is the case because the local traffic ui)on Lake Michigan is too large to be ignored, and because there is now a large movement of iron ore and lumber from the ports of Lake Superior to those of Lake Michigan. Several striking facts concerning the character of lake transporta- tion are brought out by the traffic statistics. Probably the first to arrest attention is the celerity with which cargoes are loaded and ' Mr. Wheeler is the Government engineer in charge of the canal. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. y unloaded. Instead of losing days in receiving- and discharging cargoes, as was once the case, only hours are now lost. Perhaps this statement is not strong enough, for if averages could be obtained it would proba- bly be found that it does not now require .so many hours to load and unload as it did days some years ago. Vessels lose almost no time at the docks. It is almost literally true that they are constantly going or coming; that is, they are nearly all the time engaged in the work for which they were designed, namely, carrying goods. This great dis- patch is in a large measure gained by building vessels and docks adapted to each other. It must not, however, be understood that this development has reached its final phase, fur in the handling of certain commodities much yet remains to be accomplished. As the iron ore business has become concentrated in a few hands, with the result that the ore is now conveyed from its natural bed in the mines to the fur- nace by the same party, it would be expected that here would be found the most harmonious and complete development of machinery for the cheap and expeditious handling of freight, and such is the case. The docks have been so constructed that ore may be spouted into all the hatches of the ship at the same time, and just recently a dock has been completed equii>ped with such a large number of hoists as to permit ore to be raised from all of the hatches simultaneously of even the largest vessels.' Much i)rogress has also been made in the expeditious han- dling of other commodities, particularly coal.- Another change which has materially reduced the time vessels lose in i)ort is the new method of fueliisg. Instead of the vessel going to the docks to be coaled, at a great sacrifice of time, the fuel is now brought alongside the vessel on a scow or barge and put on board while the shi]) is being loaded or unloaded. The importance of these two changes can not easily be overestimated. They largely account for the fact that while fifteen or sixteen round trips from the head of Lake Superior to the foot of Lake Erie were regarded as a good season's average fifteen years ago, nothing short of twenty- two would now be considered as satisfactory in the iron ore traffic. Our interest does not center in the mechanical improvements that liave made this greater number of trips possible. It lies rather in the influ- ence the larger number of trips may have upoii the cost of transporta- tion and ultimately upon rates, and when these are taken up in detail the improvements that have increased by more than one-third the efl'ective carrying power of vessels will again be considered. Another striking fact of lake traflic is its extreme simplicity. It is in the main made up of but few commodities. The articles which constitute the great bulk — almost the whole — of the commerce moved are the crude products of the extractive industries. The mines, the forests, and the grain fields of the territory about the Great Lakes are the sources in which the mass of the traffic originates. During the last census year the three commodities — iron ore, lumber, and coal — contributed 75.73 per cent of the tonnage of the lakes, and grain and mill i^roducts contributed KLl") of the renuiining -J4.27 per cent, thus leaving but 8. 12, per cent undistributed.' During the navigation season of 1896 there passed through the St. 1 This dock is located at Coimeaut, aud is the property of the new mineral railroad, the Pittsburg, Besst-nier and Lake Erie. -Nothinfj; more on this point Avill be said at this time, for as each of the leading commodities that go to make up lake commerce is studied the machinery used in moving it will be considered at length. •^Eleventh Census, Transportation Bu.siness, Part II, p. 308. 10 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Marys Falls Canal 16,239,001 net tons of freight. To this amount iron ore, lumber, coal, grain, and flour contributed 15,432,99'3 tons. In a very large measure the traffic of the Detroit Kiver presents the same simplicity as that of the St. Marys Falls Canal. Several of the articles, however, which were rather insigniticant among the commodi- ties sent through the St. Marys Falls Canal attained some degree of imi^ortance among the items of freight passing through the Detroit River. During the navigation season of 1805 iron ore and finished iron, coal, grain and flour, and lumber (not including logs) contributed 23,104,239 tons to the 25,81.5,079 net tons of freight passing through the river. In order to more clearly set forth the simplicity of lake traffic a detailed statement of the commerce passing through these two channels will be inserted. Sttitenicnt of the freight traffic throtigh the St. Mar>/is Falls Canal for tlie season of t896.a Total 1 trnffi.< I Coal uettous.. 3, 023, :i40 Flour barrels.. 8,882,858 Wheat bushels . . C3, 256, 463 Graiu, exc'Iudiii}; wheat ilo 27,448,071 Mamiiactured and pig iron .net tons. . 121, 872 Salt barrels.. 237,515 (."opper net tons. Iron ore do... Lumber Mfeet.B.M. Silver ore, in bullion net tou.s. Buildiug stone do... Uuclassiflod freight do. . . Total tratlic. 116,872 7, 909, 250 684, 986 240 17, 731 520,851 a The commerce passing through the Canadian Canal is included. Commerce of the Detroit Biver during the season of 1S95, comprising staples only, and onhj such staples as were shipped on vessels that cleared from United Slates ports. a Commodity. Amount. Net tons. 8, 451, 688 107, 147 7, 834, 942 100 347, 000 barrels.. 711,078 59, 425, 842 11, 536, 246 47.334,981 39, 1 16, 202 3,410,451 703, 078 199,170,000 165 734 95, 000, 000 1, 098, 649, 400 009, 000 106, 677 Wheat bushels.. 1, 865, 735 1, 153, 620 bushels.. 1,314,463 Rye, barley, and oats Flax and grass seed Salt do.... do.... . .barrels.. 844, 791 77,516 98, 000 Shingles and lath s Telegraph poles pieces.. do.... . . . feet, B. M 50, 000 42, 000 152, 500 do.... 1.639,000 Provisions Unclassified freight hogsheads.. 130, 500 1, 630, 000 25, 845, 679 a Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1896, Part V, pp. 2895-2896. Another of the conspicuous features of lake transportation is the great preponderance of east-bound over westbound tonnage. In 1890 the total east-bound traffic through the Detroit River in American ves- sels was 15,070,156 net tons, while the west-bound traffic was but 6,080,757 net tous.^ Although the excess of east-bound over west-bound is very large in the case of the Detroit River, it is still more characteristic of the traf- i Internal Commerce of the United States, 1891, p. xxxix. This is the latest year for which we have official statistics which distinguish between east and west-bound traffic passing through the Detroit River. STATISTICS OP l.AKE COMMERCE. 11 tic passing- through the St. Marys Falls Canal; moreover, present indi- cations go to show that the equilibrium will be still further disturbed, for the east-bound movement through the oanal has recently been increasing at a more rapid rate than the west-bound. For the naviga- tion season of 1896, the east-bound commerce passing through the LTnited States and Canadian canals at the Falls of St. ]Mary amounted to 12,737,0(Jii net tons, while the west-bound tonnage was but 3,501,999 net tons,' or somewhat more tliau one fourth of the east-bound. The difference in volume between the east and west bound movements is not so great in the case of the business to and from Lake Michigan as it is in the case of the other lakes. The great disparity which exists between the east and west bound commerce on the lake system, as a whole, is largely due to the fact that as a nation we ship by all routes much more freight to the Bast tliau we receive from the East. Inequality of east and west bound shipments is not peculiar to lake transportation; it also characterizes railroad traffic. This dispropor- tion is explained by the fact that in exchange for its heavy products of the mine, field, and forest, the West receives the manufactured products of the East and of foreign countries. The finished products received in exchange do not of course even remotely approach the crude products in weight and bulk. Local traffic on the Great Lakes is comparatively insignificant, i^early the whole of the commerce moved is carried from one end of the lake system to the other. About four-fifths of the iron ore mined in the Lake Superior region is trans]>orted to Lake Erie ports, and nearly the whole of the remaining fifth is taken to Milwaukee and Chicago. The shipments for the year 1S9() amounted to 9,934,440 gross tons; of this amount 8,026,432 tons, or about foui'-fifths, were received at Lake Erie ports.'^ Xearly all of the grain and fiour moved on Lake Superior is shipped from Duluth, West Superior, and Ashland, at the extreme western end of the lake, to Buffalo, at the extreme eastern end of Lake Erie, or a distance of aj)proximately 1,000 statute miles. And the bulk of the grain and flour and other mill products transported on Lake Michigan originates in Chicago and Milwaukee, at the southern end of the lake, and is transported to Buffalo, at the other end of the lake system. The total shipments of wheat, corn, and other grain in the last census year (1889) aggregated 3,401,881 tons, and of this amouut> 3,008,901 tons were shipi^ed from the ports of lakes Michigan and Superior. The receipts at the ports of Lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence River aggregated 2,902,378 tons. It must not be inferred, however, that the whole of the difference represents local traffic, for ujjon the whole lake system shipments exceeded receipts by 421,421 tons, and a large part of this excess found its way to Canadian ports on the lower lakes. The total shipments of mill products amounted to 894,123 tons, and of this amount 825,637 tons were shipped from the ports of Lakes Michigan and Superior. Eeceipts at the ports of lakes Erie and Ontario and the St. Lawrence aggregated 861,187 tons.' Lumber, the one large item remaining of the east and south bound freight, is also, for the most part, long-distance freight, but its places 1 These figures were kiudly furnished by the officers in charge of the canal. ■^ See Appendix III for detailed statement of shipment and receipt of iron ore by ports for a series of years. "' It is to l)e noted that the receipts of mill products exceeded the shipments by 97,943 tons. There were some importations from Canada, but it seems hardly prob- able that they equaled this amount. 12 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. of origin aud destination are so nnmerous that this fact can not easily be pointed out. The west-bonnd traffic consists almost entirely of the one article coal. It forms cargoes for vessels on return trips up the lakes, and as it is shipjied from Lake Erie porfs and in the main is carried to the ports at the far ends of lakes Michigan and Superior, it too is long-distance freight. In the last census year the total move- ment of coal and coke was 0,105,799 tons.' The shipments from Lake Erie ports aggregated 5,190,182 tons, and the receipts at the ports of lakes Michigan and Superior were 4,019,096 tons. The total shipments on the lakes exceeded receipts by 943,328 tons, and probably the bulk of this excess represents exportations to Canada, some of which was carried well up the lakes. AH the large items of lake commerce have now been considered, and it has been found that in general they may be regarded as long-distance freight. This is equally true of juost of the smaller items and of the package freight. r>ut limitations of space forbid a detailed examination of the various items. In conclusion, some general evidence of recent date will be submitted to show the preponderance of the through traffic. Gen- eral Superintendent Wheeler reports that the average distance that the 10,239,001 tons of freight which passed through the St. Marys Canal in 1890 were carried was 830.4 miles. And in the brief recently i^re- X)ared by Mr. C. H. Keei) for the Lake Carriers' Association it is stated that the average length of haul for the 29,000,(K)0 tons of freight that passed Detroit in 1895 was 750 miles. Far-reaching changes in the instrumentalities employed in the move- ment of lake commerce have lately taken place. Not only has there been a very rapid incjrease in the size of the vessels, but there has also been a revolution in the materials used in their construction and in the motive power employed. In 1808 the aveiage size of the sailing vessels on the lakes was 158 gross tons; in 1870 it was 150 tons; a decade later it liad increased to 209 tons, and two decades later to 258 tons, while in 1897 the average tonnage of the sailing vessels was 330 gross tons. Steamers have increased in size even more rapidly. In 1808 their average gross tonnage was but 231 tons, and in 1870, 223 tons. During the next ten years it remained about stationary, being but 228 tons in 1880. The following decade, however, witnessed a very rapid increase, and the average admeasurement of the steamers that plied on the lakes in 1890 was 427 gross tons. There was still further progress during the succeeding seven years, and in 1897 the average gross tonnage of the lake steamers had reached 551 tons, or almost two and one-half times what it was in 1870. Owing to the comparative absence from Lake Superior of small craft engaged in passenger and local freight business, the average size of the vessels in the heavy and long-distance freight traffic of the lakes is much more accurately indicated by averages covering the vessels employed in the commerce of this lake than by the figures that have just been presented. In 1870 the average registered tonnage of the various kinds of vessels passing through the St. Marys Falls Canal was approximately 375 tons; in 1880 it was about 495, aud by 1890 it had increased to about 800 tons. In 1890 it had much more than doubled as compared with 1870, and was 920 tons registeied. Figures showing the progressive increase of the average size of the vessels constituting the whole lake tleet have now been presented. These averages do not, how- ever, convey an adequate idea of the change which has taken i^lace, and for the obvious reason that because the life of a ship extends over a con- Coke is a very small item. 12 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. of origin and destination are so numerous tliat this fact can not easily be pointed out. The westbound traftic consists almost entirely of the one article coal. It forms cargoes for vessels on return trips up the lakes, and as it is shipped from Lake Erie i^orfs and in the main is carried to the ports at the far ends of lakes Michigiin and Superior, it too is long-distance freight. In the last census year the total move- ment of coal and coke was 6,105,799 tons.' The shipments from Lake Erie ports aggregated 5,190,182 tons, and the receipts at the ports of lakes Michigan and Superior were 4,G 19,096 tons. The total shipments on the lakes exceeded receipts by 943,328 tons, and probably the bulk of this excess represents exportations to Canada, some of which was carried well up the lakes. AH the large items of lake commerce have now been considered, and it has been found that in general they may be regarded as long-distance freight. This is equally true of most of the smaller items and of the pa(;kage freight. But limitations of si)ace forbid a detailed examination of the various items. In conclusion, some general evidence of recent date will be submitted to sliow the preponderance of tlie through traffic. Gen- eral Superintendent Wheeler reports that the average distance that the 10,239,()()1 tons of freight which passed through the St. Marys Canal in 1890 were carried was 830,4: miles. And in the brief recently pre- pared bv Mr. 0. II. Keep for the Lake Carriei-s' Association it is stated that the^ average length of haul for the 29,000,000 tons of freight that passed Detroit in 1895 was 750 miles. Far-reaching changes in the instrumentalities emi»loycd in the move- ment of lake commerce have lately taken place. Not only has there been a very rapid increase in the size of the vessels, but there has also been a revolution in the materials used in their construction and in the motive power employed. In 1808 the average size of the sailing vessels on the lakes was 158 gross tons; in 1870 it was 150 tons; a decade later it had increased to 209 tons, and two decades later to 258 tons, while in 1897 the average tonnage of the sailing vessels was 330 gross tons. Steamers have increased in size even more rapidly. In 1808 their average gross tonnage was but 231 tons, and in 1870, 223 tons. During the next ten years it remained about stationary, being but 228 tons in 1880. The following decade, however, witnessed a very rapid increase, and the average admeasurement of the steamers that plied on the lakes in 1890 was 427 gross tons. There was still further progress during the succeeding seven years, and in 1897 the average gross tonnage of the lake steamers had reached 551 tons, or almost two and one-half times what it was in 1870. Owing to the comparative absence from Lake Superior of small craft engaged in passenger and local freight business, the average size of the vessels in the heavy and long-distance freight traffic of the lakes is much more accurately indicated by averages covering the vessels employed in the commerce of this lake than by the figures that have just been i>resented. In 1870 the average registered tonnage of the various kinds of vessels passing through the St. Marys Falls Canal was approximately 375 tons; in 1880 it was about 495, and by 1890 it had increased to about 800 tons. In 1890 it had much more than doubled as compared with 1870, and was 92(5 tons registered. Figures showing the progressive increase of the average size of the vessels constituting the whole lake tieet have now been presented. These averages do not, how- ever, convey an adequate idea of the change which has taken place, and for the obvious reason that because the life of a ship extends over a con- 1 Coke is a verv small item. i^^l Yf Hk ;^*: IS STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 13 siderable period of time, tlie small vessels constructed in the earlier periods are still in existence to depress the averages of the later periods. To eliminate this source of error, statistics will be given showing the average size of the new construction year by year.^ In order to show clearly the trend, these statistics are presented in the form of a chart, which appears on the opposite page. The chart clearly shows that the average tonnage of the sailing ves- sels has not greatly increased, and the average tonnage of the steamers shows no remarkable change up to the fiscal year 1887. From 1887, however, the average tonnage increased by leaps and bounds. The average gross tonnage of the steamers built in 1886 was but 2GU.10 tons, while in 189L it was 758.72 tons, and in 1897 1,4.30,91 tons. This is equiv- alent to an increase in size of 534 per cent in the twelve year period under consideration. To enable one to form an accurate conception of the size and carrying capacity of the propellers now being constructed, I shall give the dimensions of a steamer now being built for the Bessemer Steamship Company by F. W. Wheeler & Co. This vessel is larger than any vessel afloat on the lakes or any other vessel now building. She will measure 475 feet over all, and will have a beam measurement of 50 feet and a depth of 29 feet. Her carrying capacity will be between 6,500 and 6,750 gross tons on a mean draft of 17 feet.' These dimensions and capacity will probably very soon be exceeded, for the tendency seems to be toward still larger vessels. To give the reader some idea of the relative size of lake and ocean vessels, I shall compare the dimensions of the largest vessel about the lakes with those of two of the largest ocean vessels — Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which is the largest steamer now in service, and the Oceanic, now building — the largest steamer either in service or building. ! TSoaoAniP,- Kaiser . Dimensions, o steamer ^i^lielm Oceanic. ' ' ■ tier Grosse. ; I ■ Feet. ' Feet. j Feet. Length over all ' 475 64S ' 704 Length of keel 455 | 685 Beam 50 66 68 Depth 29 43 46 a The dimensions of these ships were furnished by Mr. L. M. Bowers, general manager of the Besse- mer steamship Company; Oelrich.s & Co., New York agents of North German Lloyd, and the Xew York agents of the White Star Line. It appears by this table that the Oceanic, the largest ocean vessel, surpasses the largest lake vessel in the matter of length by 48 per cent, in breadth of beam by 36 per cent, and in depth bj^ 58 i^er cent. The great disparity in the matter of depth is explained by the shallowness of the water in the harbors and channels which connect the lakes. Another conspicuous feature of the history of the lake fleet is the rapid substitution of steam for sails as a motive power. In 1868 there "were in the waters of the Great Lakes 624 steam vessels, with a meas- urement of 144,117 gross tons, and 1,855 sailing vessels, with a measure- ment of 293.978 gross tons. The sailing tonnage was thus a trifle more than double that of the steam tonnage. The relative iinx)ortance of these two classes of vessels changed very slowly during the next fifteen years, and it was not until 1884 that the steam exceeded the sail ton- ^ These statistics may be found iu Appendix 1. 2 These facts were kindly furnished to me by Mr. L. M. Bowers, general manager of the Bessemer Steamship Company. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 13 siderable period of time, the small vessels constructed in the earlier periods are still in existence to depress the averages of the later periods. To eliminate this source of error, statistics will be given showing the average size of the new construction year by year.^ In order to show clearly the trend, these statistics are presented in the form of a chart, which appears on the opposite page. The chart clearly shows that the average tonnage of the sailing ves- sels has not greatly increased, and the average tonnage of the steamers shows no remarkable change up to the fiscal year 1887. From 1887, however, the average tonnage increased by leaps and bounds. The average gross tonnage of the steamers built in 1886 was but 2(31>.10 tons, while in 1891 it was 758.71} tons, and in 1897 1,430.91 tons. This is equiv- alent to an increase in size of 534 per cent in the twelve-year period under consideration. To enable one to form an accurate conception of the size and carrying capacity of the propellers now being constructed, I shall give the dimensions of a steamer now being built for the Bessemer Steamship Company by F. W. Wheeler & Co. This vessel is larger than any vessel afloat on the lakes or any other vessel now building. She will measure 475 feet over all, and will have a beam measurement of 50 feet and a depth of 29 feet. Her carrying capacity will be between 6,500 and 6,750 gross tons on a mean draft of 17 feet.' These dimensions and capacity will probably very soon be exceeded, for the tendency seems to be toward still larger vessels. To give the reader some idea of the relative size of lake and ocean vessels, I shall compare the dimensions of the largest vessel about the lakes with those of two of the largest ocean vessels — Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which is the largest steamer now in service, and the Oceanic, now building — the largest steamer either in service or building. Dimensions, a Ji.aiser WilLelm ' Oceanic, der Grosse. Length over all Length of keel j 455 Beam i 5i i Depth 29 Feet. Feet. ! Feet. 475 648 704 a The dimensions of these ships were furnished by Mr. L. M. Bowers, general manager of the Besse- mer Steamship Company; Oelrichs & Co., New York agents of North German Lloyd, and the New York agents of the White Star Line. It appears by this table that the Oceanic, the largest ocean vessel, surpasses the largest lake vessel in the matter of length by 48 per cent, in breadth of beam by 36 per cent, and in depth by 58 per cent. The great disparity in the matter of depth is explained by the shallowness of the water in the harbors and channels which connect the lakes. Another conspicuous feature of the history of the lake fleet is the rapid substitution of steam for sails as a motive power. In 1868 there were in the waters of the Great Lakes 624 steam vessels, with a meas- urement of 144,117 gross tons, and 1,855 sailing vessels, with a measure- ment of 293,978 gross tons. The sailing tonnage was thus a trifle more than double that of the steam tonnage. The relative importance of these two classes of vessels changed very slowly during the next fifteen years, and it was not until 1884 that the steam exceeded the sail ton- 1 These statistics may be found in Appendix 1. ■2 These facts were kindly furnished to me by Mr. L. M. Bowers, general manager of the Bessemer Steamship Company. 14 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. nage. Since 1884: tlie sailiug tonnage, as it appears on the records of the Bureau of Xavigatiou, has remained about stationary, being 307,733 gross tons in that year and 334,104 gross tons in 1897. Tlie steam ton- nage, on the other hand, has increased with great rapidity since 1884, and is now nearly three times as great as the sail tonnage. Iti reality, however, the sailing tonnage is very much less now than it was in 1884. Many of the vessels classed as sailing vessels have really been trans- formed into barges, for they are now habitually towed. These vessels are difficult to classify, as they have not been dismantled. If their rigging were taken down, they would be classified with the barges. The law reqnires the Commissioner of Kavigation to document and report vessels by their rig. Whether canvas is occasionally or never stretched is a matter into which he can not officially enter. "The rig's the thing." The acts of Congress assume that where a vessel has motive power of its own it uses it, though it is generally known that towing is resorted to, and to a very great extent. The tonnage of sailing vessels on the records of the Bureau of I^avi- gation also includes a number of vessels almost always spoken of on the lakes as barges. These vessels form a very respectable tonnage, as most of the new steel barges fall within this group. These barges are officially classified as sailing vessels, for the same reason that many of the ves- sels that were once sailing vessels, but are now barges, are still officially grouped with the sailing vessels — namely, for the reason that they are rigged. Most of the new steel barges can spread a limited amount of canvas, but they are habitually towed, and ordy raise their canvas when a favorable wind blows. The statistics without explanation, therefore, convey but a very imperfect idea of the extent to which business is now being done by sailing vessels. Sailing vessels, in the true sense, have practically disappeared from Lake Superior. When at St. Marys Falls Canal, I was informed, on the 0th of September, by Mr. Andrew Jackson, one of the officers in charge of the canal, that but six sailing- vessels running independently had been passed through the h»cks during the season of 1807.' Mr. A. B. Wolvin, a vessel owner and one of the largest shippers on the lakes, told me about the middle of September that he had seen but one sailing vessel on Lake Superior running independently in sixyears.^ Sailing vessels have also largely disappeared from the lower lakes. More of them remain on Lake Michi- gan than on any other lake. They are largely engaged in transporting lumber, ties, and posts, and do not often traverse the narrow chan- nels connecting the different lakes through which it would be neces- sary to be towed. With the disappearance of sailing vessels, the large fleets of tugs stationed at the St. Marys, St. Clair, and Detroit rivers have lost a once profitable employment, and have now practically disappeared. Perhaps the best evidence we have of the ftivor in which sail and steam vessels are now held are tlie statistics of construction for the last two years. The reports of the Commissioner of Navigation show that the steam tonnage constructed on the northern lakes during the last two fiscal years was almost eleven times that of the sail tonnage — the ' This may surprise one familiar with the annual reports of the commerce passing through the St. Marys Falls Canal. For instance, the latest report gives the number of sailing vessels passed through the locks in 189(5 as 4,391. It seems strange that so few should use the locks in 1897. The situation is made clear l)y an explanation of the classification adopted in the report. In the canal report, all vessels not pro- pelled by steam power, such as schooners, barges, and cousorts of all kinds, and which are registered by the United States, are classed as '-'sailing vessels." -It needs hardly to be said that pleasure boats are not included in this discussion. STATISTICS OF LAKE COM^IERCE. 15 former being 137,o30.80 tons and the latter 12.(j»)1.11 tous. The sailing tonnage, as here given, does not inclnde the steel sailing vessels, all of which, I am informed by Mi: W. I. Babcock, manager of the Chicago Ship Bnilding Company, are really barges. Steam is relied npon as a motive ])ower to even a greater extent than the statistics which have been given would indicate. The barges are towed by the steamers, and so the barge tonnage is moved by steam power. The barge tonnage on June 30, 1897, as reported by the Com- missioner of Navigation, was 00,783 tons. This statement does not include any of the sailing vessels that are always towed but have not been dismantled. jS^or does this statement include any of the rigged barges of new construction that now form a respectable tonnage; in the single year 1897 there was a gross tonnage of rigged steel barges constructed of 31,030.37 tons. The statistics of construction and of the lake fleet are likely to be progressively niisleadiug if continued according to the classification which now obtains, for traus})ortation by tow barges seems to be gaining in favor. This is in part due to the fact that the dock facilities have been so enlarged that the steamer and her consort or consorts may be unloading at the same time. Formerly, as a general thing, the boats could only be unloaded in detail, and the steamer lost valuable time in waiting tor the barges. Circumstances decidedly favor the substitution of steam for sails. Steamers are operated on the Great Lakes under conditions the most favorable for steam navigation. Good steaming coal can be bought in the ports of the lakes at a very low price, and the voyages are very short in comparison with the long ocean voyage, a fact which makes it unnec- essary to carry a great amount of dead freight in the form of coal. The comparatively limited extent of the lakes is favorable to steam naviga- tion for still another reason. In severe storms sailing vessels are helpless and drift with the wind. On the ocean this is not dangerous, because there is sea room, but on the lakes vessels are soon driven ashore and wrecked. This danger is not so great in the case ot steamers, for they can run against the wind and usually succeed in standing off from the shore.' Tliese facts, together with the general desire of the modern business world for dispatch, sufficiently exjilain the change from sails to steam. The increased size of ships and the substitution of steam for sails — two of the three radical changes we have to consider — have rendered desirable, in order to secure strength with lightness and elasticity, the third change, namely, the substitution of steel for wood as the material for construction. In lake vessels the machinery is placed far aft, and as the vibration is in most cases very much increased by the machinery being in this position, the hull must be made unusually strong. The hulls of lake vessels are also subjected to unusual strains, because of the machinery being placed far aft, when the boats are running light — that is, without cargo, the explanation being that the weight of the machinery and coal sinks the stern, and in rough weather the forward end of the sliii^ is thrown very much out of water, producing a heavy "hogging" strain. This has been materially lessened in more modern vessels by increasing the depth of the water bottom, and thus the amount of water carried when light, but is at times very much aggravated by the practice of admitting free water into the cargo holds aft in order to get the wheel well down into the water so it will work effectively. ' During the navigation season of 1896, of the 14 vessels which were stranded and were a total loss, onlv 2 were steamers; the others were schooners. (The Marine Review, Vol. XIV, No." 24. p. 7.) 16 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. With the vessel loaded the straius are less with the usual arrangement of lake machinery thau if it were amidships. A ship constructed of irou or of steel is much more buoyant thau one built of wood. It is usually estimated that there is a ditference in buoyancy of 30 per ceut in favor of the irou and 4 > per cent in favor of the steel hull. Steel is much more elastic thau irou, aud therefore bears strains much better. As a result of this superiority in respect of strength, elasticity, buoy- ancy, aud durability, the preference for steel has become very decided, and as the price of steel has fallen very rapidlj^ aud that of wood has risen, it has become profitable to substitute steel for wood. There is probably in the world to-day no i^lace at tide water wliere ship plates can be laid down for a less price than they can be manufactured or pur- chased at the lake ports. Tliere is, therefore, every reason for steel being substituted for wood. In 18SG there were but six steel vessels, with an aggregate net tonnage of (;,!")<) tons atloat in the lake; since 188G there has been a revolution in the material of the tioating equip- ment. On June 30, 1897, the gross tonnage of steel vessels on the lakes aggregated ■480,291.47 tons,' or much more than one-half that of the wooden tonnage, the latter being 8Sr),832.^.") tons. Steel was the material used in the construction of about eight-ninths of the tonnage built and documented in the tiscal year 1897. The chart on the oppo- site page shows the wood and metal tonnage by years since 1880. Because of the more effective organization and use of labor and material forces and the use of improved facilities for handling freight at terminals, but especially on account of the betterment of the per- manent way, and because of tlie introduction of more efficient instru- ments of transpoi'tation, our railroads have found it possible to lower their freight tariffs. From a later day similar changes have been in progress in the lake transportation business, aud there also have made possible a reduction of charges. Better roadbeds, heavier rails, straighter tracks, with easier grades, find their counterpart on the lakes in deeper and more direct channels, aud in more effective locks; the improvements which the railroad have introduced f(jr the expe- ditious haudhng of freight at terminals have been more thau equaled by the dock and steamship companies, aud the rapidity with which cargo freight is now loaded and unloaded approaches the marvelous. Better tracks have made it possible to run heavier trains, and simi- larly, deeper channels have enabled the vesselmen to increase the burden of their ships. We have now seen that the improvements which have rendered possible a reduction of carrying charges on the railroad, have also made practicable a reduction of tariff on the lakes. I shall now endeavor to show to what extent rates have fallen. First, let us compare the rates prevailing in one period with those of other periods to determine the absolute decliue. In attempting to do this we are at the outset confronted with a serious problem, namely, the period to be selected as a starting point, and what other periods shall be con- trasted with the one first selected. This matter is always a perplexing one, but in the case in hand it is unusually difficult, because of the vio- lent fluctuations that characterize lake rates. To avoid some of the evils of an injudicious starting point, and also the more clearly to por- tray the movement, I have charted the charges for a long period. The article selected is wheat, and the rates are those between Chicago and Buffalo, as given by the Xew York Produce Exchange. The charges ' These figures include the iron vessels, which have a gross tonnage of about 30,000 tons. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 17 for this commodity alone were charted, because wheat is a representa- tive freight, and fairly retiects the general movement of rates.' The chart shows that the trend has been very decid* dly downward. I sliall not attempt to describe more minutely the downward movement, because it is quite impossible to select representative years, and the chart presents the matter very clearly and forcibly. The lirst feature to arrest attention is the exceedingly violent Huctuation of the lake rates. The very erratic movement of the rates is explained by the method of fixing rates adopted by the lake carriers, who introduce an entirely new schedule at the opening of each season of navigation and alter it many times during the season. When business is heavy the rates go up, and when business is light the rates go down. The following table shows the fluctuations of a single season : Current weeldy freiyhts, per bushel, o)t tvheat from Chicago to Buffalo by Jalce durirnj the season of 1895. [Report of Chicago Board of Trade, 1895, p. 113.] Week ending- Cents. ■ "Week ending— Cents. W eek ending- Cents. Apr. 13 20 Julv 6 1 1 11 if p 24 Sept 28 3 ^ is:::::::::::::::: Ont. 5 27 20 27 12 May 4 19 \' 18 10 17 3i:::::::::::::::: Xov 2 3 if •■i 1| 1 16 3 23 2I 15 1* ' 30 ''2 ;;| ; 1 - - „::;::::::::::::: Dec 7 29 14 These violent fluctuations serve to show the flexibility of the lake charges, the readiness with which the rates are adjusted to what the traffic will bear, and stand in striking contrast with rail rates, which respond but slowly. As a general thing, the discussions of lake rates are misleading. Eates have sometimes been so selected as to give one the impression that charges have fallen very rapidly and continuously. The following is an example in point: "In 1857 the average rate by lake and canal on a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York was 25.29 cents ; in 1870 the rate for the same service was 17.1 cents per bushel; in 1880 it was 12.27 cents per bushel, and in 1890 5.85 cents per bushel." Now note what a change is introduced by selecting the rates prevailing in 1858 instead of 1857, and in 1871 instead of 1870: Tear. Rates. Tear. Rates. 1857 Cents. 25. 29 17.10 12.27 5 85 18!)8 Cents. 1870 1871 20 24 1880 1880 12. 27 1890 1890 . . ... 5.85 These examples show how important it is, if it be desired to communi- cate a correct impression of the movement of rates, that the greatest circumsj)ection be exercised in the selection of the points of the move- 1 These rates and those for several other commodities may be found in the appendices. H. Doc. 277 2 IT RATES ON WHE/ STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 17 for this commodity aloue were charted, because wbeat is a representa- tive freight, and fairly reflects tlie general movement of rates.^ The chart shows that the trend has been very decid. dly downward. I shall not attem])t to describe more minutely the downward movement, because it is quite impossible to select representative years, and the chart presents the matter very clearly and forcibly. The first feature to arrest attention is the exceedingly violent fluctuation of the lake rates. The very erratic movement of the rates is explained by the method of fixing rates adopted by the lake carriers, who introduce an entirely new schedule at the openiag of each season of navigation and alter it many times during the season. When business is heavy the rates go up, and when business is light the rates go down. The following table shows the fluctuations of a single season : Current weekh/ frehjhts, per bushel, on wheat from Chicar/o to Biiff(do by JaJce durimj the season of 1S95. [Report of Chicago Board of Trade, 1895, p. 113.] Week ending- Week ending- Apr. 13 If 20 ' li 27 i IJ May 4 li 11 li 18 H 25 i Ik June 1 i If J:::::;:;::::::::: 1^ 22 1 29 1 July 1 13 1 1 20 ! 1 27 ! li Aug. 3 i li 10 1 1} 17 n 24 n 31 1 12 Sept. 7 1 15 U [ 2 21 1 21 \\' eek ending- Sept. 28 Oct. 5 12 19 26 Xov. 2 9 16, 23 30 Dec. 7 14 These violent fluctuations serve to show the flexibility of the lake charges, the readiness with which the rates are adjusted to what the trafflc will bear, and stand in striking contrast with rail rates, which respond but slowly. As a general thing, the discussions of lake rates are misleading. Eates have sometimes been so selected as to give one the impression that charges have fallen very rapidly and continuously. The following is an example in point: "In 1857 the average rate by lake and canal on a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York was 25.29 cents ; in 1870 the rate for the same service was 17.1 cents per bushel; in 1880 it was 12.27 cents per bushel, and in 1890 o.So cents per bushel." Xow note what a change is introduced by selecting the rates prevailing in 1858 instead Year. Rates. Tear. Rates. 1857 Cents. 25.29 17.10 12.27 5.85 1858 Cents. 16.28 1870 1871 20 24 1880 1880 12 27 1890 1890 .. . ... 5.85 These examples show how important it is, if it be desired to communi- cate a correct impression of the movement of rates, that the greatest circumspection be exercised in the selection of the points of the move- 1 These rates and those for several other commodities may be found in the appendices. H. Doc. 277 2 18 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. ment that are to be compared, and particularly in the choice of the initial point. Another raethod of presenting lake freights in a very favorable light is by contrasting them with rail rates, which is usually done in the following manner: The average charge on all the railroads in the United States for hauling 1 ton 1 mile for some year is compared with the average amount exacted for a similar service on the lakes. Obviously this sort of procedure is unfair to the railways, for the serv- ice they i)erform differs from that rendered by the lake carriers. The railroad tonnage is largely made up of local freight, while the freight tonnage of the lakes is through traffic, and is composed of but few com- modities, all of which are handled in large quantities. This character- .istic of lake commerce is of the greatest moment, for it makes speciali- zation in the shipping business possible, and assures a full cargo of one article at one ])ort. It is needless to say that rates on the lakes would not be so low as they are it it were necessary to so construct vessels as to enable t'.iem to carry a variety of commodities, and if they were com- pelled to go to a number of ])orts to collect the cargoes; and then, too, it is to be remembered that the lake hauls are usually very long ones — a fact that has a most important bearing on rates. Another way of showing the relative cost to the public of lake and rail service, that is often resorted to, is the comparison of lake and rail rates on some commodity which is transported in large quantities, and for long distances, by both carriers. Wheat and corn arc such com- modities. Have we here proper conditions for comparison"? Clearly the circumstances are much nearer what they should be than they were in the case of the comparison of ton-mile charges; but even in this in- stance the conditions are not exactly fair. Allowance should be made for the fact that the National Government not only provides the lake carriers with channels and harbors free of charge, but also maintains them in good condition without compensation. In addition, there are minor factors that favorably affect the cost of the service rendered by the lake carriers, such as the liberality displayed toward the shipping interest by some of our State legislatures in the matter of taxation,' and the fact that the railroads continue their service during the winter, when the cost of service is manifestly much greater than during the summer. Thus it must be granted that even in the case of comparison of the lake and rail rates for some commodity which is transported in large quantities and for long distances by both carriers, we have not found a fair basis uj)on which the freight charges of the two transporta- tion agencies can be contrasted, because the community as a whole comes to the assistance of the lake carriers, and because the service is rendered by one of the carriers at all times and by the other only at certain seasons when conditions are favorable. As far as possible the statistical matter has been arranged in the appendices to corresi)ond with the main divisions of the text — for example, in Appendix I will be found the tables that should accompany the introductory part of the report. Freight rates for any commodity may be found in the appendix corresponding in number to the part of the text in which the particular commodity is treated. iMinnesota is a good example. By an act recently passed, its shipping on the Great Lakes is practically exempt from taxation. Vessels pay a State tax of bnt 3 cents per net ton, and are entirely exempt from municipal taxation. (Report of Commissioner of Navigation, 1895, p. 202.) STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 19 Appendix I. A VALUATION OF THE DATA FURNISHED BY THE TREASURY AND WAR DEPARJ'MENTS. The data collected by the Treasury Department fall under three heads, (1) tliat concerning' the fleets; {2) that concerning the foreign commerce; (3) that having to do with the coastwise trade. But little fault can be found witli the facts concerning the fleet collected under the supervision of the Commissioner of Navigation. Tlie accuracy of the facts he publislies can not be questioned, but they might in one important particular give more information than they do; in many cases it is impossible to ascertain the motive power employed. Vessels on the lakes are now classed as sailing vessels, steamers, barges, and canal boats. All rigged craft are grouped together as sailing vessels. As a result of this classification most of the vessels commonly known as barges are called sailing vessels, although they are regularly towed, and simply because they are ligged to carry a limited amount of canvas. Two sources of error result from this grouping: (1) Wind is made a more important motive power than it really is, and {2) the new sailing ves- sels are made to appear very large, while in fact they are generally very small vessels. Peihaps these sources of error could be eliminated by introducing a new group to be known as schooner barges. To do this, the statutes would first have to be altered. Most of the vessels of the old schooner fleet are now regularly towed, but as they are still rigged they are classed with the sailing vessels, with the result that wind, according to the statistics, still appears to be relied upon to a very large extent as a propelling force. This source of error can not apparently be removed from the classification, for most of these vessels are in a position to run independently at any moment. As these vessels are not replaced by similar vessels as they become too old for service, or are wrecked, errors due to their exist- ence will gradually disappear. The statistics of our foreign trade car- ried on over the lakes leave little, if anything, to be desired. The laws seem to be sufficiently stringent, and they appear to be rigidly enforced. Our foreign commerce over the lakes, however, is comparatively small, so these wise regulations only cover a small portion of the lake traffic. For several reasons the custom house records of the coastwise com- merce of the lakes are unreliable. First of all, the laws governing the filing of manifests are not what they should be. They are faulty in three respects, and these were pointed out by Mr. C. H. Keep, in his report of 1891 on " The Commerce and Shipping of the (Jreat Lakes." They are as follows: Under exist- ing laws vessels carrying goods from a port in one collection district to another port in the same district are not required to report or clear at the custom houses, and there is, therefore, no record in the custom- houses of the commodities so carried. But as the local business on the lakes is very small, this does not seriously impair the accuracy of the records. Second, there are a number of small ports on the lakes where there are no custom-houses, but at which a la-^ge lake business is done. Third, under the regulations that now obtain, a ship may clear from a port on the lakes for another port, and may stop at one or more inter- mediate ports, where she may receive and discharge cargo without reporting at the custom-houses of the intermediate ports. The records of the custom-houses at the intermediate ports will show only the business done at such ports by vessels which make them 20 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. their original port of departure or ultimate port of destination. To the extent to wbicli the ports are iuterniediate ports, the records of the custom house will fall short of the business transacted at these ports. Errors due to this cause .seriously affect the value of the records, and will probably do so to an increasing extent, for the traffic of the intermediate ports seems to be growing. The inaccuracies resulting from these three sources of error seriously impair the value of the records of the coastwise commerce of the Great Lakes. There are, how- ever, still other sources of error, and in comparison with which those just enumerated are unimportant. The requirements of the law are not always scrupulously fultilled. The manifests covering cargoes that are tiled in the custom-houses in compliance with the law do not always give the cargoes correctly. Inaccuracies are due to the following causes: (1) Masters are per- mitted, under certain circumstances, to clear at the same time they enter — this custom is productive of error because masters may not, for a variety of reasons, take aboard what they supposed they would when they cleared; (2) masters do not often know what thej^ have on board when they clear, even after their vessels are loaded — in some cases the statements on the basis of which freight is collected are made up after the ship has left port, and forwarded to the captain by mail or tele- graph, and in numerous'^instances cai)tains never know what they have on board, as they are simply directed to go to a certain place and load (the manager of the dock being informed how much to put on), and then ordered to depart fpr a certain port, where the manager of the dock assumes all responsibility for records; (3) in the case of miscella- neous cargoes, it would be necessary to delay the departure of the boats in some cases in order to give a correct statement of the -cargoes, so the manifests are likely to be the captains' estimates of what they have on board, and (4) some errors are due to indifference — in the minds of some captains the filing of a manifest is a mere form, for statistics, in their opinion, have no value. Any attempt to remedy these evils should take cognizance of the fact that vast sums of money have been expended in terminal facilities, in order to secure dispatch in loading and unloading, and, therefore, regu- lations that would detain vessels would undo that which has been gained at an enormous expenditure of money and energy. If captains are forced to file correct statements of cargoes, vessels would in many cases be detained for some hours, and captains put to great incon- venience and to considerable expense. The docks are usually scattered over an enormous extent of territorj;-. If a vessel finishes loading at 1 o'clock at night, the captain may be forced to walk several miles to the custom-house, as the street cars have probably stopped running, or secure a carriage at no little inconvenience and expense. Perhaps ac- curate statistics could be obtained and greater dispatch given to ves- sels by making the shippers instead of the captains responsible for reports. Before leaving the data furnished by the Treasury Department a word must be said about the report on "The Commerce and Shipping on the Great Lakes," made by Mr. C. H. Keep, secretary of the Lake Carriers' Association, and which formed a part of the "Eeport on the Internal Commerce of the United States for the year 1891." Mr. Keep, wherever possible, went back of the returns of the custom-houses, and so in a measure eliminated the errors of these returns. Especial value, there- fore, attaches to his statements. The facts furnished by the Department of War fall under two heads, STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 21 (1) tliose based upon the custom-house records, and (2) those collected independently. For the most part the statistics published by the War Department are based ui)on the custom-house returns, and no attempt is made to eliminate the errors of these returns. The statements ot traffic throu.i>li the Detroit River and of the business transacted at the lake ports are always, I believe, based upon the records of the custom- houses, and are therefore subject to all the criticisms that have just been passed upon these records. The statements of the traffic through the St. Marys Palls are based upon data collected at the canal by the oflicers in charge. These statements sliould, therefore, accurately reflect the commerce passing througli this gateway. Unfortunately, however, they do not, and this in spite of the fact that great care is taken by the officers in charge of the canal to secure accurate infor- mation. The efforts of the officers are balked because of the failure of the lake carriers to cooperate with them. As has already been stated, in many cases masters do not know what they have on board, and can not, even if they would, give a correct statement of their cargo. Many of the captains, however, have a supreme contempt for statistics, and so do not attempt to (ill out the forms furnished to them correctly. Ignorance on the part of the cai)tains also produces inaccuracies. For example, the blanks furnished by the officers of the canal call for a statement of the anthracite and bituminous coal on board, but in some cases these items are not given correctly, because the masters do not know that these forms of coal correspond with hard and soft coal, resi)ectively. After all criticisms have been made, how- ever, it must be said that the "!Soo" canal statistics are the best on lake traffic collected by the Government. Before leaving this subject I must say that the statistics of traffic on the Great Lakes collected by the National Government are simi)ly an object of contempt and ridicule among those engaged in lake transpor- tation. It scarcely needs to be said tliat the shippers and carriers are fully aware of all the criticisms that I have made. The methods of collecting these statistics ought to be radically changed, if for no other reason, simply because the Government can not afford to permit its work to be held up to scorn. Lake shippers ought gladly to cooperate with the Government, for an accurate knowledge of the situation is abso- lutelj^ necessary in order to enable Congress to make a wise appropriation of money to facilitate commerce on these waters. Without a positive basis of facts it is impossible to plan a judicious scheme of improve- ments. Any change in the regulations governing the collection of statistics which will delay traffic may be expected, in the future as in the past, to meet the opposition of the lake carriers. If the slwpper instead of the carrier were called upon for a statement, there need be no delay. 22 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Table I, Commerce moved through the Detroit River. Tear. Registered i tonnage. Freight tonnage. Year. Registei'ed tonnage. Freight tonnage. 1873 a 9, 000, 000 1889 19,646 000 c 19, 717 860 18806 21) 235 249 1800 21, 684, OHO 21, 750, 913 1882 17,872,182 17,695.174 1892 6 24 785 000 26 SfiS 81!) 1893/ 23,091,899 18,045,949 , 16,777,828 1885 r 7i25 Rir. fi7Q i29,(t00.000 27,900,520 1896J I 1887 1 18,864,250 1 19,099,060 1 o Brief of the Lake Carriers' Association in opposition to the placing of tlie bridge piers in the Detroit River, p. 19. This document was prepared by Mr. C. H. Keep, who for some years has been secretary of the Lake Carriers" Association. 6 Report on the internal commerce of the United States for the year 1891, p. xxxix. The figures do not in any case include the tonnage of Canadian vessels, a large number of which use this channel. During the year 1890, according to the estimate by Colonel Poe, 3,500 Canadian vessels, having an aggregate registered tonnage of 350,000 tons, passed through the river. cFor the cargo tonnage of 1889, see Eleventh Census, Transportation Business, Part II, p. 275. dAnnual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1892, p. 2482. elbid., 1893, p. 3036. /Ibid., 1894, p. 2378. a Ibid., 189.5, p. 3U68. A Ibid., 1896, pp. 2895, 2896. i Brief of the LaKe Carriers' Association, p. 15. These are Mr. C. H. Keep's figures. j' The statement for 1896 was furnished by Lieut. Col. G.J. Lydecker. The freight tonnage for 1891-1896, as given by the Government engineers, includes staples and only such staples as were ship- ped on vessels that cleared from some United States port. Table II. Statement of the commerce through St. Marys Falls Canal for each calendar year from its opening in 1S55. Date of closing Tonnage and class of vessels. Sailing vessels. Registered tonnage. 1855 1856 1857 1865 . 1866. 1867 . June 18'' May 4 May 9 Apr. 18 May 3 May 11 May 3 Apr. 27 Apr. 28 May 2 May 1 May 5 May 4 May 2 May 4 Apr. 29 Mav 8 1870 1871 1872 May 11 1873 ; May 5 1874 May 12 1875 May 12 1876 May 8 1877 1878 . 1879. 1880 . 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. May 2 Apr. 8 May 2 Apr. 28 May 7 Apr. 21 May 2 Apr. 23 May 6 Apr. 25 Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Nov. Dec. Dec. Dec. Dec. Dec. Nov. Dec. Nov. Nov. Nov. Dec. Dec. Nov. Nov. Dec. Dec. Nov. Dec. Dec. Dec. Deo. Dec. Dec. (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) 1,045 602 555 817 939 1,397 1,064 1,212 1,519 1,401 1,091 1,403 1,718 1,706 1,663 1,458 1,709 * Excluded a No record kept until 18 4 from 2,534 calculation 1,464 1,733 1,050 1,476 1,618 1,735 2,117 2,739 2,620 3,609 3,354 4,584 100 , 50 i 181 I 372 237 371 I 337 306 I {a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) 1,411 997 1,008 1,305 1,155 1,338 1,828 1,637 2,004 2,517 1,734 2, 033 2,417 2,451 2,567 3,121 3,503 4,004 4,774 4,315 5,689 5,380 7, 424 106, 296 101,458 180, 820 219,819 352, 642 403, 657 276, 639 359, 612 507, 434 571,438 409, 062 458, 530 556, 899 432, 563 524, 885 690, 820 752, 101 914. 735 1, 204, 446 1,070,857 1, 259, 534 1, 541, 676 1, 439, 216 1, 667, 136 1,677.071 1,734,890 2, 092, 757 2, 468, 088 2, 042, 259 2, 997, 837 3, 035, 937 4, 219, 397 of average dates. b No record kept until 1879. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 23 Statement of the commerce through St. Marys Falls Canal, etc. — Continued. j Tonnage and class of vessels. Date of Date of opening ; closing i q.^. canal. 1 canal. Vessels. Unregis- tered craft. Total passages. Registered tonnage. 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 I May 1 Dec. May 7 Dec. Apr. 15 i Dec, Apr. 20 I Dec. Apr. 27 I Dec, 1 Apr. 18 ! Dec i May 1 I Apr. 1? [ Apr. 25 I Apr. 21 I Apr. 21 I Dec. 5 Dec. 6 Dec. 11 j Dec. 8 aDec. 14 9,355 7,803 9,579 10, 557 10,191 12, 580 12, 008 14,491 17, 956 18,615 17,171 4, 897, 5, 130, 7,221, 8, 454, 8, 400, 10, 647, 8, 949, 13,110, 16, 806, 17, 249, 17, 619, a Date of closing Canadian canal. Average date of opening up to close of season of 1893, May 1. Average date of closing up to close of season of 1893, December 1 . Passenger and freight traflBc. 1855 . 1856 , 1857. 18G8. 1869. 1870. 1871 . 1872 . 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876 . 1877. 1878. 1879 . 1880. 1881 . 1882 . 1883. 1884 . 1885 . 1886. 1887. 1890 . 1891 . 1892 . Passen- gers. 4,270 4,674 6,650 8,468 18, 281 16, 985 Xet tons. 1,414 5,278 4,118 8,884 27, 236 31, 656 37, 066 40,213 11, 507 11.346 7, 805 11,282 101, 124, 91, 91, 110, 170, 295, 430, 714, 706, 894. 1. 009. 1, 352, 2, 105, 1, 629. 2, 176, 2, 507, 2, 904, 3, 008, 2, 797, 2, 574, 3, 023, 3, 039: Barrels. 10, 289 17, 686 16,560 13, 782 39, 459 50, 250 22, 743 17, 291 31,975 33, 937 34. 985 33, 603 28. 345 27. 372 32, 007 33, 548 26, 060 136, 411 179^ 855 309, 991 315, 224 355, 117 344, 599 451,000 523, 860 605, 453 344, 044 687, 031 1, 248, 243 1, 440, 093 1,759,365 1, 572, 735 2, 190, 725 2, 228, 707 3, 239, 104 3, 780, 143 5, 418, 135 7, 420, 674 8, 965, 773 8, 902, 302 8, 882, 858 8, 921, 143 Bushels. {a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) 49, 700 1, 376, 705 567, 134 2, 119, 997 1,120,015 1,213,788 1, 971, '549 1. 349, 738 1, 872, 940 2, 603, 666 2, 105, 920 3, 456, 965 3, 728, 856 5, 900. 473 11, 985, 791 15, 274, 213 18, 991, 485 23, 096, 520 18, 596, 351 16,231,854 16, 217, 370 38, 816, 570 40, 994, 780 43,481,652 34,869,483 40,218,250 63, 256, 463 55, 924, 302 Grain, other than wheat. 33, 908 22, 300 10, 500 71,738 133, 437 76, 830 59, 062 78, 480 143, 560 229. 926 249, 031 285, 123 323. 501 304, 077 308, 823 445, 774 309, 645 149, 999 250, 080 407, 772 343, 542 264, 674 951, 496 2, 547, 106 367, 838 473, 129 776, 552 517, 103 422, 981 715,373 775, 166 2, 022, 308 2, 133, 245 2, 044, 384 1, 032, 104 1, 666, 690 2, 405, 344 1, 545, 008 8, 328, 694 27, 448, 071 24, 889, 688 Manufac- tured and pig iron. Net tons. 1,040 781 1,325 2,597 5,504 Barrels. 587 464 1,500 950 2,737 4,194 6,438 6,681 7,643 7,346 13, 235 20, 602 22, 785 23, 851 42, 959 54. 984 86, 194 44, 920 31,741 54, 381 64, 091 39, 971 14, 882 39,218 46, 791 87, 830 92, 870 109, 910 72, 428 60, 842 115, 208 74, 919 63, 703 57, 561 116, 327 69, 741 101,520 89, 452 60, 659 100, 337 121, 872 135, 164 3,014 2,477 1.506 1,776 3,175 4,454 5,316 4,624 5,910 36; 199 42, 690 29, 335 42, 231 43, 989 46, 666 63, 188 63, 520 92, 245 77,916 65, 897 176, 612 70, 898 144, 804 136, 355 158, 677 204, 908 210, 433 168, 250 179, 431 234, 528 275, 740 228, 730 237, 461 269, 919 237, 515 285, 449 a None shipped from Lake Superior until 1870. The traffic through the Canadian Canal, which was opened to commerce September 9, 1895, is included in above statement for seasons of 1895 and 1896. 24 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Statement of the commerce through Si. Marys Falls Canal, etc, — Continued. 1855 1856 1857. 1862 . 1863. 186J . 1865. 1866 . 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1884, 1885 . 1891. 1892. 1893 . 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. Passenger and freight traffic. Copper. Iron ore. | Lumber. Net tons. 3, 196 i 5,727 i 5,760 6,744 7,247 I 9, 000 I 7,645 I 6,881 1 1, 044 ' 5,331 I 9,935 9, 550 , 10, 585 ; 12,222 1 11,301 14, 562 14, 591 15,927 ]5,346 18, 396 25, 756 16. 767 22, 529 22, 309 21, 7o3 29, 488 25, 409 31, 024 36, 062 31,927 38, 627 34, 886 . 28, 960 33, 43, 69. 64, 87, 99, 107, 116, 122, 456 729 190 993 : 530 573 , 452 1 872 1 324 I Xet tons. ! 1,447 11, 597 ?6, 184 31,035 65, 769 120. 000 44, 836 113,014 I 181,567 ' 2 13, .753 147,459 152,102 222,861 ' 191,939 239,368 ' 409,850 327,461 I 383,105 I 504,121 : 427,658 ! 493,408 609,752 1 568,082 ' 555,750 540,075 677,073 748,131 987,060 791,732 1,136,071 1 1,235,122 2,087,809 2,497,713 2,570.517 4,095,855 4,774,768 3,560,213 I 4,901,132 4, 014, 556 6, 548, 876 8, 062, 209 7, 909, 250 10, 633, 715 Feet, B. M. 126, 000 395, 000 572, 000 185, 000 394, 000 196,000 1,411.000 2, 001, 000 822, 000 \U, 000 300, 000 1,119,000 1, 260, 000 722, 000 1, 072, 000 1, 742, 000 1, 162, 000 638, 000 5,391,000 17,761,000 4, 143, Olio 24,119,000 35, 598, 000 44, 539, 000 58, 877,000 82, 783, 000 87,131,000 122, 389, 000 127, 984, 000 138, 688, 000 165, 226, 000 240, 372, 000 315, .'■)54, 000 361, 929, 000 366, 305, 000 512,814,000 588, 545, 000 722, 788, yOO 740, 700, 000 684, 986, 000 805,612,000 Silver ore and bullion. Net tons. (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) («) (a) (a) (n) (a) (") (a) {a) 92 464 Building stone. 443 847 985 987 650 3V4 66 ■""22 814 9, 731 3,669 2, 009 350 3,385 5,947 3, 432 1,731 1,930 2,470 412 100 240 5 Net tons, (b) (&) (l» (b) W ib) (h) (b) ib) (b) ib) (b) (b) (b) 2,917 5,228 5,213 2,218 401 2,978 2,102 2, 506 2,754 2, 226 2, 28:: 1,400 5,428 2, 405 6, 047 8,189 9,449 13, 401 33, 541 33, 538 47, 973 44, 080 39, 698 19, 426 21,417 23, 876 17,731 6,249 TTuclassi- fled freight. Net tons, (e) (c) (c) (c) (c) (c) (<■) ('•) (c) (c) (c) (c) (c) (c) (c) (c) (c) {<■) (c) («) (c) (<■) (C) (c) (c) (c) 129,031 172, 167 191,571 207, 173 184, 963 230, 726 344, 586 345, 854 312,410 371, 294 417, 093 4.59,146 415, 180 451,185 463, 308 520,851 579, 048 Total freight. Net tons. (d) id) id) (d) id) (d) id) (d) id) (d) (d) id) (d) (d) (d) id) (d) id) id) id) id) (d) (d) (d) Ui) id) 1,567,741 2, 029, 521 2, 207, 105 2, 874, 557 3, 250, 628 4, 527, 7.59 5,494,049 6,411,423 7,516,022 9,041,213 8, 888, 759 11,214,333 10, 796, 572 13, 195, 860 15, 062, 580 16, 239, 061 18,982,755 a No record kept until 1870. b None shipped from Lake Superior until 1870. cNo record kept until 1881. rfNo record kept until June, 1881. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 25 Katimated vahie of freight, hij iie.m-s, fhroufih St. Marj/s Falls Canal, MicliUjan. Items.. 1887. 1888. : 1889. 1890. 1891. «4, 735, 454 7, 863, 675 22, 634, 590 759, 653 3, 035, 750 241,468 204, 908 6, 977, 200 8, 741, 995 2, 974, 068 53, 826 134, 010 20, 675, 160 $7, 367, 644 10, 953, 625 18, 224, 424 1,981,862 2,442,950 252,348 210,433 1 5, 792, 000 8,996,808 4,320,696 i 520,579 335,410 1 20,751,240 ] $5, 702, 190 11.143,535 15,907,217 2, 090, 580 1, 577, 250 442, 272 168, 250 6, 691. 200 14, 335, 492 5, 679, 972 914. 589 335, 380 18, 744, 600 $7, 619, 238 16,195,520 15. 893, 022 2, 003, 490 4, 680, 750 386,104 179, 431 8, 745, 800 16, 711, 688 6,514,722 527, 807 479, 730 22, 277, 640 $8. 776, 362 Flour 18.900,715 Wlieat 38, 040, 239 Grain (other than wheat) . . . 1,011,462 2.128,000 *462, 077 Salt 234, 528 13,838,000 Ti'n 1 nrp 12, 460, 744 C, 593, 490 Silver ore and bullion 266,211 440, 800 TJnrlissTtied frei'^ht 25, 025, 580 Total 79,031,757 82,156,019 j 1 83, 732, 527 102.214,948 128, 178, 208 Items. 1892. 1 Coal (liard and soft) $10, 164. 931 21, 672, 540 30, 746, 085 933, 346 ! 2, 988, 600 .1 709,716 J 275,740 $10, 09 Wheat Grain (other than w Manufactured iron . pjo- iron heat")"! 32, 1, 2, SaU Copper 1 Iron ore . Lumber . Silver ore and bullion . .. Building' -stone Unclassifled fi eight 600 j 17, 153, 962 9,231,192 ! 296,815 i 396, 980 27, 548, 760 Total. 117, 267 145, 436, 957 1894. 1895. 1896. .$8,191,917 .$6, 993, 351 $8, 452, 072. 50 33, 621, 649 33, 383, 632 34, 199, 003. 30 22, 316, 469 30, 041, 8C3 47, 442, .347. 25 772, 504 4, 164, 347 10, 704, 747. 69 1,805,350 3, 683, 150 4, 696, 200. 00 331,452 346, 788 377, 298. 00 237, 461 202, 439 178,136.25 19, 914, 600 21,490,400 23, 374, 400. 00 17, 027, 078 22,332,319 25, 705, 062. 50 11, 564, 608 8, 888, 400 8, 502, 325. 00 40, 144 11,200 26, 8S0. 00 214, 170 238, 760 177, 310. 00 27, 071, 100 27, 798, 480 31, 251, 060. 00 143, 114, 502 159, 575, 129 195, 146, 842. 49 Eesulis ohtained from discnfision of traffic statistics. Total uiileton.s 1887 4, 458, 1888 5,173, 1889 ' 5, 940, 1890 7,207, 1891 7, 292, 1892 9,222, 1893 8,980, 1894 10, 927, 1895 12,502, 1896 , 13,582, 544, 804 132,972 640, 352 299, 415 462, 269 773, 938 310, 240 871, 324 548, 892 641, 886 transportati Cost of carrying per mile- $10, 075, 7, 883, 8, 634, 9, 472, 9, 849, 12, 072, 9, 957, 10, 798, 14, 238, 13, 511, 2lills. 2.3 1.5 1.3 1.35 1.31 1.1 .99 1.14 Average distance freight was caiTied . Vplue of American craft. $17, 684, 550 20, 381, 100 790. 4 25, 328, 600 797. 2 27, 857, 700 820.4 i 31,947,300 822. 4 j 36, 220, 100 831.9 1 39,017,400 821.1 I 41,124,200 830 I 40,858,800 836.4 43,006,200 Value of Canadian craft. $2, 089, 400 1, 514, 300 1,597,600 1,777,800 2,119,500 2, 108, 700 2,115,700 1, 959, 800 2, 037, 000 2, 135, 300 I'ropor- tion of Irtight [•arriedby Canadian vessels. 3.5 4 3.8 4.1 3.5 3.75 4 26 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Table III. Number and gross tonnage of sailing vessels, steam vessels, and barges, respectively, on the Northern Lakes, a Sailing vessels. Fiscal year. Num- ber. 1851 1862 1,153 1868 1,S55 1869 1,752 1870 1,699 1871 1,662 1872 1,654 1873 l,6iia 187.t 1,696 1875 1,710 1876 1 1,643 1877 1,604 1878 1,546 1879 1,473 1880 1,459 1881 1,417 1882 1,412 1883 1 1,373 1884 1 1,333 1885 1,322 1886 1,235 1887 , 1,286 1888 1,277 1889 1,285 1890 1,212 1891 1 1,243 1892 ; 1,226 1893 ; 1,205 1894 1 1,139 1895 1 1,100 1896 j 1,044 1897 993 Steam vessels. Num- ber. 138, 000 257, 689 293, 978 277, 893 264, 609 267, 153 270,051 298, 002 336, 8U1 339, 787 331, 498 324, 394 313, 652 310. 454 307, 733 313, 129 282, 319 315, 079 314, 765 325, 083 328, 656 325, 131 I 319,617 317, 789 302, 985 300, 642 309, 152 334,104 923 918 896 931 988 1,101 1,149 1,165 1,175 1,280 1,225 1,342 1,455 1,527 1,592 1,631 1. 731 1,731 1,755 1,792 1,775 74, 000 125, 620 144,117 146, 237 142,973 149, 468 162, 523 180,250 198, 121 202, 307 201, 743 201,085 201, 550 212! 045 260, 115 292. 257 304, 642 322, 456 335, 859 381, 908 390, 398 480, 138 575, 307 652, 923 7.36, 752 763, 063 828, 702 843, 240 857, 735 924, 631 977, 235 Barges. Num- ber. 64 103 114 132 161 177 216 193 188 192 183 170 165 162 164 156 126 111 1 101 ) 84 78 i 44 54 62 69 82 15, 957 22. 072 27, 570 31,208 37, 863 42, 559 46, 323 45, 140 45, 585 47, 207 45, 296 42, 226 40, 965 41,453 42, 906 43, 575 34, 099 30,810 26, 132 21,758 18, 194 7,274 13,910 20, 472 25, 321 37, 732 39, 215 39, 008 45, 175 60, 783 Num- ber. 1,502 2,543 2,491 2, 455 2,476 2, 523 2,642 2,788 2,794 2,752 2,719 2, 647 2, 539 2,555 2,567 2,677 2,678 2, 624 2,608 2,616 2,595 2,697 2,784 2,853 2,897 2,926 3,018 2,955 2, 936 2,917 214,000 383, 309 454. 052 446, 202 435, 152 147, 829 470, 437 520,811 581,245 587, 234 578, 826 572, 686 562, 755 5.52, 602 557, 942 608, 004 648,815 6,38, 671 t>64, 288 679, 798 690, 359 727, 235 813,097 907, 664 91)5, 489 1,082,355 1,108,001 1, 184, 223 1,185,440 1,197,385 1,278,958 1, 372, 122 a These figures, with the exception of those for the years 1851 and 1862, were obtained either directly from the Commissioner of Navigation or from his annual reports. Those for 1851 were obtained from Andrew's Report on Colonial and Lake Trade (1852), Thirty-second Congress, second session. House Executive Document No. 136, p. 49; and those for 1862 from Internal Commerce of the United States (1891), p. x. As has been explained in the text, all rigged ve.ssels are classed with the sailing craft. Thus most of the vessels commonly regarded as barges are grouped with the sailing vessels, for most of ihem carry some canvas. Nearly all the old schooners are now regularly towed, and therefore can not be regarded as sailing vessels, m the old sense of this term. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 27 Table IY. Staiement shotcing class, number, and gross tonnage of vessels built and documented on the northern lakes, a Sailing vessels. Steam vessels. Barges. Total. Fiscal year. Num- bar. Tons. Num. ber. Tons. Num- ber. Tons. Num- ber. Tone. 20 20 41 73 157 it 36 64 77 49 46 60 105 99 70 79 55 44 65 109 130 100 80 64 47 75 140 145 116 123 93 126 71 58 75 43 5,011 2, 377 9,308 13, 578 70, 669 6,425 4,761 8,595 13; 339 7,196 12, 293 15, 926 21,418 24, 487 12. 490 8.972 3,802 8,644 11,542 14,306 49, 080 34,100 17, 253 20, 206 20, 229 12,648 47, 183 87, 459 86', 023 93, 323 34, 129 76, 161 34, 889 26,516 75. 744 61, 787 1861 1 1 :"::::::::::::::.:....-.i. ...... 1864 1 1 ! 1 i ! 1866 1 j 1868 1869 129 83 69 60 57 112 130 62 35 29 33 30 48 52 66 34 29 30 15 35 48 32 36 30 41 21 lo 19 26 22,490 14, 462 10, 322 13, 839 12, 962 40, 840 43, 851 12, 269 2,507 2,G86 1,505 1,173 5,447 12, 936 16, 164 6, 4:rl7 7,667 3,861 5,232 4,991 9,131 12', 803 7,240 3,474 9,277 5,473 8,166 21, 825 39, 151 28 35 9 19 15 23 22 11 6 4 5 8 14 5 3 1 5 5 8 5 12 11 8 11 6 2 14 26 4,238 5,458 3,289 3,795 4.019 6,818 4,733 1, 620 2, 469 551 130 579 1,356 3,111 1', 158 10 768 412 378 468 678 6,739 6,853 5,449 11,867 429 446 10,185 12, 722 221 195 127 125 132 240 251 143 IS 90 79 121 175 201 137 110 99 07 118 190 182 164 164 142 1 158 95 : 95 38, 010 33, 259 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 20, 807 29 927 32, 907 69, 076 73, 071 26, 379 13, 948 7,039 1878 1879 10, 279 13,294 21,109 1881 65, 127 52, 252 1883 24, 848 1884 27, 883 1885 24, 858 1886 t 18, 292 52, 552 1888 97, 058 1889 102,483 1890 105. 565 107, 416 1892 43, 053 97, 305 1894 40, 791 1895 35, 128 1896 107, 754 1897 113, 660 a Tlie figures covering the steamboat construction from 1800 to 1867, inclusive, were taken from Tenth Census, Transportation (Vol. IV), p. 669. The others were either furnished to me directly by the Commissioner of Navigation or obtained from his annual reijorts. Table V. Average gross tonnage of sailing and steam vessels built on the northern lales. Fiscal year. Sailing vessels. Steam vessels. ^i-alyear. \ f|^^f. Steam vessels. 1868 . . 174. 34 180. 26 149.59 230. 65 227. 40 364. 64 337. 31 197.88 71. 62 92.60 45.60 39.10 113.47 248. 77 244. 90 189. 31 264. 39 176. 28 173. 23 146. 85 267. 22 265. 43 203. 99 247. 34 178. 29 113. 57 97.48 157. 15 262.32 220.09 450.28 262.31 172.53 i 252.56 1885 128.70 316.07 1869 1870 269. 10 629. 10 624. 70 646. 25 741.57 1887 142.60 1889 i 253.05 ! 355.65 1874 1891 . . ..1 241 34 758. 72 1892 84.74 366. 98 1876 1893 ! 441.76 604. 45 1895 a ! 304.05 i' 144.86 491. 39 1878 I 457. 17 1897 {l,,SJ^| ■.««"' 1882 {!ijSkUS'.«"' 1883 1884 1 1 a The upper figures of the years 1895-1897, in the column headed sailing vessels, represent the averagie of the sailing vessels after the tonnage of the steel sailing ves.sels has been removed. The steel sail, ing vessels are commonly known on the lakes as barges. The average should be still further reduced, as several large wooden' barges have been built in recent years. In the years previous to 1895, steel sailing vessels (barges) were constructed, but I do not know their tonnage. 28 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Table YI. Gross ionnage constructed on the northern lalces, shoicing material used. ^-alyear. I^-^- Iron and ' steel ; tonnage. 1 Fiscal year. Wooden tonnage. Iron and steel tonnage. ' 20,082 2,817 i 5,831 45 1, 650 9,180 4.221 6,078 20, 018 1889 73, 068 66, 964 49, 428 14, 594 34, 480 20,851 11,932 27, 330 13, 281 29, 415 38 602 1881 67,673 52,041 1890 1889 1891 57, 989 1884 1885 26,233 1 15,678 1893 1894 62, 825 19, 950 1887 46,475 81,085 1896 1897 80, 424 a These figures were obtained either directly from the Commissioner of Navigation or from his annual reports. Iron has been used only to a very liinited extent about the great lalses: the third column is composed almost wliolly of steel tonnage. The total iron tonnage now atioat probably does not exceed 35,000 tons. Table VII. Average freight rates on wheat {per bushel) from Chicago to New York by lake and canal, by lake and rail, and by all rail. Calendar year. I By lake j I and I canal, a By lake 1 and rail. ByaU rail. Cents. 1857 625.29 1858 16.28 18.19 17.59 1860 24.83 1861 26.55 1862 26.33 1863 22.91 1864 28.36 1865 26.62 1866 29.61 1867 i 22.36 1868 , 22.79 1869 1 25.12 1870 17.11 1871 20.24 1872 1 24.47 1873 ' 19.19 1874 14.10 1875 11.43 1876 9.58 Cents. Cents. '.'.'.V.'.'.'.]"'i3S.hi 34.80 34.80 41. .58 ' 48.00 49.20 60. 00 44.88 46.20 I 44.75 &29.00 I 37.84 25.00 i 35.57 22.00 30.00 25.00 31.80 28. 00 34. 99 26. 90 81. 02 16. 90 26. 25 14. 60 24. 00 11. 80 16. 86 1877. I 1878. I 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1886. ' 1887 1888. j 1889. 1890. 1891. I 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. By lake and canal, a By lake and rail. 1 Cents. Ceaits. 15.80 11.24 9.15 1L40 11.60 13.30 12.27 15.70 8.19 10.40 7.89 10.90 , 8.37 11.50 i 6.31 9.55 1 5.87 9.02 8.71 12.00 8.51 12.00 5.93 11.00 6.89 8.70 ! 5.85 8.50 1 5.96 8.53 5.61 7.55 6.33 8.44 4.44 7.00 I 4.11 6.95 d6.19 6.61 ! 1 Cents. 20.50 17.70 17.74 19.80 14.40 14.47 16.20 13.20 13.20 15.00 15.75 14.50 15.00 14.30 15.00 13.80 14.63 13.20 11.89 12.00 a Including canal tolls b Statistical Abstract, 1 Jtil 1882, but not Buifalo transfer charges. 36, p. 327. c Report of the Chicago Board of Trade, 1895, p. 115. d The rates for 1896 were obtained from Report of the Chicago Board of Trade, 1896, p. ll.'i and canal rate for 1896 includes Buffalo charges. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 29 Freight rates on wheat (pei- bushel) by lake from Chicago to Buffalo. a Year. Cur- rency.6 Gold.c . Tear. Cur- rency. Gold. 1857 1858 Cents. ■s'.ie 5.08 1L53 10.49 7.51 9.58 9.78 12.34 6.67 7.14 6.81 7! 62 11.46 7.62 4.03 3.42 2.90 Cents. 1878 Gents. 3.07 4.74 5.76 3.44 2.50 3.41 2.18 2.02 3.68 4.13 2.56 2.51 1.96 2.38 2.19 1.66 1.27 1.92 1.63 1.56 Cents. 3.027 1880 1860 1881 1882 1883 1862 10. 234 5.175 6.160 4. 523 8.808 4.995 5.155 5. 022 4.847 6.883 10. 504 6.761 3.617 3.040 2.570 3.502 1884 1885 1865 issiV^V^'.'.V.'.'.'.'.'. '.'.'.'.'.'..'..'. 1888 1866 1867 1868 1889 1869 1890 1891 1892 1871 1872 1873 1894 1895 1896d 1874 1876 1877 . aOut of the rates received tbe vessel must bear charges for trimming, tallying weights, ajid shovel- ing in the hold to elevator legs when unloading. In 1896 the^e charges aggregated $4.75 per 1,000 bushels, or nearly one-half cent per bushel; in 1897 they were reduced to about $4.35. 6 The rates were obtained from the reports of the New York Produce Exchange. cin converting currency prices into gold I have used the value of gold in currency as given for January of each year in the American Almanac for 1878. d Report of Chicago Board of Trade, 1896, p. 113. « Marine Kecord, Dec. 16, 1897, p. 8. PART 11. I.— FLOUR AND GRAIN TRAFFIC. Previous to 1850 the importance of the great interior water routes can not easily be overestimated. The commerce of tbe great agricul- tural States of the West drifted to the two great natural waterways, the Mississippi liiver running to tlie south, and the Great Lakes and their eastern outlets, the Erie Canal and the Wellaud Canal, in conjunction with the St. Lawrence River, running to the east. Although the West possessed these two unrivaled waterways, yet there were but few locali- ties which could choose between the two. Physical conditions usually left no choice. To the settler near the lakes the eastern route was the only available highway, and to the farmer living near the banks of the lMississii)pi the river was the only possible route. This was the case because laud transportation was wellnigh impossible. The value to the States bordering on the Creat Lakes of the lake and canal ronte from the date of the opening of the latter in 1825 down to the middle of the century, and even for a number of years thereafter, is incomput- able. Over the Great Lakes and through the canal passed the bulk of the surplus products of the West and practically the whole of the merchandise shipped from the East to the West. To realize fnlly the importance of the water routes, even up to a comparatively late day, it is necessary to understand the services it was intended the early railroads should render. They were designed to con- nect waterways, not to compete with them. Before the construction of railroads the traffic of the couutry that was other than local in character moved upon and to and from one of our four great waterways. These were the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal and St. Lawrence on the north, the Mississippi River and its tributaries on the west, and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. This being the situation, the railroads which Avere intended to serve anything more than local needs sought to cooperate with one of these waterways, and the projectors of nearly all the railroads which it was hoped would become trunk lines sought to connect two or more of the four great water routes. The construction of the great trunk lines clearly shows this, and nothing could more strongly emphasize the importance of the lake route at this early day than the uniformity with which the rail- roads sought it. A glance at a railroad map of the later fifties will also clearly show that the water routes formed the base of all the great trans- portation systems. In some cases, it is true, the water routes were l)aTalleled, but these instances were com])aratively rare, and even in these cases the railroads were not regarded as competitors of the water routes for through traific in heavy commodities. Passenger traffic, local business, and through freight in the more valuable commodities were the main reliance of the railroads. This state of affairs, however, was very much changed in the twenty years covered by the period from 1860 to 1880. These two decades were replete with imi)rovements in rail transportation. Advances, to be STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 31 sure, were also made in water transportation, but the progress made in land carriage during this interval was much the greater. Limitations of space forbid a detailed presentation of the imju-ovements introduced that made the railroads efiective competitors of the lake carriers. Noth- ing more than an enumeration of the most important advances cau be attempted. Progress was made in all departments. The i)ermanent way was improved by reduction of grades, better alignment of track, improved drainage and ballasting, and better bridges. J>ut far more important th;in these imi)rovements was the introduction of steel rails. It is doubtful if the railroads could ever have become effective competi- tors of the lake carriers without steel rails, for the latter, although of transcendent importance in tlieiuselves, became doubly significant be- cause of the advance along various lines that they made jjossible. The greatest of these improvements was made in the rolling stock. With stronger tracks much heavier engines could be built, and cars could be loaded more heavily. Steel was in a measure substituted for iron in the construftiou of locomotives. A great saving was made by the change from iion to steel tires. With a very slight increase in the dead weight of cars, the carrying capacity was doubled. There was also great prog- ress made in making up and running trains. The consolidation of connecting lines (and the extension of other lines by lease or by purchase or by new construction) which had set in before 18G0 became a feature of railroad history during the period covered by the years intervening between 1800 and 1880. By consolidation the cheap and expeditious movement of freight between distant points was greatly furthered. About the largest expense of transportation in the early days was the transshij^ment charges. Consolidation did much to obviate the necessity of frequent transfers of freight. But even after consolidation had made considerable progress the extended movement of bulky freight remained subject to many delays and charges, due to trausshiimient at connecting points. These evils were in a large measure overcome by the organization of through freight lines. But one more advance can be mentioned — it is scientitic rate making. This has revo- lutionized railroad transportation. In the i)rimitive days of railroading the toll sheets showed but little differentiation of charges. The prin- ciple of charging what the traffic would bear was never applied with anything like thoroughness. The decisive change in rate making came when it was recognized that it may be profitable to establish a rate which will result in a net gain, however small, above the expenses aris- ing strictly from the mere handling and moving of freight and such incidental expenses as are properly applicable to it. In other words, it is not always to be insisted upon that any given traffic miTst bear its full share of the total expenses of the road. The question is, rather, W^ill this traffic form a profitable auxiliary of the existing traffic? By the early seventies the long list of improvements which have been enumerated, and others of less importance, but nevertheless of great moment in the aggregate, had progressed so far as to change the rela- tion existing between the lake carriers and the railroads.' The latter were now in a position to enter into effective competition with the lakes in the transportation to the seaboard of the agricultural products of the West. As a very large portion of the east-bound traffic from the West was at this time composed of agricultural products, nearly the entire east-bound business now became competitive.^ In 1876 it was ' Long V)efore this the railroads had demonstrated their ability to compete with canals. - In this statement is not included the lumber and ore traffic of what is known as the Lake Superior region. 32 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. estimated that grain and Hour constituted about 50 per cent of the entire eastward movement of through freights.' It must not be understood that rail rates — from Chicago to New York, for example — were now as low as the lake rates, for such was not the case. Eail rates had, however, fallen so much that, taken in con- nection with several advantages ottered by rail transportation, rail rates were as favorable as the lake rates, even though the latter were slightly lower. It may be well at this point to state that the published transportation charges are not to be accepted without modificatiou. The lake charges are approximately correct; but the rail charges are generally too high, and often very much too high. The latter are aver- ages of the ofticially published tariffs; but men in a position to speak authoritatively say that practically no grain is shipped at these rates.^ When grain moves eastward to the seaboard in large quantities by rail during the navigation season it may be assumed, with considerable assurance, that the through rail rate is very nearly as low as the lake and rail rate. This must be tlie case, because the advantages of through rail shipment over lake and rail are not sufficient to offset any large difference in rates. These advantages will be briefly stated. Kailroads are responsible for the safe delivery of goods placed in their care. The shipper, therefore, does not insure his property, wliieh he would feel obliged to do should he send his property by the way of the lakes.^ Grain carried in cars during the seasons of the year when grain is likely to heat arrives in better condition than if sent by water. Grain already out of condition goes better by rail, but not much importance is now to be attached to this point, as grain is generally Jjut in good condi- tion before it is shipped.^ Expedition is sometimes desirable, and railroads deliver commodities with greater dispatch than the lake carriers. The terminal facilities of the railroads are better than those of the water lines, and by j)atron- izing the railroad shippers can occasionally save considerable sums in the form of cartage charges. This is more true of flour, corn, and oats than of wheat, for the last is not delivered directly to consumers, but is first delivered to millers, who have terminal facilities. Flour, corn, and oats, on the other hand, although generally not delivered directly to con- sumers, are, however, delivered to persons at least one step nearer the consumers than are the millers who receive the wheat. During the process of transshipment there is some loss of grain, but as the lake carriers deliver the amount for which they give receipts the shipi)er loses nothing. In this particular the shipper rather favors the lake ro ute, for the railroads refuse to receipt for a definite amount, and as a conse- quence any loss in transit falls upon the shipper unless he can clearly prove that there was a loss in transit, which he usually finds very difiHcult to do. In case the grain is not forwarded on a through bill of lading a por- tion of the cost of transshipment falls upon the shipper, and thus enters as one of the deciding influeuces in the selection of a route. 'Internal Commerce of the United States, 1876, p. 67. The total shipments east from Chicago during the year 1878 amounted to 1,862,385 tons; to tliis sum grain, flour, seeds, and fued contributed 3,137,032 tons, or a little more than 61 per cent. Almost the whole of the balance was made up of animals and their products. (Ibid., 1879, p. 99.) -For transportation rates see Appendix II, Table VII. 3 In 1872 the rate of insurance was about .$1 on $100. (Transportation Eontes to the Seaboard, vol. 1, p. 17.) It is now about 30 cents on $100. ^ All the modern elevators are equipijed with apparatus for airing and drying grain. STATISTICS OF LAKE COM.MEROH. 33 (Jraiu ciinied by '' wild" vessels,' that is, vessels which have no rail connections and are not running under contract, but flx their rates from day to day as business may determine, is not carried on through bills of lading, and the owner of the grain would therefore pay the elevator charges.^ Terminal charges have undoubtedly been in some measure responsible for the diversion of the grain traftic from the lake route; they nuiy bo found in Appendix II, Tables I and II. When the raihoads fouud that they could successfully compete with the waterways it was discovered that the lack of suitable terminal facilities at the seaboard cities for transferring grain from cars to ocean vessels and for storage became a serious handica]). Down to about 1865 none of the trunk lines possessed elevator facilities on the Atlan- tic Coast. At this time there was aii elevator built at a wharf on the Delaware, in Philadelphia, under the patronage of the Pennsylvania liailroad Company, and this was jirobably the first stationary elevator erected on the Atlantic Coast.^ IJp to the close of the year 1870 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad Company was the only road which had already provided adequate terminal facilities for the handling of grain.^ New York City, althougli the chief port of the export grain business, did not i)Ossess a single stationary elevator. The use of elevators would have necessitated the adoption of the western method of handling grain by "grades." The custom of selling grain on sample had become too tirmly hxed by fifty years of habit to be easily nprooted, and especially so as such a departure would seri- ously impair the value of enormous vested interests of the very per- sons who were expected to make the change. The great expense involved in the old method of handling grain if shipped in bulk at the railroad terminals, and the great reductions made by the introduction of elevators, will be seen by the following statement made up by the general freight agent of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad: "Previous to January, 1872, all grain shipped to Baltimore in bulk was unloaded by hand, at an expense of from 4 to 5 cents per bushel. At this time the company completed an elevator of 600,000 bushels capacity and reduced the charge for receiving, weighing, wharfage, delivering to vessels, and storing for ten days to If cents per bushel, by which means also the detention to vessels in loading was reduced from five or ten days to as many hours.'"' Two years later, when the Baltimore and Ohio entered Chicago and became an aggressive competitor for a share in the movement of agri- cultural products from the West, all the other trunk lines were forced to improve their terminal facilities. Without ijroper facilities for handling grain at the seaboard no road could meet the competition of the lake and canal route, for this line possessed fairly satisfactory terminals. The transfer charge of from 4 to 5 cents was sufficient to turn grain to the lake and canal route. Not only was the movement of grain by rail checked by the high charges at the seaboard terminals, but it was at times entirely inhibited by the lack of facilities for removal of grain from cars. Mr. 0. M. Gray, 'assistant general freight agent of iThe "wild" vessels of the lakes are the tramp vessels of the ocean. ^Charges for shoveling amf trimming the grain in the hold of the ship are paid hy the vessel. Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, Ringwalt, p. 211. ^ Report of the Select Committee on Transportation Rontes to the Seaboard, Vol. I, p. 27. -■Ibid., Vol.11, p. 346. "Ibid, VoI.I, p. 27. H. Doc. 277 3 34 STATISTICS OV LAKE COMMERCE. the Lake Shore aud Micbigau Soiitheru kaih'oad, in testifying before the Senate Committee on Transportation Koutes to the Seaboard, stated that the hick of terminal facilities at the seaboard for promptly uuloading cars had resulted iu such a shortage of cars ou the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne aud Chicago, aud ^Michigan Central iu the winter of 1872-73 that these roads were practically forced to suspend the movement of bulky freight for a period of six weeks because of a lack of cars. Uis own road, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, was reduced to such straits by the dearth of cars that it was forced " to cut off all freight west of Chicago and receive nothing except the local freight of Chicago."^ Up to within very receut times our Government has takeu but little interest iu our internal commerce, aud has therefore collected but little information concerning It, and thus it is impossible to set fortli as defi- nitely and accurately as might be desired the diversion of the grain business from the Great Lakes to the railroads and from the latter back to the former. We shall in the main be forced to rely for statistics ni)on the reports of the conimercial bodies of the cities chiefly con- cerned in the grain business, and unfortunately they have not collected as full or accurate information as could be desired. From the two sources, however, enough information can be obtained to i)resent in a rough way the change that has taken place; but this can not always be done in the simplest manner. The diversion of the Hour and grain traffic from the lakes to the rail- roads and from the railroads back to the lakes will be considered under the following heads: (1) The diversion of the Hour and grain business as shown by the movement of these commodities by lake and rail from Chicago;'- (2) the diversion (if any there be) as shown by such data as we have of the total eastward movement; and (3) the export move- ment from tlie West through the Gulf ports will be examined — it is not only a diversion from the lake line, but also from the east-bound trunk lines. II.— THE LAKE AND KAIL TKAFFIC EASTWARD FROM CHICAGO. In the early sixties the railroads began to make serious inroads into the flour traffic from Chicago, and during the eighth decade secured the lion's share of this business. L'lour was the first heavy commodity of comparatively low value that the railroad carried in competition with, the water lines. The railroads gained this traffic, partly because ship- ment by lake to points not accessible to lake craft involved a trans- shipment, and flour could not be transferred with the same ease and facility that grain could be transshipped ; partly because expeditious delivery is frequently demanded, the element of time being of much greater imi)ortance in the movement of flour than that of grain, and, ■finally, because flour can not be stored without considerable loss, so it ■would not be field during the winter for the opening of navigation to so large an extent as grain. To these causes may be added a fourth — tfie cost of marine insurance. The diversion from the lakes to the rail- roads of the traffic in flour will be seen from the table in Appendix II, Table III, Part I. It will be noted that from the opening of the seventh decade the railroads rapidly monopolized the business, and continued to do so until the year ISSO.*^ Since 1885 the relative importance of the rail lines has diminished. In 1885 they carried almost seven-eighths of 1 Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, Vol. II, p. 280. 2 A table showing the lake and rail movement of flour and grain from Milwaukee may be found in Appendix II, Table IV. Tonnage 5 5§ 2° 2° ^ 1 -^4 J 1 1 QQ,0QO - -] \ 75,000 - + *~ 5 V. 4 ^ it r :; fin n/if) L ( ' , '""i L ± L ^ I " J r - / ^o^i/uu - 1 J ~ I i n i t " ^ t I* ± : :l i ~ I ^^ t- f^ A '^ t S H J~ \- \ i^ % /s nnn ^ -^ V [^ - -■■ ■■" _i 1 1 _, l1LlI_jj l^OOO£A/ TOi STATISTICS OF LAKE COJI MERCK. 35 the Hour shipped eastward from Chicago, while in 181Hi they carried but a little more than three-tiftlis.^ For many years the loug-distance traffic of the railroads was almost wholly coiilined to the trausi>ortatioii of live animals, i)ro visions, and general merchandise. As we have seen, however, at a comparatively early day the railroads secured a large portion of the tlour business, lu 1872^ they became in the fullest sense competitors of the lakes for the wheat traffic. Up to this time, although they had in various years carried considerable quantities of wheat, they had never been regarded by the lake carriers as serious rivals. In the spring of 187U the railroads entered the field for a part of the grain traffic and secured a liberal portion of it throughout the season of navigation. In the following year the struggle was continued, the railroads securing a large share of the business. Since 1873 the con- test has been maintained. In some years the railroads have made great encroachments into the traffic, and in other yeais the lake carriers have almost monopolized the business. Shii)ments by rail exceeded those by lake in 1881, and again in 1885. Since the latter year the lakes have more than held their own, and in some years have captured nearly all the wheat. The yearly movement by each mode of transpor- 1 It will be seen by the table in tlie appendix that the east-bound movement of flour from Chicago reached its maximum volume in 1887. Until 1888 most of the tlour shij)pcd from the Northwest passed through Chicago, but in 1888, by the completion of the Minneapolis. St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, much of the flour business was diverted from Chicago. From 1882 the construction of a railroad from Minne- apolis and St. Paul to the north of Lake Michigan and the lower lakes to the seaboard had been much discussed by the millers and shippers of these two cities. Such a line, it was hoped, would be of signal advantage to the interests of these two cities and of the entire Northwest, for by this road not only the distance to the seaboard would be materially shortened in comparison with the circuitous route around the head of Lake Michigan, but the uncertainty of a speedy uioveuient through the freight yards of Chicago Avould also be obviated. This line, connuonly known as the " Soo," in connection with the Canadian Pacific and lake vessels, on its comple- tion at once became a strong competitor for the flour and grain business of the North- 'west. Ihiriug its first year it forwarded from Minneapolis 931, .500 l)anels of flour, and since then shipments have rapidly increased, as will be seen by the subjoined table. The yearly shipments of flour from Minneapolis over the '' Soo," as given in the reports of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, have been as follows : Year. Bai-rels. Year. Barrels. Year. Barrels. 1888 931,502 1,367,792 1, 156, 516 1891. 1892. 1893. 1, 200, 642 1, 684, 005 1, 720, 166 1894 . 1895. 1896. 1 458 146 1890 ...! 2,419,914 1 Since 1887 shipments of flour to the ports at the head of Lake Superior have also greatly increased, and the combined rail and water routes through Wisconsin and across Lake Michigan have secured a large traffic that formerly passed through Chicago. 2 The following table covers the period in which the great change took place : Eastward shipments of wheat from Chicago. Year. By lake. By rail, j Year. By Lake. By rail. 1870 Bushels. 13, 429, 069 r2,l£0,923 8, 831, 870 Bushels. 2,621,699 576,468 ! 2,363,810 i 1873 Bushels. 15, 528, 984 16, 974, 149 Bushels. 8, 149, 209 9 725 251 1871 . 1874 1872 STATISTICS OF LAKE C0M3IERCE. 35 the tiour shipped eastward from Ohicago, while iu 181)0 they carried but a little more than threetifths.^ For many years the loug-distauce traffic of the railroads was almost wholly couliiied to the transportation of live animals, provisions, and general merchandise. As we have seen, however, at a comparatively early day the railroads secured a large portion of the tlour business. In ISTii'^ they became in the fullest sense competitors of the lakes for the wheat trafdc. Up to this time, although they had iu various years carried considerable quantities of wheat, they had never been regarded by the lake carriers as serious rivals. In the spring of 1872 the railroads entered the iield for a part of the grain traffic and secured a liberal i)ortion of it throughout the season of navigation. In the following year the struggle was continued, the railroads securing a large share of the business. 8ince 1873 the con- test has been maintained. In some years the railroads have made great encroachments into the traffic, and in other years the lake carriers have almost monopolized the business. Shipments by rail exceeded those by lake in 1881, and again iu 1885. Since the latter year the lakes have more than held their own, and in some years have captured nearly all the wheat. The yearly movement by each mode of transpor- 1 It will be seen by the table in the appendix that the east-bound movement of flour from Chicago reached its maximum volume iu 1887. Tntil 1888 most of the flour shipped from the Northwest passed through Chicago, but in 1888. by the completion of the Minneapolis. St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie R.ail way, niach of the flour business was diverted from Chicago. From 1882 the construction of a railroad from Minne- apolis and St. Paul to the north of Lake 3.1ichigan and the lower lakes to the seaboard had been much discussed by the millers and shippers of these two cities. Such a line, it was hoped, would be' of signal advantage to the interests of these two cities and of the entire Northwest, for by this road not only the distance to the seaboard would be materially shortened in comparison wirh the circuitous route around the head of Lake Michigan, but the uncertainty of a speedy movement through the freight yards of Chicago would also be obviated. This line, commonly known as the " So'o," in connection with the Canadian Pacific and lake vessels, on its comple- tion at once became a strong competitor for the flour and grain business of the North- west. During its tirst year it forwarded from ilinneapolis 931,500 barrels of flour, and since then shipments have rapidlj' increased, as will be seeu by the subjoined table. The yearly shipments of flour from Minneapolis over the " Soo," as given in the reports of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, have been as follows : Tear. i Barrels. Tear. Barrels. Year. ■ Barrels. 1888 931 502 1891. 1892. 1893. 1, 200, 642 1, 684, 005 1, 720, 166 1894. 1895. 1896. . . . , 1, 458, 146 1889 1,367 792 ... 2,111,455 2, 419, 914 Since 1887 shipments of flour to the ports at the head of Lake Superior have also greatly increased, and the combined rail and water routes through Wisconsin and across Lake Michigan have secured a large traffic that formerly passed through Chicago. - The following table covers the period in which the great change took place : Eastward shipments of wheat from Chicago. Tear By lake. By rail. , Tear. By lake. By rail. 1870 i Bushels. 1 13,429,069 ' 12,]£0,923 8831.870 Stishels. 2 621 699 ' 1873 . .. . Bushels. 15, 528, 984 16, 974, 149 Bushels. 8, 149, 209 1871 576,468 1874 2, 363, 810 9, 725, 251 36 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. tation since ISGO is showu by the figures given in Apijeudix II, Table III, part 1. In the years previous to 1873, with some exceptions, most of the wheat taken from Chicago by the railroads was secured in the winter months, when lake navigation was closed. Since 1873 the largest rail shipments have often been made after the navigation season had fully opened.' In shipping by rail the marine insurance is avoided, the grain is less liable to damage in transit, is moved more rapidly and marketed more readily, thus giving quicker returns and thereljy saving interest charges. But these advantages combined were not sufiticieut to overcome the additional rail charge which was frequently exacted. It is safe to say that the marine insurance in all but exceptional cases was considerably less than 1 per cent per bushel, and the difference in time between the all rail and lake and rail was not a large factor. The danger from heating in si)ecial cases would be very great, but in most cases it would quite disapi)ear. During ^lay, 1875, the difference in rates amounted to 10 cents, and witli such a variation it is surprising that the railroads should have secured any wheat at all. With a fuller knowledge of the situation, however, this will be readily understood. The published rates were not the real rates. iSays .Air. E. II. Walker, statistician of the New York Produce Exchange: "During a portion of the year 187.3, the transportation by rail has been by the agreed schedule of rates." - Tlie implication is that rates were generally not maintained, and such must have been the case. From January to October the rates given in the Internal Commerce reports remained stationary at 24 cents per bushel, then fell 1 cent for October, but recovered for Novem- ber, and rose to 28 cents for December.^ The statistician of the New York Produce Exchange^ says that rates were very low from the opening of the year until October, when they advanced very sharply, but the published rates do not show this movement. He also informs us tiiat Hour and grain were carried in large quantities from St. Louis to New York by all rail at 2-i cents per 1 Tlie seriousness of the competition offered by the railroads at times during the navigation season will be made evident by the following table: Year. Shipments during the mouth of May. Nominal dif- ference of rates in favor of the lake and rail route as agaiust the all-rail route. By lake. By rail. Bushels. 272,591 Bushels. 340, 584 947, 902 1, 210, 352 735, 666 1, 114, 137 270, 110 1, 369, 732 Cents. 2 1873 1, 823, 310 (i ; 2,367,796 ' 1,160.435 10 1876 1,810,340 1 755,962 3.6 1878 902,958 3.1 For this data see Internal Commerce, 1876, charts 2 and 3, and Internal Commerce, 1879, Appendix, pp. 246-247. The third column of the table shows a surprising amount of freight secured by the railroads in view of the great difference which frequently obtained iu rates. Perhaps the published rates were not adhered to. - New York Produce Exchange, 1874-75, p. 231. 3 Internal Commerce of United States, 1876, chart No. 1. ^ISTew York Produce Exchange, 1874-75, pp. 231-235. , STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 37 100 pounds, wliicli woukl be equivalent to 15 cents per busljel.' It is hardly to be supposed that the rate Ironi Chicago to Xew York was maintained at 24 cents, with a rate of 15 cents from St. Louis. That raib'oad rates were not stable during; the year 1875 is also testified to by Mr. Charles Randolph, in his report as secretary for the Chicago Board of Trade- in a general way it may be said that the corn traffic has followed the same course as the wheat tratiic. The railroads appear, liowever, to have secured a considerable share of this business at an even earlier time than they obtained a large part of the wheat traffic. During the years 1808, 181)9, and 1870 the railroads carried considerable quanti- ties of corn, and then for five years transported but little of this com- modity. In the movement of this important crop the year 1876 was the decisive turning point. The crop of corn grown in 1875 was large and of good quality and the export demand was steady and strong, so the grain was moved rapidly forward by rail. Throughout 1876 the rail routes competed vigorously with the lake lines and obtained a large share of the traffic. During the months of May and June 6,208,706 bushels of corn were shipped from Chicago by lake, and 5,588,830 bush- els by rail. ' The amount of corn carried by rail during the year 1884 was almost equal to that transported by lake. During the following year the shipments by rail again almost equaled those by lake, the amounts being, respectively, i:8,68i\861: and l".),381',591 bushels. Since 1885 the lakes have regained much of the east bound traffic lost in the earlier years. In 1890 they carried more than six times as much corn as the railroads. We have now considered the partial diversion from the lakes to the railroads of the flour, wheat, and corn shipped from Chicago to the East. There yet remains to be considered the movement of oats, the one grain not yet taken up that is shipped eastward in large quantities. Rye and barley, the other important cereals, are not transported in sufficient amounts to warrant separate treatment. During 1896 the aggregate shipments by lake and rail from Chicago amounted to but 11.112,217 bushels.^ Their movement may be inferred in a general way from the discussion of the transportation of the other grains. At a very earh' date, as will be seen by an examination of Table III, part II, Appendix II, the transportation of oats by rail assumed an important position. During 186_', 1863. 18()1, and 1865 a very large por- tion of the oats carried out of Chicago was taken by the railroads. This was largely due to the exceptional conditions which prevailed. The principal contracts let all over the United States for supplying the armies in the South with oats were filled in Chicago. As a result, the shipment of oats from Chicago during the war increased with surpris- ing rapidity: for the year 1861 they amounted to only 1,492,507 bush- els, while for the last nine months of 1864 and the first three months of 1865 they reached the large total of 15,020,792 bushels. As a natural consequence the railroads leading from Chicago were called upon to transport much of this gi-ain, and as there were no rail- roads running far to the South west of the Mississi])pi, and but a sin- gle road crossing the Ohio River and running to the South through Kentucky, it bet-ame necessary to send commodities to the southeastern points by the roundabout eastern lines. After the war closed the ' New York Produce Exchange, 1874-75, p. 232. - Report of Chica.ijo Board of Trade, 1875, pp. 18, 19. ^ Interual Commerce, 1876, chart No. 3. Xavigation opeued before the 1st of May. ^Report of Chicago Board of Trade, 1896, p. 3. 38 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCP:. movement of oats by rail dimiiiislied somewhat, but very shortly increased at a rapid rate, and in 1873 the shipments by rail greatly exceeded those by lake. From 1873 to 1886 the railroads secured almost the whole traffic, and in some years left but an insignificant amount to the lake carriers. Since the latter year the vessel men have reentered the tield for this business and now obtain a, large portion of it, but the railroads still hold the larger share. The statistics of the movement of oats show that the railroads car- ried a larger j)ro])ortion of this than of other grains. This is surprising, for oats is a commodity of comparatively low value and large bulk, and it is generally held that this class of goods is best adapted to water transportation. The explanations of the larger lail movement of oats are not far to seek; one of them, however, runs counter to long-estab- lished opinion. Oats take ui) moisture more readily than other grains, and as a very small amount will cause oats to become musty and thus unfit for horse feed, it is sometimes found advantageous to ship this grain by rail. But there is another and far more potent cause for the surprisingly large rail movement of oats. It is the lake rates; these are fixed more upon the basis of bulk than ot weight, and as oats is a bulky' product, the freight per hundred pounds is considerably higher than on wheat and corn. Enough oats can not be stowed away in the hold of a ship to secure a cargo equal in weight to that of the san)e ship loaded with wheat, and therefore it is necessary to fix a higher rate ])er hundred pounds upon oats than upon wheat. The grain car, on the other hand, is so large that there is no difficulty in loading it to its full carrying cai)acity with the bulky produ(;t outs, and as a conse([uence the I'ail rates on oats are no more per hundred pounds than those on wheat and corn. The larger lake movement of oats in recent years is perhaps in part explained by the fact that since the agitation for deeper channels began vessels have been constructed, to draw more water when fully loaded than the existing channels would permit. This being tlie situation, nniny vessels, so to sjieak, would have extra cargo room or unoccupied space when transporting heavy conmiodities. These vessels, to a certain extent, would suffer no loss in carrying the bulky product oats, for if they car- ried wheat or corn a part of the hold would remain empty. IH.— THE TOTAL EAST-BOUND TRAKPTC. An almost entire absence of statistics of the grain and tiour trans- ported over the railroads that tap the surplus grain producing regions stretching far out to the south, west, and north of Chicago, makes it wholly impossible to present anything approaching a satisfactory ex- position of the general movement of these commodities. Thus far nearly all the facts we iDossess have been gathered under the direction of the commercial organizations of the cities in which the grain and flour business is centered.- 'The unrabers 32, 56, aud 60 represent, with a fair degree of accuracy, the weights of a like bulk of oats, corn, and wheat, respectively. The measured i)ushel of oats weighs about 32 pounds, that of .shelled corn 56, and that of wheat 60; the measured bushel of oats, however, more frequently exceeds 32 pounds than does that of wheat exceed 60 pounds. Recently theie has been a machine invented for "cli])piug'' oats. By "clipping" the weight of the measured bushel is increased by one-halt to one and one-half pounds. ^The statistics published by these organizations are generally in part based u])on the custom-house records. For the sources of the grain statistics see Appendix II. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 39 While these data are complete enou-ih for many purposes, they are not siitiit'ieutly comprehensive to disclose the characteristics of the general niovenient of the cereals from the interior producing- regions to the consuming districts of the East and South, and to foreign countries. Thus far, our General Government has devoted but little attention to inland commerce; the reports on our internal commerce which have appeared u[> to this time have contained but little statistical matter which had not previously appeared in reports of transportation com- panies, boards of trade, produce exchanges, and chambers of commerce of our great trading centers. 1 shall now attempt to show, but in a somewhat roundabout way, what share of the Hour and grain traffic from the West to the East has fallen to the lakes, and what portion has been secured by the railroads. The tigures which will be given should in no case be wrested from their context. Conditions which obtained at the beginning of the period under consideration no longer exist, and thus the statistics standing by themselves would be very misleading. The transportation of iiour and the chief three cereals — corn, wheat, and oats — will be investigated. In the case of eai'h one of these com- modities, the receipts at the principal eight Atlantic ports will be com- pared with the receipts by water at the chief lower lake ports. If the receipts at the Atlantic ports increased at a more rapid ratio than those of the lake x)orts it may be legitimately inferred, if all circumstances except those of transportation remain unchanged, that the railroads were proving the stronger competitor, and vice versa. The conditions, however, as will be shown as each commodity is considered, have not remained fixed. Attention is first invited to the movement of wheat ; the transportation of tiour will next be taken up. The order of consideration has been imrposely changed, because the movement of flour is partially explained by the circumstances which have alfected the alterations in the ship- ment of wheat. A very large portion of the grain shipped by lake is received at Buffalo and Erie, and therefore the receipts of these two ports may be regarded as fairly representing the lake 'movement.^ Moreover, the relation between the receipts of grain at these ports and the other lower lake ports has not materially changed ; so, for comparative purposes, the amounts received at Bufialo and Erie maybe assumed as reflecting the whole movement by lake. In the comparisons which will be instituted, the total receipts at the lower lake ports by lake have not been used, for the reason that such statistics can not be had except for the census year 1889. The impossibility of securing statistics of the entire movement to and through the Atlantic States and the eastern portion of Canada has forced me to accept the receipts - at the chief centers of the grain and flour business on the Atlantic Seaboard as indicative of the whole move- ment into the regions just mentioned. It thus appears that the value of the comparison turns (1) upon the accuracy with which the lake movement is reflected by the receipts at Buffalo and Erie, and (2) upon the permanence of the proportion existing between the total movement ^Insufficient data make it diffi(). During 1877 the lake ports regained their former position, the receipts being 25,791,491 bushels, while the receipts at the Atlantic ])orts were 4(),8-!8,000 bushels. Thus far the relation existing between the receipts at the lower lake ports and at tidewater on the Atlantic Coast have remained fairly con- stant, although the aggregate receipts have increased api)reciably. A great change took place during the next five j'ears. The ratio between the receipts at the lower lake ports and the Atlantic ports was very much altered ; instead of being about as 1 to 2, the ratio was now about as 1 to 3i; for the live-year period the aggregate stood at 172.0 million and 548.6 million bushels, respectivel3^ For the year 1881 the receipts at the Atlantic ports were more than four times as large as the re- ceipts at Buffalo and Erie. In 1883 there was a partial return to the relations which formerly obtained, and in 18S4 there was a still further change, so that for this year the receipts at the Atlantic ports lacked just a trifle of being double those of the lake ports. For the three succeeding years there was no great change. But in 1888 and in the following year the situation changed so much that for the year 1895 the receipts at Buffalo and Erie almost equaled those of the selected Atlantic ports, the receipts of the former being 49,933,100, and of the latter 49,205,()()0 bushels. This proportion during 1890 was changed somewhat in favor of the Atlantic ports. Thus far nothing but the superficial facts have been presented. These seem to show that the railroads and the lakes maintained a pretty even struggle during the decade beginning with 1868, and that for Ave years STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMEECE 41 thereafter tlie railroads gained a decisive advantage aud tlieu for a lew years waged a stubborn contest, but only to be utterly driven from the held in the years from 188S to 189<3. The facts thus far presented, how- ever, are wholly inadequate for an understanding of the events Avhich have taken place. Conditions have radically changed. The striking fact in the history of wheat growing in the United States during the past thirty years has been the westward and northward movement of the surplus wheat-producing areas.' At the beginning of the jieriod under consideration, ]S"ew York and rcnnsvlvania held iiromiuent places among the wheat-producing States^ and the great wheat raising States were for the most part on the southern shores of the chain of Great Lakes. By the middle of the eighties all this was changed and a large proportion of the surplus wheat grown in the United States was harvested in tiie far Northwest, the Dakotas and Minnesota being the princii)al wheat growing States. The last column of the foregoing table discloses the present importance of these States, two of which produced no sur])lus wheat until the middle of the period under examination. The westward and notth- ward movement of the wheat raising areas has had a very decisive influence in the selection of the agencies emjiloyed in the movement eastward of the grain produced. When the grain to be shipped was raised in Ohio and Indiana and in the southern portions of Michigan and Illinois it was almost sure to go by rail, for in iiearh' all cases shii)- ment by water would involve a short rail haul to the lakes, with its high local rates, and in some cases, after the grain reached the lake, it would be only slightly advanced in its eastward journey by lake ship- ment. Charges of transshipment in the case of the short lake ship- ment would l)e of relatively greater importance than in the case of the larger lake shipment. In the early days the grain grown in the West was produced in regions or carried to places where the railnsads were in a favorable position to compete for it. Most Western wheat found its way to Chicago or Milwaukee. 1 lu speaking of the great wheat-produciug areas, I refer only to the wlieat-growiug regions east of the Kocky Mountains. The shifting of areas is made clear by the following table: Production of wheat. [,000 omitted. 1869. rt 1879. b 1889. c 1895. d State or -rr.„,,. State or j Y\e^,\ Territory. ^^^^'^- Territory. ^'®^''- State or Territory. Yield. State or Territory. Yield. Bmh. Bush. Illinois 30,128 Illinois 51.111 Iowa 29.436 Indiana 47,285 Ohio 27,982 Ohio 46.015 Indiana 27,747 Michigan 35,533 Wisconsin 25,616 Minnesota 34.601 Pennsylvania... 19,673 Iowa 31.154 Minnesota 18,866 Missouri 24,967 Michigan 16,265 Wisconsin 24,8X5 Missouri 14,315 Pennsylvania.. 19,462 KewYork 12.178 Kansas 17,-324 Kentuckv 5. 729 i Nebraska 1,3,847 Kansas 2.390, :NewYork 11,588 Nebraska 2. 125 j Kentucky 11,356 I)ako*a 171 Dakota 2 830 Minnesota Dakotas Illinois Indiana Ohio Kansas Missouri Michigan Pennsylvania.. M'isconsin Kentucky Nebraska New York Bush. 52, 300 40,945 37. 389 37,319 35, 559 30, 399 30,114 24, 771 21, 505 11,699 10, 707 10,571 8. 305 8; 250 Dakotas Minnesota .... Ohio Kansas Pennsylvania - Indiana Illinois Missouri Michigan Kebraska Iowa Kentucky .... Wisconsin KewYork Bush. 90. 319 65, 584 32, 216 22, 919 20. 456 •:o, 294 19. 061 18. 499 15.238 14, 787 13, 655 9,501 8.616 7,301 aKinth Census: Industry and Wealth, p. 83. 6 Tenth Census ; Vol. III! p. 177. cKeport on the Statistics of Agriculture in the United States at the Eleventh Census, p. 16. rf Report of the Cliicago Board of Trade, 1895. p. 182. 42 STATISTICS OF LAKF. COMMERCE From these points the raih-oaMiU's. To Boston 1. 00(1 To Newport News 896 To Baltimore 802 To Norfolk !'8.1 To Philadelphia 822 (Railroad Gazette, Vol. XXIX, No. 13, p. 21.5.) 'From Buffalo and Erie the distance to the s(^aboard ports by the shortest routes is as follows : Miles. • Mile.H. Buffalo to New York 410 Erie to New York 512 Buffalo to Boston 481 Erie to Boston 569 Buffalo to Philadelphia 418 Erie to Philadelphia 506 Buffalo to Baltimore 402 Erie to Baltimore 490 (Ibid., p. 21().) * Eleventh Census: St.itistics of Agriculture; Crop Map No. 13. '" In coniy)aiison with certain rail routes, however, the lake route from the head of Lake Superior does not appear in this favorable light. Either the Duluth, South Shoie and Atlantic, or the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Sault Ste. Marie, in cimnec- tion with the Canadian Pacific, affords a much .shorter line to an ocean port (Mon- treal) than do the lakes and the lailroads to any of our Atlantic ports. These all-rail lines may in the future effectively compete with the lake carriers in the transporta- tion of grain to certain regions. It does not follow because these roads have not done so in the past that they will not do so in the future. The discussion of this point, however, would lead ns too far afield, and therefore it will not now be taken np. STATISTICS OF LAKE COM.>rERGE. 43 following table, coveriiii;- the moveiueiit of wheat tliroiij^h the St. M ary.s Falls Canal: Moreinciil of wlwal. [(00 oinitteil.] Movement throuprli St. Marys Falls Canal. Buahels. 18S0 2. 1(16 1882 ;!.729 1884 11.986 1886 l.'^DOl 1888 !8.r)9(> 1890 l'^. 217 Keceiptsat Buffalo and Erie. , FallSal. «->Erie. usiiels. Bushels. 44,477 1891 a8,817 27.080 1892 .' | 40,995 34, 692 '1893 43,482 42, 57.T 1894 :«. 869 27,805 1895 46,218 2.j.0:i4 1896 63,2,56 83,749 86. 085 71,, 578 52, 450 49, 033- 60, 054 By tlie abov^e table it appears that the movement of \«l]eat through the St, Marys Falls Canal now just about e(iua]s the combined recei])ts of the two prominent lower lake ports — Buffalo and P>ie. Were the receipts of the lower lake ports no larger than the shipuients from the lake ports otlier than those of Lake Sni)erior the receipts of the selected Atlantic ports would have much more than held their own with the receijits of Buffalo and Erie. A comparison upon this basis would be worthless, however, because the whole situation has changed. That the railroads are less able to com])ete with the lake route than formerly can not be inferred from a comparison of the receipts of the lower lake ports and of the Atlantic ports, for the railroads never were competitors for the traftic of the far off region which now produces the bulk of our surj)lus wheat. The existing status of the struggle between the rail- road and the water lines will not be disr) the former were actually largetthan the latter.' This brings us to the maiu considera- 'Tbe subjoined taltle will show the development of tliese two milling districts. Annual production (barreh). fOOO omitted.] |MiB„eapo. Duluth.6 1 Tear. ^'»];!r"' 1 ^"^"t'"' 1878 941 189U 6 089 4'!! 1880 2,052 1882 .... 3 176 189"' 9 751) 1 004 1884 5.S18 1886 . 6 168 189:{ 9.378 870 1894 9 401 'tl8 1888 . 7 0.i7 si" 1895 10 58'' (•■' 078 «Eeport8 of the Trade and Commerce of Minneapolis. b Kepnrts of the Trade and Commerce of Diiliith. cThc (lutput of the Diiliith and We.st Superior mills. (? Flour manufactured at the '■ Head of the Lakes." (Re compiled b.v the Duluth Cliamber of Commerce.) -lew of the Trade and (.'oiiimerce of Duluth, -Movement of , Hour (harreh). [000 omitted.] Tear. Through the canal, a From Min-. neapolis, bv S^l^ rear. 1 tEnfl'a and Sault jthecanal.a Ste. Marie 1 R. R.b [ From Min- neapolis, by Minneapo- lis. St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie R.R.6 1880 524 1891 3 780 1 ''01 1882 1884 1.248 1,759 2,191 3,239 1894 8.966 931 1895 8,90-2 1,368 1896 8,883 ),458 2,111 1888 1890 dofument prepared by Mr. E. S. « Statement of the commerce through the St. Marys Falls Canal, Wheeler, the Government olliccr in charge of the canal. 6 Reports of the Chamber of Commerce of Minneapolis. ■'This fact does not, however, throw discredit npou the method of approachiug the problem of the general east\\ard movement of the several commodities nnder investi<;ation, for the total shipments of flour from Minneapolis by the "Soo" Rail- road are not transshipped to lake vessels. And the receipts at Buffalo and Erie do not reju-esent the total receipts of the lower lake ports as fully as the shipments through the "Soo" Canal, plus the shipments over the "Soo" Railroad, represent the shipments from the upper lake ports. It should also be remembered that at the out- set I disclaimed all intentions of making an exact mathematical demonstration. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 45 tioi). We tin 5 7 1888 4,950 11,813 12. 028 1,912 7,379 6,506 5,441 8,757 25, 293 36 13 145 98 5 1,233 6,222 4,950 11, 813 12,064 1,925 7,524 6,604 5,446 8,990 31, 515 1 n 1 1889 26 2 9 123 13 24 262 ' 1890 1 [ "7 1892 1893 1894. . 18 31 1895 1896 262 PART III. LAKE TRANSPORTATION AND THE IRON-ORE INDUSTRY. In exaininiu.ii- the traffic statistics of the (Ireat Lakes our attention is at ouce arrested by the enormous amount ofiron ore that is annually- transported. During the navigation season of 1897, of the 18,1)82,755 net tons of freight sent through the St. Marys Falls Canal, 10,033, 7]o net tons were iron ore; the total shipments of iron ore by lake from all the lake ports aggregated 13,(581,522 net tons. At present, approxi- mately, two-thirds of the iron ore consumed by the blast furnaces of this country is carried, during some portion of the journey from the mine to the furnace, over the waters of the (Ireat Lakes. That this vast amount of ore from the Lake Superior region has affected the mining operations of the otiier ore-producing districts and has had a far-reaching effect upon the development of our iron and steel industries is a matter of general information. It may be of interest to point out the extent to which the exploitation of tiie mines in other portions of the United States has l)eeu effected by the output from the mines of the Lake Superior region. Before develo[)ing the point Just raised, it will be well, perliaps, to locate in a general way the regions in which large (piantities of ore are now being mined. Iron ore is very widely distributed throughout the United States. With possibly three exceptions every State and Terri- tory in the Union has mined iron ore or contains deposits. But at present nearly the whole product is won from the inines of three districts. The Eastern region, and naturally the first to be noticed, covers a great extent of territory; but the mines of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio have contributed nearly the whole output of this division. Within its borders all four of the varieties' of ore are mined. 'For tfie sake of simplicity I sliall use tlie classification of ores adopted by the TJnited States (Geological Survey, as follows: (1) Red hematite comprises those ores in which the iron occurs as an anhydrous oxide, giving a red streak on a porce- lain plate, the color of the ore being generally a brownish-red or red, although sometimes a dark gray, almost black. This class includes " red hematite," "fossil," or ''Clinton" ores, "specular," "micaceous" ore, "slate" ore, etc., as well as some "martite." (2) Brown hematite, which contains more water than the red hematite, is generally of a brown or yellow color, and when powdered shows a brown or brownish-yellow streak on the porcelain plate. The varieties are known as "limonite," "turgite," "pipe" ore, "bog" ore, "goethite," "oolitic" ore, etc. (3) Magnetite comprises those ores in which iron occurs as a magnetic oxide, generally black or blueblack, or occasionally steel gray or greenish in color, and which when powdered give a black streak on a test i)late, and are attracted by a magnet. In this class is iucluded some "martite,"- which is mined with magnetite. (4) Carbon- ate includes those iron ores which contain an excess of carbonic acid. They are generally gray, yellow, or rather Initf and brown in color, and are tested by the use of hydrocliloric acid. They comprise the "black band" ores, "clay ironstones," "spathic" ores, "siderites," etc. From some mines, brown and red hematite, or red hematite and magnetite, or car- bonate and brown hematite ores are obtained out of the same workings, the extent to which ores are hydrated or weathered transferring them from one class to another ; or different classes of ore are found intermixed or alternating in the same deposit. (John Birkinbine, The Production of Iron Ore in Various parts of the World, p. 177.) 60 STATIISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 61 Pennsylvauia is ricli in allot' the four different kinds of ore, but they seldom contain as bijih a percentage of iron as is now insisted upon by managers of blast furnaces. The bulk of Pennsylvania's product is now of the magnetite variety. This is largely taken from the Cornwall Ore Hills, three hills of iron ore situated in Lebanon County in the southeastern part of the State. This ore is suited to the manufacture of Bessemer steel, but is rather low in metallic iron, as it averages but 40 to 50 per cent. N^ew York also produces the four different varieties of ore, but at present the bulk of the product is magnetite in character and is mined in the Lake Champlain district. Most of this ore is rich in metallic iron and some of it is of Bessemer quality. Very near the whole of the output of the mines of New Jersey is of the magnetite variety, and much of it is of excellent quality. Many mines of this State are now practically exhausted and others are operated only at increas- ing cost lieoause of the depth to which the ore has been removed and the narrowness of the veins.' The ores of Ohio are carbonates and are comparatively poor. The Lake Superior region, unlike the Eastern region, embraces but a small extent of territory. It falls within the northern jiortions of the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota and the Cpper Peninsula of Michi- gan. There are live great iron-ore ranges within this district, Marquette, Gogebic, Menominee, Vermilion, and 31esabi, The Marquette range is located in Michigan; the Gogebic and Menominee are partly in Michi- gan and partly in Wisconsin, and the Vermilion and Mesabi lie wholly within the State of Minnesota. The ores of this region are red and brown hematites and magnetites, but the bulk of the ore now shipj^ed is of the red hematite variety. Only the richer ores are now shipped, as most of the blast furnaces using Lake Superior ores are situated at great distances from the mines. The third great ore region is located in the South, and embraces the central portion of Tennessee, the northern part of Alabama, and north- western Georgia. It is generally known as the Alabama-Tennessee region. This division ranks next in importance to the Lake Superior district as a contributor to the iron-ore output of the United States. Xearly all the ore now mined in this region is red and brown hematite. It is neither so rich in metallic iron nor so free from deleterious ingredients as are the Lake Superior ores. It w^as stated at the beginning that the very large movement of ore from the Lake Superior region has affected mining operations in the other districts. In order to show the amount of ore contributed by the various regions to the total for the United States in a form easily com- prehensible, and also in order more clearly to present the comparative development of the different districts, the figures covering the produc- tion of iron ore in the several regions, and in the L^nited States as a whole, have been put into the form of a chart. As reliable and complete data are not obtainable, it has not been attempted to make the chart cover the years previous to 1880.- As the changes which it is desired to point out have for the most part taken place since 1880, the absence ' Under the leadership of Thomas A. Edison, a company has been organized and a large plant erected for enriching the lean magnetic ores of New Jersey. The results of this enterprise will probably disappoint the investors. For a description of this undertaking see Iron Age, Vol. LX, No. 18, p. 1, and McClure's Magazine, Novem- ber, 1897. - For the census year 1870, the facts are given in Appendix III, Table II, and it is also there explained in what respect the figures of that census are faulty. The items which were combined to form totals that appear in the chart are given in greater detail in the same place. 62 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Long Tcns. Ci --~ <\i O-j '<^h ^ ^ N^ ^ c>, ^ ~-^ ;\i cr, ■«. '^^ ^O CO 00 00 CO 00 CD ^ oo CO 03 o^ o^ ctS o^ ;S ^ 0^ coQo^^^5^^202^co^oo^q)icgo 16.000,000 1 i 1 i / \ / v \ r / / \ 1, 1 / 14,000,000 V\ / / 3 1 1 f f 1 / f C/>\ 1 f -K \ / / ->\ / t m I / / f \ / 12,000,000 / I 1 / / / ■^ / f _^ 10,000,000 / i I / / / / 1 > \ i 1 V i 1 i 8,000,000 t ^ ^J \ \ i f Q • ' ' 1 1 1 / / 1/ / \ \ \ / i »' 6,000,000 11 V \l 1 w / 4.000,000 --. ~~ ■ S/ ~" — - -- />if- !y)b »-£,. "f^w 2,000,000 / /' ^-- / .^ ^ ^ , ^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ / ^^ ■ ^ i> ^- ' '' ^^„ »^ ,■ \, > ^. f' >■ ^ ^ ,' *^ ^ ^' •^ ,-■ -"-*■' ,/Mp ORTA rjON V '\ -'' *'*» ^^ ^, ,-'-' \ "■* ''' STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 63 of statistics for the earlier years is a matter of but little concern. But the meagerness of information concerning the production of iron ore during the decade beginning with the year 1880 is cause for regret, for it was during this period that the greatest changes o(;curred in the relative importance of the ore regions. It will be noted that during the lirst ten years there is perfect uniformity of movement in the lines which represent the total production for the United States, and those for the Eastern and Southern divisions. These lines do not accurately reflect actual conditions — the statistics that show the production dur- ing the years intervening between 1880 and 1889 are not obtainable. Such facts as can be obtained are given in Appendix III, Table II. That the importance of the Lake Superior region can not easily be overestimated is made clear by the chart; from a comparatively unim- portant position it has, in the course of a decade and a half, come to contribute almost twice as much ore as all the other parts of the United States combined. In the census year 1880 the total production tor the United States was 7,120,362 long toi^s; to this amount the lalie region contributed but 1,077,814 tons, or 23.0 per cent of the tbtal output. During the year 1800 10,005.449 long tons of ore were mined in the United States, and of this amount 10,o6(),359 tons, or 00 per cent, were taken from the ihines of the lake region. The bare figures without further explanations do not, however, fully reflect the importance of the northern district, for Lake Superior ores are very much richer in iron than the ores of the other regions. If the quality as well as the quantity of the ore be taken into consideration, the lake region is enti- tled to even a more important position thaji would be assigned to it on a simple tonnage basis of comparison. ^'y iinUflO In striking contrast with the increased production of the lake region is the rapid decrease in the amount contributed by the great mining- States of the eastern region. During the census year 1880 the mines of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio yielded 4,243,372 long tons of ore, the total product of the United States being but 7,120,362 tons. The production of these States fell off slowly in the years follow- ing 1880, but after 1889 the decrease was rapid and continuous until 1895, when there vras a break in the downward movement. The share of these four States in the total output of 16,005,449 long tons for 1896 was but 1,450,740 tons. Expressed in percentages, there was raised from the mines of these States during the census year 1880 59.59 per cent of the total product of the mines of the United States, and in 1890 but 9.10 per cent — an enormous ialling off'. This very great contrac- tion ^ of the product of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio is the more surprising because most of the blast furnaces of the United States are located within their boundaries. The output of the southern district has largely increased during the period covered by the chart, but the progress of this region has been much slower than that of the lake division. The southern district is in large measure isolated; its ores are not thrown into direct compe- tition with the lake ores, as is the case with the eastern ores, for trans- portation charges act as a barrier and prevent such comjietition. The ' The ores of the eastern region must also meet the competition of foreign ores. There has been, however, no large increase in importations, hence the decreased output of the eastern region can not in any appreciable measure be ascribed to for- eign competition. During the past few years there has been a decrease of importa- tions. It is therefore very clear that the excessive competition of imported ores does not explain the limited output of the eastern mines. Beginning with the year 1872 the importations will be found in Appendix III, Table II; they are also repre- sented by the lowest line of the chart for the years which it covers!! 64 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. extent of the substitution of lake ores for eastern ores is shown by the chart (p. 62). It yet remains to be shown why the former ores are i^re- ferred to the latter, and how it is possible to carry ores from the mines of Minnesota to the furnaces of Pennsylvania and sell them at such a price that they will be taken in preference to native ores. Lake Supe- rior ores are now transported almost to the Atlantic Seaboard' and there sold in competition with both native and foreign ores.- That lake ores have qualities which commend them to ironmasters is obvious. The high esteem in which they are held is due ]\nrtly to their great richness in metallic iron, largely to their freedom from deleterious ingredients, particularly phosphorus and suli)hur, and to some extent to their excellent physical condition and freedom from moisture. All of these factors weigh in determining the value of an iron ore. In general a rich ore requires less fuel to smelt it; it also has less for- eign matter to be tiuxed out, and thus a smaller amount of limestone will suffice for fluxing. If a rich ore be used there is therefore a three- fold saving: (1) Because an ore rich in metallic iron generally reduces more readily than a lean ore: (-) as less limestone is necessary, a smaller amount of fuel will be needed to smelt the flux, and (3) there is a saving of fluxing material which, in the case of a large establish- ment, amounts to a considerable sum in the course of a year. With rich ores, as less flux and fuel are required, the labor cost of handling the raw materials is smaller, and as less cinder is made, the expense of providing space for this cinder and means for handling it is con- sequently reduced. The richer ores, together with the proper quan- tities of fuel and tlux, occupy less space in the blast furnace than the leaner ores combined with the fuel and flux required to reduce them, and therefore generally permit of more rai)id " driving." In the case of the richer ores there is, therefore, a smaller cost per ton of product, for interest on the plant, management, and other fixed charges, because these expenses are distributed over a greater tonnage than would be the case if lean ores were used. Other things being equal, the snjaller the amount of phosphorus sul- phur and titanic acid and other undesirable substances ■ which the ore contains, the greater will be its value. If an ore contains more than one part phosphorus^ to every one thousand parts metallic iron, it is unfit for the manufacture of steel by what is now the cheapest method — 'The blast furnaces in New Jersey aud eastern Pennsylvania receive a portion of their supply of ore from the Lake Superior region. (See Eleventh Census : Mineral Industries, p. 26; and The Production of Iron Ores in Various Parts of the World, p. 188.) -The ability of foreign ores to compete is of course aiiected by the import duties paid. Previous to August 28, 1894, the duty was 75 cents per ton, and under the tariff act of 1894 it was 40 cents ; in the tariff act of 1897 the rate appears unchanged. 3 "As won from the earth iron ores carry in greater or less proportions other ele- ments, such as phosphorus, sulphur, manganese, titanium, chromium, copper, etc., which affect their value for specific uses, as do also the amounts of silica, lime, alumina, magnesia, etc. ; these latter, however, generally influence the percentage of metal obtainable from the ore, while the first named, as a rule, are more likely to affect its quality." (John Birkinbine, The Manufacture of Pig Iron in Pennsyl- vania, p. 2.) It should not be understood that these substances are always injurious, for such is not the case. For instance, if the iron produced is to be used for' foundry purposes, silica is not harmful if great strength is not desired; in fact, quite the contrary is true, for the silica gives the iron greater fluidity, thus making it a better casting iron. ■» There is now a tendency to insist on a still lower percentage of phosphorus: late specifications for steel rails do not accept 0.1 of 1 per cent x'hosphoriis, but demand 0.085 of 1 per cent phosphorus. Specifications for structural steel also insist upon less phosphorus than formerly. STATISTICS OF LAKK COMMERCE. 65 the original or acid Bessemer ])rocess. This is a very damaging- dis- qualification, for at present the owners of the Bessemer steel works are the largest purchasers ' of iron ore, and pay the highest prices. Yet another important condition is to be added; not only must the amount of phosphorns in tlie ore be small, but it must be uniformly distributed; otherwise, m case the Bessemer converter be used, the steel manufactured from the ore will vary in quality with every dis- charge of the blast fnrnace.^ This is the case, because practically all of the phosphorus in the ore goes into the pig iron, and is not removed from it by the ordinary Bessemer converter. To make the matter per- fectly clear an illustration may be given. Snppose that the quantity of phosphorus in the ore as it comes from tlie mine shows rather large variations, but that the average of phosphorus falls below the Bessemer limit. Also suppose that the charges of the furnace to which the ore is brought vary in the amount of phos})horus they (contain, some being very low and others very high in phosphorus content. Such being the case, the steel produced from the iron resulting from the charges very low in phosphorus will contain but little of this element, the steel from the charges high in phos])horus will contain a very large amount, and it will, therefore, be unlit for the higher uses to which the steel is put. This difficulty can, in a measure, be obviated by frequently testing the ore and then mixing it in proper proportions, but this involves expense. Favorable physical texture and freedom trom moisture, the two re- maining characteristics of first-class ore, are also important considera- tions. If ore be ver}" hard and dense, and if it be introduced in large masses, it is not readily penetrated by the reducing gases of the fur- nace. Hard ores, therefore, require more fuel and care to smelt them. To break hard ores with a sledge, as was formerly done, was very slow and heavy Avork. Manual labor has now been sui^erseded by heavy machines, which crush the ore at slight expense, and thus the objections that once weighed against the hard ores have lost much of their force. Finely divided ores are also difficult to reduce. They pack and form such impenetrable masses in the furnace that they are acted upon very slowly by the gases. The very finely comminuted ores are also blown out of the fnrnaces in large quantities by the strong blasts that are now used, and in some cases these ores have caused serious explosions. Moisture is objectionable for two reasons: It increases the weight of the ore and therefore the freight, and in general there is at every point 'The extent and growing importance of the demand for Bessemer ores is indicated by the following percentages, which give the proportion of Bessemer pig iron to the total pig-iron prodnct of the United States: Per cent. ! Per oeut. i Per ceut. 1889 41.4 1892 48. Ti ' 1895 59.5 1890 44.5 1898 50.9 i 1896 53.9 1891 41.9 I 1894 57.2 | "As some iron ores not within the Bessemer limit of phosphorus were used in admixture with low phosphorns ores in the production of IJessemer -pig iron, and as many of the ores used for producing foundry and mill irons carry lower percentages of metal than those smelted in the production of Bessemer pig iron, the proportion of Bessemer ore will not bo so great as that shown for the pig metal, but the i)er- centages are .sufficiently close to indicate the growing increase in the employment of such material." (John Birkinbine, Production of Iron Ores iu 1895, p. 8.) The i)ercentage for 1896 was deduced from the statistics of production as given iu the Bulletin of American Iron and Steel Association, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, p. 21. -For the information of those who are unacquainted with tlie manufacture of steel it may be stated that the iron ore is reduced to met;il in the blast furnace, and then placed in the Bessemer converter and changed to steel. H. Doc. 277 5 66 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. a iHoiitless expenditure of energy in handling it. It also requires heat to expel it from the blast furnace, which means an increasetl consump- tion of fuel. As was stated above, the lake ores find favor with ironmasters, because they possess in a very high degree the four essential (lualities of a good iron ore. That a definite conception of the relative standing of the ores of the various districts may be formed, the results of the be^it analyses we have will be submitted. The results of the very numerous analyses made by Prof. IJaphael Pumpelly of the ores mined in the census year 1880 will first be given. In some localities the char- acter of the ore mined has changed considerably since his examina- tions were made. For these localities the necessary corrections will be made so as to show existing conditions. The following is a i)ortiou of Professor Pumpelly's table sliowing the average per cent of metallic iron in the ore mined during the census year 1880: ' Eastern region : New York 53. 99 Ntw Jersey 53. 73 Pennsylvania 15. 28 Ohio.! 38.62 Southern region : Alabama 50. 67 Tennessee 50. 59 Georgia 51. 37 Lake Sujierior region : Michigan 59.57 Minnesota (-) Wisconsin ^'52. 56 There has been no great change in the iron contents of the ores mined in the eastern region, yet some of the best deposits have been exhausted. Hence, if a test were now made, the ores of this district would not appear in so favorable a light as they did in 1880. It is being found necessary to an increasing extent to improve ores by washing, jigging,^ and by the use of magnetic separators. There has been even a greater change since 1880 in the quality of the Southern ores. The average yield of the ores used by the blast furnaces of Alabama during the last census year was 44.4 per cent.'' The Clinton fossil ores (red hematite), which now constitute the bulk of the ore rained in this district, yield on an average from 42 to 47 per cent of metallic iron. The Southern brown hematites are not so good as the Clinton ores; if properly washed, however, they yield from 45 to 50 per cent of iron." The lake ores are somewhat better in quality than those mined in 1880. In the opinion of David T. Day, special agent on the mineral resources of the United States for the Eleventh Census, the ores which were .shipped to distant furnaces contained on the average GO per cent of metallic iron. The ores which were consumed in furnaces near at band averaged 58 per cent of iron; but as these were relatively unim- portant, the average of GO per cent was not much reduced. Since Mr. 1 Tenth Census : Mining Industries, p. 19. The census year began June 1, 1879, and ended May 31, 1880. ~ Minnesota did not become a producer of iron ore until the year 1884. ^Wisconsin's uiiuiug operations were wholly carried on in a different part of the State from where they now are, so that the tigures for this State are quite mean- ingless. * In jigging, the crushed ore is agitated in a jigger, water being introduced for the removal from the ore of sand, clay, and earthy matter. ^ Eleventh Census : Mineral Industries, p. 11. 'The Production of Iron Ores in ^'arious Parts of the World, p. 23. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 67 Day made bis report the output of the A^ermiliou rauge has beeu ai)pre- ciably iucreased, and the Mesabi has suddenly sprun.i;- into prouiiueuce as a producer of iron ore. The latter now holds tirst place among the ranges. As the ores which are shipjied from these ranges are richer in iron than those of the older ranges, the census figures are now, perhaps, a trifle too low. Mr. Franklin H. Head, an authority on the ores of the lake district, sujjports me on this point. In a recent letter he says: " I think a fair average of the ores shipped would yield in the furnace 62 tons of iron to each 100 tons of ore." Unfortunately, it is impossible to give equally exact information cou- ceruing the impurities in the ores of the several districts as has been given of the iron contents. Perhaps less than one fourth of the ore of the Eastern district can be classed as Bessemer; much of it contains large amounts of sulphur, and some of it carries a small amount of copper, and some of it has considerable qnantities of titanium. The ore of the great Cornwall deposits contains on the average about 2.5 per cent of sulphur, and requires preliminary roasting in kilns to drive off a portion of this and an excess of lime in the blast furnace to elimi- nate the balance. About one-half of the sulphur is removed by the roasting, which costs about 20 cents per ton for fuel and handling. This ore also contains a small amount of copper, but still large enough to be troublesome in some subsequent metallurgical processes. Many of the ores of jSTew York contain titanium. In reducing these ores, greater care must be exercised in fluxing. The furnace must also be run under special conditions of temperature and pressure of blast, otherwise titanium deposits will form in the furnace. This special con- dition of lower heat, considered more favorable to the smelting of these ores, requires more fuel. These disadvantages have prejudiced furnace managers against ores containing titanium. In many cases the physical condition of the eastern ores is against them. The magnetites of New York and New -Jersey are very refrac- tory: they are not easily penetrated by the reducing gases of the fur- nace, because of their great density. Furnace managers assert that they require more fuel and care to smelt them, and therefore, other things being equal, they prefer the softer hematites of the lake region. It is no longer found profitable to mine carbonate ores, for they must be roasted to drive off <'arbouic acid before they can be charged into the furnace. The cost of mining is also excessive, as they generally occur in thin seams or in scattered dej^osits. The southern ores are non-Bessemer in quality; they are either too high in phosphorus, or else this element is very unequally distributed. An exception to this statement is the Cranberry ore of western North Carolina. Other ores of the same general characteristics are thought to exist in the same part of the State and in Boan Mountain, of eastern Tennessee, and possibly in the northwestern part of South Carolina. With these exceptions no extensive deposits of low-phosphorus ores are known in any southern State. The southern ores generally contain considerable quantities of sulphur, and the percentage of silica and lime varies greatlj'. Most of the ores of the lake region are low in phosphorus, and thus the larger portion of them is of Bessemer quality. The percentage of Bessemer ores for the whole lake region is depressed by the contribu- tions of the ^lenominee range, which produces mainly non-Bessemer ores. The lake ores are very free from sulphur, and generally contain no titanic acid. Furnace managers have experienced difBculty with Mesabi ores because of their flnelv comminuted state; but this trouble 68 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. may be considered as temporary in character, for the blaot-furnace managers may be relied upon to modify their furnaces and methods in such a manner as will enable them to use the large and v^aluable deposits of this range. However, it must be said that, after four years of experimentation, in which large sums of money have been spent, furnace masters are unable to use more than about 45 per cent of Mesabi ore in their principal mixtures. Some of the lake ores carry considerable moisture, and the average amount of water in the ores mined in the lake region is greater than in the ores of the eastern district and about equal to that in the ores of the southern region.' It has been seen to what extent the lake ores have supplanted the eastern ores. I have also shown why the lake ores are preferred by the ironmasters of the East to the ores mined nearer to their furnaces. Among the reasons for this preference are also found the facts which make it desirable to move the ore. There then remains to explain the peculiar combination of conditions which renders it i)ossible to mine and transport these ores almost half way across the continent and yet sell them at such prices that they are taken in preference to the native ores. It is obvious that in order to be available the ore must be found in favorable conditions; it usually occurs in large deposits rather than in narrow and irregular veins of varying dei)th. As a result it can be more cheaply mined, for labor-saving machinery can be used', and there is also much less waste material to be handled. The great extent of the deposits permits large production and its incidental economies. The steam shovel is an example in point; it is employed to dig and load ore from open cuts and to load ore on cars from stock piles. During one day in the summer of 1896 three steam shovels, working fourteen hours each, dug and raised from the natural bed of the Oliver mine of the Mesabi range 1(),7(K) gross tons or 428 cars of ore. Twenty five- ton ore cars have been continuously loaded from the ore bed at the rate of two and one-half minutes per car; the largest shovel' has loaded as much as 5,825 tons, or 233 cars in a day of 10 hours. It is estimated that the average cost of loading the ore into cars from the bed of this mine is considerably less than five cents per ton. Before the shovel could be put to work on the ore it was necessary to remove a considerable amount of drift; but this expense, if averaged on all the 1 An accurate conception of the character of some of the ores of the Lake Superior region can be obtained from the subjoined table, which contains complete analyses of cargo samples of grades of ore taken from some of the largest producing mines of this region : [The Iron Mines of Minnesota, prepared for the seventy-third meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.] Xame of mine. Range. Iron. SQica. Phos- phor- us. Man- ga- nese. Sul- phur. Alum. Lime. Mag. ne- ' slum. Moist- ure. Minnesota Chandler Vermilion .... do . .. 67.74 1.55 64.70 4.26 65.48 3.17 63.31 ' 4.53 fi?; on a /in 0. 048 .036 .034 .053 inn None. 0.13 .49 None. Trace: 0.006 0.90 1.37 1.43 2.10 2.10 .48 1 74 0.27 .33 .56 .20 .26 1.10 .19 0.12 .10 .20 .047 .024 1.35 .13 2.00 5 79 Burt Mesabi .. ..do .... 8 97 Oliver Lake Superior No 1 .23 1 .013 .19 .003 .34 1 017 1 15 Pewabic Jforrie Menominee... 64.36 3.85 .009 Gogebic fi.'? is .^ fi9 ! nil 6.46 9 86 2 This shovel is mounted on extra heavy railroad car trucks of standard gauge. It weighs 90 tons, has hoisting engines of 200 horsepower, and is equipped with a dipper having a capacity of 24 cubic yards, and will load five or six tons at each swing. STATISTICS OF LAKP: COMMERCE. 69 ore wliicli can be secured from the mine, would not exceed 5 cents per ton, and in all probability would be much less. The cost of strij^ping and of raising- the ore i)ractically represents the cost of mining this deposit, and these items combined aggregate less than 10 cents per gross ton.^ {Specialized transportation facilities have been a most important fac- tor in enabling the ore of the Lake Superior region to compete at dis- tant ]Joints. Several ore roads ' equipped with cars designed for the ore traflic have been constructed.' and expensive terminals have been built. At the shipping ports these consist of docks built as high as oTf feet above the water, and so constructed that the ore trains can be run out upon.them.^ The docks are equipped with pockets having a capac- ity of from 65 to 18 miles distant. The mines of the Minnesota ranges are still farther removed from the lake, the Tower Mines of the Vermilion range being 69 miles from the shipping ])ort of Two Harbors, and those at Ely about 20 miles farther removed. The ores of the Mesabi are carried about the same dis- tances as those of the Vermilion range. Two Harbors and Duluth, Minn., and Suj)e- rior, Wis., are the shipping ports of this range. ■'For the transportation of the ores of Minnesota, over 400 miles of standard-gauge railroad have been constructed through what was a trackless wilderness ten years ago. For a statement of the equipment of these railroads, see Appendix III, Table VIII. In 1896 the ore roads of the old ranges were increased in uumlter by the com- pletion of the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railway. The dock of this company is at Presque Isle, 3 miles north of Marquette Harbor proper. During 1897 this road hauled about 1,100,000 tons of ore. ••There are now on Lakes Michigan and Superior 21 of these docks, having a total of 4,43s pockets, with a combined storage capacity of 617,250 gross tons, erected at a cost of about $6,800,000. They are located as follows : 5 at Two Harbors, 2 at Duluth. 1 at Superior, 3 at Ashland, 4 at Marquette, 5 at Escanaba, and 1 at Gladstone. For particulars about these docks, see Appendix III, Table VII. 70 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. directly info cars and carried by railroad to furnaces located from GO to 475 miles from Lake Erie ports. Thus far attention has been directed merely to the labor which is economized by the improved docks that have been constructed. But these docks are also partially responsible for the very low transporta- tion charges that prevail. Instead of losing- days in loading and unloading, as was once the case, but a few hours are now lost. Vessels lose almost no time at all at the docks; it is almost literally true that they are constantly going or coming. With the finely comminuted ores of the Mesabi range, which do not run so rapidly from the pocket down the chutes as the hard and lumpy ores, vessels can be loaded in seventy minutes with l*,500 tons of ore.' At Two Harbors 3,02S tons of hard ore were loaded in seventy minutes; vessels frequently load and depart with a cargo of .'},5()0 to 4,000 tons within two hours of the tinu' they reach port. There is also great expedition in the unloading of vessels. With the a])pliances possessed by the best docks, the largest vessels have been unloaded in twelve to fourteen hours.- At the new dock at Conneaut, which is to be operated in connection with the Bessemer Steamship Company's fleet and the Pittsburg, Bes- semer and Lake Erie Bailroad, it is confidently expected the largest vess(!ls.will be unloaded regularly in ten hours, and it is hoped that iu all but special cases the time will be reduced to seven hours. The new plant is eiiuipped with 12 legs, one for each hatch of the vessel. When all the legs are at work, it is hoi)ed the capacity of the plant will be between !M)0 and 1,000 tons per lionr; and if this speed is attained ves- sels of the 6,000-ton type can be unloaded in less than seven hours. It is perhaps unnecessary to direct attention to the fact that a vessel's daily expenses are almost as large while in port as during passage, and therefore that dispatch in loading and uidoading means a large saving. Of course, there is i^ractically no expense for fuel while the vessel is iu port, but this is the only item of importance which is materially reduced, and it is not of so great importance as is usually imagined — this item, e. g., being only 28 per cent of the total cost of running the ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company.' It would be less for lake vessels. Xot only has the volume of the business in iron ores warranted the expenditure of large sums on terminal facilities, but also the expendi- ture of even larger amounts on the instruments of trans])ortation. Ves- sels of great size and of special design have been constructed for this trade. The entire storage space of the new ships is usually divided by five bulkheads into four large holds extending from the water bottom to the shelter deck. This permits economical handling and trimming 'The dispatch with which vessels are now loaded will, perhaps, be better appreci- ated if comparison is made with the crude methods which once prevailed. In the early days on the Marquette ran o;e the ore was conveyed from the mines in wagons and dumjjed on a dock. From the dock the ore w^as transferred to the ship by the ship's crew. After a time a traniroad wiis built on which the cars were drawn out upon the dock by mules, where the ore was dumped upon an apron, from which it could easily be loaded onto the ship. In this apron we have the rudimentary pocket. It was not long after the construction of this road that the pockets, which are now such an important adjunct of the docks, made their appearance in an experimental way. Witli the constrmtion of the railroad from the mines of the Marquette range to the shipping port of the same name the system of handling ore which now obtains was perfected. ^ This represents a vast improvement over the primitive methods which were in vogue until twelve or thirteen years ago. Formerly the ore was lifted from the hold in buckets by horse power, dumped into wheelbarrows, wheeled back on the dock, and emptied on the stock pile. 'Report of Commissioner of Navigation, 1894, p. 25. STATISTICS OP LAKE COMMERCE. 71 of cargo. The strength usiuvll}- obtained by transverse bulkheads is, in the main, secured by deck beams, extra shell plating, stanchions, and intercostals. Several of the iron ore companies have brii^t fleets adapted to the requirements of the ore business. The Bessemer^team- ship Company has a fleet of nine large steamers and nine bargesv all of recent design and construction. These vessels have an aggregate gross tonnage of 58,5-5 tons and a total net registered tonnag^ of 48,020 tons, and have an actual carrying capacity of 71),400 gross t\us on a mean draft of 16 feet and 10 inches. The Minnesota Steamship Company has a lleet capable of carrying 52,450 gross tons per trip qu a draft of 17 feet.^ It was estimated that the floating equipment on the Great Lak^s January 1, 1896, employed primarily in the transportation of ore, had a value of $46,680,207,- and it has since been largely increased. The ores of the Lake Superior region have (lualities that render them very valuable to the iron masters of the iron and steel producing districts of the Eastern States, and therefore it bei-omes desirable to move them. It is the perfection of the transportation facilities that renders this possible. Effective terminal facilities, together with efficient instru- ments of carriage, have made possible the very low freight rates that have prevailed and without which the ore could not be moved. During the navigation season of 1806 large quantities of ore were carried from the head of Lake Superior to the lower lake ports, a distance of 889 statute miles, ' for 60 cents per gross ton, which is equivalent to a ton- mile charge of but 0.67 of a mill.^ This rate, although very low, was much reduced during the summer of 1897, the rate being but 50 cents for some weeks. This rate is equal to but 0.56 of a niill. When it is remembered that a ton mile charge of 3 mills on railroads is regarded as something exceptional, it will be realized how very low the lake rates on iron ore are. Mr. Carnegie states that the directors of the new mineral road between Conneaut, on Lake Erie, and Pittsburg hope to reduce the cost of hauling ore and coal below 3 mills per ton.'^ If lake rates were as high as rail rates the ore of Minnesota could not be moved. When it is known that the price of red hematites of Besse- iln the subjoined table the enieiits from tliis range for commercial jmrposes did not begin until 1853. See Mineral Resources i if the T'nitcd States (189l>. p. 49. Tlie shipments previous to 1854 are given in Mineral Resources of tlie Tnitid Statis (1889 and 1890), p. 27; for the years 18,54 to 1886, ibid. (1886). p. 15: for 1887 and 18.88, iliid. (l-isg). p. 17: for 1889 to 1893, ibid. (1892), p. 38 : for the years 1893 to 1896, Blue Book of American Shipping (1897^ p. 118; for the year 1897, Mr. A. I. Findlev, editor of The Iron Trade Review. 1 Iron Age, Vol. LVII, No. 2, p. 155. 2 Jbid., Vol. LVII, No. 22, p. 126.3, and VoL LVIII, No. 13, p. 595. In 1894 Bessemer standard ores sold for $2.C5 per ton and nou-Iiessemer for $2 per ton at lower lake ports. (Ibid., Vol. LVII, No. 1, p. 24.) "'The prices of some of the standard lake ores in 1897 delivered at Lake Erie ports were as follows: Minnesota hard ore, cnislied $3. 11 Chandler 2. 92^ Norrie 2. 65 Lake Anjreline, haid oro 3. 46 Burt Mine, Mesabi 2. 65 Chapin 2. 40 Red hematites, non-Bessemer quality .$2. 00 to 2. 50 ^ There is no likelihood that the ores of this region will be .speedily exhausted. Mr. John Birkiubine says of the Mesabi: "No other iron range thus far discovered pos- STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Taisle II. 73 Production of iron ore in the lake districts of the several States of the Lake Superior region, in the lake region as a whole, in the United States, and importations into the United States. I Loiij; toDS.] Tear. Michigan. Michigan. Lake dis- trict of Minnesota. Wisconsin. Total for the Lake Su- perior region. Total for the United States. Importa- tions. Unknown 91 850 18J5 1,449 6.790 1 i "" ' 25, 646 22, 876 68, 832 114,401 114,258 124, 169 203, 055 247, 059 193, 758 1858 221876 68. 832 114,401 49, 909 124, 169 203, 055 243, 137 187, 106 288, 806 457, 642 510, 522 629, 532 861,403 813, 379 952, 077 22, 876 1860 114 401 2, 873, 459 1861 114,258 186H 203 055 ■ 247, 059 193, 758 1865 1867 465 504 465, 504 510, 522 639, 097 859, 507 813,984 948, .553 1, 195, 234 935, 488 910, 840 993, 311 1, 025. 129 1,125,093 1.414,182 510. .-i22 639 097 1869 1870 859,507 : 813,984 948, 553 3,031,1^91 1872 27, 000 1, 195, 234 935, 488 910, .S40 993,311 1. 025. 129 1, 125, 093 1, 414, 182 1874 69, 000 4, 500, 000 83, 000 26, 000 42, 000 29, 000 284, 141 1876 1877 1878 1879 ^ 2,123,404 197,911 2, 672. 287 ' 276, 020 2,518,048 62,175 2,225,148 34.612 2.203,599 ! 55,181 3, 175, 959 i 150, 294 3,933,681 i 400,104 4,113,803 t 381,140 5, 856, 169 798, 937 7, 141,656 ! 549,359 6,127,001 1 910,465 J 2,321,315 j 7,974,000 : 782,887 2 948 307 1 9 744 000 ' 589 655 1882 1883 1884 1 885 1886 •;■;;;;• 62,' 122' 227, 075 307, 948 3'.U. 910 511,953 804, 508 891.910 945, 105 1,255,465 1, 499, 927 2, 968, 403 3, 806, 453 4, 283, 880 2.580!223 1...'....'..... 2. 321, 882 1 8, 550, 330 2, 485, 855 1 7, 600, 000 3,034.201 4.728,695 490, 875 487, 820 390, 786 1, 039, 433 1,194,301 1887 1889 1890 1891 7, 519. 6U U,M8,041 8. 941,o:;i Ki (i:;r,, 043 7,621, ((;.-. 14, .-.1)1. 178 9,.m;i.::,-s n; "k-. fififi 853, 573 1,246,830 912 804 806, 585 1894 1895 1896 '.'..'......'... 4. 668, 324 4,419,074 5,812,444 5, 700, 736 420, 367 305, Oil 590, 081 575, 743 6. .V.u.ci.- io; 2os; iIts 10, 566. 359 11..-.S7.629 ll.sTit. 679 15. 957. 614 16, 005, 449 526, 951 167, 307 524,153 682, 806 I'p to the cen.su8 year 1880 tlie .statistics given iu the census reports coveriug the production of iron ore iu the United States, and those of the production iu the sev- eral States iu particular, are very unsatisfactory. For the reports of 1850, I860, and 1870 tlie .statistics of production were very largely obtained from the statements made by the luauagers of the various blast furnaces as to the amount of ore con- sumed.' The tables do not specify in what States the ore was produced, but merely give the amounts reported as being consumed by the blast furnaces. This being the case, in giving the production of the States in the early years I have used, sesses greater apparent reserves. Conservative estimates formulated from the rec- ords of properties now exploited and worked, together with others determined by systematic explorations and analyses, show that the Mesabi range can supply ore (which will equal in average iron and phosphorous contents) double the quantity (or 200,000,000 gross tons) wliich the entire Lake Superior regiou has produced in iifty years. In this estimate there are not included n number of properties which have been imperfectly explored."' (The Production of Iron Ores in 1895, p. 16.) Since Mr. Birkinbine wrote many new deposits have been explored and his estimates must now be regarded as falling far short of the amount of ore this range contains. 74 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. ■wherever it has been possible, the statistics giveu in Mineral Resonrces of the United States, as they seemed the more reliable. The census flgnres for 1880 appear to be accurate, and as it was necessary to use them in some cases they iire given in all cases where they occur. The only objection to them is the fact that thc'y are not for the calendar year. These tigures are here inclosed in brackets. It is to be remembered that tlie census year 18X0 ended May 31, 1880. In otht^r cases, unless otherwise stated, the year here referred to is the calendar year. The figures of the column headed "Total for the United States" were obtained from the following sources: For the year 1860, Eighth Census, Manufactures, p. clxsvii; for 1870, Ninth Census. Industry and Wealth, p. 768; for 1875, Tenth Census, Mining Industries, p. 33; for 1880. Eleventh Census, Mineral Industries, p. 12; for 1881, 1882, and 1884. Tenth Census. Mining Industries, p. 33; for 1885, Mineral Resources of the United States (1S85), p. 188, and for 188!) and the succeeding years down to 1896, The Production of Iron Ores in the United States (1895), p. 10. The statement for 1896 was obtained from The Production of Iron Ores in 1896, by .John Berkinbine, p. 23. In some cases short tons have been converted into long tons. The compilers of the Ninth Census think the production of 1870 as given is underestimated l)y about eight or nine hundred thousand tons (Ninth Census, Industry and Wealth, p. 749). For the years 1X75 and 1881 the amounts given are estimates made by Mr. I. Lowthian Bell, and the amounts given for 1882, 1884, and 1885 are estimates made by Mr. .James M. Swank, general manager of the American Iron and Steel Association. The figures of im])ortation into the United States from 1872 to 1891 were obtained from Mineral Resources of the United States (1891). p. 41; from 1892 to 1894, from The Production of Iron Ores in Various Parts of the World, p. 19S; for 1895, from The Production of Iron Ores in the United States, p. 25, and for 1896 The Production of Iron Ores in 1896, by John Berkinbine, p. 26. In giving the production of the States forming the lake region it was thought best to include only the ore mined within this region: Wisconsin's product is therefore somewhat less than that usually reported for the State. The figures of production up to 1889 were obtained from 5lineral Resources (1889 and 1890), p. 30, and since 1889, by assigning to Wisconsin the difference between the total output of the Lake Superior region and the com])ined output of Michigan and Minnesota. Michigan's output, as it appears in the first column, is given in the Geological Survey of Michi- gan (1869-1873), Vol. I, Part I, Atlas Plate 12. It is not contended that these figures are exact. To some suuill extent the figures of the second column are of my own deduction. Up to the time when Wisconsin became a jiroducer I have given Michi- gan credit for the total yield of the Lake Superior region. In Mineral Resources (1883), p. 116, it is statect that the total output for the lake region for 1856 and the previous years was 86,319 gross tons; this might also be placed in the second col- umn. It will be noted that this amount does not correspond with the first column. From 1880 to 1889 the difference between the total amount mined in the lake region and the combined f»utput of Minnesota and Wisconsin is assigned to Michigan. Since 1889 it is given as reported in The Production of Iron Ores in the United States (1895), p. 10; for 1896 see The Production of Iron Ores in 1896, by John Birkinbine, p. 23. No ore was raised in \Viscon8in from the mines of the lake region up to the close of the census year 1880; there was, however, some ore mined in this district during the calendar year 1880. For Wisconsin's output from 1880 to 1888 see Mineral Resources (1889 and 1890), p. 31. Since 188S that portion of the total production of the lake region not belonging to either Michigan or Minnesota has been assigned to Wisconsin. For Minnesota's vield of ore from 1884 to 1888 see Mineral Resources (1889 and 1890), p. 31, and fr()m'l888 to 1895, The Production of Iron Ores in the United States (1895), p. 10; and for 1896, The Production of Iron Ores in 1896, by John Birkinbine, p. 23. Down to 1882 the figures for the production of the lake region as a whole were taken from Mineral Resources (1883), p. 116; for the years from 1883 to 1888 the figures are those of Mineral Resources (1891), p. 38; for the years 1888 to 1894, Pro- duction of Iron Ores in Various Parts of the World (1894), p. 195; for the produc- tion of 1895, The Production of Iron Ores in the United States (1895), p. 12; and for the production of 1896, The Production of Iron Ores in 1896, by John Birkinbine, p. 8. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 75 Tablk III. Production of iron ore in ihe Cornivall Ore Hills of Fennsylrania and the Lake Champlain district of Xew York, in Xtw York, Xeiv Jersei/, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and the total for these States. [Long tons.] Xear. Cornwall Ore Hills. Lake Champlain district. New York.. >few Jersey Pennsyl- vania. 1 Ohio, j Total for these States. 1864 ... 11 monthg. 165, 915 114,803 216, 660 202, 755 165. 843 173, 429 174,408 176, 055 193, 317 166, 782 112, 429 98, 925 137, 902 171, 589 179. 299 268, 488 231, 173 249, 050 309, 681 363, 144 412, 320 508, 864 688, 054 667, 210 722, 917 769, 020 686, 302 663. 746 634, 714 439, 705 371, 710 614,598 463, 059 1 226. 000 i 1865 1866 1867 275, 067 1868 1869 ! 1870 a (469. 190) (323, 782) 450, 000 600, 000 665, 000 525. 000 390, 000 285,000 315, 000 409, 674 488, 028 [676, 225] 745, 000 737. 052 932, 762 521,416 393, 710 330, 000 500, 501 547, 889 447, 738 415, 510 495, 808 525, 612 465, 455 356, 150 277, 483 282, 433 264, 999 (978, 112) (282, 615) 2, 05;i, 699 1871 1872 350, 000 420. 000 250, UOO 300. 000 290, 000 365. 000 380, 000 480, 000 700, 00(1 637, 000 725, UOO 540. 000 530; 000 420, 000 588. 829 768, 852 669,5.53 779, 900 821, 994 554, 865 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 6[l,126,899]{ |[1,951,496] [488,753] 4 ''4S 372 1881 1882 1883 .::::::::::: 1884 1885 ' '344,'484' 377. 465 253,352 254. 294 169, 088 104, 487 95,768 68, 141 58,493 44, 834 58, 480 '.'.'.'.'.' ".'.'.'.\\ 1887 "i," 247,' 537'' 1,253,393 i 1,017,216 891,099 534.122 242, 759 307, 256 385, 477 1889 1, 560, 234 1, 361, 622 1, 272, 928 1, 084, 047 697, 985 532, 087 900, 340 747,784 3. 477, 575 1891 2, 920, 243 1892 1893 1894 1, 656, 398 1895 1 534 863 1896 1, 456, 740 a The fignres inclosed in parentheses are those of the Ninth Census: Indiistry and Wealth, p. 768, and, as has already been explained in the notes to Table II, they are of doubtful value. 6 The figures inclosed in brackets are for the census year 1880, see Eleventh Census : Mineral ludns- tries, p. 13. NOTES TO TABLE III. The sources from which the output of the Cornwall Ore Hills was obtained are as follows: From 1864 to 1890 Mineral Eesources (1889 and 1890), p. 29; for 1891, Ibid., p. 41; for 1892, Ibid., p. 40; for 1893, Ibid., p. 43; for 1894, Production of Iron Ores in Various Parts of the World, p. 184; and for 189.5, Production of Iron Ores in the United States, p. 20; and for 1896, The Production of Iron Ore in 1896, by .lohn Birkinbine. p. 21. For the production of iron ore in the Lake Champlain district see Mineral Resources (1891), p. 41. For New Jer.sey's output down to 1889. see Geological Survey of Xew .Jersey (1893), p. 443. In Mineral Resources (1891), p. 41, may be found Ohio's output for the years from 1886 to 1888. The production of each of the States from 1888 to 1896 is as given in Production of Iron ()res in the United States, p. 10; for production during 1896, see The Production of Iron Ores in 1896, by- John Birkinbine, p. 23. 76 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Table IV. Production of iron ore in Alahama, 'Tennessee, Geonjict, and the total for these States. [Long tons.] Tear. Alabama. Tennessee. Georgia. Total. 30, 909 [93, 272] 1880 [171, 139] 220, 000 250, 000 ZScf, 000 420, 000 505, 000 650, 000 675, 000 1, 000, 000 1,. 570, 319 1,897,815 1, 986, 830 2, 312, 071 1,742,410 1, 493, 086 2, 199, 390 2, 041, 793 [81,621] 1346,032] 1883 1885 . ;:::::::;:::::;:::::::: 18SQ 473, 294 465, 695 543, 923 406, 578 372. 996 292, 831 519, 796 535, 484 248, 020 244, 088 250, 755 185, 054 a 186, 015 a 174, 694 a 272, 014 « 175, 331 2 291 633 1890 1891 2, 607, 598 2,781,508 2, 903, 703 a 2, 301, 421 a 1,960, 611 a 2, 991,200 1892 1893.... 1895 1896 a 2, 752, 608 a iJicludiug North Caroliua, whith has two and generally but ou« small establishment mining ore XOTK.S TO TABLE IV. All of the tigiiies for 1870 were obtained from Xiuth Census : Industry and Wealth, p. 768 ; they are open to the same criticism as the figures for 1870 of Table II. Those of Alabama and Tennessee for 1880 were obtained from Eleventh Census: Mineral Industries, p. 13; they are therefore for the census, not for the calendar, year. For 1880 the production oi' Georgia is given in Tenth Census: Mining ludu.stries, p. 23, Alabama's production for the years 1881 to 1888 is given in Mineral Kesources (1891), p. 19; these figures are estimates based on the production of pig iron. Since 1889 the production of each of the States is that given in The Production of Iron Ores in the United States (1895), p. 10. For 1896 the statistics were obtained from The Production of Iron Ore in 1896, by John Birkinbiue. Table V. Shi2)ment8 of Lalce Superior iron ore hy ports {gross tons). [Data furnished by A. I. Findley, editor of The Iron Trade Review.] Tear. Marquette. Escanaba. St, Ignace. L'Anse. Ashland. 1884 918,489 750, 047 853, 396 803, 411 844, 694 1, 376, 335 1, 307, 395 1, 056, 027 1. 026, 338 1, 086, 934 1,424,850 1, 079, 485 1, .578, 600 1,945,519 1, 356. 587 1, 219, 777 1, 538, 821 2, 072, 708 2, 202, 965 3, 003, 632 3, 714, 662 3, 058, 590 4, 010, 085 2, 048, 981 1, 644, 776 2, 860, 172 2, 321, 928 2, 302, 121 51,109 93, 588 74, 590 91, 554 107, 399 51, 853 64, 420 20, 027 119, 563 1886 721 983 1 016,414 1889 1,484,802 1890 2,123,856 1891 1 261 658 1892 2, 223, 684 1893 ' 1,117,520 1894 1, 738, 590 1895 2, 350, 219 1896 1,566 336 1897 2, 067, 637 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 77 Shipments of Lake Superior iron ore by ports (gross tons) — Continued. Tear. '^7^^^ar- Gladstone. Superior. Duluth. Total. 1884 . 2, 390, 605 2, 428, 486 3, 493, 186 4, 398, 857 4,621,947 6,804,511 8, 063, 067 6, 444, 440 8 54.T 314 1885 225 484 450,475 --- -1 ---- 819,639 ' 68,250 826,063 i 91,091 890, 299 1 177, 866 1,165,076 ' 115,886 903, 329 ' 203, 585 1,373,253 1 79,208 2,118,156 1 109, 2n 1,813,992 1 220,888 2,651,465 341,014 1 1890 1892 4,245 80, 273 440, 502 1, 369, 252 1.ii98.7«3 1894 7, 629, 829 117, 884 1896 167,245 1 1,988,932 531, 825 2. 376. 064 9,657 921 1897 12, 215, 645 Eeeeipts of Lake Superior iron ores, hi/ vessel, at lake ports (f/ross tons). [Data furnished by A. I. Fimlley, editor of the Iron Trade Review.] Tear. Toledo. Sandusky. Huron. Lorain. Cleveland. Fairport. ! 758, 983 826, 419 993, 046 723, 129 904, 850 589, 234 1, 034, 650 1,216,423 971, 775 1,742,415 1, 945, 492 1, 257, 775 1,950,224 1, 260, 716 1,624,573 2, 312, 370 2, 313, 170 2, 456, 704 1881 [ 1883 27, 617 2,444 15, 000 26. 960 61, 729 75, 601 82. 961 164, 295 191, 105 139, 987 145, 515 158, 384 260, 730 301,794 416,438 58, 825 166, 540 143, 180 157, 970 160, 600 154, 924 186, 082 174, 596 106, 907 49, 736 4,464 23, 043 12, 361 58, 667 79, 792 25, 794 30, 156 13,180 99, 744 134, 764 197, 000 280, 000 280, 450 266, 009 190. 400 165, 667 150, 424 214, 219 191,445 355, 188 40 334 1885 31, 992 44, 021 21, 288 4,351 680 1,200 14,910 65, 000 137, 700 172, 775 146,442 226, 515 198,231 112, 000 1887 501, 368 611.140 1889 829, 121 1,096,408 1891 699, 434 1893 792, 517 1894 976, 222 1895 914,617 1896 941, 446 1, 008, 340 Tear. Ashtahula. Conneaut. Erie. Buffalo, Tonawan- da.a Total. Receipts of other lake porta. 6 18S0 298, 594 377, 976 598, 037 670, 000 650, 000 582, 000 672, 000 1, 103, 839 1, 288, 530 1, 963, 490 2, 176, 730 1,599,785 2,555,416 1, 845, 738 1, 987, 722 2, 474, 791 2, 272, 822 3, 001, 914 1881 106, 787 116, 027 122, 223 91, 250 20, 488 240, 338 373, 595 487, 493 393, 759 645, 230 469, 299 624,438 811, 989 847, 849 1,311,526 40, 203 8,760 7,160 31,869 28, 699 240, 000 298, 000 548, 000 410, 000 197, 000 308, 238 395, 339 719, 742 545, 101 797, 446 i, 692, 689 1, 841, 877 1, 503, 969 2, 270, 554 3, 439, 198 3, 783, 659 5. 856, 344 6, 874, 664 4, 939, 684 6, 660, 734 5, 333, 061 6, 350, 825 8, 112, 228 8, 026, 432 10,120,906 548, 728 924, 517 1886 1,222,632 959, 659 1888 P48, 167 1890 1, 188, 403 1891 1,504 756 1892 1,130 203, 207 237, 905 244, 967 327, 623 495, 327 1, 884, 580 548, 153 1894 1895 1896 1, 279, 004 2,121,682 1, 631, 489 1897 2, 094. 739 a Buffalo alone to 6 Most of this ore was received at South Chicago. 78 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE, Table VI. Freight rates, by lale vessel, on iron ore per lonij ton from ports named to Lake Erie ports. Escauaba. j Marquette. Ashland, Superior, Duluth, and Two Harbor.s. Tear. Rate. Wild or daily rate. Con- tract rate. Rate. Wild or daily rate. Con- tract rate. Rate, a Wild or daily rate. Con- tract rate. $3.00 3.00 $2. 00 to 2.50 2. 00 to 2.50 2. 00 to 2.50 2. 00 to 3.00 2. 25 to 4.50 3. 00 to 4.00 3. 00 to 5.00 2. 05 to 5.00 2. 75 to 6.50 2. 00 to 4.00 2. 25 to 3.25 2. 75 to 4.50 2. 05 to 3.25 2. 05 to 4.00 2. 85 to 6.60 3. 25 to 4.00 1.60 to 2.50 1.30 to 1.50 1.25 to 2.20 1857 1859 1860 1862 . 1863 1 1864 ........ 1865 18C6 $2. 50 to $5. 75 1.05 to 3.05 1.06 to 2.06 1 1867 1868 . 1 ;::::;:;:::::: i:::::::::::::: 1870 1.65 to 2.50 1871 1 1.50 to 2.50 1872 1 2.00to 5.25 1873 1 2.30to 3.00 1874 1.30to 1.40 1875 ' 1 10t,.> 1 30 1876 !R0.86 ' iftl.2fl $1.35 1.41 1.22 1.83 2.26 2.05 1.26 1.40 1.08 .98 1.51 1.87 1.30 1.19 1.07 1.02 .98 .71 .60 .92 .66 .55 $1.50 1.40 1.30 1.40 2.75 2.45 1.75 1.20 1.35 1.05 1.20 1.63 1.15 1.10 1.25 .90 1 15 . 65 to 1. 50 1 . 98 1 1. 00 1. 25 to 2. 00 60 to 1 15 ' 81 ' on ! 1 00 to 1 50 1878 1879 .70 to 2.10 i 1.25 1.50 to 2.00 1 1.70 1.00 to 1.60 1..S6 .90 1. 25 to 3. 00 1. 85 2. 00 to 2. 75 1. 75 2. 00 to 2. 30 1. 40 1 1. 25 to 2. 00 1. 00 1 1. 30 to 1. 75 1.10 1.00 1880 ;::;:;:: 1881 1882 .50 to 1.40 .90 to 1.50 .65 1.00 1.35 1.75 . 90 to 1. 45 .90 to 1.25 1.10 to 1.00 1.04 1.22 .87 .78 1.28 1.59 1.05 1.01 .89 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 .90 1.05 1.40 .90 1.00 1.10 1.40 1.75 2.15 1. 10 to 1. 15 .90 to 1.25 1.25 to 1.10 $1.07 to $1.65 1.02 to 3.00 1.75 to 2.75 1.02 to 1.08 1.25 to .90 1. 35 to 1. 00 $1.25 1.78 2.23 1.43 1.34 1.17 $1.15 1.20 2.00 1.25 1.25 1.35 1892 74 1 00 1 ^r, 1 25 .56 ' .85 .46 .60 .73 .55 .52 .70 45 d^ 1894 .80 .75 .95 .65 .78 1.13 .77 .57 .80 1895 .80 1896 1.05 1897 70 ■ Rates from Asbland alone. NOTES TO TABLE VI. Out of the rate that is received the vessels pay trimming and unloading charges. In 1895 and 1896 these amounted to 19 cents per ton and in 1897 to lti.5 cents. Some few boats do not trim, and thus escape tlie trimming charge, which in 189.5 and 1896 varied from 2.5 to 3 cents, and in 1897 was 2.5 cents. All vessels pay the unloading charges, which in 1897 were 9 cents for shoveling the ore into buckets lowered into the ship's hold and 5 cents as a dock charge. The rates as given in the first column for each port were obtained from Mineral Resources of the United States, 1889-90, pp. 27-31. They were compiled by the State commissioner of mineral statistics of Michigan. The other rates were com- piled by the Marine Review, of Cleveland. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 79 Taiuj: VII. Record of orc-sliipjihu/ docls on the (ireat Lakes. Railway. Location. DopvlLengtli No «*■ ^°- ' dock. Dnluth aud Iron Kange i Two Harbors, Minn R. K. Duhith, Mia.sabi and Dulutli, Minn. Northern Hwy. Dnhitli. Superior and 1 Allouez Bay, Supe- AVestern R. R. I rior, "Wis. Chicaoo aud Northwest- Ashland, Wis ern llwy. ! Escanaba, Mich Dulnth, South Shore and Marquette, Mich . Atlantic Rwy. ' Lake Superior and Ish- ! do Gladstone, Mich . pemmg Rwy. Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Rwy. Wisconsin Central. Feet. 1,056 1,056 540 1.008 1, 008 2,304 1,152 a 600 b'JOO 1,404 1,404 1,104 1,152 1, 356 1,500 1,392 1,700 1, 200 1,200 1,200 Width of dock. Ft. In. 41 41 49 49 49 52 52 49 8 49 8 46 8 46 37 37 37 37 37 40 53 6 36 8 52 1 j 768 I 37 1 1,908 I 36 Height of dock (water to deck). 54 45 48 6 40 3 52 8 48 6 53 3 45 37 pi" ^sc.°- 47 54 6 , Gross tons. 141 I 18,000 176 23, 900 90 16, 000 168 30, 000 33, 000 57. 600 34, 560 15, 000 25, 500 36, 036 24, 156 24, 104 20, 928 30, 284 32, 750 43, 152 27, 000 12, 780 28, 000 36, 000 15, 000 33, 500 * From " The Iron Mines of Minue.sota." Institute of Mining Engineers. a Old part. 6 New extension, c Destroyed by fire November 30, 1897 but Prepared for the seventy-third meeting of the American rebuilding. Table VIII. Data relating to ore-carrying railroads of northern Minnesota. Weight Railway. of rails [ per yard. Weight of freight loco- motives in working order, with tenders. Number of freight locomotives. Capacity of standard ore-car. Number of ore-cars. 1 Founds. Duluth and Iron 80 Range R. R. Duluth, Missabi ' 60 & 80 and Northern Rwy. Duluth, Superior 60 and Western R. R. 12 -wheel locomotives, 123 tons ; consolidation locomotives, 88 tons. 10 -wheel locomotives, 97 tons; consolidated locomotives, 118 tons. 12-wheel locomotives, 20; consolidated loco- motives, 24. 10-wheel locomotives, 16; consolidation lo- comotives, 2. 7 Gross tons. 24 25 2,293 1,801 600 * The Iron ]^Iines of Minnesota. Prepared for the seventy-third meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. This was the state of these railroads on July 14, 1897. PART IV. COAL TRAFFIC. To the vast extent of territory about the (Ireat Lakes, but especially to the country west and north of the Lakes Michigan and Superior, lake transportation means cheap coal. During the greater portion of the season of 189G coal was carried from Buftalo to Duluth and Su- perior, a distance of 997 miles," for 20 cents per ton. It would be a work of supererogation to emphasize what this very low rate means to the people of the Xorthwest, where fires must be maintained for at least six of the twelve months of the year. To the lake carriers coal means west-bound cargoes. If it were not for coal, nearly all the vessels carrying ore, grain, flour, and lumber to the h)wer lake ports would be obliged to return "light.'' During 189(i coal constituted about three- fourths of the west-bound trafitic through the Detroit River and 8G per cent of the west-bound traftic through the St. Marys Falls Canal. During 1896 shipments from the ports of Lakes Erie and Ontario amounted to about 9,000,000 tons.^ The growth of this enormous traffic from small beginnings in the seventies can not be set forth in detail because of the meagerness of reliable data. Something may, however, be Inferred from- the growth of the traffic of the leading shipping ports.-' Shipments of coal from Buflalo have been as follows: Year. Tons. Year. Tons. 1873 570,443 439.720 589, 670 1 448 086 1890 2, 188, (582 2,617,268 2 400 U68 1875 1895 1880 1896 .. . 1885. Most of the anthracite coal consigned by lake is shipped from Buffalo. Erie, Charlotte, Oswego, and Ogdensburg are the other ports shipping large quantities of this coal. But very little bituminous coal is shipped from Buffalo; in 1896 .shipments amounted to but 21,000 tons. Bitu- minous coal is shipped from the Lake Erie ports west of Buffalo — Erie, Oonneaut, Ashtabula, Fairport, Cleveland, Lorain, Huron, Sandusky, and Toledo. Cleveland has been the chief shipping ])ort of this form of coal. The g-rowth of the traffic at this port may be seen from the subjoined table: Year. Tons. Year. Tons. 1887 a 723 802 1 522 557 1890 1, 287, 177 a Includes a small rail tonnage. In the decade covered by the table there was an increase of 149 per cent in the business of Cleveland. Shipments from the Cuyahoga ^This is the di-stance given iu the Eleventh Census, Transportation Business, Part II, p. 2ti8. For several weeks during 1895 coal was carried from Bufl'alo to Duluth for 1.5 cents per ton. -Shipments from Ogdenshurg are included in this estimate. Nothing in the way of a definite statement can be yiven. as accurate data are not obtainable. Of all the statistics thus far considered the statistics of the coal business are by far the worst. This is due to the fact that coal, much more than other commodities, is taken on at "intermediate " ports. Much of the business therefore is not recorded on the books of the custom-houses. ^ These facts may be found in Appendix III, Tables I-V. 80 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 81 customs district, which includes Cleveland, Ashtabula, Lorain, Fair- port, aud Conneaut, or all the ports shipping- large quantities of bitu- minous coal except Toledo, have grown even more rapidly than the shipments from Cleveland. In 1887, shipments from this district were 1,433,035 tons; and in 1896, 3,863,615 tons, a gain in the ten-year period of 2,130,610 tons or 169 per cent.^ In the coal business the ports of destination are much more numerous than the ports of origin. The small ports about the lakes receive not only their own supplies of coal, but to some extent those of the sur- rounding country as well. The aggregate receipts of the small ports are not very large, however, and so the growth of the receipts of the large ports shows pretty accurately the increase of the business and the shifting of the great distributing centers. Fortunately we have statistics of the receipts at the great distributing ports for a long period of years.^ Chicago and Milwaukee, at the head of Lake Michigan, and Duluth and Superior, at the head of Lake Superior, are the centers from which the West and Northwest receive their coal. The tables in A])pendix IV, Tables VI-VIII, show the growth of the coal business of these cities, and the following table exhibits the present importance of the traflic : Total receipts, 1896. a Chicago Milwaukee D ninth and Superior. Tons. 6,812,319 1, 587, 795 1, 775, 712 a Only about one-fifth of the receipts of Chicago come by lake. Chicago receives about two-thirds of her supplies from Ulinois and Indiana. Duluth and Superior receive their stocks by lake, and Milwaukee obtains nearly all her coal by lake, having received bat 100,312 tons by rail in 1896. The absolute and relative importance of these ports as distributing- points is much more accurately indicated by their shipments than by their receipts. The shipments were as follows : Tear. Chicago ship- ments, a Milwaukee ship- ments, b Duluth and Superior receipts. c 1880 Tons. Tons. 65, 390 121, 885 164, 444 235,771 205, 061 269, 277 284, 803 295, 439 453,837 413, 408 522,618 600, 888 469, 144 532, 993 432, 768 640, 470 446. 683 T071S. 60 000 1881 163 000 1882 . .. 260, 000 1883 420, 000 1885 592 000 991, 053 156, 037 1.471,338 1, 206, 608 1, 377, 594 1, 344, 055 1, 475, 624 1,401,659 968. 132 999, 308 913, 577 819, 686 1887 912 000 1889 1,205 000 1890 1, 780, 000 1891 1, 776, 000 1892 1,812,561 2, 126, 781 2 010,731 1894 1895 1,654,882 1896 1, 775, 712 1897 a See Appendix IV, Table XII, for particulars. b See Appendix IV, Table XIII. for particulars. The shipments of coal from Duluth and Superior can not be obtained. The consumption of coal in Duluth and Superior is small, for the combined population of these two cities is not large, and thus the receipts will answer for comparative purposes almost as well as the shipments. As our interest lies in the rate of increase rather than in its absolute amount, and because it may be assumed that 8hii)ments from the ports at the head of Lake Superior have grown fully as fast as the local consump- tion, the receipts instead of the shipments may be used without changing the results. ■ Detailed information may be found in Appendix IV, Table III. - The statistics of tbe receipts are more accurate than those of shipments. The tables compiled by the Chicago bureau of coal statistics, for example, are regarded by those in a position to speak authoritatively as perfectly trustworthy. H. Doc. 277 6 82 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. By the foregoiug table it appears that Chicago has no more than held its own as a distributing point dviring the period covered by the table, and that shipments from Milwaukee grew from 05,300 tons in 1880 to 600,888 tons in 1891 and fell to 132,768 tons in 181)1, but rose to 640,170 tons in 1895, but decreased again in 1896 to 146,683 tons, almost reaching the low figure of 1891. The Duhith-kSuperior business grew almost without setbacks from 60,000 tons in 1880 to the large volume of 2,126,781 tons in 1893. In 1891 the traffic of these ports fell a trifle short of that of 1893 and iji 1895 there was a more decided loss, but iu 1896 there was a partial recovery. The movement of coal through the St. Marys Falls Canal in recent years has grown at a much more rapid rate than the receipts of Duluth and Superior. The distribution of (;oal from Lake Superior points lias therefore increased even more rapidly than is indicated by the statistics of the business of Uuluth and Superior.' Every effort has been made by the coal dealers of Chicago and Milwaukee on the one hand and of Duluth and Superior on the other to secure the trade of the VVest and Northwest, Lake rates from the lower lake i)orts are almost always less to the ports at the head of Lake Superior than they are to the ports at the head of Lake Michigan. IJail rates to the West, on the other hand, seem to favor Milwaukee and Chicago. The territory controlled by these groups of ports expands and contracts with variations in rates, but in a general way the territory supplied by either of them can be located. If a line be drawn from Kau Claire, Wisconsin, to La Crosse and through southeastern Minnesota across northwestern Iowa and to the Missouri Kiver and down this river to Kansas City and then west, all the territory lying to the north and west of this line would be sup- plied with hard coal from the head of Lake Superior. It would be difficult to indicate the line sei)arating the territory supplied witli soft coal by Duluth and Superior from that supplied by Chicago and Mil- waukee; it may, however, be said that the line would be somewhat pushed back to the north and west.- In the westward movement of coal from the mines there is the keenest competition between the railroads and the lake carriers. In each case the business is particularly desirable, because it is in the direction in which the least traffic moves. It has already been stated that the east- bound business of both the railroads and the lakes far exceeds the west bound : it therefore becomes particularly desirable to secure west- bound freight, for if it be not obtained it means that empty cars nuist be hauled or vessels run "light." As Chicago, of all ports in the West, is the point to which the rail- roads can most successfully meet the competition of the lake carriers, the business of this city will first be discussed. In the contest for Chicago business the lake carriers are at a decided disadvantage in the point of distance. From Buffalo to Chicago by lake is 889 miles, while it is but 523 miles by rail.^ Thus every mile covered by lake results in the effective westward movement toward Chicago of but 0.588 of a mile. At points sourh of Lake Erie the railroads would be still more advan- tageously situated. Nothing more will be said at present, as this mat- ter will be discussed later on. 1 There is also a shifting of the coal business in the case of the jjorts about Lake Michigan. A large receiving yard has recently been established on the car-ferry slip of the Chicago and North-Western at Manitowoc. - The coal mines of northern Iowa have sufiered a great deal by the severe com- petition of eastern coal in the northern markets that they once supplied. ^This is the distance over the "Nickel Plate"— the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 83 The issue ot" the struggle fur the coal traffic betweeu the lake car- riers and the railroads is delei-miued very largely by the kind of coal to be carried. Almost all of the sofc coal destined for Chicago is car- ried by the railroads and the bulk of the hard coal by vessels.' The facts ex])lanatory of this strange condition of things are not far to seek. The solution of the difficulty is found in the location of the coal fields and in the character of the coal. Hard coal is mined in a very limited district in eastern l*ennsylvauia and is therefore favorably situated in respect to the lake route. It can be carried to Buffalo and Erie and yet not be made to deviate very much, so far as the short rail haul to the lake is concerned, from the direct line to Chicago, But this is not all: After the coal has reached Jkifl'alo it is so situated that the greatest possible effective westward movement is linked with its westward jour- uey. In other words, the ineffectual expenditure of energy that takes place in rounding the lower peninsular of Michigan is reduced to a mini- mum by the almost direct westward movement the whole length of Lake Erie. The bituminous coal mines in the East that in part supply Chicago with coal are situated well south of Lake Erie. Hocking Valley, the Pittsburg district, and West Virginia are the chief sources in the East from which Chicago obtains soft coal. From these localities the rail- andlake route can not compete with the all-rail lines because of the long rail haul to the lakes and the circuitous journey around the lower peninsula of Michigan. From Pittsburg to Ashtabula is 127 miles, to Erie 148 miles, and to Cleveland 150 miles, while the total distance from Pittsburg to Chicago over the Pennsylvania Kailroad is but 468 miles. From Athens, in the Hocking Valley district, to Toledo over the Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo Eailrpad is 200 miles, while the distance to Chicago is but 390 miles. After the coal has arrived at Toledo it is still 091 miles from Chicago, if it go by lake. At all points south of Athens and Pittsburg the rail and-lake lines would be at even greater disadvantage, for the combined rail andlake distance to Chi- cago would increase more rapidly than the all-rail distance. If coal goes by the lake-and rail routes it must of course be trans- shipped at the lake ports. In transshiimient soft coal breaks very much more than hard. In the case of hard coal the breakage varies from 6 to 8 per cent, Xo figures can be given for soft coal, as the variations are too great; the breakage does, however, considerably exceed S per cent. It needs scarcely to be said that the value of the coal is very much affected by the breakage. As hard coal is damaged less than soft it might be advantageous to ship the former l)y lake when it would not the latter. It also costs more to unload soft coal than hard at Chicago, the shoveling rate for the former having been 14 cents for several years while the rate for the latter has been but 12 cents. It will be seen later that improved devices are now largely substituted for manual labor in unloading hard coal. It has now, perhaps, been made clear why the bulk of the anthracite coal received at Chicago comes by lake and almost the whole of the bituminous coal comes by rail. Passing 85 miles north from Chicago to Milwaukee the position of the rail and lake lines is wholly changed. All eastern coal, both hard and soft, received at Milwaukee comes by the lake lines. In 1896 Mil- waukee received 100,312 tons of coal by rail, but it was Illinois coal. From the fact that Chicago receives a large portion of her supply of coal from the East by rail and Milwaukee receives no eastern coal by 1 For the figures see Aj^pendix IV, Table VI. 84 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMiMERCE. rail, it may be iuferred tliat the rail haul from Chicago to Milwaukee tips the balance iu favor of the lake lines. There is, however, another factor that must be taken account of— the distance by lake to Milwau- kee from Lake Erie ports is about The cost of nnloafliug soft coal from boats is also a trifle less at Milwaukee than at Chicago. *The Black Diamond, November 27, 1897. ■'Thirteen dollars very nearly represented the total cost of transshipment, for the expenditures for labor, fuel, and oil and waste were included. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 85 ter coal cau only be handled rapidly by men who are strong and endowed with great powders of endurance, and the services of snclnnen have always been costly. Mechanical appliances were from time to time introduced; but, although they cut down the time vessels were delayed by increasing the amount of coal handled in a stated time, they neither reduced the cost of shoveling coal in the ship's hold nor lessened the physical tax on the laborer.' The strain of working in the dusty, stitiing holds of vessels was unbearable for any length of time by even the strongest men, and tiie irregularity with which the men worked, and the irregularity of the employment offered, proved a constant source of trouble between the employees and employers. Finally this tedious method of unloading, coupled, as it always was, with uncertainty''^ and great cost, became intolerable and the self-tilling "clam shell" or grab bucket was devel- oi)ed. With the best type of " clam shells"' hard coal can be removed wdth wonderful rapidity and at a very low cost. A contract covering the installation of a plant at Chicago guaranteed that the "clam shell" would develop a speed of three trips per minute. The average load of this bucket is a gross ton. It was also guaranteed that the total cost of removing cargoes and delivering in the yard would not exceed 5 cents per ton for entire cargoes. Some coal has been raised and deliv- ered in the yard for three fourths of a cent per ton. This coal was directly under the hatches and theiefore very accessible. At one of the yards in Milwaukee two vessels, whose cargoes aggregated 7,776 ' An outline of these improvements will be given. Up to about 1873 coal was handled at Chicago, and presumably at other lake ports, in a very crude way. The coal was removed from the hold of the ship by means of buckets made from kero- sene oil barrels (the upper third of which had been sawed off) and a rope lash- ing for a handle. These bucket.s were raised by horse power — the horse traveling back and forth. On a temporary stage the coal was dumped into wheelbarrows and then wheeled back over a "spring run" made of planks supported at either end. This work seems to have been difficult, for the men engaged in it received 75 cents per hour. The shovelers in the hold received from 14 to 18 cents per ton. The tirst impor- tant departure from this system was made about 1873. At this time the ''mast and gafl" were employed as a derrick. An iron bucket holding about 500 pounds of coal replaced the wooden bucket and steam power was used in hoisting. Instead of being dumped into wheelbarrows the buckets were now emptied into tram cars, which were moved l)y hand. These improvements greatly reduced the cost of raising the coal from the hold and carrying it back on the dock, but did not reduce the labor of the men in the hold or the cost of shoveling. The second great departure was made when the coal was hoisted up over an inclined track that extended out over the vessel but which could be swung back Hush with the dock when the cargo was dis- charged. Steam was used in hoisting and the buckets were dumped into a hopper in the derrick. Connected with the derrick was an automatic tramway which was higher at the dock than at the point of discharge. The car dumped automatically and was returned automatically by a weight that had been raised by the car as it ran out but which was dropped when the car discharged its load. The buckets now held from 1,200 to 2,200 pounds of coal instead of 500 pounds and also dumped auto- matically. These improvements still further reduced the cost of handling coal after it was hoisted. They were introduced in the years from 1873 to 1893. In the fall of 1892 Mr. W. S. Bogle built an experimental derrick for the purpose of unloading boats with self-filling "clam-shells," and demonstrated that his plans were practical, provided the proper kind of a rig were built. During the winter of 1892-93 work was continued on the necessary appliances, and in the spring of 1893 the self- tilling " clam-shell'" proved successful. The "clam-shells" could not be swung either way under the hatch opening, so scrapers were devised (1893) for bringing the coal directly under the hatch. The tramways have also been greatly improved, and coal can now be carried back a mile for the same cost as it can be delivered on the dock front. All of the old forms of "clam-shells" are operated by steam power. One of the companies constructing this form of machinery is experimenting with an electrical bucket. " The factor of certainty is of great importance. If a master cau not know when his ship will be unloaded he is running a great risk in making contracts for new cargoes, and often suffers. 86 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. tons, began discharging' their cargoes at 8 a. m., and were ready to leave at 8 j). m.' For handling soft coal a. special form of "grab" has been devised. It works very effectively in view of the obstacles it has to contend against. Its average load is about one-half that of the "clam shells" commonly nsed in unloading hard coal, or about 1,000 pounds. This grab can also be used in unloading soft coal from open cars. It is a very valuable machine in this occupation, because it does the work that the shovelers find the slowest and hardest. It removes tlie bulk of the load and thus enables the men to quickly reach the bottom of the car at some point from which they work more effectively. Before concluding this subject a word must be said about lake freights on coal. A table of these rates may be found in Appendix IV, Tables IX and X. These tables show two things : ( 1) that the rates are very low as compared with those on other commodities, and {2) that they have fallen very rapidly. For example, the average of daily rates on iron ore from l)uluth to Lake Erie ports during 1890 was $1,05 per long- ton, while the average of the daily rates on hard coal from Buffalo to Duliith was 24 cents per net ton. The real difference, however, was not so great as the ai)parent difference. Coal is handled without charge to the vessel, while in the case of iron ore the vessels bear charges for trimming and uid.iading amounting to 1!) cents i)er ton,- and in the former instance the net ton is the unit, while in the latter the long ton is the unit. The coal freights are so low that many vessels never engage in this tiatfic. They are the vessels of the largest tyi)e, but it must not be inferred from this fact that vessels of the largest class are not in general as economical carriers as the smaller ones. It is the loss of time in receiv- ing aiul discharging cargo that causes the very large vessels to avoid this traftic. Coal docks have not yet been built with snfticient equip- ment to give the largest vessels dispatch in unloading, and besides, very often, much time is lost in waiting for boats to unload that have precedence. The ore business is the favorite traffic of the large vessels ; the dock equipment corresjjonds to their size, and the business is man- aged systematically, so serious delays are infrequent. It has already been explained why rates are low. It is sin)ply because the east-bound traftic several times exceeds the west-bound. To the districts where the east-bound bnsiness surpasses the west-bound in the largest meas- ure the west-bound rates are the lowest. Hence it is found that the coal rates to Lake INlichigan ports are almost always higher than those to Lake Superior ports. Not very much value is to be attached to a simple average of the rates of a season. The variations are so great as to render such an average very misleading.' To make the matter clear, resort will be had to a ' Marine Record, Vol. XX, No. 20, p. 9. - These charges were reduced in 1897. 3 The following table, giving the rates per ton on hard coal from Buffalo to Chicago, will show how great and frequent the variations are : ^ia-^- 1 Ce.ts. Week end- ing- Cents. Weekend- ing- Cents. Weekend- 1 ing- Cents. Apr. 25 MaT 2 9 16 23 30 June 6...... 13 20 40 12 50 50 50 to 60 GO 60 to 50 50 June 27 July 4 is!!!!! 25 ^"^^ 1::;:: 15 22 50 50 to 40 40 40 to 30 30 30 to 25 20 20 20 Aug. 29 Sept. 5 in!!!!! 26 Oct. 3 10 ...... 17 24 20 20 20 IS 20 20 20 to 30 30 Oct. 31 i Nov. 7 14 21 Dec. 5 to' close 1 1 30 30 30 30 to 40 60 60 (Report of Buffalo Merchants' Exchange, 1896, p. 80.) STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 87 simple illustration. Suppose there n^ere but two rates during a season, one 20 and the other 40 cents. A simple average for the season would be 30 cents. Under certain conditions this average would be very mis- leading. If 1,000,000 tons were carried for 20 cents per ton and but 300,000 for 40 cents per ton, an average of the rates actually paid would be much less than 30 cents per ton, namely, 21.81 cents. Where the variations in rates are very great, account must be taken of the quanti- ties shipped as well as the rates; that is, a weighted average must be secured'. Appendix IV. Table I. Lale sJtipmcnts of coal fioin Jhiffalo. [Data furnished by William Thurstone, secretary Bnti'alo Merchants' Exchange.] Tear. Anthracite. Bituminous. Blossburg. Total. Tons. 510,443 344, 500 389, 722 321, 455 405, 074 306,172 550, 646 554, 670 795, 240 995, 500 1, 467, 778 1,431,081 1, 428, 086 1,531,210 1,894,060 2,514,906 2, 151, 670 2, 157, 810 2, 365, 895 2, 822, 230 2, 681, 173 2, 475, 255 2,612,768 2, 379, 068 2, 229, 329 Tons. Tons. 60, 000 40, 000 50. UOO 40, 000 50, 000 25, 000 30, 000 35, 000 30, 000 32. 000 ... Tons. 570, 443 1874 384, 500 439, 720 1876 361, 455 455, 074 331. 172 1879 580, 646 589, 670 1881 825 240 1,027,500 iggrj 1885 20, 000 10, 000 10,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 7,500 7,500 2,500 6,000 5,000 1,448,086 1.541,210 1887 8,706 7,452 11,673 25, 872 34, 066 54,216 15, 000 2,500 2,000 15,000 100, 000 1, 912, 766 2, 527, 358 1889 2,168,343 1890 1891 1892 1893 2, 188, 682 2, 404, 961 2, 881, 446 2, 703, 673 1894 1,485,255 1895 2, 617, 268 1896 2, 400, 068 1897 2, 334, 329 Table II. Coal shipments, Cuyahoga customs district. [Data furnished by F. A. Scott, assistant secretary Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. City. 1890. 1891. 1892. Cargo. Fuel. Foreign. Cargo. Fuel. Foreign. Cargo. Fuel. Foreign Cleveland Ashtabula Tons. 880, 121 492, 459 298, 444 53, 523 Tons. 275, 358 87, 535 1,500 40, 000 Tons. 131,698 44, 334 16,914 6,477 Tons. 989, 044 241, 230 273, 036 Tons. 1 Tons. 417.696 114.919 239,894 25,173 160.776 16.701 Tons. 1 To7is. 1,154,0.58 ' 437,941 561, 446 ' 107, 883 352,000 1 5,649 Tons. 136, 832 56, 933 27, 509 Fairport 123, 649 24, 935 1 8, 408 114 738' ' t 1 Total 1. 724. 544 404, 393 199. 423 1,626,959 ! 843,301 i 165,201 2,182,242 j 551,473 | 221,274 1 1 1 1 1 In order that a conception may be gained of the great variations in rates and. the difference in rates from Lake' Erie ports to the various upper lake ports, the rates on hard coal for the season of 1896 from Buffalo to the leading receiving ports will be given in Appendix IV, Table XL 88 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Coal shipment, Cinialioga ci(i:itoi)is dii^trici — Coutiuued. City. 1893. 1894. Cargo. Fuel. 1 Foreign. Cargo, j Fuel. Foieign. Cleveland Tom. 1, 095, 567 634, 600 506, 723 208, 014 13, 886 Tons. 252, 606 72,474 7,045 t Tons. 174, 384 80, 579 26, 426 2,376 Tons. 807,507 533,672 327,805 290,787 '. 88,265 j Tons. 205, 857 74,413 8,788 Tons. 104 530 20, 025 750 Fairport 2,642 Total 2, 458, 790 332, 125 1 283, 765 2, 048, 036 291, 700 197, 099 City. 1895. 1896. Cargo. Fuel. j Foreign. Cargo, Fuel. Foreign. Cleveland Tons. 1 833,968 665,365 : 262,698 : 209,080 I 89, 530 Tons. 291, 656 i 209,443 18, 543 15,000 12,000 Tons. 153, 003 104, 391 13,816 Tons. 1,295,254 623,212 316, 076 398,717 . 58,136 Tons 293, 718 411,604 838 Tons. 214 737 15 ''48 Fairport Conneaut 69, 831 12, 006 153, 368 Total 2,060,641 546,642 341, 041 2,691,395 1 718, 166 454 084 City. 1897. Cargo. Fuel. Foreign, Cleveland 1, 442, 702 751, 289 195,000 185,318 . 28,970 365,751 200, 508 47 219 240 Lorain ... 35 742 Conueaut . - 1,333 126 384 Total 2,603,279 567, 639 Table III. Summary of coal shipments from Cuyahoga customs district. Year. Cleveland. Ashtabula. Lorain. Fairport. Conneaut. Total. 1886 Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. 1, 079, 784 1887 703, 506 1,000,000 1 825, 030 1, 287, 177 1, 521, 659 1.728,831 1, 522, 557 i; 278! 627 1,803,709 2, 027, 693 1,433,035 1 855 260 1888 1889 1489,585 624, 328 , 506,297 726,262 787, 653 679, 121 979, 199 1, 105, 547 1, 012, 758 1 273, 671 316, 858 450, 513 385, 158 540, 194 356, 618 295, 057 332, 164 230, 789 t 59, 438 100, 000 156, 992 114,738 210,390 291, 537 224, 080 398, 717 185, 318 s 2, 020, 996 1890 I 1 1, 647, 724 2 328 360 1891 1892 2 954 989 1893 13, 886 91,665 171, 363 223, 510 256, 687 3 074 680 1894 1895 2 948 324 1896 3, 863, 645 1897 * Shipments from Clevel.ind for 1887-88 include small quantities of bituminous coal shipped by rail. The figures were obtained from seventeenth annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, Part III, pp, 343, 344, The totals of the district for 1886-87 were obtained from Ibid., p. 344. The dagger indicates census figures of Eleventh Census, Transportation Business, Part II, p. 316. The remainder of the table is a summary of the preceding table. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Table IV. 89 Table shoivimj the tonnage of lalce coal shipped from Ohio, West Virginia, Maruland, and Pennsi/lrania mines during 1S96, also the variety, and how it was distributed. "" Lake ports. Pennsylvania. Anthracite. Bituminous. Ohio. Bituminous. Buffalo, N. Y Erie, Pa Coniieaut, (_)Iiio .. Ashtabula, Ohio , Fairport, Ohio ... Cleveland, Ohio.. Lorain, Ohio Huron, Ohio Sandusky, Ohio . . Toledo, Ohio..'--. Total . Lake ports Buffalo, XT .... Erie, Pa Conneaut, Ohio .. Ashtabula, Ohio . Fairport. Ohio . . . Cleveland, Ohio.. Lorain, Oliio Huron. Ohio Sanduskv. Ohio. . Toledo, (jhio 2, 683, 560 492, 162 882,062 :. 184,933 i. 291,178 !. 1,037,242 |. 396,491 |. 1,4.3:!, 790 ,905 104, 587 137,235 106, 528 271, 033 647, 652 4, 337, 815 1, 267, 035 West Virginia. Bituminous. Maryland. Bituminous. 12, 178 38, 206 57, 626 10, 313 40, 789 Foreign ports. Domestic ports. Bitumi- nous. 682, 062 2. 311 200, 612 71, 781 2, 400, 068 491,161 110,729 15, 248 0, 220 22. 308 Bitum: nous. I Total Fuel for [ amount of vessels. 1 lake I tonnage. 48, 504 61,010 840, 502 354, 579 , 179, 570 120, 871 244, 135 257,811 629. 763 200,000 3, 565, 622 134,118 t 677, 095 29,556 291, 178 124,959 j 1, 037, 242 55.728 ! 410,307 286, 284 1, 576. 583 137, 235 12, 055 257, 059 17, 320 281,351 55, 584 TOT, 655 Total . ,229 3,736,745 3, 720 .941,327 Total lake shipments, 8,941,327 tons. Total lake shipments (bituminous coal), 5,765,605 tons. Shipped to foreign ports (anthracite and bituminous coal), 1,396,633 tons; to domestic ports, 6,627,974 tons. * This table was furnished by E. M. Haseltine, chief inspector of mines of Ohio. I fear these figures are very inaccurate; for instance, the shipments of bltuminon.s coal from Buffalo co)ild not have been so large as reported. Table V. Shipments of coal from lake ports from 1S90 to 1896 inclusive.'' Lake ports. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1 1896. Buffalo,K.Y Tons. I Tons. 2, 044, 134 1 2, 365, 895 129,304 586,990 Tons. 2, 852, 330 567, 028 Tuns. 2, 703, 673 625, 023 23. 184 787, 653 234, 089 ■ Tons. 2, 485, 255 711, 928 89, 023 669, 735 300, 923 997, 513 303, 690 213, 595 261, 363 836,232 Tons. 1 Tons. 2,620,768 ! 3,-565,622 Ashtabula, Ohio Fairport, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio 452, 394 , 386, 375 63, 360 66, 914 726, 267 114,738 998, 772 : 1, 037, 242 325, 064 410. 307 1,055,480 ) 1,576,583 2T7,660 : 137,235 208,000 : 257,059 223 134 ' 281 351 Lorain, Ohio Huron, Ohio Sandusky Ohio . 227, 181 150, 000 271, 540 940, 000 288,811 200, 000 157, 571 947, 288 .351.168 526,405 240,000 227,444 1.57,515 ! 195,276 858,935 ! 938,533 Toledo, Ohio 716^099 707,655 Total 5, 200, 449 7, 318, 234 1 8, 941, 327 This table was furnished by K. M. Haseltine. 90 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE, Keceipts of coal at Chicago hy lake and rail (net tons).' Year. Anthracite. Eastern bituniinou,s. Lake. 1 Kail. Lake. Kail. 187-> Ton.y rail are furnished bv the railroad companies. From 1882 to 1895 (inclusive of both dates) the figures were obtained from Mineral Kesources of the United States; the statements were furnished by the Chicago bureau of coal statistiis and are vouched for as accurate. Bituminous receipts by rail since 1890 include receipts by both lake and rail of Pennsylvania, Oliio, West Virginia, and Kentucky coal; lake receipts are now very small and are not kept separate by the Chicago bureau of coal statistics. Receipts for 1896 and 1897 were furnished to me directly by this bureau. Table VII. Beceipis of coal at Milwaukee by lake and rail.* 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 31, 608 24, 860 42,313 44. 503 36, 369 66, 616 74, 568 92, 992 87, 690 122, 865 175, 526 210, 194 229, 784 177, 655 228, 674 188, 444 253, 640 237, 332 325, 281 Rail. Total. 11,082 : 188,737 15,962 244,636 11,957 j 200,401 11,144 264,784 3,658 I 239,667 25,559 I 350,840 Tons. 300, 245 450, 005 510, 493 550, 861 623,018 710, 736 714, 242 724, 594 961, 164 907, 743 903, 659 , 006, 656 , 210, 865 ,117,448 , 229, 310 , 336, 603 , 487, 483 . 492, 278 Tons. 68, 323 100, 022 83, 349 61, 723 81,148 65, 014 45, 439 118,385 161, 989 72, 935 92, 999 149, 377 163, 549 132, 284 107, 736 109,820 100, 312 Tom. 368, 568 550, 027 593, 842 612, 584 704, 166 775, 750 759, 681 842, 979 1, 12.3, 153 980, 678 996, 658 1,156,033 1,374,414 1, 249, 732 1, 337, 046 1, 446, 423 1, 587, 795 1,501,577 * Compiled from the annual reports of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce. Lake receipts are based upon the custom-house record.s. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 91 Tahi.k VIII. Receipts of coal at Dulnth and Superior. Tear. Anthracite. Bitn- luiiious. Total. Tear. Anthracite. Bitu- minous, Total. 1878 Tons. Tons. Tons. 31,000 1 1888 Tons. Tons. Tons. 1 535 000 1880 60, 000 103, 000 260, 000 420, 000 372, COO 592, 000 736, 000 912, 000 1890 1,780,000 1, 776, 000 1,812,561 2,126,781 1882 1892 531 547 1 281. (lU 1883 1893 571,915 562, 222 489,495 496, 169 1, 554, 866 1, 448, 509 1, 165, 387 1, 279, 523 2, 010, 731 1 654 882 1885 1895 1887 * Down to 1892 the statements were compiled from the annual reports of the Dulnth Board of Trade ; from 1891 tlie receipts were obtained from the Keview of the Trade and Commerce of Dulutli, com- piled by the Duluth Chamber of Commerce, for year ending December 31. 1896, p. 9. The statements of the Duluth Board of Trade are based on the custom-house records; those of the Chamber of Com- merce were furnished by the coal companies. Taui.e IX. Average of daily tale rates on hard coal from Buffalo to Chicago, Dulnth, and Toledo.^ Tear. Chicago. Dulnth. Toledo. Tear. Chicago. Duluth. Toledo. 1886 $0.87 1.05 .86 .52 .62 .56 $0.62 .70 .65 .41 .43 .29 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 $0.59 .49 .46 .59 36 $0.43 .29 .25 .24 .24 ,26 $0.27 $0.35 .41 .27 .33 .25 j '^5 1889 1890 25 1891 1897 ;::;::: :29 * Prepared by The Marine Review, of Cleveland. Chicago and Detroit rate about the same as, Toledo handled without charge to vessel. Rate to Milwaukee about 2i cents less than, rate. Coal of all kinds shipped in net tons, and T.MU.E X. A veraorted from Ontario. "'The fear of forest iires and windstorms in a measure prcA^ents the owners of tim- ber from reserving it for the future. ''In recent years there has been some traffic in Pacific-coast lumber and shingles. This business will probably increase, but would be checked by the construction of the Nicaragua Canal. 'According to the estimates made by Mr. George W. Hotchkiss the hemlock of Michigan and Wisconsin combined exceeds the pine of these two states, and the hard wood exceeds the liine several fold. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE, 99 uated well back from the loggiug streams, and the logs are therefore likely to be sawed at the interior mills and the lumber taken to market by rail. Estimates of the amount of standinji- pine in the states <'oiitit,aious to the lakes have been given. A ])rediction as to the inroads that will be made into this supply during live years of active demand has been ventured by the Northwestern Lumberman, and will be inserted: The pine of lower Micliig;in aud the upper pctiinsuhi of that State will be well nigh gone [in live years]. A few of the old-mill concerns at Menominee-Marinette will still be sawing ])ine, but the majority will either have dismantled their mills or will be keeping them alive Ity cutting hemlock and the hard woods and working up cedar for shingles. The mills at the lesser points will not be cutting pine live years from now. Pine production Avill have been driven back to the west end of Lake Superior and into northern Minnesota. The red oak of Wisconsin will have been about cleared out. Scattering mills throughout the uortheru conutry from the Mis- sissippi to the Soo will be pounding away on maple, elm, bass wood, hemlock, etc., with such overlooked groups of ]iine as may be encountered in scraping the land of timber. * * ^ Five years of prosperity, with the enormous demand whicli will result, will cause such a melting away of the northern forest resources as can scarcely be realized.' This picture may be somewhat overdrawn; but if the prediction made be verified forest products, which rank second among the com- modities received at the lake ports during the last census year,- will fall out of the first rank and be classed with the minor commodities five years hence. What may be hoped for from attempts to reforest the pine lands can not be answered satisfactorily, for on this point the authorities differ. Some hold that pine does not grow at once upon laud from which pine has just been removed, and some admit that pine will grow, but that the first growths will be low, scraggy, and full of knots, and therefore unfit for the manufacture of lumber. Other auth(nnties insist that good pine can at once be reproduced if (1) forest fires are prevented and {2) the young sprouts be preserved from the depredations of live stock. In support of their contention they cite the experience of New England. But even if it be possible to restore the pine it would require a long period of years for the trees to attain sufficient size for the manufacture of lumber, and in the meantime existing supplies would long have been exhausted. Although the depletion of the forests of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Min nesota is of itself of great moment to the lake carriers, .it becomes doubly important because of its secondary effect. For years the railroads run- ning out from the upper lake ports to the prairies of the West have found in lumber a w^est-bound freight. Oars coming in with grain and live stock have been sent back loaded with lumber. Lumber has long -Northwestern Lumberman, January 8, 1898, p. 3. Mr. O. S. Whitmore, formerly editor of Hardwood, aud Mr. George W. Hotchkiss in the main agree with this pre- diction. - In the last Census Report on Transportation by Water, coal and coke were grouped together, and their combined movement just about equaled that of lumber. The figures are as follows : 1 Eeceipts. Shipments. Lumber . . . . . . . . . . Tons. 1 Tons. 6 857 257 5, 348, 398 oke 5,162.471 1 6,105,799 The receipts aud shipments are the total receipts and shipments of all American lake ports. (Eleventh Census, Transportation Business, Part II, p. 308.) 100 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. been one of the principal west-bound commodities. Its loss, therefore, will be severely felt. The failure of the Northwestern timber supplies comes at a very ino[)portune time for the vessel interests of the lakes. The railroads running- to the western Gulf ports are just beginning the struggle for the grain traffic of the central West. The exhaustion of the timber resources of the lake region means that the great treeless regions of the West will be forced in a large measure to obtain their lumber from the South. Tliis means that the north and south bound railroads will in the future be assured a growing north-bound traffic, and as a result they will be placed in a position where they can compete more successfully for the grain traffic with tlie east and west bound railroads leading to the lakes. In the past the Gulf railroads have been hampered by a lack of north- bound traffic, but in the future tliey will be assured a large north-bound business in lumber. Briefly stated, the exhaustion of the forests of the lake country will mean the loss of west-bound traffic to the railroads reaching the lakes and a gain of north-bound traffic by the railroads terminating in the Gulf ports. The former railroads will therefore be less advantageously situated in the struggle for the grain business now under way, and the latter railroads will be more strongly intrenched. The significance of these altered relations to the lake carriers scarcely needs to be pointed out. It means that less grain will arrive at lake ports to be carried East_- Appendix V. TABLES RELATING TO THE LUMBER TRAFFIC. Table I. Chicago receipts and shipments of lumber and shingles by lake and rail.* Lumber. Shingles. Receipts by lake. Receipts Total chinmBTits Receipts I Receipts by rail. receipts. Shipments, ^jyi^te. j by rail. Total receipts. Ship- ments. 1881. 1862. 1863 < 1864 ( 1865 ( 1866 ( 1870. 1871. 1872 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. Mfeet. 254, 499 235, 668 295, 270 392, 800 480, 165 614, 020 687, 851 830, 035 965, 860 967, 897 979, 759 984, 758 1,017,319 1, 020, 638 993, 751 1, 080, 599 971,416 1,002,501 1, 093, 088 1,351,149 1, 419, 974 I Mfeet. 7,995 13, 640 10, 404 20, 501 21,427 33, 125 42, 206 52, 626 62, 634 29, 839 39, 239 54, 570 166, 340 102, 730 66, 337 66, 594 68, 369 63, 851 87, 498 118, T29 141, 805 Mfeet. 262, 494 249, 308 305, 674 413, 301 501, 592 647, 145 730, 057 882, 661 1, 028, 494 997, 736 1, 018, 998 1, 039, 32S 1, 183, 659 1,123,368 1, 060, 088 1, 147, 193 1, 039, 785 1, 066, 452 1, 180, 586 1, 469, 878 1, .561, 779 Mfeet. 225, 372 189,479 189, 277 221,799 269, 496 385, 353 422, 313 .518,973 551, 989 581, 533 583, 490 541, 222' 417, 980 561, 544 619, 278 628. 485 576, 124 586, 722 626,735 753, 179 M. 127, 803 79, 296 131,255 152, 435 133, 600 193, 230 197, 169 234, 917 297, 176 366, 843 350, 561 401,346 302, 623 294,548 1 365,490 420,298 I 456,404 464,880 605,941 588,362 I 583,340 ' 19, 929 56, 569 117, 667 202, 956 212, 122 217,258 306, 323 301,530 246. 249 308, 201 223, 375 215, 183 215,410 110, 573 81,529 86, 603 82, 282 66, 206 M. 127, 894 79, 356 131,255 172, 364 190, 169 310, 897 400, 125 447, 039 514, 434 673, 166 652, 091 647, 595 610, 824 ,')17, 023 580, 673 635, 708 566, 977 546, 409 692, 544 670, 644 649, 546 M. 168, 302 94, 421 55, 761 102, 634 138, 497 258, 351 422, 339 480, 930 537, 497 638, 317 666, 247 558, 385 436, 827 407, 505 370, 196 299, 426 214, 389 170,410 123, 233 146, 820 134,375 * This table was compiler! from the reports of the Chicago Board of Trade. The movements by lake are based upon the custom-house records and the movements by rail were obtained directly Irom the railroad companies. The tigures, particularly for the early years, do not reflect with the greatest accuracy the movement of lumber and shingles "to and from' Chicago. The limited receipts by the canal are included in the receipts by rail. In recent years a large amount of lumber has been received from the South by rail. a Board of trade year, which ended three months after the calendar year. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 101 Chicago receipts and slnpments of lumber and shingles by lake and rail — Continued. Eecelpts Receipts Total by lake. by rail. receipts. Shipments. Shingles. Receipts Receipts Total by lake, by rail, receipts. Mfeet. 1, 657, 823 1, 872, 976 1, 685, 719 1, 610, 166 1, 504, 186 1, 427, 795 1,457,173 1, 626, 408 1, 447, 399 1, 359, 921 1,359,315 1, 443, 769 955, 280 1, 075, 763 1, 073, 847 779, 292 917, 212 M feet. 221, 099 244. 569 224, 191 212, 149 240, 706 315, 189 422, 995 440, 519 462, 044 581, 471 686, 103 760, 105 645, 397 486, 764 564, 283 507, 351 489, 368 Mfeet. 1, 878, 922 2, 117, 545 1, 909, 910 1,822,315 1, 744, 892 1, 742, 984 1, 880, 168 2, 066, 927 1,909,443 1,941,392 2,045,418 2, 203, 874 1, 600, 677 1, 562, 527 1,638,130 1 , 286, 643 1, 406, 580 M feet. 999, 572 1,073,419 1,064,816 940, 147 818, 474 882, 672 941, 636 793, 171 739, 767 812, 655 865, 949 1,060,017 719,254 632, 069 773, 983 M. \ 772, 584 868, 279 1, 103, 841 885, 091 744, 191 762, 809 647, 153 615,132 557, 201 389,195 228, 589 153, 764 189, 282 147, 206 106, 603 574,743 I 198,781 M. 91, 331 64, 777 55, 411 34, 615 51. 057 51, 060 40, 517 62, 213 76, 364 126,880 75, 306 114,880 85,811 136, 093 205, 107 158, 602 176, 718 M. 863,915 933, 056 1,159,252 919, 706 795, 248 813, 869 687, 670 677, 345 633, 565 515, 575 303, 895 395, 206 239, 575 325, 375 352, 313 265, 205 372, 499 Table II. Milwaukee receipts and shipments of lumber and sltingles by lake and rail." 1864. 1865. 1871.... 1872.... 1873.... 1874.... 1875.... 1876.... 1878. 1879. Shingles. Receipts- By lake. By rail. Total. M.feet. 30, 124 56, 554 38, 858 29, 195 34, 236 33, 372 48, 612 64, 804 1884. 1885. 1894. 1895. M.feet. I M.feet. i 31,897 56, 554 38, 858 30, 158 35, 548 42, 056 58, 899 87, 399 94, 023 72, 383 79, 491 85, 892 963 1.312 8,684 10, 287 22, 595 7,649 17, 815 26, 309 31,188 23, 208 14, 894 24, 597 57, 824 81,450 86, 147 79, 661 94, 241 89,101 113, 768 147, 368 139, 169 161, 509 236, 957 184,942 206, 659 137, 976 41,726 51,773 44, 477 39,045 136, 017 141,460 132, 376 145, 010 141, 883 132, 990 180, 722 190,438 217, 040 257, 821 225, 468 230, 162 238, 257 245, 555 299, 119 312, 834 309, 710 377, 230 361, 126 399, 107 305, 336 186, 584 197, 582 163, 502 189, 377 Ship- Receipts — By lake. By rail. M.feet. 19, 511 25, 439 11,527 21, 906 32, 890 30, 788 23, 913 19. 289 21,811 16, 245 29, 791 36, 455 35, 305 40, 916 48, 920 51. 049 "6.5,' 880' 65, 363 68,313 57, 275 43, 631 82, 099 117, 258 126, 289 144,846 194,642 174, 388 48, 839 52, 752 16, 597 21, 505 20, 704 19, 186 M. 12, 871 19, 601 13, 385 7,971 3.327 2,589 26, 296 35, 524 17,125 14, 092 5,827 13, 5.50 10, 061 81, 600 7,250 3,574 1,303 1,455 1,400 1,400 23, 259 69, 974 31,318 149, 656 11,030 193, 348 23, 006 159,410 32, 543 142,361 46, 020 115, 530 42, 039 118,372 31,447 101, 249 35, 853 151,272 32, 204 114, 124 39, 317 132,336 36, 511 81,730 42,128 48, 090 ; 24, 240 52. 080 1 10, 920 58, 700 i 9, 858 68, 400 : 23, 093 93, 200 M. 12,315 19, 601 13,385 7,971 3,327 2,589 19.585 23,319 20, 980 25, 928 15,143 31,318 28, 524 93, 233 180, 974 204, 378 182,416 174, 904 161,. 550 160,411 132, 696 187, 125 146,328 171,6.53 118,241 90, 218 76, 320 69, 620 78, 258 116, 293 134. 726 107. 896 42, 774 20, 699 15, 395 7,282 14, 950 11,461 * Thi.s table was compiled by "W. J. Langson, secretary of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce- Receipts by lake are based upon the cnstom-house records, and receipts and shipments by rail were obtained from the railroad companies. 102 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Table III.— Part 1. Eece'ipta of linnher and shingles at Buffalo hii Jake and rail.* [rurnisbed by Knowlton Mixer, secretary of the Buffalo Lumber Exchange.] Tear. Lumber. j Shingles. By lake. By rail. Total. By lake. By rail. Total. 1876 Mfeet. 119, 146 141. 572 176,312 902 443 21 feet. : Mfeet. M. M. M. 1878 . i 1 1879 1 214, 16il 240, 802 248, 196 1881 1 44.908 37, 302 37.616 I 1884 248. 196 :;::;::::;:::::::::; I .'i2.716 279, 493 264, 612 279, 493 242, 525 287, 334 262, 729 298, 980 28'J, 751 239, 525 58, 582 36, 705 58, 582 36, 331 73, 500 44, 905 42, 165 50. 807 1887 ;:;;;;;;; r ;;;;;;; 1889 - - 1890 1892 636, 344 935, 324 587,482 I 874.233 ::;:::::::|:::::;:::: 1894 410, 000 ! 649, 525 105, 112 .... 1 231,257 398,448 629,705 92,588 L. ! 201.277 221, 302 409. 095 , 610, 372 , 103, 988 426,870 648.172 110.401 j 1897 (estimated) 12 800 1 123 901 * Lake receipts are based upon the cnstom-house records. The rail receipts are taken from the monthly reports of cars made to the freijiht bureau of the Merchants' Exchange bj; the various railroads. The imports and exports by rail are estimated from the number of cars obtained from the railroads, and therefore include aiiingles and laths. Table III.— Part 2. Beceipta of railway ties at Buffalo, hy lake and rail.* [Data furnished by Knowlton Mixer, secretary of the Buffalo Lumber Exchange.] Tear. By lake. By rail. ! Tear. By lake. By rail. 1882 No. 840,200 275, 920 too. 000 87, 500 54, 780 93, 080 196, 600 442, 570 No. 150,000 550. 000 180, 000 200, 000 100, 000 50, 000 75, 000 155,000 1890 . No. 197, 110 238, 570 312, 500 253, 000 196, 117 133. 928 199, 044 328, 052 No.- 150, 000 1883 .... 1891... 1892 . . . 1893 139,000 1884 411,520 1885 175, 000 1894... 1896;;'. 275, 000 1887 263, 500 1888.... 190, 800 * Lake receipts are based upon the custom-house records. The rail receipts are taken from the monthly reports of cars made to the freight bureau of the Merchants' Exchange by the various rail- roads. Table IV. Receipts of lumher, laths, and shingles at Tonaumnda by lake.* Lumber.a Laths. Shingles. Lumber. & Laths. Shingles. 1887 Mfeet. 501, 536 569.522 676,017 717,650 505,512 1 M. 10, 096 14, 617 11, 506 13, 039 8,209 21. 63, 435 64, 903 52! 232 52, 561 1892 Mfeet. 498,000 430,248 M. 6,243 13, 232 8,495 8,547 7,195 If. 42, 809 1888 25, 257 1889 1894 1895 406, 907 421 372 31, 468 1890 41,310 1831 35, 823 * Report of the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange, 1896, p. 119. a Timber not included. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 103 Table V. Receipts of lumber, shinf/Ies, l<(ths, a7id miscellaneous lumber at Cleveland by rail and lake.*" Lumber. Shin ?le8. Laths. By lake. By rail. Total. By lake. Total. By lake. Total. M feet. Mfeet. M feet. 83, 038 120,911 142, 445 158, 220 180, 000 173, 866 M. M. 39, 294 60, 842 69. 816 74, 921 91, 888 131, 102 M. iur. 14, 381 26, 650 37, 850 1868 42, 021 1869 36, 438 1870 158,866 220, 584 191, 079 192, 448 167, 768 140, 980 102, 609 154, 144 119,817 208, 393 231,263 321, 130 317, 810 350, 696 329, 791 108, 002 115, 819 70, 597 81, 919 78, 691 78, 945 73, 565 112, 280 101, 205 125,112 96, 797 112, 142 112,369 102, 430 86, 072 63, 173 47,711 41,562 26, 745 41. 538 3,510 34, 318 140, 488 31, 796 21, 081 19, 461 29, 287 34, 457 36, 807 31,273 63, 173 1871 1876 1878 1880 1881 1883 :::::::::: j 1 1S«8 j 18SQ j 495, 984 564, 222 714,476 210, 636 247, 078 351, 883 244, 765 229, 971 60, 998 32, 882 152, 733 187, 483 56, 826 45, 599 54, 709 44, 158 18, 537 24, 598 35, 795 36, 324 22, 762 12, 199 6,913 16, 413 18Q3 1895 130, 545 153, 750 187,275 174. 225 377, 623 505, 633 432, 040 404, 196 1897 '^ The receipts of lumber by rail also include the receipts of shingles and laths. Lake receipts o lumber 1890-1897 include all kinds of forest products other than shingles and laths, as logs, posts, and telephone poles. Keceipts by lake are based upon the custom-house reports. Table VI. Receipts of lumber and sliiiif/les at Toledo by lake.* Tear. Lumber. Shingles. 1 Tear. Lumber. Shingles. Mfeet. 197, Oil 225, 350 218, 000 224, 000 216, 000 230, 000 160, 000 182,000 335, 000 M. 15, 505 8,597 3,838 12, 600 9,400 10,100 2,500 6,100 4,200 M feet. 168, 000 192, 000 178, 000 173, 000 156, 000 144, 000 159, 000 127, 000 122, 000 M. 3,620 1881 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 4,929 1882 685 1883 400 2,420 1885 2,075 2, 200 1887 400 1888 1897 2,300 This table was furnished by Denisou B. J^mitli, secretary of the Toledo Produce Exc 104 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. Table VII. Beeeipts and shipments of liimier and shingles at Detroit by lake and rail.* Lumber. Shingles. Year. Receipts by lake. Receipts by rail. Total receipts. Total ship- ments. Receipts by lake. Receipts by rail. Total receipts. Total ship- ments. M.feet. 97, 665 78, 191 95, 752 102, 073 113,277 78, 085 48, 459 54, 789 54, 429 49, 935 M.feet. 69, 102 161, 694 206, 895 197, 774 185, 404 184, 538 156, 662 194, 180 139, 270 83, 860 M.feet. 166, 867 239, 885 302, 647 299,847 298, 681 262, 623 205, 211 248, 969 193, 699 133, 795 M.feet. U,n5 58, . -sg 36, SCi 41, 750 63, 753 34, 202 20, 946 26, 641 21. 066 16, 970 M. None. 3,339 560 - 1,750 None. 908 752 2,420 400 M. 30, 712 106, 338 37, 670 66, 6U0 117, 530 116, 270 105, 980 96, 950 95, 760 63, 070 M. 30, 712 109, 677 38, 2:!0 68, 350 120, 365 116, 270 106, 888 97, 702 98, 180 63, 470 M. 20, 999 1886 41, 960 44,100 1888 .. . ... 58, 300 1889 82, 390 36, 120 1891 10, 640 1892 8,330 10, 430 1894 7,350 ' This table was compiled by the secretary of the Detroit Board of Trade. Bates for unloading lumier from vessels at Chicago during the season of 1S97A Pine lumber, per 1,000 feet: 1-inch and li-inch $0.20 li-inch and 2-inch 22 3-inch 24 Pickets and shingles to rate with inch lumber. Piece stuff, per 1,000 feet 22 Laths to rate with piece stuff. Timbers, per 1,000 feet 28 Lumber and timber, 20 feet and over in length, 3 cents extra per 1,000 feet. Hemlock and basswood, per 1,000 feet : 1-inch 22 2-inch 21 3-iuch 28 Hemlock timber 30 Hard- wood lumber, per 1,000 feet : 1, li, U,and2inch 28 3-iuch '. 32 4-inch 36 Lnml)er half regular rate for all grades for keeping dock. All vessels carrying over 500,000 feet of lumber, per 1,000 feet extra for entire cargo 05 Ties: Oak, per tie 02 Hemlock, on vessels 10 feet deep and under in depth, each Olf Hemlock, on vessels over 10 feet in depth, each 02 Cedar, per tie 01^ On Santa Fe dock 01^ Peeled posts, per 1 ,000 6. 00 Bark posts, per 1,000 7.00 $2 extra per 1,000 for keeping dock. Telegraph poles, each : 25-foot 03 30-foot 05 35-foot 08 40-fbot : 12 Rates charged by the Unloaders' Union. STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. 105 Bates for unloading lumher from vessels at Tonawanda during the season of 1897.^ The rate for uiiloadiug wliite aud Norway pine from barges and steamers of 12^ feet in deptli of hold, or less, Government register, was 22 cents jier M until October 1, and 24 cents per M from October 1 until the end of the season. Other rates were : Cents. Birch per M.. 35 ISlaple do.... 35 Ash do 35 Oak do.... 40 Basswood do 24 Elm do 26 Hemlock do 25 I 30 Bill timber do.. I „^ A Round cedar posts each . . ^ Split posts do ^ Cedar railroad ties do 1^ Table VIII. Freight rates on lumber {per 1,000 feet) from Alpena, Manistee, Menominee, Ashland, and Duluth, to Chicago by lake. * 1877 $1.31 1.14 1878 1880 2.22 1881 2 01 1885 1 64 1886 1887 2.53 Alpena. Manis- Menom- Ash- tee, inee. land. .$1. 27 1.34 1.77 2.12 2.18 1.78 1.85 1.70 1.4b 1.58 1.94 $].46 1.87 2.27 2.17 1.80 1.85 1.59 1.54 1.66 2.11 Alpena. ^,^"*«- ;Menom ^ tee. mee. $2. 12 3.15 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 $1.90 1.59 1.74 1.69 1.81 1.61 1.41 1.36 1.16 $1.49 1.42 1.58 1.59 1.62 1.46 1.32 1.22 1.14 1.13 $1.57 1.40 1.66 1.59 1.67 1.48 l!27 1.20 1.10 Ash- land. $2.73 2.42 2.51 2.44 2.91 2.36 2.00 2.18 1.85 1.67 *The rates from Duluth, Superior, aud the other pi rt.s at the head of Late Superior are almost always the same as those from Ashlaud. This table is based on the weekly rates publfshed by the Northwestern Lumberman, which takes great pains to have its quotations correct. Table IX. Production of lumber in the Northwest, * Tear. M.feet. Year. M.feet. Tear. M.feet. Tear. M. feet. 1873 3, 393, 780 1880 5, 651, 295 1887. 7, 757, 916 1894 6, 763, 110 1874 3, 751, 306 1881 6, 768, 8.56 188S 8, 388, 716 1895 7, 093, 398 1875 3, 968, 553 1882 7, 552, 150 1889 8, 305, 833 1896 5, 538, 112 1876 3, 879, 046 1883 7, 624, 789 1890 8, 664, 504 1897 6, 233, 454 1877 3, 595, 333 1884 7, 935, 033 1891 7, 943, 137 1878 3,629,472 1885 7, 053, 094 1892 8, 902, 748 1879 4,806,943 1886 7,425,368 1893 7, 599, 748 *This table includes the Ivimbei produced from the logs cut in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and from logs imported from Ontario and sawed in Michigan or at Lake Erie ports. Logs from Minne- sota and Wisconsin are floated down the Mississippi in large numbers to various cities and there sawed. The lumber produced is included. This table was compiled by the Northwestern Lumberman. The details may be found in the issues of this paper of January 23, 1897, and January 22, 1898. The Marine Record, May 13, 1897, p. 9. H. Doc. 277 8 106 STATISTICS OF LAKE COMMERCE. ACKNOWLEDaMENT. Ill the preparation of the foregoing- report the following persons have rendered material assistance: Frank E. VVyuiaii, secretary of the Dnluth Board of Trade; William Thnrstone, secretary of the Bnffalo Mer- chants' Exchange; W, J. Langson, secretary of the Milwaukee Cham- ber of Commerce; George F. Stone, secretary of the Chicago Board of Trade; G. D, Kogers, secretary of the Minneapolis Chamber of Com- merce; J. C. Brown, statistician of the Xew Y'ork Produce Exchange; F. A. Scott, assistant secretary of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce; J. M. Mulrooney, editor of the Marine Keview; Capt. John Swainsou, editor of the Marine Kecord; A. I. Mndley, editor of The Iron Trade Review; James Peabody, editor of the Railway and Engineering Review; John B. Lucas, editor of the Black Diamond; II. A. Bischolf, of the Chicago Bureau of Coal Statistics; The Brown Hoisting and Conveying Company; John McMyler, of the McMyler Manufacturing Company; A. B. Wolvin, president of The Zenith Transit Company; B. L. Pennington, of Cleveland; Melion Pattison, Capt. J. S. Dun- ham, Frankhu H. Head, George Merry weather, VV. S. Bogle, E. C. Chandler, George W, Hotchkiss, O. S. Whitmore, of Chicago; W. I. Babcock, manager of the Chicago Shipbuilding Company; W. J. Olcott, vice president of Diiluth, Mesaba and Northern Railroad Com- pany; J. L. Greatsinger, i^resident of the Dulnth and Iron Range Rail- road Company, and E. D. Cowles, of Saginaw. lamalso indebted to the following gentlemen for valuable aid: Thomas Owens, superintendent of the Dulnth and Iron Range Railroad Com- pany; H. H. Campbell of the Pennsylvania Steel Comi)any; J. H. Morford, William Richardson, F. S. Peabody, A. I, Valentine, of Chicago; P. G. Cook, secretary of Western Elevating Association; L. M. Bowers, general manager of the Bessemer Steamship Company; W. G. Mather, president of the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railway Company; James Pickands, president of the Minnesota Steamship Com- pany; L. C. Hanna, j)resident of the Menominee Transit Company; W. D. Rees, treasurer of the Lake Superior Iron Comi^any ; Alexander Backus, president Vulcan Iron Works, and R. L. Ireland, assistant secretary of the Globe Iron Works. %.i BEAEY, TB 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subjert to immediate recalL LD 21A-60m-4,'64 (E4555sl0)476B General Library _ University of California Berkeley lUUDbD'lX \