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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #52976 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52976)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Lakes, by James Oliver Curwood
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: The Great Lakes
-       The Vessels That Plough Them: Their Owners, Their Sailors,
-       and Their Cargoes
-
-Author: James Oliver Curwood
-
-Release Date: September 4, 2016 [EBook #52976]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT LAKES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Roger Frank, Charlie Howard, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-book was produced from images made available by the
-HathiTrust Digital Library.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: The Fountain of the Great Lakes
-
-Lorado Taft, Sculptor]
-
-
-
-
-  The Great Lakes
-
-  The Vessels That Plough Them: Their Owners,
-  Their Sailors, and Their Cargoes
-
-  Together with
-  A Brief History of Our Inland Seas
-
-  By
-  James Oliver Curwood
-
-  _With 72 Illustrations and a Map_
-
-  G. P. Putnam’s Sons
-  New York and London
-  The Knickerbocker Press
-  1909
-
-
-
-
-  COPYRIGHT, 1909
-  BY
-  JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD
-
-  The Knickerbocker Press, New York
-
-
-
-
-  TO HIS
-  FATHER AND MOTHER
-  WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND FAITH IN HIM HAVE BEEN UNFAILING,
-  THE AUTHOR
-  AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS BOOK
-
-
-
-
-Preface
-
-
-In this volume, it has been my object to tell of the people and of
-the picturesque life of the Great Lakes, and to set before my readers
-actual facts about the cities, the commerce, and the future of the
-greatest fresh-water seas in the world. For some unaccountable reason,
-the Great Lakes, notwithstanding the fact that more than thirty million
-people live in the States bordering their shores, and in spite of the
-still more remarkable fact that they are doing more than anything else
-on the American continent for the commercial progress of the nation,
-have been almost entirely neglected by writers. To-day there are but
-few people who know that one of the three greatest ports and the
-largest fleet of freighters in the world are on these unsalted waters;
-and I mention the fact in this particular place simply to bring home
-to the casual reader how little is known by the public at large about
-our Inland Seas. For this reason, I have not dealt with any single
-side of Lake life, but have attempted to present as many phases of it
-as I could; and, for the same reason, I have added a brief historical
-account of the Lakes at the end of the book. It has been my desire,
-too, that these pages, from the beginning, should prove of especial
-value to those many thousands all over the world who are, or may in the
-future be, directly interested in the Lakes in a business way; and a
-great deal of attention has, therefore, been given to the commercial
-side of my subject--statistics and facts regarding Lake commerce, the
-opportunities of the present day, and a forecast of what the coming
-years hold in store for the men who have investments, or who plan to
-invest in business enterprises, on or about the Great Lakes.
-
-While dwelling upon the importance of the commercial life of the Inland
-Seas, I wish also to emphasise the fact that I have kept always in
-mind another large class of people who are keenly interested in my
-subject, though not from a commercial standpoint. The present volume is
-designed to interest this latter class by portraying another side of
-Lake life--the human side, the romance and the tragedy that have played
-their thrilling parts upon these waters; the wonders of their progress;
-the story of their ships, their men, their wars, for of all the pages
-in the history of the North American continent none are more thrilling,
-or more filled with the romantic and the picturesque, than those which
-tell the story of our fresh-water seas.
-
-In conclusion, I wish to say that I owe a great debt of gratitude to
-the scores of Lake “owners,” ship-builders, and captains who have
-aided me, in every way possible, in the preparation of this volume, and
-without whose personal co-operation the writing of it would have been
-impossible.
-
-            J. O. C.
-
-  DETROIT, MICHIGAN, 1909.
-
-
-
-
-Contents
-
-
-                                                                    PAGE
-  PART I
-  THE SHIPS, THEIR OWNERS, THEIR SAILORS, AND THEIR CARGOES
-
-    I--THE BUILDING OF THE SHIPS                                       3
-
-   II--WHAT THE SHIPS CARRY--ORE                                      25
-
-  III--WHAT THE SHIPS CARRY--OTHER CARGOES                            46
-
-   IV--PASSENGER TRAFFIC AND SUMMER LIFE                              68
-
-    V--THE ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY OF THE INLAND SEAS                     89
-
-   VI--BUFFALO AND DULUTH: THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF THE LAKES          113
-
-  VII--A TRIP ON A GREAT LAKES FREIGHTER                             137
-
-
-  PART II
-  ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE LAKES
-
-    I--ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY                                      159
-
-   II--THE LAKES CHANGE MASTERS                                      175
-
-  III--THE WAR OF 1812 AND AFTER                                     194
-
-
-  INDEX                                                              223
-
-
-
-
-Illustrations
-
-
-                                                                  _Page_
-
-  _The Fountain of the Great Lakes_                _Frontispiece_
-          _Lorado Taft, Sculptor._
-
-  _The First Step in the Making of a Ship--Laying the “Keel Blocks”_   4
-
-  _Second Step--Laying the Keel, or Bottom of the Ship, on the
-      “Keel Blocks”_                                                   6
-
-  _The Growing Ship_                                                   8
-
-  _Vessel Almost Ready for Launching_                                 10
-
-  _A Monster of Steel and Iron Ready to be Launched_                  12
-          _Weight 9,500,000 lbs._
-
-  _The Launching_                                                     14
-
-  _The “Thomas F. Cole,” 11,200 Tons, Being Fitted with Engines
-      and Boilers after her Launching_                                16
-          _The “Cole” is the largest ship on the Lakes. Length,
-            605 feet 5 inches._
-
-  _Her First Trip--Off for the Ore Regions of the North_              18
-
-  _This Shows Some of the 800,000 Rivets that Go to the Making
-      of a 10,000-Ton Leviathan of the Inland Seas_                   22
-
-  _Ice-Bound. Thirty-two Boats Tied up in the Ice at the Soo_         26
-          _From a Photograph by Lord & Thomas, Sault Ste. Marie,
-            Mich._
-
-  _A Network of Tracks Running through the Ore Lands_                 28
-
-  _Captains of the Vessels of the American Steamship Company_         30
-
-  _The “Montezuma”_                                                   32
-          _The largest wooden ship on fresh water being towed
-            out of the Maumee River, Toledo._
-
-  _A Coal Dock at Superior, Wisconsin_                                34
-          _The pile of coal is 1400 feet long and 30 feet high._
-
-  _The Record Load Hauled by One Team out of the Michigan Woods,
-      20,000 Feet_                                                    36
-
-  _One Steam Shovel Keeps Three Locomotives and Trains Busy_          38
-
-  _Steamers at a Modern Ore Unloading Plant at Conneaut_              40
-
-  _The Main Slip in the Harbour of Conneaut_                          42
-          _Conneaut is the second largest ore-receiving port on
-            the Lakes._
-
-  _One of the Huge Open Pits of the Mesaba Range_                     44
-
-  _A Raft of Five Million Pulp Logs on the North Shore of Lake
-      Michigan_                                                       48
-
-  _Scooping up Ore from the Mahoning Mine at Hibbing_                 52
-          _The largest open pit mine in the world._
-
-  _A Mining Town on the Mesaba Range, where a Few Years ago the
-      Deer and Bear Roamed Undisturbed_                               54
-
-  _Harbour View at Conneaut, Ohio, Showing Docks and Machinery_       56
-
-  _A Steam Shovel at Work_                                            58
-          _This removes from 4000 to 8000 tons of ore a day._
-
-  _The Old and the New_                                               62
-          _A modern freight carrier passing one of the old
-            schooners._
-
-  _A Shaft on One of the Ranges_                                      66
-
-  _The “North West”_                                                  68
-          _One of the finest passenger steamers on the Great
-            Lakes._
-
-  _The Stop at Tashinoo Park, St. Clair Flats_                        70
-
-  _The Landing at Mackinac Dock, Michigan_                            72
-
-  _Hickory Island at the Mouth of Detroit River_                      74
-          _From a Photograph by Manning Studio, Detroit._
-
-  _The “City of Erie”_                                                76
-          _The fastest steamer on the Lakes, holding a record of
-            22.93 miles per hour._
-
-  _Little Venice, St. Clair River_                                    80
-          _Showing the type of “Inns,” where people may pass
-            their holidays at small expense._
-            _Courtesy of Northern Steamship Co._
-
-  _A Scene on Belle Isle, Detroit River_                              82
-
-  _Steamer “Western States”_                                          84
-          _One of the largest and fastest boats on the Lakes.
-            Carries 2500 people and her fastest speed is 20 miles
-            an hour._
-            _From a Photograph by Detroit Photographic Co._
-
-  _Steamship “North West” in American Lock_                           86
-
-  _Cottages Built at Small Expense along the St. Mary’s River_        88
-
-  _A Steamer Stripped by a Tow-line by Running between a Steamer
-      and her Consort_                                                90
-          _From a Photograph by Lord & Rhoades, Sault Ste. Marie,
-            Mich._
-
-  _A Remarkable Photograph Showing the Big Freighter “Stimson”
-      in a Holocaust of Smoke and Flame_                              94
-
-  _After a Fierce Night’s “Late Navigation” Run across Lake
-      Superior_                                                       96
-
-  _A Ship that Made the Shore before she Sank. The Work of
-      Raising her in Progress_                                       100
-
-  _A Treacherous Sea in its Garb of Greatest Beauty_                 102
-          _One phase of Lake navigation._
-
-  _A View of the “Zimmerman”_                                        104
-          _After a collision with another freighter._
-
-  _The Steamer “Wahcondah_”                                          108
-          _One of the Lake grain carriers which was caught in a
-            storm late in the season after being buffeted by the
-            waves of Lake Superior for about fourteen hours._
-
-  _This is One of the Most Remarkable Photographs Ever Taken on
-      the Lakes. It Shows a Sinking Lumber Barge just as She Was
-      Breaking in Two_                                               110
-          _The photograph was taken from a small boat._
-
-  _The Residence of Ansley Wilcox at Buffalo_                        114
-          _Where President Roosevelt took the oath of office._
-            _Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co._
-
-  _A Bird’s-eye View of the Harbour of Duluth, Taken from the
-      Hill_                                                          116
-          _From a Photograph by Maher, Duluth._
-
-  _The Ship Canal and Aërial Bridge, Duluth, Minn._                  118
-          _Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co._
-
-  _Fleet of Boats in Duluth Harbour Waiting to Unload_               122
-
-  _View Looking South-west from the New Chamber of Commerce
-      Building, Buffalo_                                             124
-
-  _Unloading at One of the Coal Docks at Duluth_                     126
-
-  _A Fleet of Erie Canal Boats--Capacity of Each 150 Tons_           128
-          _The boats on the new canal will be 1000 tons each._
-
-  _The Jack-Knife Bridge at Buffalo_                                 132
-
-  _A Scene on Blackwell Canal_                                       134
-          _The winter home of big boats in Buffalo._
-
-  _Some of the Grain Elevators at Duluth, which Have a Combined
-      Storage Capacity of 35,550,000 Bushels_                        136
-
-  _The Mesaba Ore Docks_                                             138
-
-  _From the Deck of the Ship the Tug Looks Like an Ant Dragging
-      at a Huge Prey_                                                142
-
-  _Observation Room on the “Wm. G. Mather”_                          144
-          _Which gives an idea of the luxuriousness of the guests’
-            quarters on a Great Lakes freighter._
-
-  _The Luxurious Dining-room on the 10,000-Ton Steamer “J. H.
-      Sheadle”_                                                      146
-
-  _Tugs Trying to Release Boats Held in the Ice at the Soo_          150
-          _Copyright 1906 by Young, Lord & Rhoades, Ltd._
-
-  _Whaleback Barges Preparing for Winter Quarters at Conneaut,
-      Ohio_                                                          152
-          (_The Whaleback is a type of vessel that has been tried
-            and found wanting. They are going out of use._)
-
-  _Ashore_                                                           154
-
-  _Arch Rock, Mackinac Island_                                       160
-          _One of the natural wonders of the world._
-
-  _Fort Mackinac_                                                    168
-
-  _Marquette’s Grave, St. Ignace, Michigan_                          174
-
-  _Monument at Put-in-Bay in Memory of the British and Americans
-      who Died in the Battle of Lake Erie_                           182
-
-  _Old West Blockhouse, Fort Mackinac_                               186
-          _Built by the British, about 1780._
-
-  _The Monument Erected to those who Fought and Died on Mackinac
-      Island_                                                        190
-
-  _Mackinac Island, Showing Old Fort Mackinac_                       194
-
-  _Once the Scene of Bloodshed and Strife, these Old Trees Stand
-      where French, Indian, and British Fought Years ago_            200
-
-  _A View of the Historic Battle-ground on Mackinac Island_          206
-
-  _An Old British Gunboat Discovered in the River Thames_            212
-
-  _Scene when Admiral Dewey Passed through the Soo Locks_            216
-
-  _Map_                                                         _At End_
-
-
-
-
-PART I
-
-The Ships, their Owners, their Sailors, and their Cargoes
-
-
-
-
-I
-
-The Building of the Ships
-
-
-Not long ago, I was on a Lake freighter pounding her way up Huron on
-the “thousand-mile highway” that leads to Duluth. Beside me was a man
-who had climbed from poverty to millions. He was riding in his own
-ship. His interests burned ten thousand tons of coal a year. He was one
-of the ore kings of the North--as rough as the iron he dug, filled to
-the brim with enthusiasm and animal energy of the Lake breed; a man who
-had helped to make the Lakes what they are, as scores of others like
-him have done. Before and behind us there trailed the smoke of a dozen
-of the steel leviathans of the Inland Seas. I had asked him a question,
-and there was the fire of a great pride in his eyes when he answered.
-
-“It would make a nation by itself--this Lake country!” he said. “And it
-would be America. It’s America from Buffalo to Duluth, every inch of
-it, and the people who are in it are Americans. That’s American smoke
-you see off there, and American ships are making it; they’re run by a
-thousand or more American captains, and they’re Americans fore ’n’
-aft, too. We’ve got only eight States along the Lakes, but if we should
-secede to-morrow the world would find us the heart and power of the
-nation. That’s how American we are!”
-
-This is the patriotism one finds in the Lake country, from the
-roaring furnaces of the East to the vast ore beds of Minnesota. It
-is representative of the spirit that rules the Inland Seas; it is
-this spirit that has built an empire, and is building a vaster empire
-to-day, along the edges of the world’s greatest fresh-water highways.
-
-[Illustration: The First Step in the Making of a Ship--Laying the “Keel
-Blocks.”]
-
-With more than thirty-four millions of people living in the States
-bordering on them, possessing one third of the total tonnage of North
-America, and saving to the people of the United States five hundred
-million dollars each year, or six dollars for every man, woman, and
-child in the country, one of the most inexplainable mysteries of the
-century exists in the fact that the Great Lakes of to-day are as little
-known to the vast majority of Americans as they were a quarter of a
-century ago. While revolutions have been working in almost all lines of
-industry, while States have been made and cities born, America’s great
-Inland Seas have remained unwatched and unknown except by a comparative
-few. Upon them have grown the greatest industries of the nation, yet
-the national ignorance concerning them can hardly find a parallel in
-history. Were they to disappear to-morrow the industrial supremacy of
-the republic would receive a blow from which it could never recover.
-The steel industry, as a dominant commercial factor, would almost cease
-to exist. One half of the total population of the country would be
-seriously affected, and America would fall far behind in the commercial
-race of the nations.
-
-Notwithstanding these things, not one person in ten knows what the
-Great Lakes stand for to-day. While a thousand writers have sung of the
-greatness and romance of the watery wastes that encircle continents,
-none has told of those “vast unsalted seas” which mean more to
-eighty-five millions of Americans than any one of the five oceans.
-What has been written has been for those who find their commerce upon
-them; for the owners of ships and the masters of men; for the kings of
-ore and grain--a little statistical matter here and a little there,
-but nothing for the millions who are not at hand to feel the pulse of
-traffic or to see the great commercial pageant as it passes before
-their eyes. Even of those who live in the States bordering the Great
-Lakes but few know that these fresh-water highways of traffic possess
-the greatest shipping port in the world, that upon them floats the
-largest single fleet of freighters in existence, that in their great
-construction yards shipbuilding has been reduced to a science as
-nowhere else on earth, and that in their life the elements of romance
-and tragedy play their parts even as on the big oceans that divide
-hemispheres.
-
-In a small way the general lack of knowledge of the Great Lakes is
-excusable, for their development has been so rapid and so stupendous
-that people have not yet grasped its significance. Within the last
-quarter of a century or less they have become the industrial magnets
-of the nation. Along their shores have sprung up our greatest cities,
-with populations increasing more rapidly than those of New York,
-Boston, Philadelphia, or San Francisco. In the eight States which have
-ports on them is more than one third of the total population of the
-North American continent. Along their three thousand three hundred and
-eighty-five miles of United States shore line will be built this year
-more than one half of the tonnage constructed in America, and over
-their highways will travel at least six times as much freight as all
-the nations of the world carried through the Suez Canal in 1908.
-
-Just what this means it is hard for one to conceive when told only in
-figures. Perhaps in no better way can the immensity and importance of
-their traffic be described than by showing briefly one of the ways in
-which they earned a “dividend” of six dollars for every person living
-in the United States in 1907. This immense “dividend” did not go into
-the coffers of corporations, but actually, though indirectly, into the
-pockets of the people.
-
-[Illustration: Second Step--Laying the Keel, or Bottom of the Ship, on
-the “Keel Blocks.”]
-
-It is only fair to the Lakes and the vast interests upon them to use
-the figures of 1907 instead of those of 1908. In the following pages
-it is the author’s intention to paint conditions as they actually
-exist upon our Inland Seas _under normal conditions_. During 1908,
-the financial depression that swept over the entire country produced
-conditions upon the Lakes which, in the author’s opinion, will not
-be seen again for a great many years to come. “Panic figures” give a
-wrong impression. Those of 1908 would show a falling off of business in
-various branches of Lake traffic of from twenty to sixty per cent. As
-one of the best known vessel-men in Duluth said to me recently, “We can
-count that the Lakes have lost just one year of progress because of the
-panic.” In other words, it is highly probable that the business of the
-Lakes will in this year of 1909 be just about what it should have been
-under normal conditions in 1908, and there are many who believe that
-within the next two years the loss of the “panic year” will be more
-than discounted.
-
-For this reason, in order to show how the Lakes earn their tremendous
-dividend for the people of the United States, we use the figures of
-1907, when traffic was normal. In that year, for instance, it cost a
-little over ten cents to ship a bushel of grain from Chicago to New
-York by rail, and only five and one half cents by way of the Lakes and
-the Erie Canal. This saving on transportation of five cents a bushel
-is divided between the producing farmer and the consuming public.
-It is a “nickel on which no trust can place its hands”--and this
-nickel, when multiplied by the number of bushels of grain produced in
-Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan, reaches the
-stupendous figure of ninety-eight million dollars! In the matter of
-iron ore the saving is still greater. Were it not for this saving all
-steel necessities, from rails to common kitchen forks, would advance
-tremendously in price, and the United States would not be able to
-control the steel markets of the world. To-day you can ship a ton of
-ore from Duluth to Ashtabula, Conneaut, or Cleveland, a distance of
-nearly one thousand miles, for less than you can send by rail that
-same ton from one of these ports to Pittsburg, a distance of only one
-hundred and thirty miles. In other words, while it costs about eighty
-cents to send a ton of ore from the vast ranges of the North to an Erie
-port by ship, the rail rate is seven times greater, which means that
-the vessels of the Great Lakes saved in 1907 on ore alone no less than
-one hundred and seventy-three million dollars!
-
-[Illustration: The Growing Ship.]
-
-In another way than in this annual saving in cost of transportation
-are the Lakes fighting a great and almost unappreciated battle for
-the people. They are to-day the country’s greatest safeguard against
-excessive railroad charges. They are the governors of the nation’s
-internal commerce, and will be for all time to come. There is not a
-State north of the Ohio River and east of the Rocky Mountains which
-is not affected by their cheap transportation, and the day is not
-distant when hundreds of millions of bushels of grain raised in the
-Canadian west will go to the seaboard by way of the lake and canal
-route. At the present time there are about two hundred and forty
-thousand miles of railroad in the United States, constructed and
-equipped at a cost of more than thirteen billion dollars; yet, on the
-basis of ton miles, the traffic on the Lakes will in 1909 be one sixth
-as great as on all the roads in the country.
-
-These facts are given here to show in a small way the gigantic part
-the Great Lakes are playing to-day in the industrial progress of the
-nation. Yet, as paradoxical as it may seem, the nation itself has
-hardly recognised the truth. The “helping” hand that the Government
-has reached out has been pathetically weak. In history to come it must
-be recorded that great men--men of brain and brawn and courage--have
-“built up” the Lakes, and not the Government. And these men, scores and
-hundreds of them, are continuing the work to-day. Since the dawn of
-independence to the present time, the United States has expended for
-all harbours and waterways on the Great Lakes above the Niagara Falls
-less than ninety million dollars, yet each year this same Government
-hands out one hundred and forty million dollars to the army and navy
-and one hundred and twenty-seven million dollars to the postal service!
-In the face of this is the astonishing fact that, in 1907, the saving
-in freight rates on Lake Superior commerce alone exceeded by a million
-dollars the total sum expended by the Government on the Inland Seas
-since the day the first ship was launched upon them!
-
-In this building of the “greater empire” of the Lake country there
-is now no rest. Wherever ships are built the stocks are filled. From
-the uttermost end of Erie to the shipyards of the north--in Buffalo,
-Lorain, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, West Superior, Chicago, and
-Manitowoc--the making of American ships is being rushed as never
-before. In the larger yards powerful arc-light systems allow of work
-by night as well as by day. The roaring of forges, the hammering of
-steel, the tumult of labouring men, and the rumbling of giant cranes
-are seldom stilled. With almost magical quickness a ten-thousand-ton
-monster of steel rises on the stocks--and is gone. Another takes its
-place, and even as they follow one another into the sea, racing to fill
-demands, there still comes the cry: “Ships--ships--we want more ships!”
-
-[Illustration: Vessel Almost Ready for Launching.]
-
-In the year 1908, it is estimated that very nearly three fifths of
-the total ship tonnage built in the United States was constructed in
-these busy yards of the Great Lakes. As early as January they were
-choked with orders for 1908 delivery, and even that early a number of
-them had orders running well into 1909. A brief glance at the vessel
-construction of the Lakes during the six years up to and including
-1907 will give a good idea of the rapid growth of this industry along
-the Inland Seas. In 1902, the product was forty-two vessels, thirty-two
-of them being bulk freighters. In 1903, forty-two of the fifty vessels
-built were bulk freight steamers, with a carrying capacity of 213,250
-tons. In 1904, the output was only thirteen vessels, but in 1905
-twenty-nine bulk freighters with a carrying capacity of 260,000 tons
-were built. In 1906, there were turned out from the Great Lakes yards
-forty-seven vessels, of which forty were bulk freighters, and in 1907,
-the total was fifty-six vessels, including forty bulk freighters, three
-package freighters, and one passenger steamer. The early months of
-1908 saw contracts in force for the construction of twenty-five bulk
-freighters for delivery before 1909.
-
-Taking the forty bulk freighters built in 1907, one gets a fair idea
-of the immensity of Lake traffic. They are but a drop in the bucket--a
-single year’s contribution to the great argosies of the Inland Seas;
-yet these forty ships have a carrying capacity of three hundred and
-sixty thousand tons. In other words, within four days after loading at
-Duluth they could be discharging this mountain of ore at Erie ports. To
-carry this same “cargo” by rail would require over three hundred trains
-of thirty cars each, or a single train seventy miles in length!
-
-But this is not particularly astonishing when one is studying the
-commerce of the Great Lakes. True, it represents considerably over a
-half of the tonnage built in the United States during 1907, but even
-at that it “isn’t much to shout about,” as one builder of ships said
-to me. These men of the Lakes never express surprise at the wonders
-of the Inland Seas. They are used to them. They meet with them every
-day of their lives. On either coast these same “wonders” would be
-made much of. But the Lake breed is not the breed that boasts--unless
-you drag opinions from them. Why, over in Cleveland there is one man
-who directs the destinies of twice as many ships as the forty-eight
-mentioned above--a single commercial navy that can move six hundred and
-forty-eight thousand tons of ore in one trip, or enough to “make up” a
-train of sixteen thousand two hundred cars, which train would be one
-hundred and twenty miles in length! This man’s name is Coulby--Harry
-Coulby, President and General Manager of the Pittsburg Steamship
-Company, Lake arm of the United States Steel Corporation. There was
-a time when Coulby was a poor mechanic, working his ten hours a day.
-Then he developed “talent” and went into a shipyard draughting-room.
-Now he is undeniably the king of Lake shipping. His word is law in the
-directing of more than a hundred vessels, the greatest fleet in the
-world; and it is law in other ways, for it is common talk in marine
-circles that he (with the trust behind him) is responsible for nearly
-every important move on the Great Lakes. He is the eye and the ear
-and the mouth of the trust, and it is the trust that practically fixes
-the ore rates for each season, and does other things of interest. If
-these ships of Coulby’s were placed end to end they would reach a
-distance of eight miles! During the eight months of Lake navigation
-they can transport as much freight over the “thousand-mile highway”
-as the combined fleets of all nations take through the Suez Canal in
-twelve! Yet who has heard of Coulby? How many know of the gigantic
-fleet he controls? A few thousand Lake people, and that is all. A
-magnificent illustration is this of the national ignorance concerning
-the Great Lakes.
-
-[Illustration: A Monster of Steel and Iron Ready to be Launched.
-
-Weight 9,500,000 lbs.]
-
-And Coulby is only one of many. The fleet he controls is only one of
-many. The Lakes breed great men--and they breed great fleets. How
-many of our millions have heard of J. C. Gilchrist and the Gilchrist
-fleet?--a man in one way unique in the marine history of the world, and
-a fleet which, if plying between New York and Liverpool, would be one
-of the present-day sensations. Gilchrist, like Coulby, “worked up from
-the depths,” and to-day, as the head of the Gilchrist Transportation
-Company, he holds down seventy-five distinct jobs! Seventy-five owners
-have placed seventy-five ships under his generalship, and from each
-he receives a salary of one thousand dollars a season, or a total of
-seventy-five thousand dollars. He is one of the Napoleons of the Lakes.
-He handles ships and men like a magician; his holds are never empty;
-his dividends are always large. There was a day when one thousand
-dollars looked like a fortune to Gilchrist, and when eight dollars a
-week was an income of which he was mightily proud. That was when, from
-away down in Michigan, he turned his face northward toward the Lakes,
-filled with big ambition and a desire for adventure, but with little
-more than what he carried on his back. He got work as a sailor before
-the mast at forty dollars a month and board. From there he graduated
-to “bell hop” on a passenger steamer, and continued to graduate until
-the owners of great ships began to see in him those things which they
-themselves did not possess, and so handed over to him the destiny of
-the second greatest fleet of freight carriers in the world.
-
-Such men as Coulby and Gilchrist and the ships they have would make the
-fame of any nation on the high seas. They and men like Captain John
-Mitchell, who is the head of a fleet of twenty ships, J. H. Sheadle, G.
-Ashley Tomlinson, and G. L. Douglas, are of the kind that are choking
-the Great Lakes shipyards with orders, while along the ocean seaboards
-stocks are rotting and builders of ocean marine are starving. Cleveland
-claims the headquarters of both of these immense fleets--and Cleveland
-is fortunate in many other things. She counts her strong men of the
-Lakes by the score. She is a great owner of ships, a great buyer of
-ships, and a great builder.
-
-[Illustration: The Launching.]
-
-But when it comes to the production of “bottoms,” Cleveland and
-all other Lake cities must give way to Detroit. There was a day when
-Detroit was one of the important ports of the Lakes, but that day is
-long past. Now she is the centre of shipbuilding. In 1907, there was
-built at Detroit more tonnage than in any other city in the United
-States. Of the vessels launched, twenty-one of the largest took their
-first dip in or very near Detroit. The tonnage of these vessels
-aggregated over one half of the total tonnage of the forty freighters
-constructed for the season’s delivery.
-
-It has been said that Detroit is a great shipbuilding city by accident,
-and there is a good deal of truth in the assertion. Six years ago the
-American Shipbuilding Company, the greatest trust of its kind in the
-world, held undisputed sway over the Lakes. It knew no competition. No
-combination of capital had dared to grapple with it. With eleven huge
-construction yards strung along the Lakes between Buffalo, Duluth, and
-Chicago, it held a monopoly of the shipbuilding industry. It was at
-this time that one of the country’s great industrial generals sprang up
-in Detroit. Then he was practically unknown; now as a leader and master
-of men, he is known in every city of this country where iron and steel
-are used. His name is Antonio C. Pessano. Detroit must always be proud
-of this man. He must count in the history of her future greatness, and
-always her citizens should be thankful that he and his indomitable
-courage did not first appear in Buffalo, Cleveland, or some other Lake
-city. Mr. Pessano’s ambition was to build at Detroit the most modern
-shipbuilding plant in the world. Some people laughed at him. Others
-pitied him. The trust twiddled its fingers, so to speak, and smiled. In
-the face of it all Mr. Pessano won the confidence of such Gibraltars of
-industrial finance as George H. Russel, Colonel Frank J. Hecker, Joseph
-Boyer, William G. Mather, Henry B. Ledyard, and others--won it to the
-extent of raising one million five hundred thousand dollars, with which
-he built the greatest shipbuilding yards on the Lakes and which have
-developed since then into the greatest in America, employing more than
-three thousand men.
-
-Mr. Pessano’s shipbuilding rival is the president of the trust. His
-name is Wallace, “son of Bob Wallace, the elder,” Lake men will tell
-you, for Robert Wallace, the father, was a shipbuilder himself for a
-great many years. He is very proud of his boy.
-
-“I had three boys,” said he. “Two of ’em went to college, but Jim _he_
-wanted an education, so he didn’t take much stock in books, but got out
-among men. That was what made Jim!”
-
-[Illustration: The “Thomas F. Cole,” 11,200 Tons, Being Fitted with
-Engines and Boilers after her Launching.
-
-The “Cole” is the largest ship on the Lakes. Length, 605 feet 5 inches.]
-
-To-day it is “Jim,” or James C. Wallace, of Cleveland, as he is better
-known, who is the champion shipbuilder of the world. He is President
-of the American Shipbuilding Company. Probably in no other part of the
-world is the romantic more largely associated with modern progress than
-on the Great Lakes, and in these two men--Wallace and Pessano--it is
-revealed in a singular way. Together they govern shipbuilding on the
-Inland Seas. Both of these great men began in the dinner-pail brigade.
-They worked in overalls and grease, not for “experience,” but because
-they had to; they pulled and heaved with common labourers; they rose,
-step by step, from the lowest ranks--and to-day, monuments to courage
-and ambition, they are the earth’s two greatest builders of ships. In
-a novel such characters would be declared almost impossible. But the
-Lakes breed such as these. There are others whose careers have been
-even more remarkable, and I will tell of these later--men whose rise
-from poverty to wealth and power rivals in romance and adventure the
-most glowing stories of the Goulds and Astors.
-
-Mr. Pessano, “the independent,” does not entirely monopolise Detroit
-shipbuilding, for Wallace was there ahead of him with one of the
-trust’s big yards, which is known under the name of the Detroit
-Shipbuilding Company. It materially assists in the city’s greatness,
-and will continue to do so more and more each year. During 1907, it
-launched six big freighters in Detroit, and that city, together with
-eight other Lake cities, heaps blessings on the trust. For the trust
-is most generous and unprejudiced in its distribution of yards. It
-builds ships in one huge yard at Superior, in two at Chicago, two
-at Cleveland, and in one at Lorain, Buffalo, Wyandotte, Detroit,
-and Milwaukee. Among these cities it has distributed over fifteen
-million dollars in capital, and it is estimated that it affords a
-livelihood for between fifty and sixty thousand people. In 1907,
-the different yards built twice the tonnage of the next two largest
-shipbuilding concerns in the world combined--those of Doxford and Sons,
-of Sunderland, and Harland and Wolff, of Belfast, whose aggregate
-tonnage was not over one hundred and fifty thousand. The astonishing
-rate at which Lake shipbuilding is increasing is shown in the fact
-that the trust’s production for 1907 was twice that of 1905, which
-was 117,482 tons, divided among twenty vessels. A new factor has come
-into Lake shipbuilding which will count considerably in the future.
-This is the Toledo Shipbuilding Company, which purchased the Craig
-yards in 1906, and which has expended a great deal of money since that
-time in perfecting its plant, until now it has one of the most modern
-construction yards on the Lakes.
-
-[Illustration: Her First Trip--Off for the Ore Regions of the North.]
-
-It would seem that this activity in Lake shipyards must soon supply
-demands, but such will not be the case for many years to come. While
-the depression of 1908 has cast its gloom, Lake men cannot see the end
-of their prosperity. They are in the midst of fortune-making days on
-the Inland Seas. To-day one of the steel ships of the Lakes is as good
-as a gold mine, and will continue to be so for a quarter of a century
-to come. The shipyards are growing each year, but the increase of
-tonnage is outstripping them, and until cargo and ships are more evenly
-balanced the owners of vessels on the Great Lakes must be counted
-among the most fortunate men in the world.
-
-It is only natural that these conditions should have developed
-shipbuilding on the Lakes to a science unparalleled in any other part
-of the earth. I once had the good fortune to talk with a shipbuilder
-from the Clyde. He had heard much of the Lakes. He had built ships for
-them. He had heard of the wonders of shipbuilding in their cities. So
-he had come across to see for himself.
-
-“I had thought that your ships would not compare with ours,” he said.
-“You build them so quickly that I thought they would surely be inferior
-to those of the Clyde. But they are the best in the world; I will say
-that--the best in the world, and you build them like magicians! You lay
-their keels to-day--to-morrow they are gone!”
-
-This is almost true. A ten-thousand-ton leviathan of the Lakes can
-now be built almost as quickly as carpenters can put up an eight-room
-house. Any one of several shipyards can get out one of these monsters
-of marine commerce within ninety days, and the record stands with a
-ten-thousand-ton vessel that was launched fifty-three days after her
-keel was laid! One hardly realises what this means until he knows of
-a few of the things that go into the construction of such a vessel.
-Take the steamer _Thomas F. Cole_, for instance, launched early in 1907
-by the Great Lakes Engineering Works. This vessel is the giant of the
-Lakes, and is six hundred and five feet and five inches long. She is
-fifty-eight feet beam and thirty-two feet deep, and in a single trip
-can carry as great a load as three hundred freight cars, or twelve
-thousand tons. In her are nine million five hundred thousand pounds of
-iron and steel! What does this mean? It means that if every man, woman,
-and child in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were to join
-in carrying this material to a certain place, each person would have
-to transport one pound. In the mass would be eight hundred thousand
-rivets, ranging in size from five eighths of an inch to one and one
-eighth inches in diameter.
-
-One who is investigating Lake shipbuilding for the first time will
-be astonished to discover that the modern freighter is in many ways
-a huge private yacht. They are almost without exception owned by men
-of wealth, and their cabins are fitted out even more luxuriously than
-those of passenger boats, for while these latter are intended for the
-use of the public, the passenger accommodations of freighters are
-planned for the friends and families of the owners. So above the deck
-which conceals ten thousand tons of ore the vessel may be a floating
-palace. The keenest rivalry exists between owners as to who shall
-possess the finest ships, and fortunes are expended in the fittings of
-cabins alone. Nothing that money can secure is omitted. In the words of
-a builder: “The modern freighter is like a modern hotel--only much more
-luxuriously furnished.” There is an electric light system throughout
-the ship; the cabins are equipped with telephones; there is steam heat;
-there are kitchens with the latest cooking devices, elegantly appointed
-dining-rooms; there are state-rooms which are like the apartments in a
-palace, and other things which one would not expect to see beyond the
-black and forbidding steel walls of these fortune-makers of the Lakes.
-
-With the first peep into modern methods one realises that the romantic
-shipbuilding days of old are gone. No longer does the shape, beauty,
-and speed of a vessel depend upon the eyes and hands of the men who are
-actually putting it together. For the ship of to-day is built in the
-engineering offices. In the draughting-room skilled men lay out the
-plans and make the models for a ship just as an architect does for a
-house, and when these plans are done they go to a great building which
-reminds one of a vast dance hall, and which is known as the “mould
-loft.” Seemingly the place is not used. Yet at the very moment you are
-looking about, wondering what this vacancy has to do with shipbuilding,
-you are walking on the decks of a ship. All about upon the floor, if
-you notice carefully, you will see hundreds and thousands of lines,
-and every one of these lines represents a line of the freighter which
-within three or four months will be taking her trial trip. Here upon
-the floor is drawn the “line ship” in exactly the same size as the
-vessel which is to be built. Over certain sections of this “line ship”
-men place very thin pieces of basswood, which they frame together
-in the identical size and shape of the ship’s plates. By the use of
-these moulds, or templates, the workman can see just where the rivet
-holes should be, and wherever a rivet is to go he puts a little spot
-of paint. These model plates are then numbered and sent to the “plate
-department,” where the real sheets of steel are made to conform with
-them and where the one million five hundred thousand or more rivet
-holes are punched. With the plates ready, the real ship quickly takes
-size and form.
-
-Some morning a little army of men begins work where to the ordinary
-observer there is nothing but piles of steel and big timbers. From a
-distance the scene reminds one of a partly depleted lumber yard. On one
-side of this, and within a few yards of the water of a slip, are first
-set up with mathematical accuracy a number of square timbers called
-“keel blocks.” Upon these blocks will rest the bottom of the ship, and
-from them to the water’s edge run long shelving timbers, or “ways,”
-down which she will slide when ready for launching.
-
-[Illustration: This Shows Some of the 800,000 Rivets that Go to the
-Making of a 10,000-Ton Leviathan of the Inland Seas.]
-
-Children frequently play with blocks which, when placed together
-according to the numbers on them, form a map of the United States.
-This is modern shipbuilding--in a way. It is on the same idea. There
-is a proper place for every steel plate in the yards, and the numbers
-on them are what locate them in the ship. A giant crane runs overhead,
-reaches down, seizes a certain plate, rumbles back, to hover for
-a moment over the growing “floor,” lowers its burden--and the iron
-workers do the rest. Within a few days work has reached a point where
-you begin to wonder, and for the first time, perhaps, you realise what
-an intricate affair a great ship really is, and what precautions are
-taken to keep it from sinking in collision or storm. You begin to see
-that a Lake freighter is what might be described as two ships, one
-built within the other. As the vessel increases in size, as the sides
-of it, as well as the bottom, are put together, there are two little
-armies of men at work--one on the outer ship and one on the inner.
-From the bottom and sides of the first steel shell of the ship there
-extend upward and inward heavy steel supports, upon which are laid the
-plates of the “inner ship.” In the space between these two walls will
-be carried water ballast. The chambers into which it is divided are the
-life-preservers of the vessel. A dozen holes may be punched into her,
-but just as long as only this outer and protecting ship suffers, and
-the inner ship is not perforated, the carrier and her ten-thousand-ton
-cargo will keep afloat.
-
-When the construction of the vessel has reached a point where men
-can work on the inner as well as the outer hull, it is not uncommon
-for six hundred to eight hundred workmen to be engaged on her at one
-time. Frequently as high as one hundred gangs of riveters, of four men
-each, are at work simultaneously, and at such times the pounding of
-the automatic riveting machines sounds at the distance of half a mile
-like a battery of Gatling guns in action. So the work continues until
-every plate is in place and the vessel is ready for launching, which
-is the most exciting moment in the career of the ship--unless at some
-future day she meets a tragic end at sea. One by one the blocks which
-have been placed under her bottom are removed, until only two remain,
-one at each end. Then, at the last moment, these two are pulled away
-simultaneously, and the steel monster slides sidewise down the greased
-ways until, with a thunderous crash of water, she plunges into her
-native element.
-
-Thus ends the building of the ship, with the exception of what is known
-as her “deck work,” the fitting of her luxurious cabins, the placing
-of her engines, and a score of other things which are done after she
-is afloat. She is now a “carrier” of the Lakes. A little longer and
-captain and crew take possession of her, clouds of bituminous smoke
-rise from her funnels, and with flying pennants and screaming whistles
-she turns her nose into the great highway that leads a thousand miles
-into the North--to the land of the ore kings.
-
-
-
-
-II
-
-What the Ships Carry--Ore
-
-
-Picture a train of forty-ton freight cars loaded to capacity, the
-engine and caboose both in New York City, yet extending in an unbroken
-line entirely around the earth--a train reaching along a parallel from
-New York to San Francisco, across the Pacific, the Chinese Empire,
-Turkestan, Persia, the Mediterranean, mid the Atlantic--and you have
-an idea of what the ships of the Great Lakes carry during a single
-eight months’ season of navigation. At least you have the part of an
-idea. For were such a train conceivable, it would not only completely
-engirdle the earth along the fortieth degree of north latitude, but
-there would still be something like two thousand miles of it left over.
-In it would be two million five hundred thousand cars, and it would
-carry one hundred million tons of freight! Were this train to pass you
-at a given point at the rate of twenty miles an hour, you would have to
-stand there forty days and forty nights to see the end of it.
-
-Only by allowing the imagination to paint such a picture as this can
-one conceive to any degree at all the immensity of the freight traffic
-on our Inland Seas.
-
-“A hundred million tons,” repeated the mayor of one of our Lake ports
-when I told him about it recently. “A hundred million tons! That’s
-quite a lot of stuff, isn’t it?”
-
-Quite a lot of stuff! It might have been a hundred million bushels and
-he would have been equally surprised. His lack of enthusiasm does not
-discredit him. He does not own ships; neither does he fill them. He
-is like the vast majority of our millions, who have never given more
-than a passing thought to that gigantic inland water commerce which
-has largely been the making of the nation. It did not dawn on him that
-it meant more than a ton for every man, woman, and child on this North
-American continent; that in dollars it counted billions; that on it
-depended the existence of cities; that largely because of it foreign
-nations acknowledged our commercial prestige.
-
-[Illustration: Ice-Bound. Thirty-two Boats Tied up in the Ice at the
-Soo.
-
-    From a Photograph by Lord & Thomas, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
-]
-
-No other hundred million tons of freight in all the world is as
-important to Americans as this annual traffic of the Great Lakes. To
-move it requires the services of nearly three thousand vessels of all
-kinds, employing twenty-five thousand men at an aggregate wage of
-thirteen million dollars a year. A million working people are fed and
-clothed and housed because of the cargoes this huge argosy carries from
-port to port.
-
-It is impossible to say with accuracy how this hundred million tons of
-freight is distributed and of what it consists. Only at the Soo and
-at Detroit are records kept of passing tonnage, so the figures which
-are given showing the tremendous commerce that passes these places do
-not include the enormous tonnage which is loaded and emptied without
-passing through the Detroit River or the Sault Ste. Marie canals.
-The Detroit River is the greatest waterway of commerce in the world,
-and in 1906 there passed through it over sixty million tons, or more
-than three fifths of the total tonnage of the Lakes. Of this about a
-quarter moved in a northerly direction and three quarters toward the
-cities of the East. The principal item of the up-bound traffic was
-14,000,000 tons of coal, of the south-bound 37,513,600 tons of iron
-ore, 110,598,927 bushels of grain, 1,159,757 tons of flour, 14,888,927
-bushels of flaxseed, and over 1,000,000,000 feet of lumber. In 1907,
-there was a big increase, the commerce passing through the Detroit
-River being over 75,000,000 tons.
-
-“And when you are figuring out what the ships carry, be sure and don’t
-leave out the smoke!” said the captain of an ore carrier, pointing over
-our port to a black trail half a mile long. “Never thought of it, did
-you? Well, last year our Lake ships burned three million tons of coal.
-Think of it! Three million tons--enough to heat every home in Chicago
-for two years!”
-
-[Illustration: A Network of Tracks Running through the Ore Lands.]
-
-But in this chapter I am not going to deal with smoke; neither with the
-grain that feeds nations, nor the lumber that builds their homes. They
-will be described in their time. The backbone of American manufacturing
-industry--the mainspring of our commercial prestige abroad--is iron;
-and it is this iron, gathered in the one-time wildernesses of the
-Northland and brought down a thousand miles by ship, that stands
-largely for the greatness of the Lakes to-day. “Gold is precious, but
-iron is priceless,” said Andrew Carnegie. “The wheels of progress may
-run without the gleam of yellow metal, but never without our ugly ore.”
-And the Lake country, or three little patches of it, produce each year
-nearly a half of the earth’s total supply of iron. Farmers in the wake
-of their ploughshares, our millions of workers in metal, and our other
-millions whose fingers daily touch the chill of iron have never dreamed
-of this. Few of them know that eight hundred great vessels are engaged
-solely in the iron ore traffic; that in a single trip this immense
-fleet can transport more than three million tons, and that in 1907,
-they brought to the foundries of the East and South over forty-one
-million tons. If every man, woman, and child, savage or civilised,
-that inhabits this earth of ours were to receive equal portions of
-this one product carried by Lake vessels in 1907, each person’s share
-would be forty pounds! And still the world is crying for iron. There is
-not enough to supply the demand, and there never will be. The iron
-ore traffic of the Lakes has doubled during the last six years; it
-will double again during the next ten--and iron will still be the most
-precious thing on earth.
-
-If the iron ore mines of the North were to go out of existence
-to-morrow nearly half of the commerce of the Inland Seas would cease
-to be. With it would go the strongest men of the Lakes. For our iron
-has made iron men. In that Northland, along the Mesaba, Goebic, and
-Vermilion ranges, from Duluth’s back door to the pine barrens of
-northern Michigan and Wisconsin, they have practically made themselves
-rulers of the world’s commerce in steel and iron. To follow the great
-ships of the Lakes over their northward trail into this country is to
-enter into realms of past romance and adventure which would furnish
-material for a hundred novels. But people do not know this. The
-picturesque days of ’49, the Australian fever, and the Klondike rush
-are as of yesterday in memory--but what of this Northland, where they
-load dirty ore into dirty ships and carry it to the dirty foundries
-of the East? Ask Captain Joseph Sellwood; ask the “three Merritts,”
-Alfred, Leonidas, and N. B.; or John Uno Sebenius, David T. Adams,
-and Martin Pattison; ask any one of a score of others who are living,
-and who will tell you of the days not so very long ago when the iron
-prospectors went out with packs on their backs and guns in their hands
-to seek the “ugly wealth.” These are of the old generation of “iron
-men”--the men who suffered in the days of exploration and development
-in the wilderness, who starved and froze, who survived while companions
-died, who suffered adventures and hardships in the death-like grip of
-Northland winters that rival any of those in Klondike history. And
-the new generation that has followed is like them in “the strength of
-man” that is in them. They are a powerful breed, these iron kings,
-down to the newest among them; men like Thomas F. Cole, who rose from
-nothing to a position of power and wealth, and W. P. Snyder, the
-poverty-stricken Methodist minister’s son, who has fought the Steel
-Corporation to a standstill and who is talked of as its president of
-the future.
-
-[Illustration: Captains of the Vessels of the Pittsburg Steamship
-Company.]
-
-It will be a great “coming together” for the iron and steel industry,
-this winning of William Penn Snyder. To-day he is the king of pig
-iron. When he refused to deal with those who formed the United States
-Steel Corporation, his friends said that he was ruined. But he stood
-on his feet alone--and fought. He got a neck hold on the corporation.
-He cornered pig iron and because of him at the present time the
-corporation is paying very heavy prices for its outside product. Snyder
-is worth fifteen million dollars. In 1906, he cleaned up one million
-five hundred thousand dollars on pig iron alone, and there is no reason
-for doubting that his 1907 earnings were greater still. He is a
-powerful enemy to have as a friend--and the corporation wants him, and
-will probably get him.
-
-If you are going into the North to study the ore traffic at close
-range, the first man you will probably hear of after leaving your ship
-is Thomas F. Cole, of Duluth. You must know Cole before you go deeper
-into the subject of the forty or fifty million tons of ore which the
-ships will carry during the present year of 1909. The United States
-Steel Corporation will use about thirty million tons of the total
-output of the ore regions this year, and Cole is the United States
-Steel Corporation in this big Northland. He is the head of the finest
-and most delicate industrial mechanism in the world. This mechanism,
-in a way, is so fine that it may be said to be almost non-existent.
-It is simply an “organized and capitalized intelligence.” The Steel
-Corporation will mine some eighteen or twenty million tons of ore in
-Minnesota alone this year. Yet it owns not a dollar’s worth of property
-in the State. As a corporation it does no business in the State. It
-might be described as a huge octopus, and each arm of this octopus,
-representing a big mining interest, works independently of all other
-arms and of the body of the octopus itself. Through these arms the
-corporation accomplishes its aims. Each huge mine has its own executive
-organisation, is responsible for its own acts--but it must obtain
-results. The “central intelligence,” or body of the corporation, is
-there to judge results, and Cole is the power that watches over all.
-Officially he is known as the president of the Oliver Mining Company,
-the greatest organisation of its kind in existence, which attends not
-only to the Steel Corporation’s interests in Minnesota, but in Michigan
-and Wisconsin as well. As the great eye of the world’s largest trust he
-guards the interests of thirty-one mines, employs fifteen thousand men,
-and gives subsistence to sixty thousand people.
-
-[Illustration: The “Montezuma.”
-
-The largest wooden ship on fresh water being towed out of the Maumee
-River, Toledo.]
-
-Because of the transportation of this mighty product Cole is as closely
-associated with the Lakes and their ships as with the ranges and their
-mines. It has been said that he was “born between ships and mines,” and
-he has always remained between them. He is one of the most remarkable
-characters of the Inland Seas. Cole is only forty-seven years old,
-and for thirty-nine years he has earned his own livelihood, and more.
-When six years old, his father was killed in an accident in the Phœnix
-Mine. Baby Tom was the oldest of the widowed mother’s little brood,
-and he rose to the occasion. At the age of eight he became a washboy
-in the Cliff stamp mill. He had hardly mastered his alphabet; he could
-barely read the simplest lines; never in this civilised world did a
-youngster begin life’s battle with greater odds against him. But even
-in these days the great ambition was born in him, as it was born in
-Abraham Lincoln; and like Lincoln, in his little wilderness home of
-poverty and sorrow, he began educating himself. It took years. But he
-succeeded.
-
-This is the man whose name you will hear first when you enter the
-mining country. To chronicle his rise from a dusty Calumet office of
-long ago to his present kingdom of iron would be to write a book of
-romance. And there are others of the iron barons of the North whose
-histories would be almost as interesting, even though fortune may have
-smiled on them less kindly.
-
-From the immensity of the interests which Cole superintends one might
-be led to believe that the iron ore industry is almost entirely in the
-hands of the trust. This, however, is not so. For every ship that goes
-down into the South for the trust another leaves for an independent.
-Nearly every maker of steel owns a mine or two in the ranges of
-Minnesota, Michigan, or Wisconsin. There are five of these ranges.
-The Mesaba and Vermilion ranges, both in Minnesota, produce about two
-thirds of the total product carried by the ships of the Lakes; the
-Goebic, Menominee, and Marquette ranges are in Michigan and Wisconsin.
-
-Somehow it is true that nearly every great thing associated with the
-Lakes is unusual in some way--unusual to an astonishing degree, and
-the iron ore industry is not an exception. Probably not one person in
-ten thousand knows that one lone county in this great continent is the
-very backbone of the steel industry in the United States. This county
-is in Minnesota. It is the county of St. Louis, and is about as big
-as the State of Massachusetts. Not much more than twenty years ago it
-was a howling wilderness. Even a dozen years ago the Mesaba bore but
-little evidence of the presence of man. Now this country is alive with
-industry. Buried in the wilderness which still exists are thriving
-towns; where a short time ago deer and bear wandered unmolested, is
-now the din of innumerable locomotives, the rumbling of thousands of
-trains, the screeching of whistles, and the constant groaning of steam
-shovels. There is not a richer county on the face of the earth. In it
-are over one hundred mines, from which one hundred and twenty-three
-million tons of ore have been taken since Charlemagne Tower, now
-Ambassador to Germany, brought down the first carload to Duluth in
-1884. These mines afford livelihood for more than two hundred thousand
-people, and because of them St. Louis County possesses the greatest
-freight traffic road in existence--the Duluth, Mesaba, and Northern
-Railway--which, in 1907, carried about fourteen million tons of ore
-from the mines to the docks.
-
-[Illustration: A Coal Dock at Superior, Wisconsin.
-
-The pile of coal is 1400 feet long and 30 feet high.]
-
-This comparatively little corner of Minnesota practically runs the
-whole State in so far as expenses are concerned. To administer the
-affairs of the State, including all of its activities, costs about two
-million six hundred thousand dollars, and, as inconceivable as it may
-seem, the three railroads in the ore region pay in taxes one fifth of
-this sum. They pay one third of the total railroad tax of the State,
-notwithstanding the fact that some of the greatest lines in the country
-centre at Minneapolis and St. Paul. To this must be added about seven
-hundred thousand dollars paid in direct taxes by the mines themselves,
-so that the iron ore which the ships of the Lakes bring down to Eastern
-ports each season pays almost half of the total expense of running the
-State of Minnesota!
-
-And these mines will add more and more to the State exchequer each
-year, as will also the mines of the three ranges in Michigan and
-Wisconsin. For in no part of the world has mining been undertaken on a
-scale so gigantic as that of the Superior region, and every contrivance
-known to mining science is being used to increase month by month the
-mountains of ore which ever fail to satisfy the hungry furnaces of the
-East. It is predicted by Captain Joseph Sellwood, of Duluth, one of the
-oldest and greatest of the iron barons, that the time is not distant
-when the Mesaba range alone will be producing forty million tons of ore
-a year--as much as all five ranges are producing now.
-
-“It will cost over a billion dollars to get this ore to the docks,”
-said he. “And seven hundred and fifty million dollars more to land
-it in Lake Erie ports.”--Nearly a two-billion-dollar mining and
-transportation business for the people of the Lakes to look forward to,
-and this from a single range!
-
-“But will not this tremendous activity exhaust your mines?” I asked of
-several of these iron barons. “The ore doesn’t go down to China, and it
-doesn’t extend all over the State. What is the future?”
-
-The future! Few have thought of this. There are just at present too
-many millions of dollars in the making to give one time or inclination
-to picture the days when only black and silent scars will remain to
-give evidence of the time when this Northland was one of the treasure
-houses of the earth. But that time must come. Old mining men say so if
-you can get them to talk about it, and scientific computations, as far
-as they go, are proof of it. These computations differ, but they agree
-pretty generally that there are still between a billion and a half
-and two billion tons of ore in the Superior district. Within the next
-five years the ships will be bringing down fifty million tons a year,
-and there is no reason for believing that this will be the maximum. So
-it is obvious that the ore of the Lake Superior regions will not last
-beyond the year 1950 unless new deposits are discovered, or methods are
-found for the utilisation of immense deposits that cannot now be used.
-
-[Illustration: The Record Load Hauled by One Team out of the Michigan
-Woods, 20,000 Feet.]
-
-“Will this event not prove ruinous to a large extent to shipping
-interests?” I asked G. Ashley Tomlinson, of Duluth, and others closely
-associated with iron and vessel interests. “To-day nearly half of the
-total tonnage of the Lakes is from the mines. If this industry becomes
-practically extinct what will become of the hundreds of ships engaged
-in the traffic?”
-
-Mr. Tomlinson’s answer struck me as extremely logical. “The production
-of ore will probably reach its maximum within the next ten years,” he
-said. “It will then begin to decline. But the decrease will be gradual,
-and meanwhile other freight traffic on the Lakes will be increasing
-so rapidly that each year ships that were intended originally for
-the ore trade will carry other business. There will be no loss for
-the ships. The development of our own and the Canadian West has only
-begun, and the Lakes are the great links of commerce between their vast
-enterprises of the future and the East. The grain trade of the Canadian
-West alone will in the not distant future be something tremendous.”
-
-But whatever the future of the ore regions of the North may be, their
-present is one of great interest and importance to the world at large.
-Mining, like shipbuilding, has been reduced to a science on the Lakes.
-A stranger visiting for the first time any one of the five ranges is
-filled with astonishment. I will never forget the sensations with
-which I first saw mining on the Mesaba range. We had come up over a
-forest-clad hill and stood on the very edge of the mine before I had
-been made aware of its nearness. Below me there stretched a mile of
-deep, huge scars in the bottom of what seemed to be a great hole dug
-into the earth. One of these pits, half a mile in diameter, and, as I
-afterward discovered, nearly two hundred feet in depth, was almost at
-my feet.
-
-“That’s iron ore,” said my companion. “And right there it goes one
-hundred feet deeper down.”
-
-This was one of the great “open pits” of the Mesaba range. There
-are many others like it in the Superior regions. They are the most
-wonderful mines in the world. Imagine that you take a barrel of salt,
-dig a hole, pour the salt into this hole, and cover it with a few
-inches of earth. This gives you an idea of one of these ore mines.
-After the earth has been “stripped” from the top the ore is reached and
-it is found in much the same way that the salt would be found. In the
-words of one superintendent, it is “all together.” It is as if Nature,
-like a pirate, had dug holes here and there in which she had hidden her
-treasure, covering it over for concealment with a few feet of earth.
-
-[Illustration: One Steam Shovel Keeps Three Locomotives and Trains
-Busy.]
-
-Down into these pits and along their edges run the tracks of the ore
-cars. There is here but little of the shovelling and “picking” of men.
-Steam shovels, weighing from sixty to seventy-five tons each, do the
-work. Like a great hand one of these shovels dips down into the soft
-mass of ore, buries its great dipper until it holds from four to eight
-tons, and then, groaning and rumbling, slowly lifts its burden aloft,
-swings it over a car, and the actual work of mining is done. A thousand
-times a day it will repeat this operation, lifting from three thousand
-to eight thousand tons of ore. This one shovel keeps busy three
-locomotives and as many trains of dump cars. And there are nearly two
-hundred of these shovels in use on the Mesaba range alone. It costs
-only about six cents a ton to mine in this way, after the “stripping”
-has been done, or, in other words, after the ore has been laid bare.
-There are two other processes on the ranges where the ore is not so
-soft or so closely laid. One of these is the milling process, and the
-other is the blasting out of hard ore. Milling costs about thirty-five
-cents per ton, and the blasting process from one dollar to one dollar
-and twenty-five cents.
-
-Why it has for some time been impossible to build ships too fast
-for the demand may most graphically be shown, perhaps, by quoting
-a few figures which demonstrate the tremendous energy now being
-exerted in the ore regions of the North. Figures as a usual thing are
-uninteresting, but these enter so vitally into the welfare of every
-American citizen that they should be regarded with more than ordinary
-respect. As stated before, we are now making nearly half of all the
-iron and steel produced on earth. In 1880, we made only 1,240,000 tons
-of steel; in 1890, this had increased to over 4,000,000; in 1900, to
-10,188,000 tons, and in 1905, to 20,023,000 tons. Lake ships and Lake
-mines had to supply this. And now we come to mine figures which almost
-stagger belief. In 1904, the Mesaba range, for instance, yielded only a
-little over 12,000,000 tons. In the following year the production was
-nearly doubled, the ore carriers bringing down 20,153,699 tons, which
-in 1906 was increased to almost 24,000,000!
-
-This enormous annual tonnage of the Mesaba range, together with that
-of the other four ranges of the Superior region, is carried by rail
-directly from the mines to the great ore docks of Lake ports. The
-product of the Mesaba and Vermilion ranges, in Minnesota, is shipped
-from Duluth and Two Harbors; the eight million tons of the Goebic and
-Marquette ranges, in Michigan, from Escanaba and Marquette; and the
-five million tons of the Menominee range, in Wisconsin, from Ashland
-and Superior.
-
-To these six ports of the Northland come the vikings of the Lakes
-and their immense fleets. Four of these ports are within a radius of
-seventy-five miles, and the two others, in Michigan, are about one
-hundred and fifty miles farther east and south. No other area of lake
-or ocean in the world is as much travelled by shipping as that along
-which these ore harbours are situated. The people of Duluth have
-witnessed blockades of vessels such as have never been seen in the
-greatest ocean ports. Over this part of Superior there is a constant
-trail of smoke from the funnels of ships. During one month there were
-1221 arrivals and clearances from Duluth alone, an average of forty a
-day.
-
-[Illustration: Steamers at a Modern Ore Unloading Plant at Conneaut.]
-
-Behind these great ships, which rest never a day nor an hour for eight
-months of the year, are the kings of Lake commerce--such men as J. C.
-Gilchrist, James Davidson, Captain Mitchell, William Livingstone, Harry
-Coulby, W. C. Richardson, A. B. Wolvin, G. Ashley Tomlinson, and
-scores of others. To write of these would be to chronicle a history of
-men who have fought their way to the top through sheer force of the
-“breed that is in them.”
-
-Take G. Ashley Tomlinson, of Duluth, for instance, whose ships carry
-a couple of million tons of ore a year. “Not a great record,” as Mr.
-Tomlinson modestly says, but still enough to supply every man, woman,
-and child in the United States with a little matter of fifty pounds
-each twelvemonth! In a novel Tomlinson would make an ideal soldier of
-fortune; in plain, matter-of-fact life he represents those elements
-which make the great men of the Lakes. He is forty years old. He has
-sixteen ships. His income is over one hundred and fifty thousand
-dollars a year.
-
-Yet Tomlinson began, as did many other Great Lake men of to-day, with
-just two assets--the clothes on his back and a huge ambition. He
-started his career as a messenger boy in the State treasurer’s office
-at Lansing, Michigan. But there was not enough of the strenuous life in
-this for him, so he went West to become a cowboy. He succeeded, much to
-his regret; for soon after he had mastered the broncho and could handle
-a lasso there came the war between the cowboys and the White River
-Utes. In one of the fights Tomlinson was wounded and afterward captured
-by the redskins. During the whole of one night he was subjected to
-torture, and at dawn of the following day, when almost at the point of
-death, he was delivered by a party of ranchmen. Tomlinson was not one
-to display the white feather--but he had had enough of Western life,
-and as soon as possible he worked himself from Rawlins, Wyoming, to
-Chicago on a cattle train. After a time he came to Michigan, and with
-his savings attended the University of Michigan for about a year. This
-was enough of “higher education” for him, so he sold his text-books
-and went to work on the Detroit _Journal_ at the munificent salary of
-six dollars a week. Newspaper work was all right until Buffalo Bill
-came along. Tomlinson joined the show, rode a bucking broncho for a
-year, then “developed” a voice and cast his fortunes with the Mapleson
-Opera Company. In 1889, he went to New York as a reporter on the _Sun_,
-returned the following year to become night editor of the Detroit
-_Tribune_, and in 1893 moved to Duluth.
-
-[Illustration: The Main Slip in the Harbour of Conneaut.
-
-Conneaut is the second largest ore-receiving port on the Lakes.]
-
-The Lakes began to hold a peculiar fascination for him. He went into
-the vessel brokerage business mostly on his nerve; but nerve made him
-money, and his capital began to grow. How fast it has grown during
-the past dozen years one must judge by his ships and his income. He
-is president of five steamship companies, vice-president of another,
-secretary to three more, and a director in the American Exchange
-Bank, of Duluth, and the Cananea Central Copper Company. He has
-developed from a typical adventurer of fortune into one of the great
-men of the Lakes. His romantic career is described here because
-it is illustrative of the fact that brain and brawn, not “pull” and
-money, have made the vikings and iron barons of the Inland Seas.
-No millionaires’ sons here, living on their fathers’ prestige--no
-blue-blooded drones in these regions of the five little seas, where
-only red blood counts!
-
-When the first ships of the season come up from the South in April or
-May nearly a million and a half tons of ore are awaiting them in the
-docks of the ore-shipping ports. There are twenty-six of these ore
-docks, one of which, at Duluth, has a storage capacity of ninety-six
-thousand tons. From a distance these docks look like great trestles,
-from fifty to one hundred feet above the water, some of them running
-for nearly half a mile out into the lake. Out upon these docks run
-the cars from the mines. From these cars the ore is dropped into
-huge pockets, from which run downward long chutes, or spouts. A
-ten-thousand-ton carrier runs alongside. Her hatches are opened. Into
-each hatch runs a chute. The chute “doors” are opened, and with a dull,
-rumbling, rushing sound the ore pours down by force of gravity from the
-huge pockets above. At dock No. 4, Duluth, 9277 tons were put aboard
-the steamer _E. J. Earling_ in seventy minutes, being at the rate of
-7988 tons an hour. The rapidity with which Lake transportation is
-carried on is shown in the fact that upon this occasion the _Earling_
-was in port only two hours and fifteen minutes before she began her
-thousand-mile return trip eastward.
-
-And now comes the last important phase. One viewing the continuous
-activity at the mines, the building up of cities on the ranges, and the
-tremendous interests represented in the great shipping ports may forget
-that this is but one end of the gigantic industry which makes the
-United States the steel-maker for the world. At the other end of the
-fresh-water highways is seen the other half of the picture. Down into
-Erie come the ships from the North. A few of them go to Chicago, but
-only a few. Out of a total movement of thirty-seven million tons, in
-1906, thirty-two million tons were received at Lake Erie ports. There
-are eleven of these “receiving ports”--Toledo, Sandusky, Huron, Lorain,
-Cleveland, Fairport, Ashtabula, Conneaut, Erie, Buffalo, and Tonawanda.
-
-[Illustration: One of the Huge Open Pits of the Mesaba Range.]
-
-Between these cities there is a constant battle for prestige. Now
-one leads in tonnage received, now another. At the present time the
-bitterest rivalry exists between Cleveland, Ashtabula, and Conneaut,
-the three greatest ore ports in the world. In 1901, Ashtabula led. In
-1902, Cleveland bore away the “pennant,” with Ashtabula and Conneaut
-second and third. Cleveland was still ahead in 1903, but in 1904,
-Conneaut became the greatest ore-receiving port in the world. In 1905,
-Ashtabula had again won the ascendency, and in 1906, she maintained
-her prestige, receiving in that year 6,833,352 tons; Cleveland was
-second, and Conneaut third. Lorain, Fairport, Ashtabula, Conneaut, and
-Erie practically exist because of the ore which comes down from the
-northern mines. Seven million dollars are now being expended in the
-improvement of Ashtabula harbour by the Lake Shore and Pennsylvania
-railroad companies, and the capacity of the harbour has been doubled
-since 1905. With the improvement of that harbour Conneaut’s greatest
-advantage will be gone, for until a comparatively recent date nearly
-all of the largest vessels went to that port. The tremendous activity
-in Ashtabula must be seen to be fully appreciated. In one day lately
-almost four thousand ore and coal cars were moved between that port and
-Youngstown.
-
-At this end of the great ore industry the wonderful mechanism for
-the handling of cargoes is even more astonishing than that of the
-Northland. The ore carrier is run under a huge unloading machine which
-thrusts steel arms down into the score or more hatches of the vessel,
-and without the assistance of human hands the cargo is emptied so
-quickly that the uninitiated observer stands mute with astonishment.
-How quickly this work is done is shown in the record of the _George W.
-Perkins_, which discharged 10,346 tons at Conneaut in four hours and
-ten minutes.
-
-Once more, after this unloading, the steel monster of the Lakes is all
-but ready for her long journey into the North. Within a few hours she
-is reloaded, with a few sonorous blasts of her whistle she bids a last
-adieu, and again she is off on the long trail that leads to the “ugly
-wealth” in the ore ranges of Superior.
-
-
-
-
-III
-
-What the Ships Carry--Other Cargoes
-
-
-Not long ago I went to see William Livingstone, President of the
-Lake Carriers’ Association--Great Admiral, in a way, of the world’s
-mightiest fleet of steel--an enrolled navy of 593 ships and a tonnage
-of nearly one million nine hundred thousand. Unconsciously I had come
-to call this man the Grey Man and the Man who Knows. Both titles fit,
-as they will tell you from the twin Tonawandas to Duluth. For six
-consecutive years president of the greatest organisation of its kind on
-earth, an association of ships made up, if weighed, of half of the iron
-and steel floating on the Inland Seas, he has become a part of Lake
-history. I sought him for an idea. I found it.
-
-The Grey Man was at his desk studying over the expenditure of a matter
-of several millions of dollars for a new canal at the “Soo.” He turned
-slowly--grey suit, grey tie, grey eyes, grey beard, grey hair--all
-beautifully blended. He seldom speaks first. He is always fighting to
-be courteous, yet the days are ten hours too short for him.
-
-“I want a new idea,” I opened bluntly. “I want something new in
-marine--something that will make people sit up and take notice, as it
-were. Can you help me?”
-
-He swung slowly about in his chair until his eyes rested upon a picture
-on the wall. It was a picture of the old days on the Lakes. My eyes,
-too, rested on the old picture. It reminded me of things, and I kept
-pace with the thoughts that might be his. I saw him, more than half a
-century before, the stripling son of a ship’s carpenter, swimming in
-the shadows of the big fore-’n’-afters that were monarchs before steam
-came--glorious days when ninety-eight per cent. of vessels carried
-sail, and sailors dispensed law with their fists and bore dirks in
-their bootlegs. Later I saw the proud moment of his first trip to
-“sea”--and then, quickly, I noted his rise: his saving dollar by dollar
-until he bought an interest in a tug, his monopolisation of it later,
-his climb--up--up--until----
-
-“I’m busy, very busy!” he broke in quietly. “But say, did you ever
-think of this? Did you ever build a city of the lumber we carry each
-year, populate that city, feed it with the grain we carry, and warm it
-with our coal? You can do it on paper and you will be surprised at what
-you find. It will show you more graphically than anything else just
-what the ships carry. Try it. You’ll be interested.”
-
-I have kept that idea warm. Now I am going to use it. For probably in
-no better way can the immensity of the lumber, grain, coal, flour, and
-package freight traffic of the Great Lakes be given. Imagine, then,
-this “City of the Five Great Lakes.” We will build it, we will people
-it, feed it, and heat it--and our only material, with the exception
-of its inhabitants, will be the cargoes of the Lake carriers for a
-single season. And these carriers? If you should stand at the Lime Kiln
-Crossing, in the Detroit River, one would pass you on an average every
-twelve minutes, day and night, during the eight months of navigation;
-and when you saw their number and size you would wonder where they
-could possibly get all of their cargoes. The cargoes with which we will
-deal in this article will be of lumber, grain, flour and coal, for
-these, with iron ore, constitute over ninety per cent. of the commerce
-of the Inland Seas.
-
-[Illustration: A Raft of Five Million Pulp Logs on the North Shore of
-Lake Michigan.]
-
-To build our city we first require lumber. During the 1909 season of
-navigation about 1,500,000,000 feet of this material will be carried by
-Lake ships. What this means it is hard to conceive until it is turned
-into houses. To build a comfortable eight-room dwelling, modern in
-every respect, requires about 20,000 feet of lumber, and when we divide
-a billion and a half by this figure we have 75,000 homes, capable of
-accommodating a population of about 400,000 people. With the thousands
-of tons of building stone transported by lake each year, the millions
-of barrels of cement, the cargoes of shingles, sand, and brick, our
-“City of the Lakes” for 1909 would be as large as Buffalo, Cleveland,
-or Detroit.
-
-But one does not begin fully to comprehend the significance of the
-enormous commerce of the Great Lakes, and what it means not only to
-this country but to half of the civilised world, until he begins
-to figure how long the grain which will be carried by ships during
-the present year would support this imaginary city of 400,000 adult
-people. There will pass through the “Soo” canals this year at least
-90,000,000 bushels of wheat and 60,000,000 bushels of other grain,
-besides 7,500,000 barrels of flour, all of which represents the “bread
-stuff” that is shipped from Lake Superior ports alone. There will, in
-addition, be shipped by lake at least 50,000,000 bushels from Chicago,
-Milwaukee, and other ports whose eastbound commerce is not reported
-at the “Soo.” In short, estimating conservatively from the past four
-years, it is safe to say that at least 200,000,000 bushels of grain and
-11,000,000 barrels of flour will have been transported by the Great
-Lakes marine by the end of this year’s season of navigation.
-
-But what do these figures mean? They seem top-heavy, unwieldly,
-valuable perhaps to the scientific economist, but of small interest
-to the ordinary everyday eater of bread. Let us reduce this grain to
-flour. It takes from four and a half to five bushels of grain for a
-barrel of flour and dividing by the larger figure our grain would give
-us 40,000,000 barrels, which, plus the 11,000,000, would make a total
-of 51,000,000 barrels. Now we come right down to dinner-table facts.
-At least 250 one-pound loaves of bread can be made from each 196-pound
-barrel of flour, or a total of 12,750,000,000 from the whole, which
-would mean at least five loaves for every man, woman, and child of the
-two and one half billion people who inhabit this globe! In other words,
-figuring from the reports of food specialists, the grain and flour
-carried by the ships of the Lakes for one year would give the total
-population of the earth a food supply sufficient to keep it in life and
-health for a period of two weeks!
-
-This enormous supply of the staff of life would give each of the
-400,000 bread-eating people in our “City of the Lakes” a half-pound
-a day for one hundred and seventy-five years, or it would supply a
-city of the size of Chicago with bread for fifty years! To each of
-the 60,000,000 bread-eaters in the United States it would give 212
-one-pound loaves, or, with an allowance of half a pound for each person
-per day, it would feed the nation for one year and two months!
-
-Now, having built our city, peopled it, and supplied it with food, we
-come to the point of heating it. In 1907, there were transported by
-Lake nearly 15,000,000 tons of coal, and this year another million
-will probably be added to that figure. Here again mere figures fail
-to tell the story. But when we come to divide this coal among the
-homes of a city like Cleveland, Detroit, or Buffalo, which rank
-with our 75,000-home “City of the Lakes,” we again come to an easy
-understanding. Each of these 75,000 home-owners would receive as his
-share over 213 tons of coal, and if he burned six tons each winter this
-would last him for thirty-five years!
-
-In a nutshell, there is enough lumber and other material carried
-by Lake ships each year to build a city the size of Detroit; there
-is enough grain transported to supply its 400,000 inhabitants with
-bread-stuffs for a period of one hundred and seventy-five years,
-conceding the total population of the city to be adults; and enough
-coal is shipped from Erie ports into the North to heat the homes in
-this city for thirty-five years!
-
-When one knows these facts, when perhaps for the first time in his
-life he is brought to a realisation of the enormous proportions of the
-commerce of the Inland Seas, he may, and with excellent excuse, believe
-that he has reached the limit of its interest. But as a matter of fact
-he has only begun to enter upon its wonders, and the farther he goes
-the more he sees that economic questions which have long been mysteries
-to him are being unravelled by the Great Lakes of the vast country in
-which he lives.
-
-“Because of the ships of our Inland Seas,” James A. Calbick, late
-President of the Lumber Carriers’ Association, said to me, “the people
-of the United States, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains,
-and as far south as Kentucky and Tennessee, have been able to build
-the cheapest homes in the world--and the best,” and this assertion,
-which can be proved in several different ways, brings us at once to the
-lumber traffic as it exists on the Lakes to-day.
-
-Going through almost any one of the Eastern and Central States one will
-find thousands of old sheds and barns, travelling the road to ruin
-through age alone, though built of the best of pine and oak--materials
-of a quality which cannot be found in the best of modern homes in
-this year of 1909. For ten years past the price of lumber has been
-steadily climbing, and since 1900 the increase in the cost of building
-construction has brought lumber to a par with brick. While the commerce
-of the Lakes is increasing by tremendous bounds in other ways, people
-are now, perhaps unknowingly, witnessing the rapid extinction of one
-of their oldest and most romantic branches of traffic--the lumber
-industry; and each year, as this industry comes nearer and nearer to
-its end, the price of lumber climbs higher and higher, home-owners
-become fewer in comparison with other years, and fleets and lumber
-companies go out of existence or direct their energies into other
-channels.
-
-[Illustration: Scooping up Ore from the Mahoning Mine at Hibbing.
-
-The largest open pit mine in the world.]
-
-To Lake people it is pathetic, this death of the lumber fleets of the
-Inland Seas. An old soldier who had sailed on a lumber hooker since the
-days of the Civil War once said to me, “They’re the Grand Army of the
-Lakes--are those old barges and schooners, and they’re passing away
-as fast as we old fellows of the days of ’61.” To-day no vessels are
-built along the Lakes for the carrying of lumber. Scores of ancient
-“hookers” and picturesque schooners of the romantic days of old are
-rotting at their moorings, and when a great steel leviathan of ten
-thousand tons passes one of these veterans the eyes of her crew will
-follow it until only her canvas remains above the horizon.
-
-Yet from the enormous quantity of lumber which will be transported by
-Lake during the present year, one would not guess that the great fleet
-which will carry it is fast nearing the end of its usefulness in this
-way. In every lumbering camp along the Lakes, in the great forests
-of Minnesota, and in the wilderness regions of Canada, unprecedented
-effort has been expended in securing “material” because of the high
-prices offered, and the result has been something beyond description.
-Recently I passed through the once great lumbering regions of the Lakes
-to see for myself what I had been told. Michigan is stripped; the
-“forest” regions of Georgian Bay are scrub and underbrush; for hundreds
-of square miles around Duluth the axe and the saw have been ceaselessly
-at work, though there is still a great deal of timber land in the
-northern part of the State. In the vast lumber regions of a decade
-ago, once lively and prosperous towns have become almost depopulated.
-Scores of lumbering camps are going to rot and ruin; saw-mills are
-abandoned to the elements, and in places where lumbering is still
-going on, timber is greedily accepted which a few years ago would have
-been passed by as practically worthless. A few years more and the
-picture of ruin will be complete. Then the lumber traffic on the Great
-Lakes will virtually have ceased to be, the old ships will be gone, and
-past forever will be the picturesque life of the lumberjack and those
-weather-beaten old patriarchs who, since the days of their youth, have
-been “goin’ up f’r cedar ’n’ pine.”
-
-[Illustration: A Mining Town on the Mesaba Range, where a Few Years ago
-the Deer and Bear Roamed Undisturbed.]
-
-But even in these last days of the lumber industry on the Lakes the
-figures are big enough to create astonishment and wonder, and give some
-idea of what that industry has been in years past. Take the Tonawandas,
-for instance--those two beautiful little cities at the foot of Lake
-Erie, a few miles from Buffalo. Lumber has made these towns, as it has
-made scores of others along the Lakes. They are the greatest “lumber
-towns” in the world, and estimating from the business of former years
-there will be carried to them by ship in 1909 between 300,000,000 and
-400,000,000 feet of lumber. In 1890, there entered the Tonawandas
-718,000,000 feet, which shows how the lumber traffic has fallen during
-the last nineteen years. It is figured that about 10,000,000 feet of
-lumber, valued at $200,000, is lost each year from aboard vessels bound
-for the “Twin Cities.” In 1905, the vessels running to the Tonawandas
-numbered 300; this year their number will not exceed 250--another
-proof of the rapidly failing lumber supply along America’s great inland
-waterways.
-
-“This talk of a lumber famine is all bosh,” I was informed with great
-candour a short time ago. “Look at the great forests of Washington and
-Oregon! Think of the almost limitless supply of timber in some of the
-Southern States! Why, the stripping of the Lake States ought not to
-make any difference at all!”
-
-There are probably several million people in this country of ours
-who are, just at the present moment, of the above opinion. They have
-never looked into what I might call the “economy of the Lakes.” A few
-words will show what part the Lakes have played in the building of
-millions of American homes. At this writing it cost $2.50 to bring a
-thousand feet of lumber from Duluth to Detroit aboard a ship. It costs
-$5.50 to bring that same lumber by rail! Conceding that this year’s
-billion and a half feet of lumber will be transported a distance of
-seven hundred miles, the cost of Lake transportation for the whole
-will be about $3,750,000. The cost of transportation by rail of this
-same lumber would be at least $7,500,000, or as much again! Now what
-if you, my dear sir, who live in New York, had to have the lumber for
-your house carried fourteen hundred miles instead of seven, or three
-thousand miles, from Washington State? To-day your lumber can be
-brought a thousand miles by water for $3 per thousand feet; by rail
-it would cost you $7! And this, with competition playing a tremendous
-part in the game. When lumber is gone from the Lake regions, will our
-philanthropic railroads carry this material as cheaply as now, when
-for eight months of the year they face the bitter rivalry of our Great
-Lakes marine?
-
-“When the time comes that there is no more lumber along the Lakes, what
-will be the result?” I asked Mr. Calbick, the late President of the
-Lumber Carriers’ Association. He replied:
-
-“Lumber will advance in price as never before. No longer will the frame
-cottage be the sign of the poor man’s home; no longer will the brick
-mansion be the manifestation of wealth. It will then cost much more to
-build a dwelling of wood than of brick or stone. The frame house will
-in time become the sign of aristocracy and means. It will pass beyond
-the poor man’s pocket-book, and while this poor man may live in a house
-of brick it will not be his fortune to live in a house of wood. That is
-what will happen when the lumber industry ceases along the Great Lakes.”
-
-[Illustration: Harbour View at Conneaut, Ohio, Showing Docks and
-Machinery.]
-
-Then this great lumberman went on to say:
-
-“People are beginning to see, and each year they will see more plainly,
-how absolutely idiotic our State and National governments have been
-in not compelling forest preservation. For all the centuries to come
-Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota should be made to supply the nation
-with timber. In these three Lake States there are millions of acres of
-ideal forest land which is good for nothing else. Yet for at least half
-a century must these millions of acres now remain worthless. Nothing
-has been left upon them. They are “barrens” in the true sense of the
-word, and before forests are regrown upon them fifty or a hundred years
-hence, the greatest timber famine the world has ever seen will have
-been upon us for generations.”
-
-Hardly could the significance of the passing of the lumber industry
-along our Inland Seas be appreciated without taking a brief glance into
-the past, to see what it has already done for the nation. There is now
-practically no white pine left in the State of Michigan--once the home
-of the greatest pine regions in the whole world. Michigan’s tribute
-to the nation has been enormous. For twenty years she was the leading
-lumber-producing State of the Union. As nearly as can be estimated,
-her forests have yielded 160,000,000,000 feet of pine, more than one
-hundred times the total amount of lumber that will be transported on
-the Lakes this year. These are figures which pass comprehension until
-they are translated into more familiar terms. This enormous production
-would build a board walk five feet wide, two inches thick, and three
-million miles long--a walk that would reach one hundred and twenty
-times around the earth at the equator; or it would make a plank way
-one mile wide and two inches thick that would stretch across the
-continent from New York to San Francisco! In other words, Michigan’s
-total contribution of pine would build ten million six-room dwellings
-capable of housing over half the present population of the United
-States.
-
-As a consequence of this absolute spoliation of the forest lands, a
-large part of Michigan is now practically worthless. First, the lands
-were bought by lumbering companies; the timber was stripped--then came
-the tax-collector! But why pay taxes on worthless barrens, with only
-stumps and brush and desert sand to claim? So people forgot they owned
-them, and as a result one seventh of the State of Michigan is to-day on
-the delinquent tax list.
-
-Minnesota is going the way of Michigan. In 1906, there was cut in the
-Duluth district a total of 828,000,000 feet of white pine; but each
-year this production will become smaller, until in the not distant
-future there will be nothing for the lumber ships of the Lakes to
-carry. What this will mean to the home-builders of the nation can be
-shown in a few words. Previous to 1860, the Chicago man could buy 1000
-feet of the best white pine for $14. To-day it costs him $80! What will
-it cost ten years hence?
-
-[Illustration: A Steam Shovel at Work.
-
-This removes from 4000 to 8000 tons of ore a day.]
-
-Already the centre of lumber production has swung from the North to
-the South. The yellow pine of Louisiana is now taking the place once
-filled by white pine, and at the rate it is being cut another decade
-will see that State stripped as clean as Michigan now is, and then the
-country’s last resort will be to turn to the Pacific coast with its
-forests of Douglas fir. And still, as though blindfolded to all sense
-and reason, almost every State government continues to look upon the
-fatal destruction without a thought for the future, though before us
-are facts which show that Americans are using nearly eight times as
-much lumber per capita as is used in Europe, and that the nation is
-consuming four times as much wood annually as is produced by growth in
-our forests.
-
-Ten years more and the last of the romantic old lumber ships of the
-Inland Seas will have passed away; gone forever will be the picturesque
-life of those who have clung thus long to the fate of canvas and the
-four winds of heaven; and with it, too, will pass the remaining few of
-those old lumber kings who have taken from Michigan forests alone fifty
-per cent. more wealth than has been produced by all the gold mines of
-California since their discovery in 1849.
-
-But in the place of this passing industry is rapidly growing another,
-the effect of which is already being felt over half of the civilised
-world, and which in a very few years from now will be counted the
-greatest and most important commerce in existence. The iron mines of
-the North may become exhausted, the little remaining forest of the Lake
-regions will fade away; but the grain trade will go on forever. Just
-as the Superior mines have produced cheap iron and steel, just as the
-Inland Seas have been the means of giving the nation cheap lumber, so
-will they for all time to come supply unnumbered millions with cheap
-bread. Like great links, they connect the vast grain-producing West
-with the millions of the bread-consuming East. And not only do they
-control the grain traffic of the United States. To-day western Canada
-is spoken of as the future “Bread Basket of the World,” and over the
-Lakes will travel the bulk of its grain. Looking ahead for a dozen
-centuries, one cannot see where there can be a monopoly of grain
-transportation, either by railroad or ship. The water highways are
-every man’s property; a few thousand dollars--a ship--and you are your
-own master, to go where you please, carry what you please, and at any
-price you please. For all time, in the carrying of grain from field to
-mouth, the Great Lakes will prove themselves the poor man’s friend. To
-bring this poor man’s bushel of wheat over the one thousand miles from
-Duluth to Buffalo by Lake now costs only two cents.
-
-And according to the predictions of some of the oldest ship-owners
-of the Lakes, the tremendous saving to the poor man because of the
-cheapness of Lake freightage is bound to increase in the not distant
-future. It must be remembered that at the present time ships are not
-built too fast for Lake demand, and as a consequence transportation
-rates, while exceedingly low when compared with rail rates, are such
-as to make fortunes each year for the owners of ships. Take the cargo
-of the _B. F. Jones_, for instance, delivered at Buffalo in October
-of 1906. She had on board 370,273 bushels of wheat which she had
-brought from Duluth at two and three fourths cents a bushel, making
-her four-day trip down pay to the tune of $7500! The preceding year
-one cargo of 300,000 bushels was brought down for six cents a bushel,
-a very extraordinary exception to the regular cheap rate--one of the
-exceptions which come during the last week or two of navigation. The
-freight paid on this cargo was $18,000. In other words, if this vessel
-had made but this one trip during the season the profit on the total
-investment of $300,000 represented by the ship would have been six per
-cent. There are on the Lakes vessels which pay from twenty to thirty
-per cent. a year, and an “ordinary earner” is supposed to run from ten
-to twenty.
-
-In viewing these enormous profits, however, the layman has no cause for
-complaint, for the vessels that make them do so not to his cost, but
-from the rapidity with which they achieve their work. The _W. B. Kerr_
-is a vessel that can carry 400,000 bushels of wheat. Figure that she
-makes twenty trips a season. If she carried grain continually she would
-transport a total of 8,000,000 bushels in a single season, which would
-supply Chicago with bread for nearly a year and a half. And it is an
-interesting fact, too, that with few exceptions the ships of the Lakes
-are not owned by corporations, but by the American people. Their stock
-is held, not by thousands, but by hundreds of thousands. Recognised as
-among the best and safest investments in the United States, they are
-the property of farmers, mechanics, clerks, and other small investors,
-as well as of capitalists. Recently one of the largest shipbuilders on
-the Lakes said to me, “A third of the farmers in the Lake counties of
-Ohio have money invested in shipping.” Which shows that not only in
-the way of cheap transportation are the common people of the country
-profiting because of the existence of our Inland Seas. It may be
-interesting to note at this point that the tonnage shipped and received
-at Ohio ports in 1907 exceeded that of all the ports of France.
-
-The rate at which the grain traffic of the Lakes is increasing is
-easily seen in the figures of the last few years. In 1905, over
-68,000,000 bushels of wheat passed through the “Soo” canals. In 1906,
-this increased to more than 84,000,000, showing a growth in one year of
-16,000,000 bushels, or 23 per cent. This rate of increase is not only
-being maintained, but it is becoming larger; and the grain men of the
-Lakes are unanimous in the opinion that even from the big increase of
-recent years cannot be figured the future grain business of the Inland
-Seas.
-
-“Ten years more will see the American and Canadian Wests feeding the
-world,” a grain dealer tells me. “Within that time I look to see the
-wheat production of North America not only doubled, but trebled.”
-
-[Illustration: The Old and the New.
-
-A modern freight carrier passing one of the old schooners.]
-
-What western Canada is destined to mean to Lake commerce is already
-shown in marine figures. From Port Arthur and Fort William, the “twin
-cities” of Thunder Bay, were shipped in 1907 over 60,000,000 bushels
-of grain, and it is safe to predict that the shipment of these two
-little cities will this year exceed 70,000,000 bushels. The largest
-elevator in the world, with a capacity of 7,500,000 bushels, has been
-constructed at Port Arthur; and Fort William already has a capacity of
-13,000,000 bushels.
-
-And as yet the fertile regions of western Canada have hardly been
-touched! These 70,000,000 bushels of 1909 will represent part of the
-production, not of a nation, but of a comparatively few pioneers in
-what is destined to become the greatest grain-growing country in the
-world--a country connected with the East and the waterways to Europe
-by the Five Great Lakes. When the task now under way of widening and
-deepening the Erie Canal is accomplished, the enormous Lake traffic in
-grain may continue without interruption to the Atlantic coast. Even as
-it is, the transportation of grain from Buffalo to New York by canal
-is showing a phenomenal increase. The value of the freight cleared by
-canal from Buffalo in 1907 was nearly $19,000,000, while in 1905 it was
-less than $12,000,000.
-
-Like the building of ships the building of elevators is now one of
-the chief occupations along the Lakes. The “grain age,” as vessel-men
-are already beginning to call it, has begun. In the four chief grain
-ports of the Lakes, Chicago, Duluth-Superior, Buffalo, and Port
-Arthur-Fort William, there are now 145 elevators with a capacity of
-138,000,000 bushels. Chicago leads, with 83 elevators and a capacity
-of 63,000,000, although Duluth-Superior with their 27 elevators and
-35,000,000-bushel capacity shipped half again as much grain to Buffalo
-in 1907 as did Chicago. Buffalo is the great “receiving port” of the
-lower Lakes. There vast quantities of grain are made into flour, and
-the rest is transhipped eastward. At present the city possesses 28
-elevators with a capacity of 23,000,000 bushels.
-
-There is another potent reason why the passing of the lumber traffic
-and the future exhaustion of the iron mines do not trouble ship
-builders and owners. It has been asserted that when lumber and iron
-are gone there will no longer be business for all of the ships of the
-Lakes. How wrong this idea is has been shown by the growth of the grain
-trade. But grain will be only one item in the enormous commerce of the
-future. Each year the coal transportation business is growing, and the
-constantly increasing saving to coal consumers because of this commerce
-is astonishing. At one end of the Lakes are the vast coal deposits of
-the East; at the other is Duluth, the natural distributing point for a
-multitude of inland coal markets. Of the 16,000,000 tons of coal to be
-shipped by water this year probably 8,000,000 will go to Duluth, and
-will be carried a distance of one thousand miles for thirty-five cents
-a ton, just about what one would pay to have it shovelled from a waggon
-into his basement window! The remaining 8,000,000 tons will be unloaded
-at Chicago, Milwaukee, etc.
-
-One of the most interesting sights to be witnessed along the Lakes is
-the loading and unloading of a big cargo of coal. The _W. B. Kerr_
-holds the record at this writing. She loaded 12,558 tons at Lorain for
-Duluth, and took on 400 tons of fuel in addition. Inconceivable as it
-may seem, such a cargo under good conditions can be loaded on a ship
-in from ten to fifteen hours. The vessel runs alongside the coal dock,
-her crew lifts anywhere from a dozen to twenty hatches, and the work
-begins. In the yards are hundreds of loaded cars. An engine quickly
-pushes one of these up an inclined track to a huge “lift,” or elevator,
-to the tracks of which the wheels of the car are automatically clamped.
-Then the car, with its forty or fifty tons of coal, scoots skyward, and
-when forty feet above the deck of the ship great steel arms reach out
-and turn it upside down. With a thunderous roar the coal rushes into a
-great chute, one end of which empties into a hatch. Then the car tips
-back, is quickly carried down by the elevator, and is “bumped off” by
-another loaded car, which goes through the same operation. Four or five
-days later, at the other end of the Lakes, powerful arms, high in the
-air, reach out over the open hatches of the same vessel. Out upon one
-of these arms suddenly darts a huge “clamshell” bucket; for a moment it
-poises above a hatch, then suddenly tumbles downward, its huge mouth
-agape, and half buries itself in the cargo of coal. As it is pulled up,
-the “jaws” of the clam are closed, and with it ascend several tons of
-fuel. Three or four of these clam-shells may be at work on a vessel
-at the same time, and can unload 10,000 tons in about two days. In
-the days of old, it would have taken three weeks and scores of men to
-unload such a cargo.
-
-“And in looking into the future we must take another item into
-consideration,” said President Livingstone to me. “And that is package
-freight. It is almost impossible to estimate the amount that is
-carried, but it is enormous, and has already saved the country millions
-in transportation.”
-
-There is one other “item” that is carried in the ships of the Inland
-Seas--not a very large one, judging by bulk alone, but one which
-shows that the possibilities of romance are not yet gone from modern
-commerce. Perhaps, sometime in the not distant future, you may have the
-fortune to see a Lake ship under way. She is long, and black, and ugly,
-you may say; she carries neither guns nor fighting men, nor is she
-under convoy of a man-o’-war. Yet it may be she carries a richer prize
-than any galleon that ever sailed the Spanish Main. She is a “treasure
-ship” of the Inland Seas, bringing down copper from the great Bonanzas
-of the North. The steamer _Flagg_ holds the record, carrying down as
-she did in 1906 $1,250,000 worth of metal.
-
-[Illustration: A Shaft on One of the Ranges.]
-
-Once a copper ship was lost----
-
-But I will keep that story a little longer, for it properly belongs
-in “The Romance and Tragedy of the Inland Seas,” in which I pledge
-myself to show that the great salt oceans are not the only treeless and
-sandless wastes rich in mysterious, romantic, and tragic happenings.
-
-
-
-
-IV
-
-Passenger Traffic and Summer Life
-
-
-In a previous article I have shown how the saving to the people of
-the United States by reason of Great Lake freight transportation is
-more than five hundred million dollars a year, or, in other words,
-an indirect “dividend” to the nation of six dollars for every man,
-woman, and child in it. Yet in describing how this enormous saving
-was accomplished I touched upon but one phase of what I might term
-the “saving power” of the Lakes. To this must be added that dividend
-of millions of dollars which indirectly goes into the pockets of the
-people because of the cheapness of water transportation and because of
-the extraordinarily low cost at which one may enjoy, both afloat and
-ashore, the summer life of the Lakes. These two phases of Lake life are
-among the least known, and have been most neglected.
-
-[Illustration: The “North West.”
-
-One of the finest passenger steamers on the Great Lakes.]
-
-At the same time, considering the health and pleasure as well as the
-profit of the nation, they are among the most important. To-day it
-is almost unknown outside of Lake cities that one may travel on the
-Inland Seas at less cost per mile than on any other waterway in
-the civilised world, and that the pleasure-seeker in New York, for
-instance, can travel a thousand miles westward, spend a month along
-the Lakes, and return to his home no more out of pocket than if he
-had indulged in a ten-day or two-week holiday at some seacoast resort
-within a hundred miles of his business. This might be accepted with
-some hesitancy by many were there not convincing figures behind the
-statements, figures which show that the Lakes are primarily the “poor
-man’s pleasure grounds” as well as his roads of travel, and that on
-them he may ride in company with millionaires and dine with the scions
-of luxury and fashion without overreaching himself financially. This
-has been called the democracy of the Lakes. And only those who have
-travelled on the Inland Seas or summered along their shores know what
-the term really means. It is a condition which exists nowhere else in
-the world on such a large scale. It means that what President Roosevelt
-describes as “the ideal American life” has been achieved on the Lakes;
-that the bank clerk is on a level, both socially and financially, for
-the time, with the bank president, with the same opportunities for
-pleasure and with the same luxuries of public travel within his reach.
-The “multi-millionaire” who boards one of the magnificent passenger
-steamers at Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, or Chicago, or any other
-Lake port, has no promenade decks set apart for himself and others
-of his class, as on ocean vessels; there are no first-, second-, and
-third-class specifications, no dining-rooms for the especial use of
-aristocrats, no privileges that they may enjoy alone. The elect of
-fortune and fashion becomes a common American as soon as he touches a
-plank of a Lake vessel, rubs elbows with the everyday crowd, smokes his
-cigars in company with travelling men, rural merchants, and clerks,
-forgets himself in this mingling with people of red blood and working
-hands--and enjoys himself in the experience. It is a novel adventure
-for the man who has been accustomed to the purchase of exclusiveness
-and the service of a prince at sea, but it quickly shows him what life
-really is along the five great waterways that form the backbone of the
-commerce of the American nation.
-
-This is why the passenger traffic of the Inland Seas is distinctive,
-why it is the absolute antithesis of the same traffic on the oceans.
-If a $2,000,000 floating palace were to be launched upon the Lakes
-to-morrow and its owners announced that social and money distinctions
-would be recognised on board, the business of that vessel would
-probably be run at a loss that would mean ultimate bankruptcy. It is
-an experiment which even the wealthiest and most powerful passenger
-corporations on the Lakes have not dared to make, though they have
-frequently discussed it. A score of passenger traffic men have told
-me this. It is a splendid tribute to the spirit of independence and
-equality that exists on these American waters.
-
-[Illustration: The Stop at Tashinoo Park, St. Clair Flats.]
-
-And there is a good reason for this spirit. In 1907, sixteen
-million passengers travelled on Lake vessels and of these it is
-estimated that less than five hundred thousand were foreign tourists
-or pleasure-seekers from large Eastern cities. In other words, over
-fifteen million of these travellers were men and women of the Lake and
-central Western States, where independence and equality are matters of
-habit. Twelve million were carried by vessels of the Eighth District,
-which begins at Detroit and ends at Chicago, while only three and a
-half million were carried in the Ninth District, including all Lake
-ports east of the Detroit River. From these figures one may easily get
-an idea of the class of people who travel on the Lakes, and at the same
-time realise to what an almost inconceivable extent our Inland Seas
-are neglected by the people of many States within short distances of
-them. Astonishing as it may seem, nearly eight million passengers were
-reported at Detroit in 1907--as many as were reported _at all other
-Lake ports combined_, including great cities like Buffalo, Cleveland,
-and Chicago. These millions were drawn almost entirely from Michigan
-and Ontario, with a small percentage coming from Indiana, Ohio, and
-Kentucky. Ninety per cent. of the Chicago traffic of two million was
-from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, while of the three and a half
-million carried east of the Detroit River, from Erie and Ontario ports,
-fully two thirds were residents of Ohio and Pennsylvania. At Buffalo,
-which draws upon the entire State of New York and upon all States
-east thereof, there were reported only a million passengers! To sum
-up, figures gathered during the year show that fully ninety per cent.
-of all travel on the Inland Seas is furnished by the States of Ohio,
-Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, western New York,
-western Pennsylvania, and northern Kentucky.
-
-[Illustration: The Landing at Mackinac Dock, Michigan.]
-
-Why is this? Why are the most beautiful fresh-water seas in the whole
-world neglected by their own people? Why is it that from the single
-city of Boston there travel by water two million more people than on
-all of the Lakes combined, which number on their shores the second
-largest city on the continent and four others well up in the front
-rank? I have asked this question of steamship companies in a dozen
-ports along the Lakes, and from them all I have received practically
-the same reply. There is a man in Detroit who has been in the passenger
-traffic business for more than a quarter of a century. I refer to
-A. A. Schantz, general manager of the largest passenger business on
-the Lakes. He was managing boats at the age of twenty, he has studied
-the business for thirty years, and he hits the nail squarely on the
-head when he says: “It’s because people _don’t know_ about the Lakes.
-For generations newspapers and magazines have talked _ocean_ to them.
-They know more about Bermuda and the Caribbean than they do about
-Mackinaw and the three thousand islands of Lake Huron. The people of
-three States out of four are better acquainted with steamship fares
-to London and Liverpool than to Duluth or Chicago; they have been
-_taught_ to look to the oceans and ocean resorts, and to-day the five
-Great Lakes of America are more foreign, so far as knowledge of them is
-concerned, than either the Atlantic or the Pacific.”
-
-This is true. When Admiral Dewey made his triumphal journey through the
-Inland Seas even he found himself constantly expressing astonishment at
-what he saw and heard. It is so with ninety-nine out of every hundred
-strangers who come to them. Think, for instance, of travelling from
-Detroit to Buffalo, a distance of two hundred and sixty miles, for
-$1.25!--less than _half a cent a mile_! I recently told a Philadelphia
-man who has been to Europe half a dozen times about this cheap travel,
-and he laughingly asked, “What kind of tubs do you have on the Lakes
-that can afford to carry passengers at these ridiculous rates?”
-
-Well, there is one particular “tub” which offers this cheap
-transportation once a week, which cost a little over a million and a
-quarter dollars! Every bit of woodwork in the parlours, promenades, and
-dining-rooms is of Mexican mahogany. It carries with it a collection
-of oil paintings which cost twenty-five thousand dollars. Every one of
-four hundred state-rooms is equipped with a telephone and there is a
-telephone “central,” so that passengers may converse with one another
-or with the ship’s officers without leaving their berths. There are
-reading-rooms, and music-rooms, and writing-rooms, magnificently
-upholstered and furnished; and on more than one of these Lake palaces
-passengers may amuse themselves at shuffle-board, quoits, and other
-games which fifty millions of Americans believe are characteristic only
-of ocean craft. Another of these “tubs”--the _Eastern States_--broke
-Lake records in 1907 by berthing and feeding fifteen hundred people on
-a single trip; and the new _City of Cleveland_ will accommodate two
-thousand without crowding.
-
-Notwithstanding the extreme cheapness of their rates of transportation,
-Lake passenger vessels constantly vie with one another in maintaining
-a high standard of appearance and comfort. This is illustrated in the
-interesting case of the _City of St. Ignace_, which was built a number
-of years ago at a cost of $375,000. Since that time, in painting,
-decorating, refurnishing, etc., and not including the cost of broken
-machinery or expense of crew, nearly $500,000 have been spent in
-the maintenance of this vessel, a sum considerably greater than her
-original cost. A Government law says that thirty per cent. of the cost
-of a vessel must be expended in this kind of maintenance before that
-particular boat can change its name. The _City of St. Ignace_ could
-have changed her name four times! And the case of the _St. Ignace_ is
-only one of many.
-
-[Illustration: Hickory Island at the Mouth of Detroit River.
-
-    From a Photograph by Manning Studio, Detroit.
-]
-
-I have gone into these facts with some detail for the purpose of
-showing that the extreme cheapness of travel and living along the Lakes
-does not signify a loss of either comfort or luxury. In few words, it
-means that the Lakes, as in all other branches of their industries, are
-agents of tremendous saving to the nation at large in this one; and
-that, were the pleasure-seekers and travellers of the country to become
-better acquainted with them, the annual “dividend” earned in freight
-transportation would be doubled by passenger traffic. The figures of
-almost any transportation line on the Lakes will verify this. Last
-year, for instance, one line carried two hundred thousand people
-between Detroit and Cleveland. The day fare between these points is one
-dollar, the distance 110 miles. Estimating that four fifths, or one
-hundred and sixty thousand, of these passengers travelled by day, their
-total expense would be $160,000. By rail the distance is 167 miles, and
-the fare $3.35, making a total railway fare of $536,000. These figures
-show that one passenger line alone, and between just two cities, saved
-the travellers of the country $376,000 in 1908. The saving between
-other points is in many instances even greater. Once each week one
-may go by water from Detroit to Buffalo, or from Buffalo to Detroit,
-a distance of 260 miles, for $1.25, while the rail rate is seven
-dollars; and at any time during the week, and on any boat, the fare
-is only $2.50. These low rates prevail, not only in localities, but
-all over the Lakes. The tourist may board a Mackinaw boat at any time
-in Cleveland, for instance, travel across Lake Erie, up the Detroit
-River, through Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron, and back again--a round
-trip of nearly one thousand miles--at an expense of _ten dollars_.
-The round trip from Detroit to Mackinaw, which gives the tourist two
-days and two nights aboard ship and a ride of six hundred miles, costs
-eight dollars. The rail fare is $11. At a ticket expense of less than
-twenty-five dollars one may spend a whole week aboard a floating palace
-of the Lakes and make a tour of the Inland Seas that will carry him
-over nearly three thousand miles of waterway, his meal service at the
-same time being as good and from a third to a half as expensive as that
-of a first-class hotel ashore. Excursion rates, which one may take
-advantage of during the entire season, are even less, frequently being
-not more than half as high as those given above.
-
-When one becomes acquainted with these facts it is easy for him to
-understand the truth of Mr. Schantz’s statement that “people _don’t
-know_ about the Lakes.” If they did, the annual passenger traffic on
-them would be thirty million instead of sixteen; and, instead of an
-estimated saving of ten million dollars to the people because of Lake
-passenger ships, the “dividend” that thus goes into their pockets would
-be twice that amount.
-
-[Illustration: The “City of Erie.”
-
-The fastest steamer on the Lakes, holding a record of 22.93 miles per
-hour.]
-
-Foreign shipbuilders as well as Americans along the seacoasts frankly
-concede that vessel-building on the Lakes has developed into a science
-which is equalled nowhere else in the world, evidence of which I have
-offered in a former article. This is true of passenger ships as well as
-of freighters, and the strongest proof of this fact lies in the almost
-inconceivably small loss of life among travellers on the Lakes. There
-was a time when the marine tragedies of the Inland Seas were appalling,
-and if all the ships lost upon them were evenly distributed there would
-be a sunken hulk every half-mile over the entire thousand-mile waterway
-between Buffalo and Duluth. But those days are gone. Lake travel has
-not only become the cheapest in the world, but the safest as well. The
-figures which show this are of tremendous interest when compared with
-other statistics. Of the sixteen million men, women, and children who
-travelled on Lake passenger ships in 1907, _only three were lost_, or
-one out of every 5,300,000. Two of these were accidentally drowned,
-and the third met death by fire. The percentage of ocean casualties
-is twelve times as great, and of the eight hundred million people who
-travelled on our railroads during 1906 approximately one out of every
-sixty thousand was killed or injured.
-
-To the great majority of our many millions of people the summer life
-of the Lakes is as little known as the passenger traffic. And, if
-possible, it offers even greater inducements, especially to those who
-wish to enjoy the pleasures of an ideal summer outing and who can
-afford to spend but a very small sum of money. Notwithstanding this
-fact, the shores and countless islands of the Great Lakes are taken
-advantage of even less than their low transportation rates. Only a few
-of the large and widely-advertised resorts receive anything like the
-patronage of seacoast pleasure grounds. If a person in the East or
-West, for instance, plans to spend a month somewhere along the Lakes,
-about the only information that he can easily obtain is on points like
-Mackinaw Island: popular resorts which are ideal for the tourist who
-wishes to pass most of his time aboard ship, or who, in stopping off at
-these more fashionable places, is not especially worried about funds.
-
-It is not of such isolated places as the great resorts that I shall
-speak first. They play their part, and an important one, in the summer
-life of the Lakes; but it is to another phase of this life, one which
-is almost entirely unknown, that I wish to call attention. The man who
-does not have to count the contents of his pocket-book when he leaves
-home will find his holiday joys without much trouble. But how about the
-man who works for a small salary, and who with his restricted means
-wishes to give his wife and children the pleasures of a real vacation?
-What about the men and women and children who look forward for weeks
-and months, and who plan and save and economise, sometimes hopelessly,
-that _somewhere_ they may have two weeks together, free from the worry
-and care and eternal grind of their daily life? It is to such people as
-these, unnumbered thousands of them, that the Lakes should call--and
-loudly. And it is to such as these that I wish to describe the
-astonishing conditions which now exist along thousands of miles of our
-Great Lakes coast line--conditions which, were they generally known,
-would attract many million more people to our Inland Seas next year
-than will be found there during the present summer.
-
-“But _where_ shall I go?” asks the man who is planning a vacation,
-and who may live two or three hundred miles away from the nearest of
-the Great Lakes. He is perplexed, and with good cause. He has spent
-other vacations away from home and generally speaking he knows what a
-hold-up game ordinary summer-resort life is. But he need not fear this
-on the Lakes. All that he has to do in order successfully to solve
-this problem of “where to go” is to get a map, select any little town
-or village situated on the fresh-water sea nearest to him, or three or
-four of them, for that matter, and write to the postmasters. They can
-turn the communications over to some person who will interest himself
-to that extent. Say, for instance, that you write to the little port of
-Vermilion, on Lake Erie. Your reply will state that “Shattuck’s Grove
-would be a nice place for you to spend your holidays; or you may go to
-Ruggles’ Grove, half a dozen miles up the beach; or you can get cheap
-accommodations, board and room for three or four dollars a week apiece,
-at any one of a hundred farmhouses that look right out over the lake.”
-In fact, it is not necessary for you to write at all. When you are
-ready to leave on your vacation, when your trunk is ready and the wife
-and children all aglow with eagerness and expectancy--why, _start_.
-Go direct to any one of these little Lake towns. Within a day after
-arriving there, or within two days at the most, you will be settled. I
-have passed nearly all of my life along the Lakes, and have travelled
-over every mile of the Lake Erie shore; I have gone from end to end of
-them all, and I do not know of a Lake town that does not possess in its
-immediate vicinity what is locally known as a “grove.” A grove, on the
-Lakes, means a piece of woods that the owner has cleared of underbrush,
-where the children may buy ice-cream and candy, where there are plenty
-of swings, boats, fishing-tackle, and perhaps a merry-go-round, and
-where the pleasure-seeker may rent a tent at almost no cost, buy his
-meals at ridiculously low prices and live entirely on the grounds, or
-board with some farmer in the neighbourhood. A “grove,” in other words,
-is what might be called a rural resort, a place visited almost entirely
-by country people and the residents of neighbouring towns, and where
-one may fish, swim, and enjoy the most glorious of all vacations for no
-more than it would cost him to live at home, and frequently for less.
-
-[Illustration: Little Venice, St. Clair River.
-
-Showing the type of “Inns,” where people may pass their holidays at
-small expense.
-
-    Courtesy of Northern Steamship Co.
-]
-
-There are many hundreds of these “groves” along the Lakes, unknown to
-all but those who live near them. Only on occasion of Sunday-school
-picnics or Fourth of July celebrations are they crowded. They are the
-most ideal of all places in which to spend one’s holidays, if rest
-and quiet recreations are what the pleasure-seeker desires. And these
-groves are easily found. I do not believe there is a twenty-mile
-stretch along Lake Erie that does not possess its grove, and sometimes
-there are a dozen of them within that distance. I know of many that
-are not even situated near villages, being five or six miles away
-and patronised almost entirely by farmers. In almost any one of
-them a family may enjoy camp life if they wish, buy their supplies
-of neighbouring farmers, do their own cooking, rent a good boat for
-from twenty-five to fifty cents a day, and get other things at a
-corresponding cost. I am personally acquainted with one family of four
-who came from Louisville to one of these sylvan resorts on Lake Huron
-last year, and the total expense of their three weeks’ vacation, not
-including railroad fare, was under fifty dollars. The experience of
-these parents and their children is not an exception. It is a common
-one with those who are acquainted with the Lakes and who know how to
-take advantage of them to their own profit.
-
-[Illustration: A Scene on Belle Isle, Detroit River.]
-
-There is another phase of Lake life, a degree removed from that which I
-have described, which is also unknown beyond its own local environment
-and which ought to be made to be of great profit and pleasure to
-those seeking holiday recreation along our Inland Seas. The shores
-of the Lakes, from end to end, are literally dotted with what might
-appropriately be called lakeside inns--places located far from the dust
-and noise and more fashionable gaiety of crowded resorts and cities,
-where one may enjoy all of the simpler pleasures of water-life for from
-six to eight dollars a week. This price includes room, board, boats,
-fishing-tackle, and other accommodations. At most of these places the
-board is superior to that which one secures at the large resorts.
-Fish, frogs’ legs, and chickens play an important part in the bill
-of fare, and almost without exception they are placed upon the table
-in huge dishes, heaped with fresh viands from the kitchen as soon as
-they become empty. The fish cost the innkeepers nothing, for they are
-mostly caught by the pleasure-seekers themselves; frogs usually abound
-somewhere in the immediate vicinity, and where the landlord does not
-raise his own fowls they are purchased from neighbouring farmers.
-The inn is a local market for butter, eggs, celery, and vegetables
-of all kinds, so it is not difficult to understand why the board at
-these places is superior to almost any that can be found in a city. I
-have no doubt that if these lakeside inns were generally known they
-would be so crowded that life would not be worth living in them. But
-they are _not_ known and as a consequence are running along in their
-old-fashioned way, sources of unrivalled summer joy to those who have
-been fortunate enough to discover them. At many of these inns only a
-dollar a day is charged, all accommodations included, and the price is
-seldom above $1.50 a day, even for transients. I know of one inn that
-has been “discovered” by half a dozen travelling men and their wives.
-Three of these families live in Cleveland, one in Pittsburg, and two
-in New York, and each year they spend a month together on Lake St.
-Clair. The cost is _six dollars a week_ for each adult! A few weeks
-ago I was talking with one of these men, the representative of a New
-York dry-goods firm, and he told me that for himself, his wife, and
-two children it cost less to stay a month at this place than it did
-to pass a single week at an ocean resort, and that the accommodations
-and opportunities for pleasure were greater there than he had ever
-been able to afford on the Atlantic. I do not wish to emphasise the
-attractions of any particular inn, for in most ways all of them are
-alike. And the holiday-seeker who knows nothing of the Lakes can find
-them as easily as he can locate the groves I have described. The secret
-of the whole thing is in the knowledge that hundreds of such places
-really exist.
-
-I have often thought that if it were possible for every person in the
-United States to make a trip over the Lakes, beginning at Niagara
-Falls, our Inland Seas from that day on would be recognised as the
-greatest pleasure-grounds in the world. At Niagara Falls, the traveller
-takes the Gorge ride, and perhaps makes a trip on the _Maid of the
-Mist_. But he is probably unaware that in the immediate neighbourhood
-are a score of spots hallowed in history, and whose incidents have
-made up some of the most romantic and tragic pages in the story of our
-country. He may not know that within walking distance of the falls was
-fought the battle of Queenston Heights, that at certain points the
-earthworks of the British still remain, that he may stand in the very
-spot where General Brock fell dying, and that he may follow, step by
-step, that thrilling fight far up on the summit of those wild ridges.
-Neither does the ordinary tourist know that almost within sight of the
-falls is one of the oldest cemeteries in America, where many of the men
-who were slain in the battles of those regions are at rest. Old Fort
-Niagara remains almost unvisited, and the spot not far distant where
-the adventurer La Salle built the _Griffin_, the first vessel ever to
-sail the Lakes, is virtually unknown. Two weeks, and every hour of them
-filled with interest, might be spent by the Lake tourist at Niagara
-Falls, yet the average person is satisfied with a day. And it is all
-because he does not _know_. This may be said of his experiences from
-end to end of the Lakes.
-
-[Illustration: Steamer “Western States.”
-
-One of the largest and fastest boats on the Lakes. Carries 2500 people
-and her fastest speed is 20 miles an hour.
-
-    From a Photograph by Detroit Photographic Co.
-]
-
-When his ship passes into Lake Erie he enters upon new and even more
-thrilling pages of history. Near Put-in-Bay his captain can point out
-to him where Perry and his ships of war engaged and whipped the British
-fleet in 1813; for nearly a hundred miles his vessel will travel over
-the very course taken by the fleeing British ships, and that course,
-if he follows it to the Thames, will lead to the scenes of the fierce
-battle that was fought there, and of the sanguinary conflict with the
-Indians in which the famous chieftain Tecumseh was slain. And all this
-time he will see rising along the white stretches of shore the smoke of
-great cities, and hundreds of miles of wooded beach, where unnumbered
-millions might pass their summer holidays without crowding. And when he
-enters the Detroit River he looks out upon quiet Canadian shores and
-little “Sleepy Hollow” towns, still characterised by the quaint French
-atmosphere and peacefulness that marked them a century ago.
-
-Now he begins to see the crowded, noisy, jostling pleasures of popular
-river resorts; then comes Detroit, the greatest excursion city on the
-Lakes. Here again history may add to the pleasure of his reflections,
-for three nations have fought for and possessed Detroit. He passes
-Belle Isle, the greatest pleasure ground in the world with the
-exception of Coney Island, and a few minutes later can almost throw a
-stone upon the island that was once the home of the famous Indian chief
-Pontiac, and where the plans for that bloodthirsty warrior’s assaults
-upon the whites were made. Then follows the course across beautiful
-Lake St. Clair, and the slow journey through Little Venice, where
-again the crowds and music and gay vessels of one of the most popular
-resorts in America greet his eyes for many miles; where every bit of
-land that thrusts itself out of the lake is lined with summer cottages
-and lakeside inns. Here the tourist may stop for a dollar a day or two
-dollars a day, and may mingle freely with bankers and merchants and
-millionaires as well as with the “common herd.” It is a mixed, happy,
-cosmopolitan life.
-
-From Little Venice the tourist’s ship enters the St. Clair River, along
-which live innumerable captains of ships. It is a paradise of beauty,
-yet along its length one may buy cottage sites cheaper than he can
-purchase ordinary city lots. Here the traveller will see the tents
-of happy campers from the city, comfortable inns, and now and then a
-summer resort hotel--a mixed life, one of pleasure for the man with a
-family and little money as well as for him who has more than he knows
-well how to spend.
-
-[Illustration: Steamship “North West” in American Lock.]
-
-Once out upon the bosom of Lake Huron, the scenes begin to change.
-Now there are miles of shore on which there is hardly a habitation
-to be seen. From Saginaw Bay northward for hundreds of miles along
-the Georgian Bay and Michigan shores, the grandeur and beauty of the
-wilderness are seen from the deck of the vessel. As one progresses
-farther north the scenes become wilder and wilder, until the captain
-may tell you that you are looking out over regions where the bear and
-the deer and the wolf make their homes; and if you have a drop of
-sportsman’s blood in you, he adds to your excitement by saying that you
-may see big game from the deck of the ship before the trip is over.
-At times, and for long distances, the vessel seems to be picking her
-way between innumerable islands, and if the course is through Georgian
-Bay their number bewilders the traveller. They are on all sides of him.
-Here and there upon them are resort hotels; more numerous still are the
-simple, homelike places where the city worker and his family may stay
-at comparatively small expense, and along the mainland are the homes of
-settlers and farmers, nine out of ten of whom are glad to accommodate
-summer visitors at prices which make living there as cheap as at home.
-
-Farther northward the tourist’s ship carries him deeper into the
-wilderness country, through St. Mary’s River, with its forest-clad
-shores and islands, broken here and there by little cottages built
-and owned by city people; through the locks at the “Soo,” and into
-Lake Superior. Beyond this, as one captain expressed it to the writer,
-“there is howling wilderness on every shore.” At times the traveller
-may have glimpses of the Canadian coast, from which the unbroken
-wild stretches northward to Hudson Bay; his eyes may travel over the
-hazy distance of the greatest moose- and caribou-hunting country on
-the continent; and when near the Michigan shore he may see the smoke
-rising above the great copper mines of the Upper Peninsula. And at the
-end of this northern route he comes to Duluth, the second greatest
-freight-shipping port in the world, and destined to become one of the
-most important cities in America.
-
-At the Straits of Mackinaw, however, the tourist may turn into Lake
-Michigan instead of continuing into Superior: and if so, he soon comes
-within sight of Beaver Island, famous for all ages in history as the
-one-time stronghold of King Strang and his Mormons--an island about
-which piracy once flourished and where more than one vessel, in the
-years of long ago, met a mysterious and tragic end at the hands of
-buccaneers as bloodthirsty as any that ever roamed the seas.
-
-[Illustration: Cottages Built at Small Expense along the St. Mary’s
-River.]
-
-And so it goes, from end to end of the Lakes, every mile fraught with
-interest, every hour offering the traveller something new of scenery or
-history. At no time is there the monotonous sameness of ocean travel,
-and even night is to be regretted because of the things which are
-passed then and cannot be seen. And this life of the Lakes is not, like
-that of the salt seas, open only to those of means. It is within the
-poor man’s reach as well as the rich, is accessible to the hard-working
-housewife as well as to the woman who possesses her carriage and her
-servants.
-
-
-
-
-V
-
-The Romance and Tragedy of the Inland Seas
-
-
-I was watching a blockade of ships in a Lake Erie harbour--a score of
-striving, crowding, smoking monsters of the Inland Seas, hung under a
-pall of black smoke, with screeching tugs floundering here and there,
-megaphone voices shouting curses and orders, and the crashing of chains
-and steel filling the air. And I thought of a theatre I had visited
-the night before where, arriving late, I was forced to crush in with
-the gallery gods and fight for a place in the fifth heaven. In the
-excitement of this “spring rush” of great ships for the freight-laden
-docks of the North, I spoke my sentiment to the man beside me--a man
-who had always before him in his office five miniature lakes, on which
-miniature vessels represented his steel leviathans of commerce, which
-he moved about, and played, and watched, day by day and almost hour
-by hour, as a player might move his men at chess. And this man, I
-noticed, was regarding the scene before him with different eyes from
-mine. His face was set in a frown, his eyes stared in their momentary
-anxiety, and I could almost feel the eager tenseness of his body.
-Out there in that chaotic tangle, where captains were fighting for
-prestige and taking chances that might cost thousands, _he_ had ships.
-I saw him clench his hand as a black monster crept forward into the gap
-between two ships ahead; I saw it forge on, yard by yard, saw the other
-vessels close up on it as though it were an egg which they were bent on
-crushing between them, heard the rumbling of steel side against steel
-side, and when at last I witnessed this ship break triumphantly into
-the lead, great blotches of paint scraped from it, I looked at the man
-again, and he was smiling.
-
-Then he turned to me, and as we walked away from the scene, he observed:
-
-“That’s good--that ‘crush’ idea of yours. I’d use it. It’s as pretty a
-comparison as you could get to the whole situation on the Lakes to-day,
-and it’s a key to what the situation is going to be ten years from
-now. It’s crush and crowd all over the Lakes from Duluth to Buffalo.
-Harbours are getting too small; the ‘Soo’ canals are becoming outgrown;
-the Lime Kiln crossing is a greater and greater menace as the number of
-ships increases. And the ships? They’re increasing so fast that unless
-the Government takes a hand, there will be more tragedies to write down
-in Lake history during the next decade or two, than in all of the years
-that have gone before.”
-
-[Illustration: A Steamer Stripped by a Tow-Line by Running between a
-Steamer and her Consort.
-
-    From a Photograph by Lord & Rhoades, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
-]
-
-This possibility of the actual overcrowding, of the Lakes is one that
-I have discussed with half a hundred captains and owners. It offers
-a new “future” for romance and tragedy on the Great Lakes. Since the
-day the first strong-hearted explorers sailed up the Inland Seas on
-the _Griffin_, the unusual, the tragic, and the romantic have made up
-thrilling chapters in their history--chapters in battle, piracy, and
-adventure, whose heroes and their exploits rank on even terms with Paul
-Jones, Kidd, Morgan, Hudson, and other worthies of the open seas. The
-romance of the old days, as upon the ocean, is gone; a new romance has
-taken its place--the romance of iron and steel and steam; and a new
-and greater peril than that born of wind and storm, many believe, is
-fast developing to face the fresh-water mariner of the future. This is
-the peril of collision--not as it exists to-day, but as it may exist
-a few years from now. Already this peril is an ever-present menace
-upon the Great Lakes, and hardly a day passes during the season of
-navigation that collisions do not occur. The Lakes, it is probable,
-will never be able to take entire care of the enormous commerce of the
-East and West, and as a result ships will continue to increase until,
-like the streets of a great city with their rushing automobiles and
-unceasing pandemonium of cars, vans, and seething multitudes, these
-water highways will become dangerously crowded with the vehicles of
-trade. Already the Lake Carriers’ Association seems to foresee the
-danger of future navigation on the Inland Seas, and has recommended
-that east and west courses be established, so that up-bound vessels
-will be far out of the path of down-bound ships. This is but the first
-step toward government legislation, many believe, that will bring
-about the “cutting up of the Lakes into roads,” when vessels bound for
-given ports will have prescribed courses to travel, from which they
-will deviate, unless with good cause, at the risk not only of their
-safety, but of a heavy fine. Thus, it is probable, will the Lakes be
-made navigable for the myriad ships of the future, when, in the words
-of one ship-owner, “A pall of smoke will hover overhead day and night
-for seven months in the year, and when the world will witness water
-commerce as it has never existed before, and as it will never exist
-elsewhere on the globe.”
-
-This is looking into the future; but one acquainted with the Lake
-life of to-day cannot but see the picture. And this picture brings
-one to the real motif of this chapter--a description of the “human
-interest side” of America’s vast “unsalted seas,” that side in which
-the romantic and the tragic and not the realities of statistics and
-economic progress play the absorbing parts, and which should serve to
-make them of interest to hundreds of thousands of people who have yet
-their first trips to take upon them.
-
-From my twenty years of experience with them, I believe that failure to
-treat of the human interest of the Lakes is one of the most inexcusable
-omissions of American literature. In the rush of modern progress the
-Lakes have been forgotten--except in the way of their vital importance
-to the commerce of the nation. And each year their picturesque and
-thrilling aspects are becoming more deeply engulfed in considerations
-of profit and loss and corporation finance.
-
-Not long ago I asked a romantically inclined young woman, who was about
-to spend the savings of several years on an ocean trip, why she did not
-take a more economical, and pleasanter, holiday by making a tour of the
-Lakes. She looked at me as if I had gone out of my head.
-
-“Take a trip on the Lakes when I can have one on the ocean!” she cried.
-After a moment of continued surprise, she added: “I want something that
-I can think about. I want to go where something has happened--where
-there have been battles, and pirates, and where there’s sunken ships,
-and treasure, and things under us! I’m reading a story now that tells
-of the ocean--_The Cruise of a Lonely Heart_--situated in the very part
-of the sea we’re to cross, and I shall read every word of it over again
-while we’re aboard the ship!”
-
-That is the great trouble. Historians, novelists, and short-story
-writers have neglected the Lakes. I did not waste my breath in telling
-this young lady that real pirates flourished in the days of King Strang
-and his Mormons on the Lakes; that some of the most picturesque “sea
-fights” of history were fought upon them, and that treasure untold,
-and mysteries without number, lie hidden within their depths. But I am
-determined that she shall read these few pages, and I pray that she, as
-well as a few thousand others of my readers, may hereby be induced to
-“take to their history.”
-
-For centuries the oceans have been regarded as the realm of romance and
-mystery. In this age, the youths of Chicago, of New York, Cincinnati,
-or Denver, and even of Lake cities, search public libraries for tales
-of the South Seas and of the great Pacific; even the youngster whose
-every day has been spent on the shores of one of the five Great Lakes
-seeks afar the material that satisfies his boyish imagination. And so
-is it with his father and mother, his big brothers and sisters. Instead
-of a glorious trip over the Lakes, they prefer the old and oft-made
-journey to Europe, to the Bermudas; instead of seeking out the grand
-scenery and actual romance that environ them, they follow beaten paths
-laid out in books and pamphlets descriptive of the ocean.
-
-[Illustration: A Remarkable Photograph Showing the Big Freighter
-“Stimson” in a Holocaust of Smoke and Flame.]
-
-In view of the action already being taken to bring about legislation
-to prevent collisions, it is interesting to note that no similar area
-of any ocean, if suddenly robbed of its waters, would expose to human
-eyes more sunken ships, or more valuable cargoes, than the Great Lakes.
-During the twenty years between 1878 and 1898, only one less than
-6000 vessels were wrecked on the Inland Seas, and 1093 these were
-total losses. The loss of cargo during this period of a little more
-than one fourth of the years of navigation on the Lakes was nearly
-$8,000,000, and from this it is quite safe to figure that the total
-amount of property that has gone to the bottom of the Lakes, including
-only cargoes, would make a total of at least $15,000,000, involving the
-wrecking of 14,000 vessels and the total loss of over 2000 ships. Were
-these “total losses” strung out in a row, there would be a sunken ship
-at a distance of every half-mile over the thousand-mile length of the
-Lakes between Buffalo and Duluth. What a field for romance here! What
-material for the seeker of human achievement, of heroism, of sacrifice!
-Scores of these vessels disappeared as suddenly and as mysteriously
-as though some great power had smuggled them from the face of the
-earth, leaving naught behind to tell of the tragedies; hundreds of
-ships carried with them valuable cargoes which remain to this day for
-lucky fortune-hunters to recover from the depths; and in their going
-thousands of lives were snuffed out, and thousands of unwritten acts of
-heroism were played and never heard of, or forgotten.
-
-How many remember the name of Captain James Jackson? Jackson is only
-one of a thousand heroes of the Inland Seas, and the deed which made
-him famous among Lake seamen is only one of a thousand of a similar
-kind. It happened one year in the closing days of navigation on
-Superior. The owners of the freighter _W. F. Sauber_ had sent that
-ship from Duluth with one last load of iron ore under the command of
-W. E. Morris. Off Whitefish Point the vessel was caught in a fierce
-storm from the north. All night she weathered the gale, but with
-morning there came a blinding sleet with fierce wind and intense
-cold, and the breaking seas froze as they touched the upper works of
-the ship. Under the increasing weight of ice the disabled _Sauber_
-gradually settled. When thus the “little ice devils” of Superior gather
-upon a victim, it sometimes happens that no power of man can save the
-ship, and in this instance the crew of the doomed freighter realised
-that it was only a matter of a short time before the end would come.
-But strange things happen on the Inland Seas, as on the oceans.
-
-Upon this day, so far as is known, there were just two vessels on Lake
-Superior, and fate decreed that they should meet off Whitefish Point.
-While the men of the _Sauber_ were waiting for death, the steamer _Yale_
-was tearing her way through the gale toward the “Soo,” and as he passed
-Captain Jackson sighted the sinking ship. It was then that occurred
-that act which won him a gold medal and a purse contributed to by
-hundreds of sailors all over the Lakes.
-
-[Illustration: After a Fierce Night’s “Late Navigation” Run across Lake
-Superior.]
-
-Notwithstanding the peril of his own situation, Captain Jackson brought
-his vessel to. For hours it was buffeted in the trough of the sea,
-which was too heavy for small boats to attempt a rescue in. Night came,
-and the freighters drifted to within a stone’s throw of each other.
-At dawn, when the _Yale_ might have been safely in port, it was found
-that she, too, was gradually settling, and that the _Sauber_ could not
-live an hour longer. Captain Jackson at once called for volunteers
-willing to risk their lives in an attempt at rescue; he himself went
-out in the first boat. If bravery was ever rewarded it was then. Every
-member of the _Sauber’s_ crew, with the exception of the captain, was
-carried to the _Yale_. At the last moment Captain Morris attempted to
-lower himself into one of the boats--hesitated--then leaped back to the
-deck of the sinking ship.
-
-“Go on, boys!” he shouted through the gale. “Good luck to you, but I’m
-going to stay with the old boat!”
-
-This is heroism, sacrifice, faithfulness, as they are bred on the
-Inland Seas.
-
-Thirty minutes later the _Sauber_ went under, and immediately after the
-explosion of her deck, caused by the pressure of air and water, those
-who were still courageously waiting in a small boat heard the last
-cries of Captain Morris rising above the gale.
-
-These “last days of navigation”--the season when life and property are
-hazarded by crews and captains with a recklessness that thrills one’s
-blood--are justly dreaded, and I have been told by a hopeful few that
-the time is coming when proper legislation will send ships into winter
-quarters earlier than now. It is at this time that casualties multiply
-with alarming rapidity, the perils of Lake navigation becoming tenfold
-as great as those of the ocean. Heavy fogs hide the beacons that mark
-the danger lines. Blinding snowstorms blot out the most powerful
-lights. Driven by fierce gales, weighted by ice, with heaven and sea
-meeting in a pall that conceals the guiding stars ashore, scores
-of vessels continue to beat onward in the hope of adding one more
-successful trip to their season’s record.
-
-The history of a Lake Superior tragedy is simple. One more trip from
-Duluth may mean thousands of dollars. The season is late--too late.
-But freight rates are high. No risk, no gain, argues the ship-owner,
-as he sends his vessel from port. Those are days of anxiety for
-captain, crew, and owner. In a few hours the clear sky may give place
-to banks of snow clouds. The air turns bitter cold. Darkness falls in
-the middle of the afternoon. The snow descends in dense clouds. It is
-far worse than the blackest night, for it shuts out the lights along
-the treacherous shores as completely as a wall of mountains. Upon the
-captain alone now depends the safety of the ship, for the Government’s
-attempts to aid him are futile. Perhaps his vessel is safely making her
-course miles from the coast. Or it may be that it is driving steadily
-toward its doom upon the dreaded Pictured Rocks. It was in this way
-that the steamer _Superior_ was lost with all on board, and in the same
-way the _Western Reserve_ beat herself to pieces within sight of the
-Big Sable light. And Superior has a harder fate in store for many of
-those who take the last ill-fated trip of the season. Sailors dread
-it more than the tragedy of dense snowstorms, when they run upon the
-rocks, for even there hope does not die; they dread it more than the
-fierce, sledge-hammer wash of Erie in a storm; more than the fearful
-dash for port in Lake Michigan, where ports are few; and this fate is
-the fate of “the little ice devils”--those masses of ice which freeze
-upon a ship until she is weighted beyond control.
-
-In these days of late navigation--days of fierce battles with snow,
-ice, and wind, days of death and destruction as they are never known
-upon the salt seas--is material for a generation of writers; unnumbered
-stories of true mystery, true romance, and true tragedy, which, if
-fed to the nation in popular form, would be of immeasurable value to
-lovers of the literature of adventure. Into what a fascinating tale
-of mystery, for example, might the loss of the _Queen of the West_ be
-turned! And, yet, here is a case where truth is in reality stranger
-than fiction, and possibly an editor might “turn down” the tale as
-too improbable. Recently I chronicled a true romance of the Lakes. I
-had dates, names of ships, names of people, and even court records
-to prove the absolute verity of my story, which was related in the
-form of fiction. I sent it to several editors who had published other
-stories of mine, and one after another they returned it, saying that
-while my proofs were conclusive, the story was so unusual in some of
-its situations that their readers would consider the tale as a gross
-exaggeration of anything that might occur on the Great Lakes!
-
-Well, here is the story of the _Queen of the West_--only one of scores
-of Lake incidents equally unusual; and I hope that it will have at
-least some weight in showing that things _can_ occur on the Inland
-Seas. In the late navigation days of 1903, the freighter _Cordurus_
-left Duluth on a “last trip down.” In mid-lake, the lookout reported
-a ship in distress, and upon nearer approach the vessel was found to
-be the _Queen of the West_, two miles out of her course, and sinking.
-Captain McKenzie immediately changed his course that he might go to the
-rescue, at the same time signalling the other vessel to lay to. What
-was his astonishment when he perceived the _Queen of the West_ bearing
-rapidly away from him, as though her captain and crew were absolutely
-oblivious of their sinking condition, as well as of the fact that
-assistance was at hand!
-
-[Illustration: A Ship that Made the Shore before she Sank. The Work of
-Raising her in Progress.]
-
-Now began what was without doubt the most unusual “chase” in marine
-history. Every eye on the deck of the _Cordurus_ could see that the
-_Queen of the West_ was sinking--that at any moment she might plunge
-beneath the sea. Was her captain mad? Each minute added to the mystery.
-The fleeing ship had changed her course so that she was bearing
-directly on to the north Superior shore. Added fuel was crammed under
-the _Cordurus’s_ boilers; yard by yard, length by length, she gained
-upon the sinking vessel. Excited figures were seen waving their arms
-and signalling from the _Queen of the West’s_ deck. But still the ship
-continued on her mysterious flight. At last Captain McKenzie came
-within hailing distance. His words have passed down into Lake history:
-
-“You’re sinking, you idiot! Why don’t you heave to?”
-
-“I know it--but I _can’t_,” came back the voice of the _Queen of the
-West’s_ captain. “We’re almost gone and if we stop our engines for a
-second we’ll go down like a chunk of lead!”
-
-Not stopping to consider the risk. Captain McKenzie ran alongside.
-The _Queen of the West’s_ engines were stopped and her crew clambered
-aboard. Hardly had the _Cordurus_ dropped safely away when the doomed
-ship went down. Her momentum alone had kept her from sinking sooner.
-
-One of the most thrilling and interesting pages in the history of
-Great Lakes navigation, despite the comparative smallness of these
-fresh-water seas, is made up of “mysterious disappearances.” Ships have
-sailed from one port for another, and though at no time, perhaps, were
-they more than ten to thirty miles from shore, they have never been
-heard from again. Of some not even a spar or a bit of wreckage has been
-found. Only a few years ago the magnificent passenger steamer _Chicora_
-left St. Joseph, Michigan, for Chicago on a stormy winter night. She
-was one of the finest, staunchest, and best-manned vessels on the
-Lakes. She sailed out into Lake Michigan--and thence into oblivion. Not
-a soul escaped to tell the story of her end. Through the years that
-have passed no sign of her has ever been found. Wreckers have sought
-for her, people along the shore have watched for years; but never a
-memento has the lake given up from that day to this. And this is only
-one of the many mysteries of the Inland Seas.
-
-[Illustration: A Treacherous Sea in its Garb of Greatest Beauty.
-
-One phase of Lake navigation.]
-
-Captains and sailors theorise and wonder to this day on the loss of
-the _Atlanta_, which went down in Lake Superior; and wonderful stories
-are told of the disappearance of the _Nashua_, the _Gilcher_, and the
-_Hudson_, and of the nameless vessels spoken of by old Lake mariners as
-“The Two Lost Tows” of Huron. The disappearance of these tows remains
-to this day unexplained. During the night the line which held them to
-their freighter consort parted and unknown to the steamer they fell
-behind. With the coming of dawn search was made for them, but in vain.
-What added to the uncanniness of the simultaneous disappearance of the
-two vessels was the fact that there was no storm at the time. No trace
-of the missing ships has ever been found. Almost as mysterious was the
-disappearance of the crack steamer _Alpena_ in Lake Michigan. When last
-seen she was thirty miles from Chicago. From that day to this no one
-has been able to say what became of her. Of the fifty-seven people who
-rode with her that tragic night, not one lived to tell the tale.
-
-Of all Lake mysteries, that of the _Bannockburn_ is one of the freshest
-in the memory. The ill-fated vessel left Duluth in the days of the
-“ice devils,” a big, powerful freighter with a crew of twenty-two men.
-What happened to her will never be known. She went out one morning,
-was sighted the next evening--and that was the last. Not a sign of her
-floated ashore, not one of her crew was found. For eighteen months the
-ice-cold waters of Lake Superior guarded their secret. Then one day an
-oar was found in the driftwood at the edge of the Michigan wilderness.
-Around the oar was wrapped a piece of tarpaulin, and when this was
-taken off, a number of rude letters were revealed scraped into the
-wood--letters which spelled the word B-a-n-n-o-c-k-b-u-r-n. This oar is
-all that remains to-day to tell the story of the missing freighter. And
-now, by certain superstitious sailors, the _Bannockburn_ is supposed to
-be the Flying Dutchman of the Inland Seas and there are those who will
-tell you in all earnestness that on icy nights, when the heaven above
-and the sea below were joined in one black pall, they have descried the
-missing _Bannockburn_--a ghostly apparition of ice, scudding through
-the gloom. And this is but one more illustration of the fact that all
-of the romance in the lives of men who “go down to the sea in ships” is
-not confined to the big oceans.
-
-Unnumbered thousands of tourists travel over the Lakes to-day with
-hardly a conception of the unrevealed interests about them. What
-attracts them is the beauty and freshness of the trip; when they
-go upon the ocean they wonder, and dream, and read history. Tragedy
-has its allurement for the pleasure-seeker, as well as romance; and
-while certain phases of tragedy are always regrettable, it is at least
-interesting to be able at times to recall them. The Lake traveller, for
-instance, would feel that his trip had more fully repaid him if his
-captain should say, pointing to a certain spot, “There is where Perry
-and his log ships of war met the British: the battle was fought right
-here”; or, “There is where the _Lady Elgin_ went down, with a loss of
-three hundred lives.”
-
-[Illustration: A View of the “Zimmerman.”
-
-After a collision with another freighter.]
-
-Three hundred lives! The ordinary modern tourist would hold up his
-hands in incredulous wonder. “Is it possible,” he might ask, “that
-such tragedies have occurred on the Lakes?” I doubt if there are many
-who know that upon the Lakes have occurred some of the greatest marine
-disasters of the world. On September 8, 1860, the _Lady Elgin_ collided
-with the schooner _Augusta_ and went down in Lake Michigan, carrying
-with her three hundred men, women, and children, most of whom were
-excursionists from Milwaukee. Two months later the propeller _Dacotah_
-sank in a terrific gale off Sturgeon Point, Lake Erie, carrying every
-soul down with her. Nothing but fragments were ever seen afterward,
-so complete was her destruction. On the steamer _Ironsides_, which
-dove down into one hundred and twenty feet of water, twenty-four
-lives were lost in full sight of Grand Haven. Many vessels, like
-the _Ironsides_, have perished with their bows almost in harbour.
-Less than four years ago, for instance, the big steel ship _Mataafa_
-was beaten to pieces on the Duluth breakwater, while not more than
-thirty or forty rods away thousands of people stood helpless, watching
-the death-struggles of her crew, who were absolutely helpless in the
-tremendous seas, and who died within shouting distance of their friends.
-
-Probably the most terrible disaster that ever occurred on the Lakes
-was the burning of the steamer _G. P. Griffin_, twenty miles east of
-Cleveland. The vessel was only three miles from shore when the flames
-were discovered, and her captain at once made an effort to run her
-aground. Half a mile from the mainland the _Griffin_ struck a sand-bar
-and immediately there followed one of the most terrible scenes in the
-annals of marine tragedy. The boats were lowered and swamped by the
-maddened crowd. Men became beasts, and fought back women and children.
-Frenzied mothers leaped overboard with their babes in their arms.
-Scorched by the flames, their faces blackened, their eyes bulging, and
-even their garments on fire, over three hundred people fought for their
-lives. Men seized their wives and flung them overboard, leaping after
-them to destruction; human beings fought like demons for possession of
-chairs, boards, or any objects that might support them in the water,
-and others, crazed by the terrible scenes about them, dashed into
-the roaring flames, their dying shrieks mingling with the hopeless
-cries of those who still struggled for life. From the shore scores of
-helpless people, without boats, or any means of assistance, watched the
-frightful spectacle, and strong swimmers struck out to give what aid
-they could. Only a few were saved. For days scorched and unrecognisable
-corpses floated ashore, and when the final death-roll was called, it
-was found that 286 lives had gone out in that frightful hour of fire.
-
-Is there a more tragic page in the history of any ocean than this?--a
-page to which must still be added the burning of the steamer _Erie_,
-with a loss of one hundred and seventy lives, the sinking of the
-_Pewabic_ with seventy souls off Thunder Bay Light, in Lake Huron,
-the loss of the _Asia_ with one hundred lives, and scores of other
-tragedies that might be mentioned. The Inland Seas have borne a burden
-of loss greater in proportion than that of any of the salt oceans.
-Their bottoms are literally strewn with the bones of ships and men,
-their very existence is one of tragedy coupled with the greatest
-industrial progress the world has ever seen. But there are no books
-descriptive of their “attractions,” no volumes of fiction or history
-descriptive of those “thrilling human elements” that tend to draw
-people from the uttermost ends of the earth. This field yet remains for
-the writers of to-day.
-
-And romance walks hand in hand with tragedy on the Inland Seas. For
-two or three years past a new epidemic has been sweeping the world, an
-epidemic which has attracted attention in every civilised land and to
-which I might give the name “treasuritis”--the golden _ignis fatuus_
-of hidden treasure which is luring men to all parts of the world, and
-which is bringing about the expenditure of fortunes in the search for
-other fortunes lost on land or at sea. While South Sea treasure-hunts
-have been exploited by newspapers and magazines, while Cocos Island and
-the golden Pacific have overworked the imaginations of thousands, few
-have heard of the treasure-hunts and lost fortunes of the Lakes. So
-businesslike are these ventures of the Inland Seas regarded by those
-who make them, that little of romance or adventure is seen in them.
-
-How treasures are lost, and sometimes found, in the depths of the Great
-Lakes is illustrated in the tragic story of the _Erie_. This vessel,
-under command of Captain T. J. Titus, left Buffalo for Chicago on the
-afternoon of August 9, 1841. When thirty-three miles out, off Silver
-Creek, a slight explosion was heard and almost immediately the ship
-was enveloped in flames. In the excitement of the appalling loss of
-life that followed, no thought was given to a treasure of $180,000 that
-went down with her--the life savings of scores of immigrants bound for
-the West. For many years the _Erie_ lay hidden in the sands, seventy
-feet under water. In 1855, a treasure-seeking party left Buffalo,
-discovered the hull, towed it into shallow water, and recovered a
-fortune, mostly in foreign money.
-
-Not very long ago a treasure-ship came down from the North--the
-_William H. Stevens_, loaded with $101,880 worth of copper. Somewhere
-between Conneaut, Ohio, and Port Burwell, Ontario, she caught fire
-and sank. For a long time unavailing efforts were made to recover her
-treasure. Then Captain Harris W. Baker, of Detroit, fitted out a modern
-treasure-hunting expedition that was as successful in every way as the
-most romantic youngster in the land could wish, for he recovered nearly
-$100,000 worth of the _Stevens’s_ cargo, his own salvage share being
-$50,000.
-
-[Illustration: The Steamer “Wahcondah.”
-
-One of the Lake grain carriers which was caught in a storm late in the
-season after being buffeted by the waves of Lake Superior for about
-fourteen hours.]
-
-While there have been many fortunes recovered from the bottoms of the
-Lakes, there are many others that still defy discovery. Somewhere
-along the south shore of Lake Erie, between Dunkirk and Erie, lies a
-treasure-ship which will bring a fortune to her lucky discoverer, if
-she is ever found. One night the _Dean Richmond_, with $50,000 worth of
-pig zinc on board, mysteriously disappeared between those two places.
-All hands were lost and their bodies were washed ashore. In vain have
-search parties sought the lost vessel. The last attempt was made by the
-Murphy Wrecking Company, of Buffalo, which put a vessel and several
-divers on the job for the greater part of a season. In the deep water
-of Saginaw Bay lies the steamship _Fay_, with $20,000 worth of steel
-billets in her hold; and somewhere near Walnut Creek, in Lake Erie,
-is the _Young Sion_, with a valuable cargo of railroad iron. Off Point
-Pelee is the _Kent_, with a treasure in money in her hulk and the
-skeletons of eight human beings in her cabins; and somewhere between
-Cleveland and the Detroit River is a cargo of locomotives, lost with
-the _Clarion_. In Lake Huron, near Saginaw Bay, are more lost ships
-than in any other part of the Great Lakes, and for this reason Huron
-has frequently been called the “Lake of Sunken Treasure.” In the days
-when the country along the Bay was filled with lumber-camps, large sums
-of money were brought up in small vessels, and many of these vessels
-were lost in the sudden tempests and fearful seas which beset this part
-of Huron. Beside these treasure lumber barges, it is believed that the
-_City of Detroit_, with a $50,000 treasure in copper, lies somewhere in
-Saginaw Bay. The _R. G. Coburn_, also laden with copper, sank there in
-1871, with a loss of thirty lives. Although searches have been made for
-her, the location of the vessel is still one of the unsolved mysteries
-of the Lakes.
-
-That treasure-hunting is not without its romance, as well as its
-reward, is shown by the case of the _Pewabic_. This vessel, with her
-treasure in copper, disappeared as completely as though she had been
-lifted above the clouds. Expedition after expedition was fitted out to
-search for her--a search which continued over a period of thirty years.
-In 1897, a party of fortune-seekers from Milwaukee succeeded in finding
-the long-lost ship six miles south-east of Thunder Bay. Another
-terrible event was the loss of the steamer _Atlantic_, off Long Point,
-Lake Erie, with three hundred lives. For many years, futile search was
-made for her; not till nearly a quarter of a century was she found, and
-$30,000 recovered.
-
-[Illustration: This is One of the Most Remarkable Photographs ever
-Taken on the Lakes. It Shows a Sinking Lumber Barge just as She Was
-Breaking in Two.
-
-The Photograph was taken from a small boat.]
-
-Whisky and coal form quite an important part of the treasure which
-awaits recovery in the Inland Seas. Many vessels with cargoes of whisky
-have been lost, and this liquor would be as good to-day as when it went
-down. In 1846, the _Lexington_, Captain Peer, cleared from Cleveland
-for Port Huron, freighted with one hundred and ten barrels of whisky.
-In mid-lake, the vessel foundered with all on board, and though more
-than sixty years have passed, she has never been found. To-day her
-cargo would be worth $115 a barrel. The _Anthony Wayne_ also sank in
-Lake Erie with three hundred barrels of whisky and of wine; and five
-years afterwards, the _Westmoreland_ sank near Manitou Island with a
-similar cargo. These are only a few of many such cargoes now at the
-bottom of the Lakes. Of treasure in lost coal, that of the _Gilcher_
-and _Ostrich_, steamer and tow, that disappeared in Lake Michigan,
-is one of the largest. The two vessels carried three thousand tons,
-and as yet they have not been traced to their resting place. In 1895,
-the steamer _Africa_ went down in a gale on Lake Huron, carrying two
-thousand tons of coal with her, and at the bottom of Lake Ontario is
-the ship _St. Peter_, with a big cargo of fuel. It is estimated that
-at least half a million dollars in coal awaits recovery at the bottom
-of the Lakes.
-
-But, after all, perhaps the most romantic of all disappearances on the
-Inland Seas is that of the _Griffin_, built by La Salle at the foot of
-Lake Erie, in January, 1679. The _Griffin_ sailed across Lake Erie, up
-the Detroit River, and continued until she entered Lake Michigan. In
-the autumn of 1680, she started on her return trip, laden with furs and
-with $12,000 in gold. She was never heard of again, and historians are
-generally of the opinion that the little vessel sank during a storm on
-Lake Huron.
-
-Or it may be that one must choose between this earliest voyager of
-the Lakes and that other shrouded mystery--the “Frozen Ship.” Lake
-Superior has been the scene of as weird happenings as any tropic sea,
-and this of the Frozen Ship, perhaps, is the weirdest of all. She was
-a schooner, with towering masts, of the days when canvas was monarch
-of the seas; and the captain was her owner, who set out one day in
-late November for a more southern port than Duluth. And then came the
-Great Storm--that storm which comes once each year in the days of late
-navigation to add to the lists of ships and men lost and dead--and just
-what happened to the schooner no living man can say. But one day, many
-weeks afterward, the corpse of a ship was found on the edge of the pine
-wilderness on the north Superior shore; and around and above this ship
-were the tracks of wild animals, and from stem to stern she was a mass
-of ice and snow, and when she was entered two men were found in her,
-frozen stiff, just as the “Frozen Pirate” was discovered in a story not
-so true.
-
-So might the tragedy and the romance of the Inland Seas be written
-without end, for each year adds a new chapter to the old; and yet, how
-many thousands of our seekers of novelty say, with the young woman I
-know, “I want to go where something has happened--where there have been
-battles, and pirates, and where there’s sunken ships, and treasure, and
-things!”
-
-
-
-
-VI
-
-Buffalo and Duluth: the Alpha and Omega of the Lakes
-
-
-Is the day approaching when Buffalo and not Chicago will be the
-second largest city in the United States? and when, at the end of
-Lake Superior, her back doors filled with the treasures of the earth
-and with a developed empire about her, Duluth will claim a million
-inhabitants? Is the day far distant when the world’s greatest
-manufacturing city will be located on the Niagara River? and when,
-as steel men all the world over believe, Duluth will be a second and
-perhaps greater Pittsburg?
-
-These are questions which have never been of greater interest than now,
-when the State of New York is expending over a hundred million dollars
-on the new Erie Canal, thus “bringing Buffalo and the Lakes to the
-sea,” and when, at the same time, the United States Steel Corporation
-is devoting ten million dollars to the erection of the most modern
-steel plant in the world at Duluth.
-
-“Buffalo is the great doorway of the Inland Seas,” said President
-McKinley only a short time before his tragic death. “Some day she
-will reach out to the ocean, and when that time comes she will be one
-of the greatest cities in the world.” For many years the people of
-Buffalo have dreamed of this. And now it is coming true. And while the
-Pittsburger, entrenched in the prosperity of steel and fortified behind
-the smoke of his own mills, has been laughing at prophecies, away up
-at the end of the thousand-mile highway that leads to Duluth, other
-people have been dreaming. And their dreams, too, are coming true.
-For years the silent struggle for the supremacy of cities has been in
-progress along the Great Lakes. The outside world has seen little of
-it, and has heard little of it. Now the beginning of the end is at
-hand. The two great doors of the Inland Seas have been opened wide.
-At one end is Duluth, at the other Buffalo. Chicago is great, Buffalo
-may be greater. Pittsburg, like ancient Rome, feels that hers is to be
-a reign unbroken, and that she will still be “Pittsburg, Queen of the
-World of Steel” until the last call of Judgment Day. In another ten
-years--perhaps in less time--she will recognise the power of her rival
-in the North.
-
-[Illustration: The Residence of A. Wilcox at Buffalo.
-
-Where President Roosevelt took the oath of office.
-
-    Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co.
-]
-
-These are predictions, but they are well founded. To find just why
-they are made, one must go among the powerful men of the Lakes, among
-the iron barons of the North and the coal barons of the South and
-East--must, in short, become acquainted with the entire commercial and
-industrial mechanism which exists on the Great Lakes to-day. They are
-not predictions that can be arrived at from New York, or San Francisco,
-or London, or Liverpool. One must talk with the men who make them, must
-live among those commercial and industrial conditions for a long time,
-and must know at first hand the two cities we speak of--Buffalo and
-Duluth. They are predictions which have a solid foundation of facts,
-and these facts are what make these two cities the most interesting
-as well as the most important ports in the Western World, with the
-exception of New York City. I venture to say that only a ridiculously
-small percentage of our own people--of Americans, whose very existence
-as an industrial and commercial power depends largely upon the
-Lakes--know these two cities beyond their names, their location, and
-possibly the number of their inhabitants. How many, for instance, know
-that to-day Duluth is the second greatest freight-shipping port on
-earth; that London, the capital of the British Empire, queen of the
-world’s commerce for many years, has abdicated in favour of a port
-so remote from the heart of British commercial enterprise that it is
-doubtful if fifty thousand of the five million people of London have
-ever heard of the name of the city which has taken the place of the
-world’s metropolis in the list of the great harbours of the world? And
-how many know, as well, that within a single night’s ride of the city
-of Buffalo--within a radius of less than five hundred miles--live
-sixty per cent. of the total population of North America?
-
-[Illustration: A Bird’s-eye View of the Harbour of Duluth, Taken from
-the Hill.
-
-    From a Photograph by Maher, Duluth.
-]
-
-These are only two of the remarkable facts about Buffalo and Duluth,
-the Alpha and Omega of the Inland Seas. That they are now two of the
-greatest freight-distributing points in the United States is shown
-by figures; that within the next generation they will become the two
-greatest distributing cities in the world is almost a certainty. It is
-not only Lake commerce that assures their destinies. Logically, they
-are situated to rule the world of commerce in the United States. Duluth
-is approximately midway in the continent, with a clear waterway soon to
-reach to the ocean, and with the great West behind her already webbed,
-with Duluth as the centre, by thirty-seven thousand miles of rail; and
-Buffalo, with sixty million people within five hundred miles of her
-City Hall, with fifteen great trunk-lines entering the city, with the
-greatest electrical power of the age at her doors, with “one hand on
-the ocean and the other on the Inland Seas,” holds a position which no
-other city can ever hope to attain. According to H. C. Elwood, Chairman
-of the Transportation Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Buffalo,
-the combined rail and water tonnage of that city is not exceeded by
-that of any other city in the United States, with the exception of
-Pittsburg. And the story of Buffalo’s commerce has just begun. In
-1885, Buffalo’s total tonnage of iron ore received by Lake was only
-a little more than eight thousand,--less than the single cargo carried
-by one of the great freighters of the Inland Seas to-day! Last year it
-was five and a half millions. The position that both Buffalo and Duluth
-hold in the commerce of the Lakes is briefly told in figures. Of the
-total tonnage of ninety-seven million carried on the Lakes in 1907,
-more than fourteen and a half million were registered at Buffalo and
-thirty-five million at Duluth-Superior. In other words, over a half
-of the total tonnage of the Lakes passed in or out of these two great
-doors of the Inland Seas in 1907.
-
-There are few cities in the world to-day in which romance and adventure
-have combined in more extraordinary ways with calamity, failure, and
-indomitable courage than in the upbuilding of Duluth. Chiselled back
-into the rocky hillsides, terrace upon terrace, and stretching for
-miles along the bay front where only a quarter of a century ago was the
-wild and rugged grandeur of virgin wilderness; built upon rock, and in
-rock; looking down upon one of the finest harbours in the world on one
-hand, and up over vast regions red with iron treasure on the other,
-Duluth is one of the most beautiful cities in the United States--one of
-the most wonderful and most interesting. Twenty-five years ago, only
-a village marked this stronghold of the iron barons. The deer, the
-wolf, the bear, the moose roamed unafraid over places now alive with
-commercial activity. Into the vast unexplored wildernesses, even less
-than a dozen years ago, prospectors went out with their packs and their
-guns, and searched and starved and even died for the “ugly wealth”
-hidden in the ranges that are now giving to the world three quarters of
-its iron and steel. And to-day many of these same men, “whose callouses
-of the old prospecting days have hardly worn away,” live in a city
-of eighty thousand people, whose annual receipts from its industries
-aggregate fifty-five million dollars, and whose invested wealth is
-over one hundred and fifty millions. While London, Liverpool, Hamburg,
-Antwerp, Hong-kong, and Marseilles have had eyes for New York alone in
-this Western World, while the ports of ancient and historic renown have
-been struggling among themselves for supremacy, away up at the end of
-the Lake Superior wilderness the second greatest freight-shipping port
-in the world was building itself, quietly, unobtrusively, unknown. That
-is the story of Duluth in a nutshell.
-
-[Illustration: The Ship Canal and Aërial Bridge, Duluth, Minn.
-
-    Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co.
-]
-
-But it is only the first chapter. The others will be written even
-more quickly, perhaps with even greater results. The commerce of
-America’s five Inland Seas has but just commenced, and the growth
-of this commerce and the growth of Duluth go hand in hand. In 1892,
-for instance, only four thousand tons of ore were shipped from
-the Duluth-Superior harbour; in 1907, including the sub-port of
-Two Harbours, the total was nearly thirty millions! And this same
-percentage of increase holds good with other products. Fifteen years
-ago very few people along our seaboards would have recognised the
-name of Duluth; to those who knew the town it was often an object of
-ridicule--the “pricked balloon,” the “town of blasted hopes.” Yet in
-1907, this same town, still unknown in a large sense, handled one sixth
-of the combined tonnage of all the two hundred and forty shipping ports
-on the coast of the United States. During the two hundred and fifty
-days of navigation in 1907, an average of fifty-six vessels entered
-or left Duluth each day, or one ship every twenty-six minutes, day
-and night, for eight months. These vessels carried cargoes valued at
-two hundred and eighty-eight million dollars. In other words, over a
-million dollars a day left or entered Duluth-Superior harbour.
-
-Not long ago a writer who was seeking information on the possibilities
-of our inland waterways asked me what would happen when, as experts
-predicted, the ore of the North became exhausted. “Where will Duluth
-be then?” he questioned. This is what nine people out of ten ask, who
-are at all interested in the future of Duluth. There seems to be an
-almost universal opinion among people who do not live along the Lakes
-that, with the exhaustion of the great iron deposits, the commerce of
-our Inland Seas will dwindle. A more near-sighted supposition than
-this could hardly be imagined. At the present time ore is the greatest
-object of commerce on the Great Lakes, and it will continue to be so
-for many years. It is safe to say that the day is not far distant when
-fifty million tons of iron ore, instead of thirty million, will leave
-Duluth each year; and at the same time millions of tons of steel will
-be leaving by rail. But Duluth’s great future does not rest on iron
-and steel alone. As I have said, thirty-seven thousand miles of rail
-already reach out from the city into the vast agricultural regions of
-the West. It is the one logical doorway of the vast empire at its back,
-to which it offers the cheapest and shortest route to the Atlantic and
-Europe; just as it must become the great distributing point through
-which the bulk of the vast commerce of the East will flow into the
-West. There is more agricultural and grazing land tributary to it
-than to any other port in America. And Minnesota is still one of the
-great timber States of the country in spite of the vast scale on which
-lumber operations have been carried on within its boundaries during
-the past few years. Lake, Cook, and other northern counties (several
-of these counties are each as large as a small State) possess great
-forest wealth, and for many years to come Duluth will be the great
-lumber-shipping port of the Lakes.
-
-These are a few of the reasons why Duluthians see in their city a
-future metropolis of perhaps a million people.
-
-Though a large part of the almost endless fertile regions behind it are
-still undeveloped, Duluth has already become the great grain-shipping
-port of the world. In 1907, over eighty million bushels of grain were
-shipped from the Duluth-Superior harbour, or a bushel for every man,
-woman, and child in the United States. There was a time when it was
-thought that Chicago would always be the greatest grain port on earth.
-But that time has passed. Of the grain received at Buffalo in 1907,
-less than forty-two million bushels came from Chicago, while more than
-sixty-three million were shipped from Duluth-Superior. And this grain
-traffic is growing even more rapidly than the ore traffic. Ships can
-hardly be built fast enough to handle the volumes of wheat, oats,
-barley, and flax that come by rail into Duluth. The city can handle
-one thousand cars a day, or a million bushels, and yet this is not
-fast enough. So great is the crush at times that cars of grain are
-lost for three weeks in the yards! In the not distant future, Duluth
-will be handling two thousand cars a day. Not only wheat, oats, corn,
-rye, and barley are pouring into Duluth from the West, but she has now
-taken first place as shipper of flaxseed, nearly twenty million bushels
-having left Duluth-Superior harbour last year. Just what this quantity
-of flaxseed means very few people unacquainted with that product can
-realise. Take the four hundred thousand bushels brought down to Buffalo
-by the _D. R. Hanna_ in a single trip, for instance. It was loaded in
-seven hours and was the product of forty thousand acres, or sixty-two
-square miles. It was worth $460,000, and would make one million gallons
-of linseed oil.
-
-Probably the most memorable day in the history of Duluth was April 1,
-1907, for on that day official notice was received from New York that
-the Steel Corporation had decided to establish an iron and steel plant
-in Duluth. At first it was planned to cost ten million dollars. Now
-it is believed that much more than this will be expended. Preliminary
-work has already commenced, and within a year and a half it is expected
-that the plant will be in operation. This movement on the part of the
-great corporation that rules the world of steel is for several reasons
-the most interesting that it has ever made. For years, the ore of the
-North has been carried a thousand miles to the smelters of the East. To
-reach Pittsburg, it was not only transported that thousand miles, but
-was loaded three times and unloaded three times. And, meantime, while
-millions of dollars were being expended on the transportation of ore,
-while cities half-way across the continent existed and were growing
-because of their smelters, the city of Duluth, with the vast iron
-deposits at her back door, was not making a ton of steel. This is one
-of the mysteries which the Steel Corporation does not explain; but it
-is fair to assume that hitherto there has not been a sufficient market
-for the products of such a plant within paying reach of this port.
-
-[Illustration: Fleet of Boats in Duluth Harbour Waiting to Unload.]
-
-The new plant will bring thirty thousand people to Duluth--and this
-is not the end. Those who are acquainted with the situation say that it
-is but the first step in the making of a second Pittsburg. “The steel
-industry,” they say, “brought almost a million people and billions of
-dollars to Pittsburg--a city a thousand miles from its ore, and without
-natural advantages. What, then, will it mean to Duluth, with its
-strategic position on the great highways of commerce, with its cheap
-water-power, and above all with its ore ready to be dumped direct from
-the mine cars into the smelters?”
-
-In short, the dreams of Duluth’s old “boomers” are coming true. The
-great East, with its railroad and manufacturing development, has
-been supplied with its steel--from Pittsburg. Now it is the West and
-South-west, and the Orient, to which our great volumes of steel trade
-will turn. It is Duluth’s chance. Because the ore is at her doors, she
-can turn out iron and steel cheaper than any other city in the world;
-and she is the nearest distributing point to the West. This movement to
-Duluth is inevitable. The world’s steel industry has been constantly
-moving and changing. Since 1564, the centre of the industry has moved
-from Birmingham, England, from Lynn through Connecticut to New Jersey,
-then to Philadelphia, and lastly to Pittsburg, where it has remained
-for fifty years. Of late years, the tendency has been westward, the
-movement culminating in Chicago. Now it is centring in Duluth. In a
-way, Duluth’s history will be similar to that of Pittsburg. Duluth and
-Superior, twin cities with one harbour and identical interests, cannot
-follow the example of Pittsburg and Allegheny, and unite politically,
-as State lines divide them, Duluth being in Minnesota and Superior in
-Wisconsin; but commercially they are fast becoming one. Together they
-will not only head the ports of the world, probably for all time to
-come, but will become one of the greatest manufacturing centres on the
-continent. With a harbour frontage of forty-five miles, with electrical
-power from the St. Louis Falls second only to that of Niagara,
-with iron and steel at her doors, and with a world-market behind
-her, Duluth, already the largest coal-receiving port in the world,
-possesses manufacturing advantages beyond those of any other city on
-the continent, with the exception of Buffalo. There are good reasons
-why this coming Pittsburg of the North will never equal Buffalo in
-population and commercial activity; there are just as good reasons why
-no other city in the United States, with the exception of New York and
-Chicago, will equal Buffalo. At the same time, as a member of the Steel
-Corporation said to me: “If steel and only a few natural advantages
-made Pittsburg what it is--what will steel, and all the natural
-advantages in the world, do for Duluth?”
-
-[Illustration: View Looking South-west from the New Chamber of Commerce
-Building, Buffalo.]
-
-Of course it is not possible to conceive that Duluth, even as a great
-steel city, would use more than a small fraction of the enormous ore
-tonnage that is annually taken from the Minnesota ranges. If millions
-of dollars were spent each year in the erection of new steel plants in
-Duluth, even the annual _increase_ of ore taken from the mines could
-not be used at home for a long time to come. The ore traffic on the
-Lakes is bound to become larger even as Duluth develops into a steel
-city. And a constantly increasing percentage of this ore is going to
-Buffao--not to be transhipped to Pittsburg, but to be converted into
-iron and steel in that city. I believe that very few people are aware
-of the fact that Buffalo is already an important iron- and steel-making
-plant. The largest independent steel-making plant in the United States
-is now in operation in South Buffalo. This is the Lackawanna Iron and
-Steel Company, capitalized at sixty million dollars, employing between
-six and ten thousand men, and undergoing constant enlargement. The
-plants of the New York Steel Company and the Wickwire Steel Company are
-now in course of construction on the Buffalo and Niagara rivers, and
-other steel- and iron-making plants are in operation. Each year sees
-Buffalo drawing more and more ore away from the Pittsburg smelters.
-In 1900, Buffalo made only three hundred and seventy thousand tons of
-pig-iron. In 1907, the production was one million three hundred and
-fifty thousand tons, and in 1909 there will be a considerable increase.
-A recent investigation showed that the many great iron-producing
-and iron-working plants which extend along the navigable waters of
-the Buffalo have doubled their pay-rolls and almost trebled their
-production since 1900. The same investigation brought forth the fact
-that a ton of foundry iron can be produced in Buffalo for sixty-three
-cents less than in Pittsburg. After a year’s study of the situation in
-Buffalo, Mr. Elisha Walker, the international expert in iron and steel
-manufacture, said that, in a few years, Buffalo would rival Pittsburg
-in the use of iron ore.
-
-While steel plants are generally the most powerful agents that work
-for the increase of a city’s population and wealth, and while it is
-true that scores of smaller users of iron and steel are flocking to
-Buffalo, just as other hundreds grouped themselves about the big parent
-furnaces in Pittsburg, Buffalo’s great future does not depend upon her
-development as a steel-manufacturing city. As F. Howard Mason, then
-Secretary of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, said to me: “Buffalo has
-more than one iron in the fire. Steel is but one of many things that
-will make her a city of millions a quarter of a century from now.”
-
-[Illustration: Unloading at One of the Coal Docks at Duluth.]
-
-From my own investigations and from my own close study of Lake traffic,
-I feel confident in saying that, although Buffalo is one of the
-important ore-converting centres of the country, steel and iron are
-not the most important of the agents that will work for her future
-greatness. This may seem inconceivable to those who live in cities the
-very existence of which depends upon iron and steel; yet it is one
-of the soundest arguments for the optimistic opinion that Buffalo is
-destined to become the third, if not the second, largest city in the
-United States. Just as Duluth is the logical shipping and receiving
-port of the West, so is Buffalo the great receiving and distributing
-port of the East. Cleveland will always be an important Lake port, but
-it is impossible to compare its destiny with that of Buffalo. With the
-new Erie Canal in operation, lake highways from west to east will lead
-to Buffalo as surely as all roads led to old Rome. This year the total
-tonnage of Buffalo harbour, which is closed for at least four months
-of the year, will be considerably greater than that of Liverpool. Of
-the products passing through the Detroit River in 1907, ninety per
-cent. of the hard coal was shipped from Buffalo, seventy-five per cent.
-of the flour and ninety-five per cent. of the wheat came to Buffalo;
-also seventy-five per cent. of the corn, ninety-eight per cent. of the
-oats, ninety per cent. of the flaxseed, and ninety-five per cent. of
-the barley. In other words, Buffalo may be regarded as almost the only
-receiving port on the Lakes for Western grain.
-
-Mayor Adams hit the nail pretty squarely on the head when he said
-that Buffalo’s future greatness rests chiefly upon the fact that
-this city will, within a very few years, be the greatest converting,
-or manufacturing, point in North America. The cost of bringing raw
-materials to her workshops from all Western points is already reduced
-to a minimum. The Erie Canal will link her mills with the ocean. The
-unlimited resources of Niagara furnish her with the cheapest power in
-the world. Her proximity to the coal-fields provides her with fuel
-for $1.60 to $2.60 per ton. Natural gas for manufacturing purposes
-is retailed at a little over twenty-seven cents per thousand cubic
-feet. And, above all, there are sixty millions of people within five
-hundred miles of her City Hall. It was between 1900 and 1905 when
-Buffalo really awoke to her unlimited opportunities. It is interesting
-to compare her growth between those years with that of Pittsburg, one
-of the most progressive cities in the United States. In that time
-Pittsburg’s capital increased twenty-two per cent., Buffalo’s forty-six
-per cent. The number of wage-earners in Pittsburg increased a little
-over two per cent., while in Buffalo they increased twenty-nine per
-cent. The value of Pittsburg’s products increased three per cent.;
-of Buffalo’s, forty-two per cent. These figures show the remarkable
-rapidity with which Buffalo is overtaking the cities ahead of her in
-population.
-
-[Illustration: A Fleet of Erie Canal Boats--Capacity of Each 150 Tons.
-
-    The boats on the new canal will be 1000 tons each.
-]
-
-Because of the waterways at her door, cheap power, and the millions
-of consumers within a night’s reach of her mills, Buffalo has become
-the second city in the United States in the production of flour, now
-ranking next to Minneapolis, and at her present rate of increase she
-will be the world’s greatest milling centre in another five years. In
-1901, she was producing only about half a million barrels of flour; in
-1907, her product was over three million barrels, and it is predicted
-that the output in 1909 will be four millions. Within the last three
-years Buffalo has become the chief malting city in America. In 1907,
-her output was ten million bushels as compared with four million in
-1900.
-
-To handle her Lake freight at the present time, Buffalo has twenty-four
-elevators with a total storage capacity of twenty-two million bushels,
-and a daily elevating capacity of six million bushels; nine ore docks;
-five coal trestles with a daily loading capacity of twenty-two thousand
-tons--and with these might be included three railroad storage-yards
-with an aggregate capacity of four hundred thousand tons. Thirteen
-lines of steamships, not including the many companies represented
-by the big freighters, ply the Lakes from Buffalo; and the fifteen
-trunk lines centring in the city provide two hundred and fifty-three
-passenger trains a day. With all of this vast machinery working night
-and day to care for Buffalo’s present traffic, the question naturally
-arises, What will happen to Buffalo when the new Erie Canal links her
-with the sea?
-
-During the next decade, or less, Buffalo will astonish the whole world
-by her industrial growth. The effects of the canal project are already
-being felt, and manufacturing capital is hurrying to Buffalo as never
-before. The Federal Government is deepening the Niagara River to a
-depth of twenty-one feet as far down as North Tonawanda, and this,
-together with the deepening of the Buffalo River, is opening up a new
-territory for factory sites, soon to be accessible to the largest
-ships. Millions of dollars of capital are locating, or planning to
-locate, here. On the one side is the cheap transportation of the Lakes;
-on the other will soon be the “man-made river reaching to the sea.”
-With the joining of these waterways no other city in the United States
-will be able to compete with Buffalo as a manufacturing centre.
-
-The actual task of digging the new canal for which the people of New
-York voted one hundred and one million dollars, and which will connect
-Buffalo with tidewater by a thousand-ton waterway, is now at hand.
-Few people realise just how stupendous this task is. While every
-intelligent American is acquainted with the Panama Canal project, few
-know that this connecting link between the Lakes and the ocean is a
-greater public improvement for the State of New York to carry out than
-is the building of the Panama Canal for the United States Government,
-and it is of hardly less commercial value. Its cost will be greater
-than that of Suez, and in a short time its tonnage will be more than
-that of Suez. The first one hundred and twenty-five miles were under
-contract in January, 1908, with another sixty-five miles ready to be
-contracted for.
-
-This great waterway, including the Hudson River, will pass from or to
-and through the city of New York and adjacent cities in New Jersey,
-Poughkeepsie, Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Oswego,
-Rochester, and Buffalo, besides smaller towns, possessing an aggregate
-population of over six million. The canal when completed will really
-terminate at Tonawanda, on the Niagara River, the route to Buffalo from
-there being via the Niagara River, the federal ship canal, and the Erie
-Basin. While the old canal has a depth of only from seven to nine feet
-and a width on the bottom of fifty-two, the new waterway will have a
-uniform depth of twelve feet, with a minimum width at the bottom of
-seventy-five feet, thus being capable of carrying boats one hundred and
-fifty feet long, twenty-five feet beam, and with a draft of ten feet.
-The present capacity of an Erie Canal boat is two hundred and forty
-tons, while the new boats will carry a thousand tons.
-
-I have shown in preceding articles what a tremendous saving to the
-people of the United States is made because of Lake transportation, and
-this will be greatly increased by the new canal. Large aggregations
-of capital will own not merely Lake vessels, but terminals and canal
-fleets as well, so that from Lake ports they can name a through freight
-rate to New York or to foreign countries. Within a few years after
-its completion, the canal will probably be carrying twenty million
-tons of freight from Buffalo to the ocean. Taking this figure as a
-basis, it is easy to figure what a tremendous saving the canal will
-bring about. It now costs three and a half cents a bushel to send
-grain from Buffalo to New York. The new canal rate should be not more
-than a cent a bushel. On twenty million bushels of grain this means
-a saving of five hundred thousand dollars, which will either go into
-the pockets of the producer or the consumer or be divided between the
-two. Freight of all descriptions, manufactured products, and iron and
-steel, can be transported from Buffalo to tidewater for half of a mill
-per ton per mile. In other words, on the new canal all kinds of freight
-can be shipped from Buffalo to New York, a distance of four hundred
-and forty-six miles, at twenty-two cents per ton. The present cost
-is eighty-seven cents. On twenty million tons this saving of nearly
-sixty-five cents a ton would total nearly thirteen million dollars.
-
-[Illustration: The Jack-knife Bridge at Buffalo.]
-
-What this would mean to Buffalo it is almost impossible to estimate,
-especially in regard to the steel industry. Buffalo now has an
-advantage over Pittsburg in the cost of ore, limestone, and several
-other matters incident to the manufacture of iron and steel,
-Pittsburg’s sole remaining advantage being its proximity to coking
-coal. This will be obliterated. A large percentage of the vast steel
-and allied industries centring at Pittsburg will, of their own
-volition, move within the boundaries of the State of New York and
-locate along the Niagara frontier. This industrial migration has
-already begun. It will continue, naturally, ceaselessly. The ore will
-meet the coke at Buffalo, and the manufactured product will be floated
-down the Erie Canal instead of being hauled across the Alleghanies.
-This is inevitable.
-
-And just as inevitable is the migration of other industries to
-Buffalo from other cities. Not only does the cheap lake and canal
-transportation call to them, but also the cheap and unlimited power of
-Niagara. A few years ago George Westinghouse said: “I expect to live to
-see the day when a city that will astonish the world will stretch along
-the entire Niagara frontier--and this city will be Buffalo.” Those
-who investigate this frontier to-day cannot fail to see the strength
-of his prediction. Tesla said that Niagara power would revolutionise
-manufacturing in the United States. It is already revolutionising it in
-and about Buffalo, and the power of the world’s greatest fall has only
-been tapped. On the American side the Niagara Falls Power Company is
-developing one hundred and five thousand horse-power, and the Niagara
-Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company fifty thousand, while
-on the Canadian side the Canadian Niagara Falls Company is developing
-fifty thousand horse-power and the Electrical Development Company
-and the Ontario Power Company sixty-two thousand each. Less than
-four per cent. of the total flow of water over Niagara Falls has been
-diverted by the companies now in operation. The total fall of water
-is theoretically capable of producing over seven million horse-power,
-which would run virtually all of the manufacturing plants in the United
-States.
-
-At the present time about seventy-five thousand electrical horse-power
-is consumed in Buffalo by manufacturing and mercantile establishments.
-What this cheap power means to the city can best be shown in figures.
-In nearly all cities the power required for manufacturing purposes is
-derived from steam produced from coal. In its simplest form this method
-of generating power requires apparatus consisting of steam boilers with
-their settings, pumps, steam-pipings, flues and stack, facilities for
-coal-storage, engines, foundations, and beltings--demanding altogether
-a large amount of floor-space. The cost of an installation of such
-equipment has been found to be approximately fifty dollars per rated
-horse-power. Electric motors using Niagara power can be installed for
-less than thirty dollars per rated horse-power. In other words, the
-saving in power to the manufacturer is almost one half. On the other
-hand, a steam plant requires a considerable force of men to operate and
-maintain it, while electrical power cuts down this service two thirds.
-
-[Illustration: A Scene on Blackwell Canal.
-
-The winter home of big boats in Buffalo.]
-
-Why manufacturers are flocking to Buffalo, and why the greatest
-manufacturing city in the world is bound to extend along the Niagara
-frontier, is graphically shown by the following figures comparing
-the cost of Buffalo power with that of other representative cities.
-Assuming the maximum power used to be one hundred horse-power, the
-number of working hours a day to be ten, and the “load factor,” or
-average power actually used, to be seventy-five per cent. of the total
-one hundred, the cost per month in the cities named is about as follows:
-
-  Boston             $937.50
-  Philadelphia        839.25
-  New York            699.37
-  Chicago             629.43
-  Cleveland           559.50
-  Pittsburg           419.62
-  Buffalo             184.91
-  Niagara Falls       144.17
-
-These figures show that the manufacturer on the Niagara frontier not
-only possesses the cheapest water-power in the country, but that his
-power costs him less than half as much as it cost his next nearest
-rival, the manufacturer at Pittsburg. While power costs his Boston
-competitor a hundred and fifty dollars per horse-power per year, the
-Buffalo manufacturer pays less than thirty dollars. Even without cheap
-transportation rates, this item alone would give him an overwhelming
-advantage in the race for trade.
-
-Destined to be one of the greatest if not the greatest manufacturing
-city on earth, Buffalo is also one of the most beautiful. To-day she
-possesses four hundred miles of asphalt pavement--more smooth pavement
-than is found in Paris, Washington, or any other city. She is the
-greatest “home city” in America. Out of a population of more than four
-hundred thousand people, the home-owning population is only thirty
-thousand below the total registered vote. As a convention city she has
-only one rival, and that is Detroit. Nature has showered blessings upon
-her without stint. And I confidently believe that many of the young
-men and women of Buffalo will live to see the day when one city will
-stretch along the entire Niagara frontier, with a population exceeded
-by that of only one or at most two other American cities.
-
-[Illustration: Some of the Grain Elevators at Duluth, which Have a
-Combined Storage Capacity of 35,550,000 Bushels.]
-
-
-
-
-VII
-
-A Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter
-
-
-In my previous chapters I have described nearly every phase of Lake
-shipping, with the exception of one, which, while not being vitally
-concerned with the story of our fresh-water marine, is still one of
-the most interesting, and perhaps the least known of all. That is the
-“inner life” of one of our Great Lakes freighters; the life of the crew
-and the favoured few who are privileged to travel as passenger guests
-of the owners upon one of these steel monsters of the Inland Seas. In
-more than one way our Lake marine is unusual; in this it is unique.
-
-Recently one of the finest steel yachts that ever sailed fresh water
-came up the St. Lawrence to the Lakes. Its owner was a millionaire many
-times over. With his wife he had cruised around the world, but for the
-first time they had come to the Lakes. I had the fortune to converse
-with him upon his yacht about the craft of other countries, and as we
-lay at anchor in the Detroit River there passed us the greatest ship
-on the Inland Seas--the _Thomas F. Cole_; and, addressing his wife, I
-asked, “How would you like to take a cruise on a vessel like that?”
-
-The lady laughed, as if such a suggestion were amusing indeed, and
-said that if she were a man she might attempt it, and perhaps enjoy
-it to a degree, and when I went on to describe some of the things
-that I knew about “those great, ugly ships,” as she called them, I am
-quite sure that all of my words were not received without doubt. This
-little experience was the last of many that proved to me the assertion
-I have made before--that to nine people out of ten, at least, our
-huge, silent, red ships that bring down the wealth of the North are a
-mystery. They are not beautiful. Freighted low down, their steel sides
-scraped and marred like the hands of a labourer, their huge funnels
-emitting clouds of bituminous smoke, their barren steel decks glaring
-in the heat of the summer sun, there seems to be but little about them
-to attract the pleasure seeker. From the distance at which they are
-usually seen their aft and forward cabins appear like coops, their
-pilot houses even less.
-
-[Illustration: The Mesaba Ore Docks.]
-
-Yet fortunate is the person who has the “pull” to secure passage on
-one of these monster carriers of the Lakes, for behind all of that
-uninviting exterior there is a luxury of marine travel that is equalled
-nowhere else in the world except on the largest and finest of private
-yachts. These leviathans of the Lakes, that bring down dirty ore and
-take up dirtier coal, are the greatest money-makers in the world, and
-they are owned by men of wealth. The people who travel on them are the
-owner’s guests. Nothing is too good for them. Each year the rivalry
-between builders is increasing as to whose ships shall possess the
-finest “guests’ quarters.” Behind the smoke and dirt and unseemly red
-steel that are seen from shore or deck, a fortune has been spent in
-those rooms over the small doors of which one reads the word “Owners.”
-You may climb up the steel side of the ship, you may explore it from
-stem to stern, but not until you are a “guest”--not until the “key to
-the ship” has been handed to you, are its luxuries, its magnificence,
-its mysteries, clearly revealed.
-
-My telegram read:
-
-“Take my private room on the _Harry Berwind_ at Ashtabula.”
-
-It was signed by G. Ashley Tomlinson, of Duluth. The _Berwind_ is one
-of the finest of Tomlinson’s sixteen steel ships and is named after
-one of the best known fuel transportation men on the Lakes--a vessel
-that can carry eleven thousand tons without special crowding and makes
-twelve miles an hour while she is doing it. I reached the great ore and
-coal docks at Ashtabula at a happy moment.
-
-The other guests had arrived, seven in all--four ladies and three
-gentlemen, and we met on the red and black dock, with mountains of ore
-and coal about us, with the thundering din of working machines in our
-ears, and out there before us, enshrouded in smoke and black dust,
-the great ship that was to carry us for nearly a thousand miles up the
-Lakes and back again. It was a happy moment, I say, for I met the seven
-guests in this wilderness of din and dirt--_and six of them had never
-been aboard a freighter in their lives_. They had heard, of course,
-what lay beyond those red steel walls. But was there not a mistake
-here? Was it possible----
-
-Doubt filled their faces. High above them towered the straight wall
-of the ship with a narrow ladder reaching down to them. At the huge
-coal derricks whole cars of coal were being lifted up as if they
-were no more than scuttles in the hands of a strong man and their
-contents sent thundering into the gaping hatches; black dust clouded
-the air, settling in a thousand minute particles on fabric and flesh;
-black-faced men shouted and worked at the loading machine; the crash
-of shunting cars came interminably from the yards; and upon it all
-the sun beat fiercely, and the air that entered our nostrils seemed
-thick--thick with the dust and grime and heat of it all. A black-faced,
-sweating man, who was the mate, leaned over the steel side high above
-us and motioned us aft, and the seven guests hurried through the
-thickness of the air, the ladies shuddering and cringing as the cars
-of coal thundered high over their heads, until they came to the big
-after port with a plank laid to the dock. Up this they filed, their
-faces betraying more doubt, more uneasiness, more discomfort as hot
-blasts of furnace air surged against them; then up a narrow iron stair,
-through a door--and out there before them lay the ship, her thirty
-hatches yawning like caverns, and everywhere coal--and coal dust. The
-ladies gasped and drew their dresses tightly about them as they were
-guided along the narrow promenade between the edge of the ship and the
-open hatches, and at last they were halted before one of those doors
-labelled “Owners.”
-
-Then the change! It came so suddenly that it fairly took the breath
-away from those who had never been on a freighter before. The guests
-filed through that narrow door into a great room, which a second glance
-showed them to be a parlour. Their feet sank in the noiseless depths
-of rich velvet carpet; into their heated faces came the refreshing
-breaths of electric fans; great upholstered chairs opened to them
-welcomingly; the lustre of mahogany met their eyes, and magazines and
-books and papers were ready for them in profusion. To us there now
-came the thunder of the coal as if from afar; here was restfulness and
-quiet--through the windows we could see the dust and smoke and heat
-hovering about the ship like a pall.
-
-This was the general parlour into which we had been ushered; and now
-I hung close behind the ship’s guests, watching and enjoying the
-amazement that continued to grow in them. From each side of the
-parlour there led a narrow hall and on each side of each hall there was
-a large room--the guest-chambers--and at the end of each hall there
-was a bathroom; and in the bedrooms, with their brass beds, their rich
-tapestries and curtains, our feet still sank in velvet carpet, our
-eyes rested upon richly cushioned chairs--everywhere there was the
-luxury and wealth of appointment that a millionaire had planned for the
-favoured few whom he called his guests.
-
-[Illustration: From the Deck of the Ship the Tug Looks Like an Ant
-Dragging at a Huge Prey.]
-
-Now I retired from the guest-chambers to my own private room. I am
-going a good deal into detail in this description of the guests’
-quarters of a great freighter like the _Berwind_, for I remember once
-being told by a shipbuilder of the Clyde that he “could hardly believe
-that such a thing existed,” and I know there are millions of others
-who have the same doubts. The forward superstructure of a Great Lakes
-freighter might be compared to a two-story house, with the pilot-house
-still on top of that; and from the luxurious quarters of the “first
-story,” which in the _Berwind_ are on a level with the deck of the
-vessel, a velvet-carpeted stair led to the “observation room”--a great,
-richly furnished room with many windows in it, from which one may look
-out upon the sea in all directions except behind. And from this room
-one door led into the Captain’s quarters, and another into the private
-suite of rooms which I was fortunate enough to occupy on this trip. The
-finest hotel in the land could not have afforded finer conveniences
-than this black and red ship, smothered in the loading of ten thousand
-tons of coal. In the cool seclusion of its passenger quarters a unique
-water-works system gave hot and cold water to every room; an electric
-light plant aft gave constant light, and power for the fans. Nothing
-was wanting, even to a library and music, to make of the interior of
-this forward part of the ship a palace fit for the travel of a king.
-Within a few minutes we had all plunged into baths; hardly were we out
-and dressed when the steward came with glasses of iced lemonade; and
-even as the black clouds of grime and dirt still continued to settle
-over the ship we gathered in the great observation room, a happy party
-of us now, and the music of mandolin and phonograph softened the sounds
-of labour that rumbled to us from outside.
-
-Then, suddenly, there fell a quiet. The ship was loaded. Loud voices
-rose in rapid command, the donkey-engines rumbled and jerked as their
-cables dragged the steel hatch-covers into place, and the freighter’s
-whistle echoed in long, sonorous blasts in its call for a tug. And
-then, from half a mile away, came the shrieking reply of one of those
-little black giants, and up out of the early sunset gloom of evening
-it raced in the maelstrom of its own furious speed, and placed itself
-ahead of us, for all the world like a tiny ant tugging away at a
-prey a hundred times its size. Lights sprung up in a thousand places
-along shore, and soon, far away, appeared the blazing eye of the
-harbour light, and beyond that stretched the vast opaqueness of the
-“thousand-mile highway” that led to Duluth and the realms of the iron
-barons of the North. Once clear, and with the sea before us, the tug
-dropped away, a shudder passed through the great ship as her engines
-began to work, our whistle gave vent to two or three joyous, triumphant
-cheers, and our journey had begun.
-
-[Illustration: Observation Room on the “Wm. G. Mather.”
-
-Which gives an idea of the luxuriousness of the guests’ quarters on a
-Great Lakes freighter.]
-
-It was then that our steward’s pretty little wife, Mrs. Brooks,
-appeared, smiling, cool, delightfully welcome, and announced that
-dinner was ready, and that this time we must pardon them for being
-late. Out upon the steel decks men were already flushing off with huge
-lengths of hose, the ship’s lights were burning brilliantly, and from
-far aft, nearly a tenth of a mile away, there came the happy voice
-of a deckhand singing in the contentment of a full stomach and the
-beautiful freshness of the night. Not more than a dozen paces from
-our own quarters was a narrow deckhouse which ran the full length of
-the hatches--the guests’ private dining-room. It was now ablaze with
-light, and here another and even greater surprise was in store for
-those of our party who were strangers to the hospitality which one
-receives aboard a Great Lakes freighter. The long table, running nearly
-the length of the room, glittered with silver, and was decorated with
-fruits and huge vases of fresh flowers, and at the head of the table
-stood the steward’s wife, all smiles and dimples and good cheer,
-appointing us to our seats as we came in. On these great ore and grain
-and coal carriers of the Inland Seas, the stewards and their wives,
-unlike those in most other places, possess responsibilities other than
-those of preparing and serving food. They are, in a way, the host and
-hostess of the guests, and must make them comfortable--and “at home.”
-On a few vessels, like the _Berwind_, there are both forward and aft
-stewards, with their assistants, who in many instances are their wives.
-The forward steward, like our Mr. Brooks, is the chief, and buys for
-the whole ship and watches that the aft steward does his work properly.
-Outside of this he devotes himself entirely to the vessel’s guests, and
-is paid about one hundred dollars a month and all expenses, while his
-wife gets thirty dollars for doing it. So he must be good. The stewards
-of Lake freighters are usually those who have “graduated” ashore, for
-even the crews of the Lakes are the best fed people in the world. Mr.
-Brooks, for instance, had not only won his reputation in some of the
-best hotels in the land, but his books on cooking are widely known,
-and especially along the fresh-water highways. I mention these facts
-because they show another of the little known and unusual phases of
-life in our Lake marine. For breakfast, dinner, and supper the tables
-in the crew’s mess-room are loaded with good things; very few hotels
-give the service that is found in the passengers’ dining-room.
-
-Thus, from the very beginning, one meets with the unusual and the
-surprising on board one of these big steel ships of the Lakes.
-While towns and cities and the ten thousand vessels of the seas are
-sweeping past, while for a thousand miles the scenes are constantly
-changing--from thickly populated country to virgin wilderness, from
-the heat of summer on Erie to the chill of autumn on Superior,--the
-vessel itself remains a wonderland to the one who has never taken the
-trip before. From the huge refrigerator, packed with the choicest
-meats, with gallons of olives and relishes, baskets of fruits and
-vegetables--from this to the deep “under-water dungeons” where the
-furnaces roar night and day and where black and sweating men work like
-demons, something new of interest is always being found.
-
-[Illustration: The Luxurious Dining-room on the 10,000-Ton Steamer
-“J. H. Sheadle.”]
-
-For the first day, while the steel decks are being scrubbed so clean
-that one might lie upon them without soiling himself, the passengers
-may spend every hour in exploring the mysteries of the ship without
-finding a dull moment. Under the aft deck-houses, where the crew eat
-and sleep, are what the sailors call the “bowels of the ship,” and
-here, as is not the case on ocean craft, the passenger may see for the
-first time in his life the wonderful, almost appalling, mechanism that
-drives a great ship from port to port, for it must be remembered that
-the “passenger” here is a guest--the guest of the owner whose great
-private yacht the great ship is, in a way, and everything of interest
-will be shown to him if he wishes. Of the bottom of this part of the
-ship the “brussels-carpet guest”--as sailors call the passenger who is
-taking a trip on a freighter for the first time--stands half in terror.
-There is the dim light of electricity down here, the roaring of the
-furnaces, the creaking and groaning of the great ship, and high above
-one’s head, an interminable distance away it seems, one may see where
-day begins. Everywhere there is the rumbling and crashing of machinery,
-the dizzy whirling of wheels, the ceaseless pumping of steel arms as
-big around as trees; and up and up and all around there wind narrow
-stairways and gratings, on which men creep and climb to guard this
-heart action of the ship’s life. The din is fearful, the heat in the
-furnace-room insufferable, and when once each half-minute a furnace
-door is opened for fresh fuel, and writhing torrents of fire and light
-illumine the gloomy depths, the tenderfoot passenger looks up nervously
-to where his eyes catch glimpses of light and freedom far above him.
-And then, in the explanation of all this--in the _reason_ for these
-hundreds of tons of whirling, crashing, thundering steel--there comes
-the greatest surprise of all. For all of this giant mechanism is to
-perform just one thing--and that is to whirl and whirl and whirl an
-insignificant-looking steel rod, which is called a shaft, and at the
-end of which, in the sea behind the ship, is the screw--a thing so
-small that one stands in amazement, half doubting that this is the
-instrument which sends a ten-thousand-ton ship and ten thousand tons of
-cargo through the sea at twelve miles an hour!
-
-After this first day of exploration, the real joyous life of the ship
-comes to one. Every hour of every day is one of pleasure. You are on
-the only ship in the world into every corner of which a passenger is
-allowed to go. You are, in so far as your pleasure and freedom go,
-practically the owner of the ship. The crew and even the captain _may
-not_ know but what you _are_ one of the owners, for nothing but your
-name is given to the officers before you come aboard. Of course, the
-steward has the privilege to tell you to keep out of his kitchen, and
-the captain for you to keep out of the pilot-house--but they never do
-it. That guest, for instance, who haunts the pilot-house almost from
-morning to night, who insists upon taking lessons in steering, and who
-on any other craft in the world would soon be told to remain in his
-cabin or mind his business, may be a millionaire himself--a millionaire
-who is giving this line of ships many thousands of dollars’ worth of
-freight each year. So the captain and the crew _must_ be affable. But,
-as I have said before, this is accepted as a pleasure and not as a
-duty on the Inland Seas. I have taken trips on a score of vessels, and
-it means much when I say that never have I encountered an unpleasant
-captain, and that only once did I meet with a mate who was not pleasant
-to his passengers.
-
-So, from the first day out, the big steel ship is an “open house” to
-its guests. Forward and aft of the cabins, great awnings are stretched,
-thick rugs and carpets are spread upon the deck, and easy chairs are
-scattered about. The captain and his mates are ready with the answers
-to a thousand questions. They point out objects and locations of
-interest as they are passed. There, in the late storms of last autumn,
-a ship went down with all on board; on yonder barren coast, five or six
-miles away, the captain guides your glasses to the skeleton of a ship,
-whose tragic story he tells you; he names the lighthouses, the points
-of coasts, and tells you about the scores of ships you pass each day.
-He shows you how the wonderful mechanism of the ship is run from the
-pilot-house, and he gives you lessons in the points of the compass, and
-perhaps lets you try your hand at the wheel. And each hour, if you have
-been abroad, you see more and more how an ocean trip cannot be compared
-to this. In a preceding chapter I have described what you see and what
-you pass in this thousand-mile journey to Duluth; how you slip from
-summer to autumn, from the heart of the nation’s population to vast,
-silent wildernesses where the bear and the wolf roam unmolested; how
-great cities give place to mining and lumber camps, and you come into
-the great northern lake where darkness does not settle until after nine
-o’clock at night.
-
-[Illustration: Tugs Trying to Release Boats Held in the Ice at the Soo.
-
-    Copyright 1906 by Young, Lord & Rhoades, Ltd.
-]
-
-But these are not the only things which make a trip on a Great Lakes
-freighter interesting. It is what you can _do_. There are a dozen
-games you can play, from hatch-bag to shuffle-board; there is music
-and reading, eating and drinking--for the steward is constantly alive
-to your wants, always alive to add to your pleasures. And there is
-excitement--if not of one kind then of another. You may be thrilled
-by the sudden alarm of fire aboard ship, and find yourself burning
-with relief when you discover that you are witnessing nothing but an
-exciting fire drill; it may be a wrestling or boxing match between two
-of the ship’s champions, a race over the steel hatches, or--something
-like the following incident:
-
-One of the greatest sources of entertainment for guests aboard a
-Lake freighter is in the study of the men and boys of the crew, for
-the average crew of twenty-five or thirty always possesses some odd
-characters. Our party was very much amused by one individual, a youth
-of about twenty, large, round-faced, full-fed, a young man of unbounded
-good humour whose two great joys in life were his meals--and sleep.
-This youth never lost an opportunity to take a nap. After his dinner in
-the mess-room, he would promptly fall into a doze in his chair, to be
-aroused by a dash of cold water or some other practical joker’s trick;
-if he sat down on a hatch he would sleep; he would fall asleep leaning
-against the cabin. His actions caused no little uneasiness on the
-part of the captain, who liked the boy immensely. “Some day he will
-fall asleep and topple overboard,” he said.
-
-We had come into Superior, where the clear, dry air exerts a peculiar
-effect upon one. Coming suddenly from the warm atmosphere of the Lower
-Lakes a person has difficulty in keeping his eyes open half of the
-time up there. We were off Keweenaw Point when the thrilling alarm was
-spread that “Dopey,” the sleepy youth, had fallen overboard. The aft
-steward brought the news forward. Billy had eaten a huge dinner and was
-taking a comfortable siesta _standing_, half leaning over the aft rail.
-A moment after passing him the steward returned, bent upon stirring the
-boy from his dangerous position, and found him gone. The vessel was
-searched from stem to stern. Even the passengers joined in the hunt.
-But there was found no sign of the missing youth, and a deep gloom fell
-upon the people of the ship. An hour later, one of the young ladies
-approached the steep, narrow stair that led down into the forward
-locker. The mate himself had searched this gloomy nook for Billy. I
-was a dozen feet behind the girl and she turned to me with a white,
-startled face.
-
-“Come here--quick!” she cried. “Listen!”
-
-Together we bent our heads over the opening--and up to our ears there
-came a mysterious sound now so low that we could hardly hear it,
-then louder--something that for a moment held us speechless and set
-our hearts beating at double-quick. It was the snoring of a sleeping
-person! In another instant we were down in that dingy hole of ropes and
-cables and anchor chains, and there, curled up in the gloom, we found
-Billy, sleeping a sleep so sound that it took a good shaking to awaken
-him. On deck he explained the mystery. The passing of the steward aft
-had aroused him from his nap against the rail, and he had wandered
-forward, seeking the cool seclusion of the locker.
-
-[Illustration: Whaleback Barges Preparing for Winter Quarters at
-Conneaut, Ohio.
-
-(The Whaleback is a type of vessel that has been tried and found
-wanting. They are going out of use.)]
-
-While this little affair did not end in a tragedy, I give it as
-an illustration of the fact that _something_ of interest, if not
-excitement, is constantly occurring to keep the guests of a Great Lakes
-freighter alive to the possibilities of the trip. The night following
-Billy’s mysterious disappearance, for instance, the two young ladies
-aboard our ship nearly brought about a mutiny. Before going into the
-details of this incident, it is necessary for me to repeat what I have
-said in a preceding paragraph--that the seamen of our Lakes are the
-best fed working people in the world. If a captain does not provide the
-best of meats and vegetables and fruits, and in sufficient quantities,
-he may find himself minus a crew when he reaches port. One day as I was
-leaning over the aft rail the steward approached me and said:
-
-“Do you see that ship off there?”
-
-He pointed to a big down-bound freighter.
-
-“Notice anything peculiar about it?” he continued.
-
-I confessed that I did not.
-
-“Well, this is the noon hour,” he went on, “and the sea-gulls always
-know when it’s feeding time. But there are no gulls following that
-ship. There are a good many more ships in that same line--and there’s
-never a gull behind them. Do you know why? It’s because the grub on
-those boats is so poor. The gulls have learned to tell them as far as
-they can see ’em, and they won’t have anything to do with ’em, and
-that’s the Lord’s truth, sir! Any man on the Lakes will tell you so,
-and the men on those boats most of all. They don’t take a job there
-until they’re down and out and can’t get work anywhere else.”
-
-On the afternoon of Billy’s adventure, the young lady who discovered
-him was taken slightly ill and was not present at dinner. Late that
-night, however, she was much improved--and ravenously hungry. As
-the steward and his wife were in bed there was no chance of getting
-anything to eat forward. In some way the girl had learned that a
-part of the crew, who were in the night watch, had luncheon in the
-aft mess-room at midnight, and this young lady and her chum, and the
-three young men in the party, planned to wait until after that hour
-and then, stealing quietly aft, help themselves to the “leavings.” At
-twelve-thirty, the decks were dark and silent, with the watch ahead of
-the forward deck-houses, and the young people made their way unobserved
-to the mess-room. Not a soul was about, and on the table was meat and
-cake and pickles, and a huge pot of coffee was simmering on the range.
-The five helped themselves. No one interrupted them, and when fifteen
-or twenty minutes later they slipped back to their quarters the table
-was pretty well cleaned. Now it just happened that the night men,
-instead of eating at midnight, ate at _one_--an hour later, and when
-they came in after six hours of hard work, tired and hungry, only the
-wreck of what should have been, greeted their astonished eyes. The
-men were in a rage. They had been imposed upon as no self-respecting,
-liberty-loving man of the Lakes will allow himself to be imposed
-upon--in the way of food; and it took the combined efforts of the
-two stewards and their wives, and the humble apologies of the three
-young men, to straighten the affair out. Thereafter, at midnight, the
-mess-room door was locked.
-
-[Illustration: Ashore.]
-
-The more one comes in touch and sympathy with the lives of these men
-of the Lakes the more one’s interest increases; and it is not until
-one eats and drinks with them aft, and secures their confidence and
-friendship, that he is let into the secrets of the inner and home life
-of these red-blooded people, which is unlike the life of any other
-seafaring men in the world. It is when this confidence and friendship
-is won that you begin to reap the full pleasure of a trip on a Great
-Lakes freighter; it is then that the romance, the picturesqueness, and
-the superstition of the Lake breed creep out. Not until that time, for
-instance, will you discover that these rough strong men of the Lakes
-are the most indomitable home-owners in the world. A home is their
-ambition, the goal toward which they constantly work. From the deckhand
-to the young, unmarried mate it is the reward of all their labour, the
-end for which they are all striving. And there are good reasons for
-this--reasons which have made the “home instinct” among Lake sailors
-almost a matter of heredity. The ships of the Inland Seas are almost
-constantly in sight of land. Now it is a long stretch of coast a mile
-or so away; again it is a point stretching out to sea, or the shores of
-some of the most beautiful streams in America. And wherever there is
-land within shouting or megaphone or “whistle” distance of the passing
-vessels, there nestle the little homes of those who run the ships of
-our fresh-water marine. It may be that for an entire season of seven
-or eight months the Lake sailor has no opportunity of visiting his
-family. Yet every week or so he sees his home and his wife and children
-from the deck of his ship. It is easy for those ashore to learn from
-the marine officers when a certain vessel is due to pass, and at that
-hour wives and sweethearts, friends and children, assemble on the shore
-to bid their loved ones Godspeed. All of the vessels on the Lakes
-have their private code of signals. Perhaps in the still hours of
-night, the sleeping wife is aroused by the deep, distant roar of the
-freighter’s voice. For a moment she listens, and it comes again--and
-from out there in the night she knows that her husband is talking to
-her; and the husband, his eyes turned longingly ashore, sees a light
-suddenly flash in the darkness, and his heart grows lighter and happier
-in this token of love and faith that has come to him. And in the hours
-of day it is more beautiful still; and the passengers and crew draw
-away, leaving the man alone at the rail, while the wife holds up their
-baby for the father to see, and throws him kisses; and there is the
-silence of voiceless, breathless suspense on the deck that the faint
-voice of the woman, or the happy cries of the children, may reach the
-husband and father, whose words thunder back in megaphone greeting. It
-is beautiful and yet it is pathetic, this constant union of the people
-of the Lake breed. And the pathos comes mostly when there is no answer
-from the little home ashore, for it is then that visions of sickness,
-of misfortune, and possibly of neglect cast their gloom.
-
-In a hundred other ways that I might describe does one see life on a
-Great Lakes freighter as on none of the vessels of the salt seas. It
-is a life distinct from all others, a life that is building a people
-within itself--the people of the Lake breed.
-
-
-
-
-PART II
-
-Origin and History of the Lakes
-
-
-
-
-I
-
-Origin and Early History
-
-
-While the modern romance of the Great Lakes, the vast commerce that has
-grown upon them, the great cities along their shores, and the part they
-have played in the history of the last generation form, to my mind, one
-of the most absorbing and at the same time one of the most fruitful
-subjects for the writer of to-day, it is to the “dim and mysterious
-ages of long ago” that one must allow his imagination to be carried, if
-he would understand, in its fullest measure, the part that our Inland
-Seas should hold within the hearts of the American people. It has been
-my desire, in this volume, to establish between our people and our
-Lakes that bond of friendship which unfortunately has never existed
-except upon their very shores. In the years in which I have studied
-the Lakes, their commerce, and their people, I have been astonished at
-the dearth of material which has been published about them, and not
-until this discovery came upon me forcefully did I understand that our
-own glorious Inland Seas, holding in perpetual inheritance for the
-American people one half of the fresh water of the whole globe, are,
-indeed, “aliens in the land of their birth.”
-
-[Illustration: Arch Rock, Mackinac Island.
-
-One of the natural wonders of the world.]
-
-For this reason, I am adding to my preceding chapters a brief history
-of the Lakes. It is not what might be called a history in detail, for
-such a story of the Inland Seas would fill volumes in itself. No other
-portion of the globe has been fraught with more incident of historical
-and romantic interest than these fresh-water heritages of our nation.
-The dramas that have been played upon them or along their shores would
-fill libraries. Their unrevealed pages of romance and tragedy would
-furnish rich material for the writers of a century. About them lie the
-dust of three quarters of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America.
-Along their shores were fought some of the world’s most relentless wars
-of absolute extermination. Upon their waters occurred the most romantic
-adventures of the early exploration of the continent. Every mile of
-these waters, now clouded with the smoke of a gigantic commerce, is
-fraught with the deepest historical interest. And yet, as I write
-this, there comes to my mind a thought of those countless thousands
-of Americans who, travelling afar for their pleasures, seek in every
-quarter of the globe that their feet may tread in awesome respect upon
-spots hallowed because of their historical associations, whether those
-associations be of fact, of legend, or of song.
-
-The romance of the Lakes does not begin with their early discoverers;
-neither does it begin with the primitive inhabitants along their
-shores. It dawns with their making. Unnumbered thousands of years
-ago, before the glaciers of the Ice Age crept over the continent;
-when prehistoric monsters, still living in a tropical world, roamed
-throughout what is now the Lake region; and when man, if he existed
-at all, was in his crudest form, the Great Lakes were still unborn.
-Where their ninety-five thousand square miles of surface now afford
-the world’s greatest highways of water commerce there were then vast
-areas of plain, of highland and plateau, rising at times to the
-eminence of mountains. Those were the days when the North American
-continent was completing itself, when the last handiwork in the
-creation of a world was in progress. In place of the Lakes there were
-then a number of great rivers in these regions--rivers, which despite
-the passing of ages, have left their channels and their marks to
-this day. These rivers were all of one system and were all tributary
-to one great stream, the Laurentian River, whose channel to the sea
-was that of the St. Lawrence of to-day. Were it possible for one to
-conceive himself back in those primitive times a journey over this
-first great river system of the continent would have carried him,
-first of all, from the still unfinished ocean along the south shore of
-what is now Lake Ontario. He would have travelled within ten miles of
-where scores of towns and cities now flourish, and almost directly
-opposite what is now the Niagara River he would have encountered
-another great stream pouring into the Laurentian from the south and
-west. This river continued almost through the middle of what is now
-Lake Erie, and opposite where Sandusky is now situated divided itself
-into two branches, which still exist in the Maumee and the Detroit.
-The Laurentian continued northward close along the southern shore of
-Georgian Bay, turned southward to the centre of the Lake Huron basin,
-where the Huronian River, sweeping across central Michigan, joined
-it from Saginaw Bay. The Laurentian itself passed northward through
-the Straits of Mackinaw and terminated in what is now Lake Michigan.
-The story of this vast water system has been left in clearly defined
-outlines; its indelible marks are ancient valleys, sand-filled channels
-of the great streams, and worn escarpments. Seldom has science had an
-easier story to read of ages that are gone.
-
-Then came the second step in the creating of the Lakes of to-day.
-Slowly life changed as the Glacial Age approached, and with the
-sweeping back of life the rivers, too, passed out of existence. During
-the slow passing of centuries, their channels were filled, and the
-valleys were obstructed with drift, so that when the Ice Age had come
-and gone their channels no longer ran clear and unobstructed to the
-sea. As a consequence, great areas were submerged, and hundreds of
-thousands of square miles of what is now fertile land, populated by
-millions and dotted by cities, became an ocean. But the continent
-was still in process of formation. The land in the Lake region began
-to rise, and continued in its elevation until out of the chaos of
-sea the Lakes were formed. To the north-east, as the centre of the
-continent rose, there was a tilting of the land oceanward, and this
-warping dropped Lake Ontario below the level of the other Lakes, thus
-interposing a barrier to free communication to the sea and giving birth
-to Niagara Falls.
-
-In this way, so far as science can tell, the Great Lakes of to-day
-were brought into existence. How early human life existed along their
-shores it is impossible even to guess, but that the earliest life of
-the continent should first of all gather in the valleys of the vast
-water system that gave them birth, and afterward reassemble along their
-shores, is highly probable. The earliest discoverers to penetrate into
-the wildernesses of the West found these shores inhabited by powerful
-nations. Other nations were facing extermination. Still others had
-ceased to exist and were forgotten except in legend. Along the Inland
-Seas have been found evidences of a superior race to the warlike
-aborigines of the days of La Salle. But only these evidences, utensils
-of copper and stone and clay, remain as proof of their existence. What
-they were, when they lived, and how they died, is one of the mysteries
-that will remain forever unsolved.
-
-By the time the known history of the Lakes really begins their
-inhabitants had degenerated into warlike, ferocious savages, bent upon
-battle and extermination, and for the most part constantly embroiled in
-war of one kind or another. From Lake Ontario to the end of Superior
-the Lake regions were one great battle-ground, and this sanguinary
-history had extended so far into the past that with the coming of the
-first French explorers the Indians could give no comprehensive idea
-of when it had begun. At this time, early in the seventeenth century,
-the Lake country was the bone of contention among three quarters of
-the aborigines of North America. There was hardly a tribe that was not
-fighting some one of its neighbours, and the remnants of vanquished
-nations were constantly fleeing from their enemies and escaping total
-extermination by seeking safety in the West and South. In Northern
-Michigan and in Wisconsin there lived three branches of the Algonquin
-tribe, the Ottawas, the Ojibwas, and the Pottawatomies. The Ottawas had
-been driven westward, and the Ojibwas at this time were invading the
-hunting grounds of the Crees, who were entrenched on the northern shore
-of Lake Superior, their territory extending northward to Hudson Bay.
-On their west, the Ojibwas were also at war with the powerful Dakotas,
-who, fighting eastward from the Mississippi, had secured a foothold on
-Superior. To the eastward, encroaching upon the tribes of Lake Ontario,
-were the Iroquois, or Five Nations, consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas,
-Onondagas, Cayugas, and the Senecas. Between these and the fierce
-Algonquins of the Upper Lakes were wedged the Hurons and the Eries,
-fighting vainly against the almost total extermination which became
-their fate a little later. It was in the war between 1650 and 1655 that
-both the Eries and the Neuters, on the southern shore of Lake Erie,
-were wiped out of existence by the Iroquois, and it was about this same
-time that the Hurons received their death-blow. The few that escaped
-fled to the Mississippi and promptly became involved in a war with the
-Sioux. Reduced to a pitiable remnant the once powerful Sacs and Foxes
-were awaiting their end along Green Bay.
-
-In these days, the Lakes were already playing a part in commerce as
-well as in war. Great fleets of Indian canoes made annual voyages from
-the Upper to the Lower Lakes, and war fleets were common spectacles
-from almost every coast. The greatest of these fleets, so far as is
-known, was that of the Iroquois, which in 1680 carried six hundred
-selected braves across Lake Erie, up the Detroit River, through Lake
-St. Clair, Lake Huron, the Straits of Mackinaw, and down to the foot
-of Lake Michigan, where the adventurous navigators were utterly
-repulsed by the warriors of the Illinois. Another Iroquois fleet was
-annihilated near Iroquois Point, in Lake Huron. In 1600, according to
-stories told by the Indians, a fierce naval battle in which several
-hundred war canoes were engaged was fought in the middle of Lake Erie
-by the Wyandots and the Senecas. Only one Seneca canoe escaped.
-
-It was at this time, when the Lake country and the Lakes themselves
-were the stage upon which were being played the most thrilling dramas
-of aboriginal history, that the Inland Seas were first visited by
-their white discoverers. In 1615, the Franciscan friar, Joseph Le
-Caron, in company with three other Franciscans and twelve Frenchmen,
-invaded the seat of the Huron nation on Matchedash Bay, where Champlain
-joined him a few days later. The Hurons were preparing to attack
-their old enemies, the Iroquois, and Champlain accompanied them on
-their expedition. The campaign was unsuccessful but it led to the
-Frenchman’s discovery of Lake Ontario. Stephen Brule, an unlettered
-and reckless adventurer, was the first white man to rest eyes upon
-Lake Superior, his voyage up Lake Huron being made some time in 1629.
-Brule, however, was more interested in ingots of copper which he found
-than in the greatest body of fresh water on the globe, and he returned
-south almost immediately, while it was left for Raymbault and Jogues,
-two hopeful missionaries in search of a passage to China, to make the
-first navigation of Superior. This they did in 1641. Five years after
-Brule’s discovery, another adventurer, Jean Nicolet, paddled in a birch
-canoe from Georgian Bay across Lake Huron and through the Straits of
-Mackinaw, and thus discovered Lake Michigan. As surprising as it may
-seem, Erie was the last of the Great Lakes to be found by white men,
-and although its existence was known to the French as early as 1640, it
-was not until 1669 that Joliet, its discoverer, made his voyage upon it.
-
-The situation as it existed in the entire Lake country at the time of
-the coming of these first explorers was so unreasonably tragic that,
-viewed from the present day, it approaches dangerously near to having
-a touch of the comic about it. As one early writer says, “It was as if
-a pack of dogs were fighting over a bone. Only--where was the bone?”
-There was hardly an Indian tribe that was not at war with some other
-tribe, and in most instances, according to the discoverers, there were
-no evident causes for the sanguinary conflicts. “It was as if all the
-savages were impelled by a bad spirit, and a rage of extermination
-was sweeping over the land,” wrote one of the early Fathers. It is
-a popular superstition that the extinction of the red man must be
-ascribed to the coming of the white, but nothing shows more graphically
-the error of this belief than these conditions of the seventeenth
-century in the Lake country. The aborigines were exterminating
-themselves. They were doing the work completely, mercilessly. Nations
-had already been put out of existence. The Eries and Neuters were
-but lately annihilated. The once powerful Hurons were reduced to a
-remnant. The Sacs and Foxes were doomed. Existing tribes were weakened
-and scattered by ceaseless war. And sweeping down from the east the
-all-powerful Iroquois, the Romans of the wilderness, were coming each
-year to add to the completeness of the extermination.
-
-[Illustration: Fort Mackinac.]
-
-Now came the whites, and with their presence there developed slowly
-a check to the indiscriminate slaughter. At no time in the world was
-the missionary spirit more active, and scores of the disciples of the
-Church plunged fearlessly into the wilderness of the Lake regions,
-daring their perils of starvation and torture and death that the word
-of God might reach the hearts of the savages. And with them there came
-hundreds of adventurous spirits, trappers employed by the “Hundred
-Associates,” fortune-hunters, and reckless souls who had no other
-object than the excitement of exploration and discovery, but all of
-whom were staunch Catholics. The very fearlessness of these white
-invaders acted as a governor on the hostile energies of the savages,
-and their interests, in a small way at first, began to be diverted
-into other channels than those of war. Among the neutral nations on
-the Niagara River, Father Joseph de la Roche d’Aillon formed a mission
-early in the seventeenth century. As early as 1615, the Recollects
-had established a mission among the Hurons, which was later continued
-by the Jesuits. For more than thirty years, the missionaries had
-laboured among the Hurons when, in 1648, the Senecas and Mohawks fell
-upon their country, razed twenty of their villages, killed most of
-their 3000 fighters, and totally destroyed them as a people. Two of
-the Jesuit Fathers, Brébeuf and Daniel, gave up their lives in the
-fearful massacres of those days. It was only five years later that
-the Iroquois, destroyers of the Hurons, requested the French to send
-missionaries among them, and for nearly twenty years the zealous
-Jesuits brought about a lull in the sanguinary conflicts of the Five
-Nations, but at the end of that time when war flamed out anew they were
-compelled to abandon their missions. Meanwhile, along the Upper Lakes,
-the missionary movement was being prosecuted with extreme vigour.
-Garreau and Claude Allouez, with other missionaries, worked along the
-shores of Superior, establishing missions among the Sacs and Foxes
-and Pottawatomies. In 1668, Marquette established his famous mission
-at Sault Ste. Marie, and three years later founded the mission of St.
-Ignace on the Straits of Mackinaw.
-
-It would take a volume to describe the adventures of these early
-Fighters of the Faith, their trials and sacrifices, their successes and
-failures. The briefness of our sketch compels us to move quickly from
-these absorbing scenes to the first great event in the history of Lake
-navigation, and to the beginning of that encroachment of the English
-which was to develop a hundred years of war along the Inland Seas.
-While the Jesuit Fathers were sacrificing their lives among the savages
-and while the Indian wars of extermination were still in progress, the
-French farther east had already begun to feel the hostile influence
-of the English. To check this influence La Salle and Count Frontenac
-brought about the erection of Fort Frontenac, in 1673, on the present
-site of Kingston. At this time, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, a
-young man of eminence and learning, was of the supreme faith that he
-was destined to discover a water passage through the American continent
-to China and Japan, and the building of Fort Frontenac was only the
-first step in the gigantic scheme which he planned to carry out. A part
-of this scheme was the building of a vessel of considerable size in
-which La Salle planned not only to make a complete tour of the Lakes
-but in which he hoped to discover the route that would lead to the
-Orient. Five years later, the young adventurer made the portage around
-Niagara Falls, and at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, in Niagara County,
-New York, where is now located the town of La Salle, he began the
-construction of the first vessel ever to sail the Inland Seas.
-
-There are different estimates as to the size of the ship, but that it
-was somewhere between fifty and sixty tons there is little doubt.
-Assisting in this work were Tonty and Hennepin, and it took all of the
-persuasive powers of the three to keep the _Griffin_, as the vessel
-had been named, from the hostile hands of the Senecas as she lay in
-her stocks. The ship, when launched, was completely rigged, found
-with supplies for a long voyage, and armed by seven pieces of cannon
-and a quantity of muskets. She carried two masts and a jib, and was
-decorated with the usual ornaments of an ancient ship of war, including
-a flying griffin at the jib-boom and a huge eagle aft. For hundreds of
-miles about, the Indians came to see this wonderful “floating fort”
-before she set sail. Thirty-two souls were to form the crew of the
-_Griffin_ in her adventurous search for the route to Cathay, and on
-the day that she turned her prow up the Niagara River, La Salle and
-his followers fell upon their knees, invoking upon themselves the
-mercies of God in an undertaking which, they believed, was to be one of
-the most venturesome of their age. With all on board singing the _Te
-Deum Laudamus_, the _Griffin_ passed into Lake Erie, and while at the
-sight of the great water ahead of them the priests again invoked the
-blessings of God, the first ship to sail the Lakes boldly headed into
-those “vast and unknown seas of which even their savage inhabitants
-knew not the end.”
-
-According to the historian Hennepin, who was a member of the
-expedition, days and nights of the wildest speculation, of hope, of
-fear, and of anxious anticipation now followed. Rumour filled the seas
-ahead of them with innumerable perils. The hardy navigators knew not
-at what instant destruction might overtake them in any one of a dozen
-ways in which they supposed themselves to be threatened. Each morning
-and night the entire crew joined in prayers and in singing the hymns
-of the Church. Lake Erie was crossed in safety, and on the eleventh of
-August the _Griffin_ entered the Detroit River. Hennepin was enthralled
-with its wonderful beauty. “The river was thirty leagues long,” he
-says, “bordered by low and level banks, and navigable throughout its
-entire length. On either side were vast prairies, extending back to
-hills covered with vines, fruit trees, thickets, and tall forest trees,
-so distributed as to seem rather the work of art than nature.” Passing
-between Grosse Isle and Bois Blanc Island, the _Griffin_ sailed slowly
-up the river, frequent stops being made along its course; it passed
-the present site of Detroit, and on the day of the festival of Saint
-Claire the navigators entered the lake which they gave that name. On
-the twenty-third of August, the _Griffin_ entered into Lake Huron, the
-Franciscans chanting the _Te Deum_ for the third time, and the entire
-crew joining in offering up thanks to the Almighty for the smiling
-fortune that had thus far accompanied them on their voyage.
-
-Crossing Saginaw Bay the _Griffin_ lay for two days among the
-Thunder Bay islands and then continued her way into the North. Almost
-immediately after this, La Salle and his companions were caught in a
-terrific storm, and in the height of its fury, when it was thought
-that the end had come and that all the demons of this mysterious
-world were working their destruction, La Salle made a vow that if God
-would deliver them he would erect a chapel in Louisiana to the memory
-of St. Anthony de Padua, the tutelary saint of the sailor. As if in
-response to this vow, the wind subsided and the storm-beaten _Griffin_
-found shelter in Michilimackinac Bay, where a mission had been built
-among the Ottawas. Early in September, the _Griffin_ sailed into Lake
-Michigan and continued to Washington Island, at the entrance to Green
-Bay. Here a party of missionaries and traders had been established for
-a year. They had collected a large quantity of furs, valued at about
-twelve thousand dollars, and La Salle changed his original plans and
-sent the _Griffin_ back to Niagara with this treasure, with the idea of
-continuing his own exploration by canoe.
-
-On the eighteenth of September, 1679, La Salle bade adieu to the
-_Griffin_ and her crew, and from the point of a headland watched her
-white sails until they dropped below the horizon. It was the last
-he ever heard or saw of the ship. No sign of her was ever afterward
-found, no soul who sailed with her lived to tell the story of her
-tragic end. In the years that followed, it was rumoured that Indians
-boarded and destroyed her, and massacred her crew. Hennepin was of the
-opinion that she was lost in a storm. Others believed that some of her
-crew had mutinied and that after murdering their companions they had
-joined the Ottawas, where they met their own fate. From time to time in
-recent years, relics have been found along the Lakes which have revived
-stories of the mysterious disappearance of the _Griffin_, but none of
-these finds have yet thrown reasonable light upon the tragic end of
-this first vessel to navigate the Inland Seas and of the venturesome
-spirits who manned her. By all but a few the _Griffin_ is forgotten,
-or has never been known. Yet by the millions who live along the Great
-Lakes she should be held in much the same reverence as are the caravels
-of Columbus by the whole nation.
-
-[Illustration: Marquette’s Grave, St. Ignace, Michigan.]
-
-
-
-
-II
-
-The Lakes Change Masters
-
-
-For more than a hundred years after the sailing of the _Griffin_ the
-Great Lakes and the country about them were destined to be the scenes
-of almost ceaseless war. The fury of the internecine strife of the
-Indians was on the wane. Their conflicts of extermination had worked
-their frightful end and it now came time for them to give up the red
-arena of the Inland Seas to other foes, among whom the last vestiges
-of their power were doomed to melt away like snow under the warmth of
-the sun. For unnumbered generations they had fought among themselves.
-Nations of red men had been born, and nations had died. The Lake
-regions were white with their bones and red with their blood, and now
-those that remained of them were to be used as pawns in the games of
-war between the English and the French, among whom they were still to
-play an important though a fatal part.
-
-The romantic voyage of the _Griffin_ marked that era when the French
-were gaining possession of the Lakes. Eight years before La Salle’s
-expedition, Simon Francis Daumont had taken formal possession of the
-Inland Seas in the presence of seventeen different Indian nations. In
-1761, a fort had been erected at Mackinaw, and Daniel Deluth, after
-whom the city of Duluth was named, planted a colony of French soldiers
-among the Sioux and Assiniboines of Minnesota. From this time on, the
-power of the French steadily gained in ascendancy and the work of
-winning the allegiance of the Indians progressed for a number of years
-without interruption. In 1686, Fort Duluth was built on the St. Clair
-River, and fifteen years later, in 1701, Cadillac built a fort on the
-present site of Detroit, which was destined to play a picturesque and
-important part in the century of war that was to follow. Other forts
-of the French were at Michilimackinac (Mackinac), Chicago, Green
-Bay, and on the Niagara River. Nearly all of the Indians of the Lake
-regions had become their allies, with the exception of the Iroquois.
-The forests and streams were the haunts of French traders. The Church
-was establishing itself more and more firmly among the tribes. The
-adventurous trappers of the fur companies were even living among the
-savages, and there was fast developing between the red men and the
-French that bond of friendship which was to remain almost unbroken
-through all of the troublous times that were to follow. The power of
-France, at this time, seemed bound to rule the destinies of the Inland
-Seas.
-
-On the other hand, the Iroquois were the implacable enemies of the
-French and their allies, and the friends of the English. They were
-distributed over a territory which embraced the Lake Ontario regions
-and which extended to the English settlements of the East, thus
-offering a free and safe road of travel to English traders into the
-domains of the French. Reduced to less than a quarter of the fighting
-strength that they had possessed before the wars of extermination, they
-were still the terror of all other Lake tribes, and the English were
-not slow to take advantage of the opportunities which their friendship
-offered them. At every possible point the Five Nations checked the
-movements of the French, and at the same time assisted the English
-traders to invade their territory. In 1684, De la Barre, then Governor
-of Canada, determined to destroy this last menace to French dominion,
-and sent word throughout the Lake regions calling upon his warrior
-allies to assemble at Niagara for a great war of extermination upon the
-Iroquois. De la Barre himself proceeded to Lake Ontario with a powerful
-force of nearly two thousand men, but an epidemic of sickness attacked
-his army and the only result of the “campaign of extermination” was a
-peaceful conference with the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas.
-
-The failure of De la Barre’s plans was the first great blow to French
-dominion. The English traders became more daring and parties penetrated
-even as far as Michilimackinac, one of the French strongholds. These
-traders were regarded as fair game by the French wherever found, but
-though several parties were captured the invasion from the East did not
-cease. Alarmed at the growing danger, the French determined to make
-another campaign against the Iroquois. To the existence of the Five
-Nations they ascribed their peril. With these fierce warriors out of
-the way they could easily hold the English back.
-
-In 1687, the Marquis Denonville, who had succeeded De la Barre,
-gathered two thousand troops and six hundred Indian warriors at
-Montreal, and with the advice that a thousand Indian allies would meet
-him at Niagara set out for the land of the Iroquois. On June 23d, the
-forces met at Fort Frontenac and from there proceeded to Irondequoit,
-in the enemy’s country. Only the Senecas, one branch of the Five
-Nations, had gathered to meet the invaders, and in the fierce battle
-that followed, the French and their allies were defeated and driven
-to the shores of the lake. Satisfied with their victory, the Senecas
-did not press the invaders, and Denonville took advantage of his
-opportunity to build Fort Niagara, after which he led the remnant of
-his defeated army back to Montreal, leaving a garrison of one hundred
-men in the new stronghold. During the winter that followed, the Senecas
-besieged the fort with such success that less than a dozen of its
-defenders escaped with their lives.
-
-News of the defeat of the French spread like wildfire. It penetrated
-to the farthest fastnesses of the known wildernesses. English traders
-began to swarm into the Lower Lake regions. The Indian nations allied
-to the French were thrown into a panic. The war spirit of the Iroquois
-was aroused to a feverish height by their victory, and they swarmed to
-the invasion of the French dominions. Fort Frontenac was captured and
-burned. Both the allies and the French were swept back with tremendous
-slaughter, and their power upon the Lower Lakes was broken. “It
-seemed,” said an early writer, “as if the Five Nations would sweep over
-the entire Lake country, driving all enemies from their shores, and
-thus delivering into the hands of the English all that the French had
-gained.”
-
-But, in this hour of victory, the shadow of doom was hovering over the
-martial people of the Five Nations. For unnumbered years the conquerors
-of the New World, the time had at last come for their fall. The War
-of the Palatinate was at hand, and the hostilities of the French and
-the English spread to land and sea. Rumours came that Frontenac was
-about to sweep down upon New York, and the faithful Iroquois turned
-back to defend the city of their White Father. They threw themselves
-between the invaders and their friends, an unconquerable barrier. New
-York was saved, but in the struggle the power of the Five Nations was
-broken. For many years they still remained a force to be reckoned
-with, but as the conquering Romans of the Wilderness and the terror of
-a score of nations, extending even to the Mississippi, their history
-was at an end. In their passing it must be said that a braver man, a
-truer friend, or a more relentless foe never existed on the American
-continent than the Iroquois warrior.
-
-There now came a brief lull in the warfare of the Lakes. The end of
-the War of the Palatinate was closely followed by Queen Anne’s War,
-but hostilities did not openly break out along the Inland Seas. The
-Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 left France technically in possession of
-the Lakes, but, even after this treaty, the English claimed as a sort
-of inheritance from the Iroquois the regions of Lake Ontario and Lake
-Erie. This fact again gave opportunity for plenty of excitement and
-trouble. The French had rebuilt Fort Frontenac and were establishing
-other strongholds, their object being to hem the English along their
-seacoast possessions by means of a string of forts extending from
-Canada southward. To frustrate these designs Governor Burnett, of
-New York, began the erection of a trading-post at Oswego in 1720.
-The French at once reciprocated by rebuilding Fort Niagara of stone,
-whereupon, in 1727, the English added a strong fort to their holdings
-in Oswego. This all but started active hostilities again. Beauharnois,
-the Governor of Canada, flew into a high dudgeon, sent a written demand
-for the English to abandon the fort, and threatened to demolish it
-unless this was done. The response of the English was to strengthen
-their garrison. Instead of carrying out his threat of war, Beauharnois
-began the strengthening of all the French forts, a work which continued
-for several years. Meanwhile the French trappers, traders, and priests
-of the Upper Lakes had been stirring the passions of the Indians
-against the encroaching English. The latter, in 1755, built two
-warships on Lake Ontario, and it was pointed out to the Western tribes
-that these were two of the terrible engines that were intended to work
-their destruction. By the time of the breaking out of the Seven Years’
-War, the French, though their population was less than a tenth of that
-of their enemies, were splendidly prepared for war.
-
-Actual operations in this last struggle between the French and the
-English for the possession of the Lakes began in 1756, when De Lery
-and De Villier set out with some six hundred men to capture Oswego and
-other forts. On the Onondaga River, De Villier encountered Bradstreet
-and his English and was completely defeated, more than a hundred of his
-men being killed. Meanwhile, from Fort Frontenac, General Montcalm was
-preparing to descend upon Oswego, and on the ninth of August, 1756,
-he arrived in sight of the English stronghold with three thousand men
-under his command. On the twelfth the battle began. From the beginning
-it was a surprise to both combatants. The victory of the French was
-comparatively easy and complete. The English loss was one hundred and
-fifty killed and wounded. Nearly two thousand prisoners were taken, one
-hundred and twenty cannon and mortars, six war vessels, and an immense
-amount of stores and ammunition. The blow was a terrific one for the
-English. Oswego had been their Gibraltar. In it were their shipbuilding
-yard, nearly all of their heavy ordnance, and a large part of the
-stores that were to supply them during the war. For the first time,
-the English realised what a terrible loss they had sustained in the
-breaking of the power of the Five Nations.
-
-[Illustration: Monument at Put-in-Bay in Memory of the British and
-Americans who Died in the Battle of Lake Erie.]
-
-It was not until 1758 that the English regained a little of their
-lost prestige. Everywhere the French had been victorious. But, in the
-summer of this year, Colonel Bradstreet attacked Fort Frontenac with
-thirty-five hundred men, and after two days of battle the garrison
-surrendered. This was as decisive a blow to the French as was the loss
-of Oswego to the English. Ten thousand barrels of supplies, nearly a
-hundred cannon, and five vessels were destroyed. The French now saw
-that the beginning of the end was at hand. Little Fort Niagara was
-burned the following year to keep it from falling into the hands of
-their enemies, and a little later Fort Niagara surrendered. At this
-time French reinforcements were on their way to Niagara, but hearing
-of the fall of this last stronghold the ships which bore them were
-destroyed at the northern end of Grand Island, in a bay which from that
-time has been known as Burnt Ship Bay, and at the bottom of which,
-until a comparatively short time ago, the remains of the old vessels
-were plainly to be seen. With the fall of Montreal in 1760, the last
-flag of the French passed from the Great Lakes. Their warships were
-scuttled, their forts in the North surrendered, and within a few months
-England was everywhere supreme along the Inland Seas.
-
-There now followed a curious and absorbingly interesting phase of
-Lake history. The English had conquered the French--but they had not
-conquered the red allies. The warriors of the Upper Lakes could not
-be made to understand the situation. “We fight until there are none
-of us left to fight,” they said. “Why is it that our French brothers
-have run? Shall we run because they have run? We were their friends and
-brothers. We are their friends now, and though you have conquered them
-we will still fight for them, so long as there are among us men who can
-fight.” A more beautiful illustration of the friendship and loyalty of
-the Indian warrior could hardly be conceived than this.
-
-And it was largely this loyalty, this loyalty to a race that had been
-destroyed in their regions, that was to result in those terrible wars
-and massacres which marked the course of English rule along the Lakes,
-almost as regularly as mile-posts mark the course of a road. In the
-hearts of the savages there was an intense, ineradicable hatred of the
-English. They, and not the French, were regarded as the usurpers and
-despoilers of the country. This hatred was even greater than that of
-the Five Nations toward the French. It was something, as one old writer
-says, “beyond description, beyond the power to measure.”
-
-In these days, a fearful fate was rolling up slowly for the string of
-forts along the Inland Seas, a doom that came without warning and with
-terrible completeness. At the head of the great conspiracy which was
-to result in the destruction of all the forts held by the English,
-with the exception of that at Detroit, was Chief Pontiac. On May 16,
-1763, the first blow fell. By what was called treachery on the part of
-the Indians, but what would be termed stratagem in a white man’s war,
-Fort Sandusky was captured and its entire garrison, with the exception
-of one man, was massacred. Meanwhile a band of Pottawatomies from
-Detroit had hurried to the fort at the mouth of St. Joseph’s River, at
-the head of Lake Michigan, and, on the morning of the twenty-fifth,
-killed the whole of its garrison with the exception of three. Eight
-days later Michilimackinac (Mackinac) fell. On the morning of this
-fatal day, a large party of Ojibwas were to play a game of ball with
-the Sacs, and not a breath of suspicion filled the breasts of the
-doomed officers and men. Discipline was relaxed on account of the
-game. Excitement ran high. The Indians were in the best of spirits,
-and had never seemed more friendly. Their sole thought seemed to be of
-the great game. Scores of blanketed squaws and old men had assembled,
-and these, without creating suspicion, had gathered close to the open
-gates. The game began, and the shouting, struggling savages rushed this
-way and that in pursuit of the ball. Now they would surge far from
-the stockade, now so close that they would crush against its pickets.
-Suddenly the ball shot high into the air and fell inside the fort, and
-a hundred yelling savages rushed to the gates. Instantly the scene was
-changed. The squaws and the old men threw back their blankets and gave
-hatchets and guns to the warriors as they rushed past them. Within a
-few minutes, seventeen men were killed and the rest of the garrison
-were prisoners. Five of these prisoners were afterward killed by their
-captors. The fate of the garrison at Presque Isle was less terrible.
-For two days, the defenders of the fort held off the savages and then
-surrendered upon the promise that their lives would be spared. The
-prisoners were carried to Detroit.
-
-During this time, while the conspiracy was working with such terrible
-success at nearly every point, the great Pontiac himself had failed in
-his designs upon Detroit. The garrison at this point was the strongest
-on the Lakes, being composed of one hundred and twenty men under the
-command of Major Gladwin and some forty or fifty traders and trappers.
-They were strongly entrenched behind palisades twenty-five feet high,
-were well supplied with the necessities of war, and Pontiac regarded
-them as invincible unless he could overcome them by stratagem. By
-the merest chance a fearful massacre was averted. Early in May Major
-Gladwin received warning of Pontiac’s plotting, but paid comparatively
-little attention to it until, under a clever pretext, the Indian
-chieftain asked that he and a number of his warriors be allowed to
-enter the fort. Under their blankets Pontiac and his braves carried
-hatchets and short-barrelled rifles, their intention being to take the
-unprepared garrison by surprise and during the first excitement of the
-fray to throw open the gates for the hundreds of armed savages waiting
-near. But when the Indians came within the palisades they found the
-garrison under arms and awaiting them.
-
-[Illustration: Old West Blockhouse, Fort Mackinac.
-
-Built by the British, about 1780.]
-
-This frustrated all of the great chief’s carefully laid plans, and the
-attack was postponed. Three days later Pontiac again asked admittance
-to the fort, but was refused. Knowing that in some way his plot had
-been revealed to the English, Pontiac at once began his attack and
-for several hours fought desperately to take the stronghold, but was
-repulsed again and again with great loss. Desultory fighting, attacks
-and counter-attacks, were frequent features of the siege that followed.
-Meanwhile twenty boats and a hundred men, together with a large
-quantity of supplies, had left Fort Niagara for Detroit under the
-command of Lieutenant Cuyler, and these reinforcements were anxiously
-awaited by the besieged. They were destined never to reach Detroit.
-On June 28th, Lieutenant Cuyler and his command landed on Point Pelee
-with the intention of camping there for the night. Hardly had they
-drawn their boats upon the beach when they were greeted by a tremendous
-volley of musketry, and with frightful yells a horde of savages rushed
-down upon them from their ambush. Taken completely by surprise the
-English made no resistance but fled precipitately for their boats. Less
-than forty men, many of them wounded, escaped in three boats and made
-for Fort Sandusky, which they found had been destroyed. All hope of
-reaching Detroit was now abandoned and the worn and wounded remnants of
-the reinforcing party rowed back to Niagara.
-
-Meanwhile the condition of the garrison at Detroit was becoming
-desperate. Both ammunition and food were becoming exhausted, many of
-the defenders were wounded or sick, and each day seemed to add to
-the strength of the savage besiegers. On the morning of June 30th,
-seven weeks after the beginning of the siege, a large number of boats
-flying the English flag were seen coming up the river. Joy gave place
-to horror when it was seen that these boats were filled with Indians
-and with white prisoners, the latter being those who were captured
-at Point Pelee. While these savage victors had been making their way
-westward, Lieutenant Cuyler and his handful of fugitives were on their
-way to Niagara, where they brought news of the destruction of Fort
-Sandusky and of the possible fate of Detroit. At Fort Niagara was
-the armed schooner _Gladwin_, named after the defender of Detroit,
-and on July 21st, she sailed for the besieged fort carrying with her
-supplies and a reinforcement of sixty men. On the night of the 23d,
-while the schooner was lying becalmed between Fighting Island and the
-mainland in the Detroit River, she was attacked by the Indians, who
-were completely repulsed. For several days, while slowly making her
-way up the river against headwinds and current, the cannon of the
-_Gladwin_ spread consternation and havoc among the savages along the
-shores. Late in July, Captain Dalzell arrived with a score of barges,
-bringing cannon, ammunition, supplies, and an additional force of
-three hundred men. Pontiac, however, was still hopeful of success. His
-force had been increased by more than a thousand warriors, and this
-fact led to the sending of another reinforcement from Fort Niagara.
-Six hundred regulars under the command of Major Wilkins left late in
-September. Near Pointe-aux-Pins they encountered a terrific gale on
-Lake Erie in which seventy men and three officers besides an immense
-amount of stores and ammunition were lost, a calamity which compelled
-the survivors to return to Niagara. Winter brought partial relief to
-Detroit. The great number of Pontiac’s warriors made the struggle for
-subsistence a hard one and with the coming of the cold months the
-tribes separated to keep from starvation, leaving only a part of their
-fighting men to maintain the siege, thus removing for the time being
-the immediate danger of the capture and massacre of the garrison.
-
-During the winter that followed, the English prepared to begin a
-campaign in the spring of a magnitude heretofore unknown among the
-wilderness tribes. The daring and confidence of the Indians were
-becoming more and more menacing. On September 14th, one of the most
-terrible massacres of the Lake country occurred at Devil’s Hole, three
-miles below Niagara Falls. The Devil’s Hole is now visited by thousands
-of tourists each year, but probably not one in a hundred knows of
-the bloody conflict that gave it its name. On that day, a convoy of
-soldiers were returning to Fort Niagara from Fort Schlosser, and in
-the gloomy chasm of the “Hole,” which leads from the bluffs above down
-to the river, a party of ambushed Senecas were awaiting them. Unaware
-of their danger, the soldiers came within a few rods of the ambush,
-and in the massacre that followed all but three of the total number of
-twenty-four were killed. A strong force from Niagara came to give the
-Indians battle and was completely defeated, losing about twoscore of
-its men.
-
-The English were now practically wiped out of the Lake country, with
-the exception of along the Niagara and at Detroit, and the investment
-at the latter place threatened to be successful unless prompt steps
-were taken for the relief of the fort with an overwhelming force. It
-was not until August of the following year that a force sufficiently
-powerful for the campaign was gathered at Fort Schlosser. With three
-thousand men, General Bradstreet set out in bateaux to first strike
-a blow at the Indians along Lake Erie. Instead of fighting, however,
-the Ohio tribes were anxious to make peace with the invaders, and
-after a few skirmishes and many promises on the part of the Indians,
-Bradstreet reached Detroit. The long siege, which had existed for more
-than a year, was broken, treaties of peace were signed with many Indian
-tribes, and the English again secured possession at Michilimackinac,
-Green Bay, and Sault Ste. Marie. But Pontiac was irreconciliable
-and, like Robert Bruce of old, fled into the West with a few of his
-followers to await another opportunity to swoop down upon his enemies.
-
-[Illustration: The Monument Erected to those who Fought and Died on
-Mackinac Island.]
-
-But the balance of fate still seemed to be with the untamed children
-of the wilderness, for Bradstreet’s return to Fort Niagara was marked
-by disasters sufficient to offset much that he had achieved. At Rocky
-River, near Cleveland, he was caught in a terrific gale and met a
-fate similar to that which had overtaken Major Wilkins in the preceding
-September. In the rush for shore, twenty-five of his bateaux, six
-cannon, and a great quantity of his baggage and ammunition were lost,
-together with scores of his men. The force was now divided, a part of
-it to make its way through the wilderness, and the remainder to travel
-in the uninjured bateaux. Bradstreet reached Niagara on November 4th,
-but for twelve weeks the land force fought its way through tangles
-of forest and swamp, fighting, starving, and dying of disease and
-exposure. The number of those who were lost in the storm and in this
-overland march has never been recorded, but it was so large as to
-occasion petitions to the government, which was an unusual thing in
-those days of war and carnage. From that day to this, at various
-times, Lake Erie has given up relics of the lost fleets of Major
-Wilkins and General Bradstreet in portions of old bateaux, gun-flints,
-musket-barrels, bayonets, cannon balls, and other objects. At one time,
-when a sandbar at the mouth of the Rocky River changed its position, a
-vast quantity of these relics were revealed, showing that one of the
-lost bateaux had sunk there and had been uncovered after a lapse of
-many generations.
-
-For a number of years after the subjugation of the Indian tribes,
-the peace of the Lakes was disturbed only by the rivalries of the
-fur-traders and unimportant skirmishes with the savages. The era
-of warships on the Inland Seas had now begun, and by the time the
-Revolutionary War broke out, they were patrolled by quite a number of
-armed vessels bearing the flag of England. The Lakes were destined to
-play but a small part in the struggle for independence, however, and
-the most tragic event of these years upon them was the loss in a storm
-of the British ship _Ontario_, of twenty-two guns, which went down
-between Niagara and Oswego with her entire crew and more than a hundred
-of the 8th King’s Own Regiment. At this time, Spain was scheming to
-gain a foothold in the Lake regions, and, in 1781, a force under Don
-Eugenio Purre left St. Louis in the depth of winter and captured the
-English fort at St. Joseph. For only a few hours the flag of Spain
-floated over the Lake country, Don Eugenio’s scheme being merely
-to secure a “claim” to the regions, and once his banner had risen
-triumphantly above the captured fort he abandoned his position and
-retreated to St. Louis.
-
-Several times during the Revolutionary War it was proposed that an
-attempt be made to capture Detroit, but no efforts were made in this
-direction, so that when peace was declared and the colonies were
-granted their independence, England still remained in possession of the
-Great Lakes. It was not until 1796 that the line of forts along their
-shores were surrendered into the hands of the Americans. On July 4th
-of that year, Forts Niagara, Lewiston, and Schlosser floated for the
-first time in history the banner of the new nation, and a week later,
-Captain Moses Porter raised the same emblem above Detroit. Thus after
-having been the stage of almost ceaseless war for more than a century
-and a half did it seem that peace had at last come to the Great Lakes
-regions. Yet were the clouds already gathering which a few years later
-were to burst forth in another storm of blood along the shores and upon
-the waters of the Inland Seas.
-
-
-
-
-III
-
-The War of 1812 and After
-
-
-The years of peace which followed the surrender of the English along
-the Lakes were not ones of rapid development. It was as if this vast
-country, bathed in blood for more than a hundred and fifty years, had
-fallen into a restful sleep. Until 1800 there was almost no emigration
-west. By the new nation, the shores of Lake Erie were still regarded as
-in the far wilderness. The fur-trade, it is true, increased in volume,
-but not until after 1805 did the traffic of the Lakes begin to show
-any decided growth. From then on conditions brightened. Settlers began
-going into Ohio. Lake Ontario developed a considerable shipping-trade,
-and both the United States and Great Britain began to strengthen their
-naval forces, the American ships being almost entirely on Lake Ontario.
-At the time of the breaking out of the War of 1812, American interests
-on Lake Erie were almost entirely unguarded, the only vessel patrolling
-it being a small brig armed with six-pounders which, after its capture
-by the British, was named the _Detroit_. To make the situation of
-the Americans still worse a curious change had been working among the
-Indians and French. The bitter enemies of the English only a few years
-before, they now became their staunchest allies, and the first blow
-struck was largely by the Ottawas and Chippewas, who joined Captain
-Roberts at St. Joseph in an attack upon Mackinac. Lieutenant Hanks,
-who was in command of the fort, had no knowledge of the declaration of
-war and fell an easy victim to the strategy of Roberts and his Indians
-and French. Not a gun was fired in the capture of this important post,
-which gave to the victors the key to the entire North, and at once
-placed them in a commanding position for the approaching struggle.
-
-[Illustration: Mackinac Island, Showing Old Fort Mackinac.]
-
-Events now began to assume a more warlike aspect along the Lakes.
-At Detroit, the Americans had been assembling in force, and on July
-12, 1812, General Hull crossed the river into Canada at the head
-of twenty-two hundred men, his object being to prevent further
-construction on British fortifications which were in progress near
-Sandwich. Seven days later, Commodore Earle, in command of the British
-naval forces on Lake Ontario, made a futile bombardment of Sacketts
-Harbour. Meanwhile at York, now Toronto, Major-General Brock was
-assembling his forces, and before Hull crossed the river, he had
-established himself at Fort Niagara and had sent reinforcements under
-Colonel Proctor to Amherstburg, a few miles down the river from
-Detroit, where the British were to act as a check to Hull. The latter
-had prepared to march upon Malden when General Brock’s appearance at
-the head of a large body of British and Indian troops sent him in
-precipitate retreat to Detroit.
-
-Before his attack upon the Americans, Brock sought an interview with
-the Indian chief Tecumseh and succeeded in winning his friendship to
-the British cause. On August 15th, the attack upon Detroit was made,
-beginning with a bombardment from guns situated across the river. The
-Americans in their trenches were eager for battle. Never had a garrison
-been more confident of repulsing an enemy. As the British and Indians
-swept up to the attack, the men stood behind their shotted guns with
-lighted matches in their hands. When the enemy was less than five
-hundred yards away, and as his men, anxiously awaiting the order to
-fire, were sighting along their guns, General Hull suddenly commanded
-the white flag to be hoisted above the fort. Never were two combatants
-more thoroughly astounded. With a powerful force, strongly entrenched,
-Hull had surrendered without firing a shot. Two thousand men longing
-for battle and with the odds all in their favour became the prisoners
-of less than eight hundred British and six hundred Indians. It was a
-humiliating defeat. In an hour the prowess of the Americans had dropped
-to the lowest ebb. Hull’s cowardice not only placed the British in
-supreme control of the Upper Lake region but added greatly to the
-foes of the Americans. Those Indian tribes that had remained neutral
-at once turned to the British, and the disaffected militia of Canada
-were moved into enthusiastic support of Brock. On this same day Hull
-was directly responsible for one of the most horrible massacres of
-the Lake country. The commander at Fort Dearborn, which stood on the
-present site of Chicago, had received orders from Hull to evacuate his
-position, and, on the morning of Brock’s bombardment of Detroit, the
-fort’s entire garrison of seventy soldiers, together with many women
-and children, set out from its protection. They had gone as far as
-what is now Eighteenth Street when they were attacked from the rear
-by Miami Indians and a merciless slaughter followed. When only twenty
-men remained, the little force surrendered, and the captives were
-distributed among the savages.
-
-At about this time there occurred an event on Lake Erie which somewhat
-lightened the gloom occasioned by the American reverses. Commodore
-Chauncey, in command of the American naval forces on Ontario, had sent
-Commander Jesse D. Elliott up to Erie to begin the construction of a
-navy. Elliott was a born fighter and not slow to grasp opportunities
-that came his way, and when he learned that the British ships _Detroit_
-and _Caledonia_ were anchored under Fort Erie, he set out from Black
-Rock with one hundred and twenty-eight men, ran his boats alongside
-the two ships, and captured them in a fierce hand-to-hand conflict
-which began at three o’clock in the morning. The two vessels were
-at once got under way and the _Caledonia_ was brought within the
-protection of an American battery near Black Rock. The _Detroit_ was
-less fortunate and was compelled to haul to within a few hundred
-yards of a British battery. Elliott refused to abandon her until his
-ammunition gave out, and even then succeeded in bringing his prize
-to Squaw Island, where she was within the range of both American and
-British batteries. No sooner would one side gain possession of her than
-her captors would be driven off by the guns of the other, and in these
-attacks and counter-attacks the vessel was destroyed. Elliott, however,
-had the nucleus for his new fleet in the captured _Caledonia_.
-
-At the beginning of the war, it was believed by both British and
-American officers that at least one of the decisive battles for the
-mastery of the Lakes would be fought somewhere on the Niagara frontier,
-and no sooner had Brock arranged civil and military matters in the
-West after the fall of Detroit than he hastened back to this scene of
-action. Meanwhile the Americans had been preparing to attack Queenston,
-near Niagara Falls, and from that point begin their invasion of Canada.
-The British were strongly entrenched upon the Heights but their force
-was considerably inferior in number to that of Colonel Van Rensselaer,
-who was in command of the Americans. On the evening of October 12th,
-a dozen boats began ferrying the troops across the river, while at
-the same time, Colonel Chrystie, with three hundred men, and Colonels
-Stranahan, Mead, and Bloom were marching to Lewiston. Early on the
-morning of the 13th, the British opened fire, in the face of which
-the Americans began scaling the Heights, driving the enemy back as
-they advanced. At the time of the crossing of the Americans, Brock was
-at Fort George but lost no time in hastening to the field of battle.
-In a little marshy plot at the foot of the summit on which the final
-struggle occurred, now marked by a small stone monument and overgrown
-with long grass and weeds, a bullet struck him through the body and he
-fell mortally wounded. This was a terrible blow to the British, but,
-in the face of the calamity, they gallantly mustered their forces for
-the recapture of the Heights. There were still about fifteen hundred
-Americans across the river, and if once they were allowed to join
-Colonel Van Rensselaer a position would be achieved of even greater
-importance than that of the British at Detroit and Mackinac. With
-one thousand men, the British began a furious attack of the Heights,
-which were defended by not more than three hundred of the Americans
-who had crossed the river. The battle was one of the most desperate
-and at the same time one of the most picturesque of the war, parties
-of the combatants being at times on ground so precipitous that it
-was difficult to maintain a footing. The Americans were gradually
-beaten back, and, notwithstanding the fact that a superior force was
-only a short distance away, they were compelled to surrender, those
-surrendered including all that had crossed the river, the majority of
-whom took no part in this last battle of the Heights. Ninety Americans
-were killed, about one hundred wounded, and over eight hundred became
-prisoners of war. The British lost less than one hundred and fifty men
-killed and wounded.
-
-[Illustration: Once the Scene of Bloodshed and Strife, these Old Trees
-Stand where French, Indian, and British Fought Years ago.]
-
-Thus far almost unbroken disaster had followed the American land
-forces in the Lake regions, much of which must be ascribed to the
-incompetence of commanding officers. Another fatal mistake was made a
-few weeks after the battle of Queenston Heights when, on November 28th,
-another invasion of Canada was attempted. Three thousand men under
-General Smyth were to comprise this expedition. At three o’clock in
-the morning, twenty-one boats left the American shore near Black Rock,
-but met with such a warm reception at the hands of the British that a
-number of the boats were compelled to fall back, and in the general
-excitement only a part of the force landed. Captain King, in command of
-one division, captured two batteries after a desperate struggle, spiked
-the guns, and with the assistance of Commander Angus and his men
-would have won a complete victory had not the latter, for some reason
-that has never been explained, retreated in his boats. As a consequence
-Captain King and a number of his men were captured, and thus a second
-attempt at a Canadian invasion fizzled out in complete disaster. This
-was practically the end of the campaign of the year 1812. There had
-been several minor naval events besides those which I have described
-and a few small operations on land, but all of them were unimportant.
-
-The following year opened more auspiciously for the Americans, who
-were the first to begin active hostilities. On April 25th, Commodore
-Chauncey set sail with a squadron of fourteen vessels and seventeen
-hundred troops to attack York (Toronto). At this time York was poorly
-defended notwithstanding the fact that a 24-gun ship was almost
-completed in the harbour and an immense quantity of supplies were
-stored there. The Americans began disembarking early in the morning
-of the 27th, under the command of Brigadier-General Pike, while the
-armed schooners beat up to the fort and opened on it with their long
-guns. A strong wind forced the small boats, in which the troops were
-being carried, so close to the works that the landing instead of
-being made at a safe distance as had been planned was in the face of
-a galling fire. Despite this, General Pike assembled his men on the
-beach and began an immediate assault, the Canadians and English being
-driven from their works with heavy loss. In the moment of defeat, the
-garrison fired their powder magazine, and in the terrific explosion
-that followed, fifty-two of the victors were killed and one hundred
-and eighty wounded. Altogether the Americans lost seventy killed in
-both the land and naval forces, and the British one hundred and eighty
-killed and wounded and two hundred and ninety prisoners. The 24-gun
-ship was burned, and another vessel, the _Gloucester_, was added to the
-American fleet.
-
-This victory was of tremendous importance to the Americans, and it
-was determined to at once follow it up by an attack on Fort George,
-where the British General Vincent was stationed with a force of over
-two thousand men, fifteen hundred of whom were regulars. On May 26th,
-Commodore Chauncey reconnoitred the enemy’s position and afterward
-held their interest while the _Conquest_ and _Tompkins_ destroyed
-a battery some distance down the lake. A part of General Vincent’s
-regulars attempted to prevent a landing at this point, but they were so
-terribly cut up by the short-range fire of the ships that they could
-offer but little opposition. So great was their loss that the British
-made little further effort to hold their position, blew up their fort,
-and retreated. Of the Americans, eighteen were killed and forty-seven
-wounded. The British loss was fifty-two killed, nearly three hundred
-wounded, and five hundred taken prisoners.
-
-This last blow lost the Niagara frontier to the British. General
-Vincent at once gave orders that Forts Chippewa and Erie and all public
-property as far down as Niagara Falls should be destroyed. The magazine
-at Fort Erie was fired, and a little later, Lieutenant-Colonel Preston,
-in command of the Americans at Black Rock, took possession of what
-remained of the stronghold, thus giving Perry an opportunity to get
-out of the Niagara River five of the vessels which were to play such
-an important part in the naval history of Lake Erie. Sacketts Harbour
-was now in much the same condition that York (Toronto) had been, and
-was even more poorly defended. The British planned to regain a part
-of their lost prestige by its capture, and on May 27th, Commodore Sir
-James Lucas Yeo sailed with a large fleet and a strong land force under
-Sir George Prevost to make the attack. On the 29th, eight hundred of
-the British regulars landed, but despite the astonishing inadequacy of
-the American garrison they were beaten back with a loss of fifty-two
-killed and two hundred and eleven wounded, while the Americans lost
-but twenty-three killed and one hundred and fourteen wounded. The
-British squadron returned to Kingston, and for several weeks thereafter
-co-operated with the army forces and made several unimportant naval
-captures while Chauncey awaited the completion of the new ship _Pike_.
-During July, General Dearborn was recalled from his command at Fort
-George because of the capture by the British of Lieutenant-Colonel
-Boerstler and seven hundred men, and during this same month Black Rock
-was captured by the enemy and recaptured by the Americans, but it was
-not until the 30th that an important blow was struck by either side.
-On this day the Americans again descended upon York, destroyed eleven
-transports, burned the barracks, and captured a considerable quantity
-of supplies and ammunition.
-
-Both the Americans and the British were now looking for a decisive
-naval battle between Yeo and Chauncey upon Lake Ontario. The squadrons
-were quite evenly matched with the advantage, if any, in favour of
-the Americans. Both commanders watched for a favourable opportunity
-to attack, but not until the 11th of August was a gun fired. After an
-almost harmless long-distance cannonade between the fleets, the _Julia_
-and _Growler_, two of Chauncey’s vessels, became separated from the
-main squadron and were cut off and captured by Yeo. For a month, the
-two fleets were chasing or evading each other, and it was not until
-the 11th of September that they approached close enough for another
-engagement, which was only slight. These “chase-and-run tactics”
-continued until the 28th, when the squadrons came together again in
-York Bay. In the action that followed, Yeo’s ships were badly damaged
-and ran for protection into Burlington Bay. This victory, although not
-resulting in the capture of the British fleet, completely established
-Chauncey’s supremacy and for the remainder of the season Yeo remained
-at Kingston.
-
-For some months past, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, acting under
-Commodore Chauncey, had been devoting his energies to the creating
-of a fleet on Lake Erie, and with such energy that on the memorable
-morning of September 10th, when from the masthead of the _Lawrence_
-at Put-in-Bay was seen the approaching squadron of Captain Robert
-Barclay, he had under his command nine vessels carrying a total of
-fifty-four guns and five hundred and thirty-two men. These vessels
-were the _Lawrence_, _Niagara_, _Caledonia_, _Ariel_, _Scorpion_,
-_Somers_, _Porcupine_, _Tigress_, and the _Trippe_. Barclay’s fleet was
-composed of the _Detroit_, _Queen Charlotte_, _Lady Prevost_, _Hunter_,
-_Chippeway_, and _Little Belt_, carrying a total of sixty-three guns
-and four hundred and forty men. It is interesting to note, according
-to Theodore Roosevelt’s _Naval War of 1812_, that notwithstanding
-the superior number of their guns the British ships were capable of
-throwing a broadside of only 459 pounds as against 936 pounds from the
-American squadron, a fact which shows the overwhelming superiority of
-Perry’s fleet and incidentally robs his victory of some of its glory.
-
-In my examination of the many and various accounts of the naval
-battle of Lake Erie, I have found that the most complete and authentic
-report is that of Mr. Roosevelt, who goes with minute detail into the
-preparation, comparative strength, and handling of the two squadrons,
-and inasmuch as this battle of Erie is one of the most thrilling
-episodes of our Inland Seas, I have secured the very kind permission of
-Mr. Roosevelt to use a part of his description of the actual contest.
-Soon after daylight, on September 10th, Perry got under way and
-advanced toward the enemy in battle form.
-
-[Illustration: A View of the Historic Battle-ground on Mackinac Island.]
-
-    “As, amid light and rather baffling winds, the American
-    squadron approached the enemy” [says Roosevelt], “Perry’s
-    straggling line formed an angle of about fifteen degrees with
-    the more compact one of his foes. At 11.45, the _Detroit_
-    opened the action by a shot from her long 24, which fell short;
-    at 11.50, she fired a second which went crashing through the
-    _Lawrence_, and was replied to by the _Scorpion’s_ long 32.
-    At 11.55, the _Lawrence_, having shifted her port bow-chaser,
-    opened with both the long 12’s, and at meridian began with
-    her carronades, but the shot from the latter all fell short.
-    At the same time, the action became general on both sides,
-    though the rearmost American vessels were almost beyond the
-    range of their own guns, and quite out of range of the guns
-    of their antagonists. Meanwhile, the _Lawrence_ was already
-    suffering considerably as she bore down on the enemy. It was
-    twenty minutes before she succeeded in getting within good
-    carronade range, and during that time the action at the head
-    of the line was between the long guns of the _Chippeway_ and
-    _Detroit_, throwing 123 pounds, and those of the _Scorpion_,
-    _Ariel_, and _Lawrence_, throwing 104 pounds. As the enemy’s
-    fire was directed almost exclusively at the _Lawrence_ she
-    suffered a great deal. The _Caledonia_, _Niagara,_ and _Somers_
-    were meanwhile engaging, at long range, the _Hunter_ and _Queen
-    Charlotte_, ... while from a distance the three other American
-    gun-vessels engaged the _Prevost_ and _Little Belt_. By 12.20
-    the _Lawrence_ had worked down to close quarters, and at 12.30
-    the action was going on with great fury between her and her
-    antagonists, within canister range. The raw and inexperienced
-    American crews committed the same fault the British so often
-    fell into on the ocean and overloaded their carronades. In
-    consequence, that of the _Scorpion_ upset down the hatchway in
-    the middle of the action, and the sides of the _Detroit_ were
-    dotted with marks from shot that did not penetrate. One of the
-    _Ariel’s_ long 12’s also burst. Barclay fought the _Detroit_
-    exceedingly well, her guns being most excellently aimed, though
-    they actually had to be discharged by flashing pistols at the
-    touchholes, so deficient was the ship’s equipment. Meanwhile,
-    the _Caledonia_ came down too, but the _Niagara_ was wretchedly
-    handled, Elliott keeping at a distance which prevented the use
-    either of his carronades or of those of the _Queen Charlotte_,
-    his antagonist; the latter, however, suffered greatly from
-    the long guns of the opposing schooners, and lost her gallant
-    commander, Captain Finnis, and first lieutenant, Mr. Stokes,
-    who were killed early in the action; her next in command,
-    Provincial Lieutenant Irvine, perceiving that he could do no
-    good, passed the _Hunter_ and joined in the attack on the
-    _Lawrence_ at close quarters. The _Niagara_, the most efficient
-    and best-manned of the American vessels, was thus almost kept
-    out of the action by her captain’s misconduct. At the end of
-    the line the fight went on at long range between the _Somers_,
-    _Tigress_, _Porcupine_, and _Trippe_ on one side, and _Little
-    Belt_ and _Lady Prevost_ on the other; the _Lady Prevost_
-    making a very noble fight, although her 12-pound carronades
-    rendered her almost helpless against the long guns of the
-    Americans. She was greatly cut up, her commander, Lieutenant
-    Buchan, was dangerously, and her acting first lieutenant, Mr.
-    Roulette, severely wounded, and she began falling gradually to
-    leeward.
-
-    “The fighting at the head of the line was fierce and bloody to
-    an extraordinary degree. The _Scorpion_, _Ariel_, _Lawrence_,
-    and _Caledonia_, all of them handled with the most determined
-    courage, were opposed to the _Chippeway_, _Detroit_, _Queen
-    Charlotte_, and _Hunter_, which were fought to the full as
-    bravely. At such close quarters the two sides engaged on about
-    equal terms, the Americans being superior in weight of metal,
-    and inferior in number of men. But the _Lawrence_ had received
-    such damage in working down as to make the odds against Perry.
-    On each side almost the whole fire was directed at the opposing
-    large vessel or vessels; in consequence the _Queen Charlotte_
-    was almost disabled, and the _Detroit_ was frightfully
-    shattered, especially by the raking fire of the gunboats,
-    her first lieutenant, Mr. Garland, being mortally wounded,
-    and Captain Barclay so seriously injured that he was obliged
-    to quit the deck, leaving his ship in command of Lieutenant
-    George Inglis. But on board the _Lawrence_ matters had gone
-    even worse, the combined fire of her adversaries having made
-    the grimmest carnage on her decks. Of the 103 men who were fit
-    for duty when the action began, 83, or over four fifths, were
-    killed or wounded. The vessel was shallow, and the wardroom,
-    used as a cockpit, to which the wounded were taken, was mostly
-    above water, and the shot came through it continually, killing
-    and wounding many men under the hands of the surgeon.
-
-    “The first lieutenant, Yarnall, was three times wounded,
-    but kept to the deck through all; the only other lieutenant
-    on board, Brooks, of the marines, was mortally wounded.
-    Every brace and bowline was shot away, and the brig almost
-    completely dismantled; her hull was shattered to pieces,
-    many shot going completely through it, and the guns on the
-    engaged side were by degrees all dismounted. Perry kept up
-    the fight with splendid courage. As the crew fell one by one,
-    the commodore called down through the skylight for one of the
-    surgeon’s assistants; and this call was repeated and obeyed
-    till none were left; then he asked, ‘Can any of the wounded
-    pull a rope?’ and three or four of them crawled up on deck to
-    lend a feeble hand in placing the last guns. Perry himself
-    fired the last effective heavy gun, assisted only by the purser
-    and chaplain. A man who did not possess his indomitable spirit
-    would have then struck. Instead, however, Perry determined to
-    win by new methods, and remodelled the line accordingly, Mr.
-    Turner, in the _Caledonia_, when ordered to close, had put his
-    helm up, run down on the opposing line, and engaged at very
-    short range, though the brig was absolutely without quarters.
-    The _Niagara_ had thus become next in line astern of the
-    _Lawrence_, and the sloop _Trippe_, having passed the three
-    schooners ahead of her, was next ahead. The _Niagara_ now,
-    having a breeze, steered ahead for the head of Barclay’s line,
-    passing over a quarter of a mile to windward of the _Lawrence_,
-    on her port beam. She was almost uninjured, having so far taken
-    very little part in the combat, and to her Perry shifted his
-    flag. Leaping into a rowboat, with his brother and four seamen,
-    he rowed to the fresh brig, where he arrived at 2.30, and at
-    once sent Elliott astern to hurry up the three schooners. The
-    _Trippe_ was now very near the _Caledonia_. The _Lawrence_,
-    having but fourteen sound men left, struck her colors, but
-    could not be taken possession of before the action recommenced.
-    She drifted astern, the _Caledonia_ passing between her and her
-    foes. At 2.45, the schooners having closed up. Perry, in his
-    fresh vessel, bore up to break Barclay’s line.
-
-    “The British ships had fought themselves to a standstill.
-    The _Lady Prevost_ was crippled and sagged to leeward, though
-    ahead of the others. The _Detroit_ and _Queen Charlotte_ were
-    so disabled that they could not successfully oppose fresh
-    antagonists. There could thus be but little resistance to
-    Perry, as the _Niagara_ stood down, and broke the British line,
-    firing her port guns into the _Chippeway_, _Little Belt_, and
-    _Lady Prevost_, and the starboard ones into the _Detroit_,
-    _Queen Charlotte_, and _Hunter_, raking on both sides. Too
-    disabled to tack, the _Detroit_ and _Charlotte_ tried to wear,
-    the latter running up to leeward of the former; and, both
-    vessels having every brace and almost every stay shot away,
-    they fell foul. The _Niagara_ luffed athwart their bows, within
-    half pistol-shot, keeping up a terrific discharge of great guns
-    and musketry, while on the other side the British vessels were
-    raked by the _Caledonia_ and the schooners so closely that some
-    of their grape-shot, passing over the foe, rattled through
-    Perry’s spars. Nothing further could be done, and Barclay’s
-    flag was struck at 3 P.M. after three and a quarter hours’ most
-    gallant fighting.”
-
-In this conflict off Put-in-Bay, the American loss was twenty-seven
-killed and ninety-six wounded. Of these, twenty-two were killed and
-sixty-one wounded aboard the _Lawrence_. The British loss was forty-one
-killed and ninety-four wounded, the loss falling most heavily on the
-_Detroit_ and _Queen Charlotte_.
-
-Immediately after the battle, Perry wrote his famous dispatch to
-General Harrison: “We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships,
-two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop”; and in a postscript he added,
-“Send us some soldiers to help take care of the prisoners, who are
-more numerous than ourselves.”
-
-It is interesting to note what became of the vessels which played such
-an important part in this tragic drama of Lake Erie. The _Lawrence_,
-afterward repaired, was sunk in Misery Bay for preservation. Long
-afterward a part of her stem was raised and kept as a memorial. For
-years the _Niagara_ was a training ship on Lake Erie, and was then
-sunk near the Lawrence. The _Ariel_, _Little Belt_, _Chippeway_, and
-_Trippe_ were destroyed by the British at Buffalo. The _Detroit_ was
-also sunk near the _Lawrence_, but in 1835, she was raised and rigged
-by a Captain Miles. She was afterwards purchased by a Niagara man,
-and as a spectacle for a crowd of curious people was allowed to break
-herself to pieces on the rocks above the Falls. The _Queen Charlotte_,
-_Lady Prevost_, and the _Hunter_ were used in the Lake trade, and the
-_Caledonia_ became the _General Wayne_. Both the _Scorpion_ and the
-_Tigress_ were recaptured by the British on Lake Huron.
-
-The effects of Perry’s victory over Barclay’s squadron were immediate.
-The British at once gave up all hope of retaining their possessions
-on the Upper Lakes, and General Proctor began the evacuation of Forts
-Detroit and Malden. With all the boats that he could get into his
-possession he began a precipitate flight up the river Thames, where he
-was joined by the Indian chief Tecumseh and his warriors. Encouraged
-by this reinforcement he determined to select his own position for
-giving battle to the Americans, who were hurrying across country from
-Amherstburg under the command of General Harrison. Meanwhile, a number
-of the smaller American war vessels made their way up the Thames and
-Proctor prepared to meet them with his own armed boats. Harrison’s
-force, which outnumbered Proctor two to one, came up to the enemy
-close to the river, and the fierce charge of Colonel Johnson and his
-Kentucky horsemen almost immediately broke the enemy’s line. After a
-desperate struggle the regulars surrendered, but Tecumseh, who had from
-one thousand to two thousand warriors, continued to fight until he fell
-mortally wounded, when his braves broke and fled. The armed boats in
-the river were destroyed to keep them from falling into the hands of
-the Americans. Only a few years ago, two of these were discovered and
-raised. An accompanying illustration shows one of these vessels just
-after it was brought above the water, with a heap of old cannon balls
-amidships.
-
-[Illustration: An Old British Gunboat Discovered in the River Thames.]
-
-Perry’s victory and Harrison’s defeat of the British virtually decided
-the war along the Lakes, although, during the following winter, the
-British prepared to make one more tremendous effort to regain a part
-of the supremacy they had lost. This effort was to be made on Lake
-Ontario. During the whole of the winter of 1813-14, both Yeo and
-Chauncey strained every resource to prepare themselves for this
-final conflict, and it was during this time that the largest ships of
-war that ever floated on the Lakes were built, among them being the
-American ship _Superior_, to carry sixty-two guns, and the British
-ships _Prince Regent_, fifty-eight, and the _Princess Charlotte_,
-forty-two. The two fleets were pretty evenly matched, each squadron
-having eight ships, but with the Americans leading in tonnage, number
-of men, and guns. Yeo, however, was prepared for battle earlier than
-Chauncey, and taking advantage of this he prepared to attack Oswego,
-which was garrisoned by less than three hundred men and was in a
-wretched state of defence. On the 3d of May he set sail, having on
-board his squadron a detachment of over a thousand troops. The fire of
-the fort was drawn on the fifth, but it was not until the following day
-that the battle began in earnest, when five of the British warships
-began a terrific bombardment under cover of which eight hundred troops
-and two hundred seamen were landed. The little garrison fought with
-desperate valour and when they were finally driven from their position
-the British had lost ninety-five men, a number a third as great as the
-American force opposed to them. The Americans lost six men killed and
-thirty-eight wounded, the remainder escaping to the Falls.
-
-On May 19th, Yeo transferred his operations to Sacketts Harbour, where
-he began a strict blockade, much to the discomfiture of Chauncey, who
-still lacked important material for the completion of the _Superior_.
-It was while attempting to capture several small boats with a part of
-this material that two British gunboats, three cutters, and a gig,
-carrying several heavy guns and one hundred and eighty men, started
-up Sandy Creek on the thirtieth, and ran into an ambush laid by Major
-Appling and one hundred and twenty American riflemen. In the terrific
-volleys that followed, the British suffered heavily, eighteen of their
-number being almost immediately killed and fifty wounded. The entire
-force was captured with a loss on the American side of but one wounded.
-On June 6th, Commodore Yeo raised his blockade and from then until July
-31st, when Chauncey brought out his squadron, nothing of importance was
-accomplished with the exception of two or three successful cutting-out
-expeditions on the part of the Americans. Even after this date, until
-the close of navigation, the two fleets acted merely in the capacity
-of watch-dogs, neither daring to attack the other. During the greater
-part of this period, Yeo was penned up in Kingston, while Chauncey,
-whose superior force would have made his co-operation of tremendous
-value to the land forces under General Brown, peremptorily refused this
-assistance, saying that his object was the destruction of the enemy’s
-fleet and not to “become a subordinate or appendage of the army.” On
-the other hand, he could not get Yeo to fight, so that his powerful
-force remained practically useless.
-
-Meanwhile General Brown undertook his contemplated invasion of Canada,
-sending Generals Scott and Ripley to the attack of Fort Erie, which
-soon surrendered. A few days later, on July 5th, General Riall with
-a force of nearly 2000 British met the Americans near Chippewa, and
-one of the fiercest and most important battles of the war was the
-result. Notwithstanding the superior numbers of the enemy, the victory
-fell to the Americans, whose loss was 61 killed and 255 wounded as
-against 236 killed and 322 wounded on the British side. It was at this
-critical moment, when a successful and complete invasion of Canada
-might have been made, that General Brown wrote to Chauncey asking for
-his co-operation. Soon after this, General Riall was reinforced by 800
-men under Sir George Gordon Drummond, and on the 25th of July, General
-Scott was sent against them with a force of 1200 men.
-
-Scott was unaware of the full strength of the enemy until he found
-Riall and Drummond drawn up to meet him at Lundy’s Lane. This was at
-five o’clock in the afternoon, and with the idea of impressing upon the
-British that the entire American army was at his back, General Scott at
-once began the attack. The struggle was one of intense courage on both
-sides and continued until 10.30 at night, when the British were driven
-from the field, leaving General Riall a prisoner. The American loss
-had also been so severe that they retired from the field, abandoning a
-captured battery. During the night, this battery was again manned by
-the British and a bloody fight ensued the following morning before it
-was recaptured. At Lundy’s Lane, the Americans lost 171 killed and 571
-wounded; the British 84 killed and 559 wounded. General Scott had been
-severely wounded in the struggle, and General Brown was laid up with
-injuries at Back Rock, so that the command fell upon General Ripley who
-at once made preparations to recross into the American frontier. Brown
-sent positive orders that this move should not be made and that General
-Ripley should hold Fort Erie. On August 2d, General Drummond, who had
-been reinforced by over 1000 men, laid siege to this stronghold, and
-for two weeks desultory fighting occurred around it. On the night of
-the 14th, at twelve o’clock, a terrific assault was begun upon the
-works and continued until daylight. The British had captured one of
-the bastions and it was while holding this position that a fearful
-explosion occurred directly under their feet, killing and wounding the
-greater portion of them and striking the decisive blow of the siege.
-The American loss was 17 killed and 56 wounded, while the British lost
-221 killed and 174 wounded.
-
-[Illustration: Scene when Admiral Dewey Passed through the Soo Locks.]
-
-For several weeks, both sides continued to strengthen their positions,
-and by the middle of September, 5000 Americans under Generals Brown
-and Porter were ready for an attack on the British. On the 17th, Riall
-was engaged by the entire American force and was driven from the
-position he had taken, with a loss of about 500 in killed and wounded.
-Meanwhile, General Izard’s division was hurrying to the frontier and
-with his arrival the American force was increased to 8000. Riall and
-Drummond in the face of these overwhelming odds retreated to Fort
-George and Burlington Heights, and on November 4th, Fort Erie was blown
-up, General Izard believing that it would be of no further use to the
-Americans. Active operations along the frontier then ceased for the
-winter.
-
-During this breaking of British power along the Niagara frontier, there
-had occurred one or two interesting events on the Upper Lakes. Now that
-the British had lost their fleet on Erie, and that they had become
-almost fugitives from the American forces, those that remained of them
-seemed endowed with almost superhuman courage and ability. Captain
-Sinclair had sailed up into Lake Huron with the _Niagara_, _Caledonia_,
-_Ariel_, _Scorpion_, and _Tigress_, and had burnt the fort and barracks
-of St. Joseph, when the first of these exploits occurred. On August
-4th, Sinclair had made an unsuccessful attack on Fort Michilimackinac
-(Mackinac), had burned a blockhouse, and then departed for Lake Erie,
-leaving the _Scorpion_ and _Tigress_ on Lake Huron. On the 3d of
-September, four small boats filled with British made an attack on the
-_Tigress_ under cover of darkness, and after a brief hand-to-hand
-struggle captured her. The commander of the _Scorpion_ had no knowledge
-of this attack, and on the 5th, he innocently ran within a couple of
-miles of the _Tigress_, which was still flying the American flag. Early
-the following morning, the _Tigress_ ran close up to the _Scorpion_,
-cleared her deck with a volley of musketry, and captured her without
-resistance being made. Meanwhile on the night of August 12th, a daring
-British expedition in small boats captured the armed schooners _Somers_
-and _Ohio_, with another armed ship, the _Porcupine_, lying near. In
-this exploit, seventy British seamen in small boats had captured two
-well-armed vessels carrying ninety men and with a strong sistership a
-few cable-lengths away, an achievement which has few rivals in naval
-history.
-
-But these latter events, brilliant though they were, were of but slight
-importance. The British were defeated and broken from end to end of the
-Lakes, and peace was at hand. On December 24, 1814, fifteen days before
-the battle of New Orleans, peace was declared at Ghent, and with the
-signing of the treaty the sanguinary history of the Lakes, a story that
-had covered more than two centuries of ceaseless war and bloodshed,
-was at an end. From this time on, their history was to be one of
-colonization and commerce.
-
-For a number of years previous to the War of 1812, there had been a
-growing tendency on the part of the people of the East to emigrate
-into the West, but the unsettled conditions of the whole Lake
-region, threatened by Indian war and the bloody feuds of rival
-trading-companies, held the bulk of the pioneers along Lake Ontario.
-Now the floodgates burst loose. Thousands of settlers hurried into
-Ohio, and others pushed on through the wilderness into Michigan. In
-1818, the _Walk-in-the-Water_, the first steamer to float upon the
-Upper Lakes, was launched in Lake Erie, and began making trips from
-Buffalo to Detroit, charging eighteen dollars per passenger for the
-journey. Other vessels engaged in the passenger trade and emigrants
-were enabled to travel entirely by water. By 1820, Ohio possessed
-a population of over half a million. Nineteen out of twenty of the
-west-bound pioneers stopped somewhere along the shores of Lake Erie,
-and at this date Michigan’s population was less than nine thousand.
-But with the coming of other steamers, not only Michigan, but Illinois
-and Wisconsin began to receive a part of the westward-flowing tide.
-The Erie Canal had been opened as early as 1825, and the rapidity
-of the growth of commerce on the Inland Seas may be judged by the
-fact that in 1836 more than three thousand canal-boats were employed
-upon it, a large part of their traffic being the transportation of
-emigrants and their effects to the larger vessels on Lake Erie.
-During this year, there were ninety steamboat arrivals at Detroit, and
-one of these vessels, the _United States_, carried as high as seven
-hundred emigrants on a single trip. From that day to this, the ships
-of the Great Lakes have never been able to more than keep pace with
-the demands of trade. In 1836, vessel-men earned as high as eighty
-per cent. on the cost of their vessels. To-day they are still earning
-thirty.
-
-Beginning with 1839, the emigrant travel to Chicago was so great that
-a line of eight vessels engaged in this traffic alone, each vessel
-making the trip once in sixteen days. It was now impossible to build
-ships fast enough to keep pace with the developing commerce. During
-the ten years between 1830 and 1840, the population of Michigan
-increased from 31,000 to 212,000, and practically the whole of it came
-by lake. In 1840, Wisconsin’s population was less than 31,000; ten
-years later, it was 305,000. By 1846, the value of the commerce of the
-Lakes was already enormous. Its value for that year is estimated to
-have been over eighty millions of dollars. In 1835, the American Fur
-Company built the _John Jacob Astor_, the first large ship to sail
-Lake Superior, and the trade in copper began soon after. With the
-discovery of the rich mineral deposits, hundreds of prospectors began
-flocking into the North, men with capital hurried to the regions of
-the red metal, and, in the race after wealth, vessel-men did not wait
-to build ships on Superior but hauled their vessels bodily across the
-mile portage at Sault Ste. Marie. In 1855 was built the Falls Canal,
-and from that date, the commerce of Superior became an important factor
-in the traffic of the Lakes. All that was needed to make it the most
-important body of fresh water on the globe was the discovery of iron.
-This discovery, and the part that iron has played in the making of our
-nation, have been described in preceding pages.
-
-[Illustration: Map of the Great Lakes Region]
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
-  A
-
-  Aborigines, warlike, of the early history of the Lakes, 163
-
-  Adams, Mayor, of Buffalo, 127
-
-  Aillon, Father Joseph de la Roche d’, mission formed by, 168
-
-  Algonquin, a tribe of Indians, 164
-
-  _Alpena_, the, of Lake Michigan, 102
-
-  American Fur Company, the, 220
-
-  American Shipbuilding Company, the, 15, 16
-
-  Argosy, the huge, of the Lakes, 26
-
-  _Ariel_, the battle-ship, 217
-
-  Assiniboines, the, of Minnesota, 176
-
-  Astor, John Jacob, 220
-
-  _Atlanta_, the loss of the, 102
-
-  _Atlantic_, loss of, with valuable cargo, 110
-
-
-  B
-
-  _Bannockburn_, the mystery of the, 103
-
-  Barre, Governor De la, of Canada, 177
-
-  Beauharnois, Governor, of Canada, 1727, 180
-
-  Beaver Island, 88
-
-  Belle Isle, a great pleasure ground, 85
-
-  _B. F. Jones_, the cargo of, 60
-
-  “Bread Basket of the World,” the future, 60
-
-  Brock, General, the death of, 84
-
-  Brule, Stephen, discovers Lake Superior, 166
-
-  Buffalo, shipyards at, 10
-
-  Burnett, Governor, of New York, 180
-
-
-  C
-
-  Cabins on a freighter, 138
-
-  Calbick, James A., President of the Lumber Carriers’ Association, 51
-
-  _Caledonia_, the capture of, 198
-
-  Canada, the fertile regions of western, 63
-
-  Canadian Niagara Falls Company, the, 133
-
-  Canals, the, at Sault Ste. Marie, 27
-
-  Cargoes of the Great Lakes, 1
-
-  Caron, Joseph Le, discovers Lake Ontario, 166
-
-  “Carriers,” the, of the Great Lakes, 24
-
-  Cayuga Indians, the, 165
-
-  Cheapness of travel on the Lakes, 75
-
-  Chicago, shipyards at, 10
-
-  _Chicora_, the passenger steamer, 42
-
-  “City of the Five Great Lakes,” the, 48
-
-  _City of St. Ignace_, the, a passenger steamer, 74
-
-  Cleveland, shipyards at, 10
-
-  Cliff stamp mill, the, 32
-
-  Coal, immense amount consumed, 27
-
-  Cole, Thomas F., President of the Oliver Mining Company, 32
-
-  Collisions, danger of, 94
-
-  Commerce, the, on the Lakes, 11, 49
-
-  Construction of a Lake ship, 23
-
-  _Cordurus_, the freighter, 100
-
-  Coulby, Harry, President of the Pittsburg Steamship Company, 12
-
-  _Cruise of a Lonely Heart, The_, 93
-
-  Cuyler, Lieutenant, defeat of, 187
-
-
-  D
-
-  _Dacotah_, the loss of the, 104
-
-  Dakotas, the powerful tribe of the, 164
-
-  Daumont, Simon Francis, takes possession of the Lakes, 175
-
-  Davidson, James, mentioned, 40
-
-  _Dean Richmond_, the treasure ship, 108
-
-  Deluth, Daniel, a fort erected by, 1761, 176
-
-  Denonville, Marquis, 178
-
-  Detroit, shipyards at, 10;
-    great industry at, 15;
-    tonnage passing, 27;
-    the defence of, 188
-
-  Detroit _Journal_, the, 42
-
-  Detroit River, the, 27
-
-  Detroit Shipbuilding Company, the, 17
-
-  Detroit _Tribune_, the, 42
-
-  Development, the, of the region, 6
-
-  Devil’s Hole, the massacre at, 189
-
-  Dining-room on a freighter, 144
-
-  Dividends on an investment in a Lake freighter, 61
-
-  Douglas, G. L., 14
-
-  Duluth, the “highway” to, 3;
-    the great future of, 123
-
-
-  E
-
-  Earle, Commodore, on Lake Ontario, 195
-
-  _Earling_, the loading of the, 43
-
-  Early history of the Lakes, 159 _ff._
-
-  Electrical Development Company, the, 133
-
-  Elevators, the building of, 63
-
-  Elliott, Commander Jesse D., 197
-
-  Elwood, H. C., of the Chamber of Commerce in Buffalo, 116
-
-  English, settlements of the olden time on the Lakes, 177;
-    traders, 179
-
-  Erie Basin, the, 131
-
-  Erie Canal, transportation on, 7;
-    the widening of, 63;
-    the new era for, 132
-
-  Escarpments, the worn, of the Lakes, 162
-
-  Extent of the ore deposits, 36
-
-
-  F
-
-  Five Nations, the Indian tribes known as the, 165
-
-  _Flagg_, a cargo of copper on the, 66
-
-  Flour, amount carried on the Lakes, 50
-
-  Flying Dutchman, the, of the Lakes, 103
-
-  Food, the various kinds of, on a freighter, 153
-
-  Forests of Minnesota, the, 53
-
-  Fort Niagara, the remains of, 84
-
-  Foxes, the extermination of the, 165
-
-  Freight, amount of, on the Great Lakes, 25
-
-  Freighters, the largest fleet of, iii;
-    the luxuriance of the, 20
-
-  Fresh-water seas, iii
-
-  Frontenac, Fort, built, 1673, 170;
-    taken by English, 1758, 182
-
-  “Frozen Ship,” the mystery of the, 111
-
-  Fuel, the loading of, 65
-
-  Fur trade, the increase of the, 194
-
-
-  G
-
-  _George W. Perkins_, the record of the, 45
-
-  Georgian Bay, a trip past, 86
-
-  _Gilcher_, the loss of the, 102
-
-  Gilchrist, J. C., the head of the Gilchrist Transportation Company, 13
-
-  Glacial Age, the, in North America, 162
-
-  Gladwin, Major, defends Fort Detroit, 186
-
-  _G. P. Griffin_, the burning of the, 105
-
-  “Grain Age,” the beginning of the, 63
-
-  “Grand Army,” the, of the Lakes, 52
-
-  Great Lakes, the (see Inland Seas)
-
-  _Griffin_, the, 84;
-    the romantic loss of, 111;
-    the history of the, 171 _ff._
-
-  “Groves” as pleasure resorts, 81
-
-  “Guests’ quarters,” the, on a freighter, 139
-
-
-  H
-
-  _Harry Berwind_, a private room on the, 139
-
-  Hatch-bag, playing of, 150
-
-  Hazard, Captain Oliver, 205
-
-  _Hudson_, the loss of the, 102
-
-  Hull, General, invades Canada, 195;
-    cowardice of, 196
-
-  Huron, Lake, a trip up, 3
-
-
-  I
-
-  Ice Age, the waning of the, 162
-
-  “Ice devils,” the damage done by, 99
-
-  Indian canoes, fleets of, 165
-
-  Industrial supremacy, 5
-
-  Inland Seas, the, commercial life of, iv;
-    the leviathans of, 3;
-    the spirit of, 4;
-    normal condition, 7;
-    shipbuilding on, 11;
-    the wonders of, 12;
-    fortune-making on, 18;
-    cargoes on, 26;
-    commerce of, 48;
-    death of the lumber fleets of, 52;
-    cheap transportation on, 62;
-    transportation of copper on, 66;
-    passenger traffic on, 68;
-    summer life, 68 _ff._;
-    Admiral Dewey visits, 73;
-    marine tragedies of, 77;
-    the spring rush on, 89;
-    dangers of navigation, 91;
-    danger of ice, 96;
-    mysteries of, 103;
-    struggle for supremacy of, 117;
-    greatest ship on the, 137;
-    early history of, 159 _ff._;
-    missions established on, 169;
-    change of masters, 175;
-    England supreme, 183;
-    peace on, 193;
-    naval battle of Lake Erie, 206
-
-  “Inner life,” the, of a great freighter, 137
-
-  Iron, the prominence of, 28
-
-  Iron ore, the transportation of, 8
-
-  _Ironsides_, the steamer, 104
-
-  Iroquois, the, of Lake Ontario, 165
-
-
-  J
-
-  Jackson, Captain James, the heroism of, 95
-
-  Jesuits, the missions established by the, 169
-
-
-  K
-
-  _Kent_, the wreck of the, 109
-
-  King Strang, the Mormon, 88
-
-
-  L
-
-  Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company, the, 125
-
-  _Lady Elgin_, the sinking of the, 104
-
-  Lake Carriers’ Association, the, 46
-
-  Lakeside inns, life at the, 82
-
-  Laurentian River, the, 161
-
-  _Lawrence_, the attack on the, 207
-
-  _Lexington_, lost with a cargo of whisky, 110
-
-  Life of the Great Lakes, iii
-
-  Little Venice, mentioned, 85
-
-  Livingston, William, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association,
-      40, 46
-
-  Lorain, shipyards at, 10
-
-  Loyalty, the, of the Indians, 183
-
-  Lumber Carriers’ Association, the, 50
-
-  Lumber industry, the extinction of, 52
-
-
-  M
-
-  Mackinaw Island, 78
-
-  _Maid of the Mist_, the, 83
-
-  Manitou Island, a wreck near, 110
-
-  Manitowoc, shipyards at, 10
-
-  Mapleson Opera Company, the, 42
-
-  Mason, F. Howard, 126
-
-  _Mataafa_, the steel ship, 105
-
-  Matchedash Bay, 166
-
-  McKenzie, Captain, peculiar situation of, 100
-
-  Mesaba, the, as a wilderness, 34
-
-  Mesaba range, the richness of the, 40
-
-  Mess-room, the, on a freighter, 154
-
-  Mexican mahogany woodwork, 73
-
-  Miami Indians, the, 197
-
-  Michilimackinac, the fort at, 176;
-    the destruction of the garrison at, 185
-
-  Mines, the working of, 37
-
-  Mitchell, Captain John, 14
-
-  Mohawks, the, 165
-
-  Montreal, the fall of, 1760, 183
-
-
-  N
-
-  _Nashua_, the disappearance of, 102
-
-  Neuters, a tribe of Indians, 165
-
-  New York Steel Company, the, 125
-
-  Niagara Falls, money expended above, 9
-
-  Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, 133
-
-  Niagara Falls Power Company, the, 133
-
-  Nicolet, Jean, 167
-
-  North Tonawanda, the growth of, 130
-
-
-  O
-
-  “Observation room,” the, of a freighter, 142
-
-  Ohio River, the country north of, 8
-
-  Ojibwas, the, 164
-
-  Oliver Mining Company, the, 32
-
-  Oneida Indians, the, 165
-
-  Onondaga Indians, the, 165
-
-  _Ontario_, the battle-ship, 192
-
-  Ontario Power Company, the, 134
-
-  Ore beds, the, of Minnesota, 4
-
-  Ore docks, the, at Duluth, 43
-
-  Origin, the, of the Great Lakes, 161 _ff._
-
-  _Ostrich_, the resting place of the, 110
-
-  Oswego, a trading-post at, 180
-
-  Ottawas, the tribe of the, 164
-
-  Owners, the ship, 1
-
-
-  P
-
-  Palatinate, the War of the, 179
-
-  Passenger steamers, the, 69
-
-  Passenger traffic, the, 68 _ff._
-
-  Pay-rolls, the, of Buffalo, 126
-
-  Perry, Commodore, the victory of, 211
-
-  Pessano, Antonio C., 15
-
-  _Pewabic_, the, in Thunder Bay, 106;
-    the finding of, 109
-
-  Phœnix mine, an accident in the, 32
-
-  Pike, Brigadier-General, 201
-
-  Pilot-house, the, on a Lake steamer, 149
-
-  Pine wood, the total amount from Michigan, 57
-
-  “Pittsburg of the North,” the, 124. (See Duluth)
-
-  Pittsburg Steamship Company, the, 12
-
-  “Plate department,” the, of a shipyard, 22
-
-  Point Pelee, the battle of, 187
-
-  Pontiac, the Indian chief, 85
-
-  Port Arthur, the shipping of, 62
-
-  Porter, Moses, 193
-
-  Pottawatomies, a tribe of Indians, 164
-
-  Purre, Don Eugenio, departure of, 192
-
-  Put-in-Bay, historical events at, 84;
-    the great naval battle of, 210
-
-
-  Q
-
-  Queen Anne’s War, 180
-
-  _Queen of the West_, the loss of the, 99 _ff._
-
-  Queenston, the attack on, 198
-
-  Queenston Heights, the battle of, 84
-
-
-  R
-
-  Richardson, W. C., 40
-
-  Riveting machines, the, 24
-
-  Roberts, Captain, at St. Joseph, 195
-
-  Rocky River, the change of position of, 191
-
-  Romans of the Wilderness, the, 180
-
-  Roosevelt, President Theodore, account by, 206
-
-  Ruggles’ Grove, overlooking the Lake, 79
-
-
-  S
-
-  Sacketts Harbour, operations at, 213
-
-  Sacs, a tribe of Indians, 165
-
-  Sailors on the Lakes, 1
-
-  Sandusky, Port, the capture of, 184
-
-  Sault Ste. Marie canals, the, 27
-
-  Savages, the first, near the Lakes, 164
-
-  Schantz, A. A., General Manager, 72
-
-  _Scorpion_, the battle-ship, 218
-
-  Sellwood, Captain Joseph, 29
-
-  Seneca Indians, the, 165
-
-  Seven Years’ War, the beginning of the, 181
-
-  Shattuck’s Grove, an inexpensive resort, 79
-
-  Sheadle, J. H., 14
-
-  Ship-builders, the, of the Lakes, vi
-
-  Ships, the, of the Great Lakes, 1
-
-  Shuffle-board, the playing of, 150
-
-  Signals in code used on the Lakes, 156
-
-  Silver-ware on a freighter, 144
-
-  Sinclair, Captain, on Lake Huron, 217
-
-  Sioux Indians, the, 165
-
-  Snyder, W. P., 30
-
-  Social equality on the Lakes, the, 70
-
-  “Soo,” records of tonnage at the, 27
-
-  St. Clair, Lake, a summer at, 83
-
-  Steam shovels, the work of, 38
-
-  Steel Corporation, the, 122
-
-  St. Mary’s River, the, 87
-
-  “Stripping,” the work of, 39
-
-  Suez Canal, the, in 1908, 6
-
-  Summer life on the Lakes, the, 68 _ff._
-
-  _Superior_, the steamer, 98
-
-  Superior, Lake, commerce on, 10
-
-  Supremacy, the struggle for, 114
-
-
-  T
-
-  Taxes in Michigan, the lapse of, 58
-
-  _Te Deum Laudamus_, the singing of, 171
-
-  Thames, the battle of the, 85
-
-  _Thomas F. Cole_, the steamer, 19
-
-  “Thousand-mile highway,” the, 3, 13
-
-  Toledo, shipyards at, 10
-
-  Toledo Shipbuilding Company, the, 18
-
-  Tomlinson, G. Ashley, 14;
-    an opinion of, 36
-
-  Tonawandas, the twin, 46
-
-  Tower, Charlemagne, Ambassador to Germany, 1884, 34
-
-  Tragedies, the, of the Lakes, 95
-
-  “Twin Cities,” the, 54
-
-  “Two Lost Tows,” the, 102
-
-
-  U
-
-  _United States_, the emigrant ship, 220
-
-  Upper Peninsula, the, 87
-
-  Utes, the, of White River, 41
-
-  Utrecht, the Treaty of, 1713, 180
-
-
-  V
-
-  Van Rensselaer, Colonel, 199
-
-  Vermilion ranges, the, 29
-
-  Vessels of the Lakes, the construction of, 10 _ff._
-
-
-  W
-
-  _Walk-in-the-Water_, the first steamboat of the upper Lakes, 219
-
-  Wallace, James C., of Cleveland, 16
-
-  War of 1812, the, 194 _ff._
-
-  _W. B. Kerr_, capacity of the, 61
-
-  West Superior, shipyards at, 10
-
-  _Western Reserve_, the, 98
-
-  Westinghouse, George, an opinion by, 133
-
-  _Westmoreland_, loss of the, 110
-
-  _W. F. Sauber_, the, 96;
-    the sinking of, 97
-
-  Whisky, a valuable cargo, 110
-
-  White River Utes, the, 41
-
-  Wickwire Steel Company, the, 125
-
-  _William H. Stevens_, the treasure ship, 108
-
-  Wolvin, A. B., 40
-
-
-  Y
-
-  _Yale_, the steamer, 96
-
-  Yellow pine of Louisiana, the, 58
-
-  Yeo, Sir James Lucas, 203
-
-  _Young Sion_, the disappearance of the, 109
-
-
-
-
-_American Waterways_
-
-
-The Romance of the Colorado River
-
-The Story of its Discovery in 1540, with an account of the Later
-Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell
-through the Line of the Great Canyons.
-
-By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh
-
-Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872
-
-_435 pages, with 200 Illustrations, and Frontispiece in Color. $3.50
-net_
-
-“His scientific training, his long experience in this region, and his
-eye for natural scenery enable him to make this account of the Colorado
-River most graphic and interesting. No other book equally good can be
-written for many years to come--not until our knowledge of the river is
-greatly enlarged.”--_The Boston Herald._
-
-“Mr. Dellenbaugh writes with enthusiasm and balance about his chief,
-and of the canyon with a fascination that make him disinclined to
-leave it, and brings him thirty years later to its description with
-undiminished interest.”--_New York Tribune._
-
-
-The Ohio River
-
-A COURSE OF EMPIRE
-
-By Archer B. Hulbert
-
-Associate professor of American History, Marietta College, Author of
-“Historic Highways of America,” etc.
-
-_390 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_
-
-An interesting description from a fresh point of view of the
-international struggle which ended with the English conquest of the
-Ohio Basin, and includes many interesting details of the pioneer
-movement on the Ohio. The most widely read students of the Ohio Valley
-will find a unique and unexpected interest in Mr. Hulbert’s chapters
-dealing with the Ohio River in the Revolution, the rise of the cities
-of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville, the fighting Virginians, the
-old-time methods of navigation, etc.
-
-“A wonderfully comprehensive and entirely fascinating book.”--_Chicago
-Inter-Ocean._
-
-
-Narragansett Bay
-
-_Its Historic and Romantic Associations and Picturesque Setting_
-
-By Edgar Mayhew Bacon
-
-Author of “The Hudson River,” “Chronicles of Tarrytown,” etc.
-
-_340 pages, with 50 Drawings by the Author, and with Numerous
-Photographs and a Map. $3.50 net_
-
-Impressed by the important and singular part played by the settlers
-of Narragansett in the development of American ideas and ideals, and
-strongly attracted by the romantic tales that are inwoven with the
-warp of history, as well as by the incomparable setting the great bay
-affords for such a subject, the author offers this result of his labor
-as a contribution to the story of great American Waterways, with the
-hope that his readers may be imbued with somewhat of his own enthusiasm.
-
-“An attractive description of the picturesque part of Rhode Island.
-Mr. Bacon dwells on the natural beauties, the legendary and
-historical associations, rather than the present appearance of the
-shores.”--_N. Y. Sun._
-
-
-The Great Lakes
-
-By James Oliver Curwood
-
-_With about 80 Illustrations. Probable price $3.50 net_
-
-This profusely illustrated book, as entertaining as it is informing,
-has the twofold advantage of being written by a man who knows the Lakes
-and their shores as well as what has been written about them. The
-general reader will enjoy the romance attaching to the past history
-of the Lakes and not less the romance of the present--the story of
-the great commercial fleets that plough our inland seas, created to
-transport the fruits of the earth and the metals that are dug from the
-bowels of the earth. To the business man who has interests in or about
-the Lakes, or to the prospective investor in Great Lakes enterprises,
-the book will be found suggestive. Comparatively little has been
-written of these fresh-water seas, and many of his readers will be
-amazed at the wonderful story which this volume tells.
-
-
-The St. Lawrence River
-
-_Historical--Legendary--Picturesque_
-
-By George Waldo Browne
-
-Author of “Japan--the Place and the People,” “Paradise of the Pacific,”
-etc.
-
-_385 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_
-
-While the St. Lawrence River has been the scene of many important
-events connected with the discovery and development of a large portion
-of North America, no attempt has heretofore been made to collect and
-embody in one volume a complete and comprehensive narrative of this
-great waterway. This is not denying that considerable has been written
-relating to it, but the various offerings have been scattered through
-many volumes, and most of these have become inaccessible to the general
-reader.
-
-This work presents in a consecutive narrative the most important
-historic incidents connected with the river, combined with descriptions
-of some of its most picturesque scenery and delightful excursions into
-its legendary lore. In selecting the hundred illustrations care has
-been taken to give as wide a scope as possible to the views belonging
-to the river.
-
-
-The Niagara River
-
-By Archer Butler Hulbert
-
-Professor of American History, Marietta College; author of “The Ohio
-River,” “Historic Highways of America,” etc.
-
-_350 pages, with 70 Illustrations and Maps. $3.50 net_
-
-Professor Hulbert tells all that is best worth recording of the history
-of the river which gives the book its title, and of its commercial
-present and its great commercial future. An immense amount of carefully
-ordered information is here brought together into a most entertaining
-and informing book. No mention of this volume can be quite adequate
-that fails to take into account the extraordinary chapter which is
-given to chronicling the mad achievements of that company of dare-devil
-bipeds of both sexes who for decades have been sweeping over the Falls
-in barrels and other receptacles, or who have gone dancing their dizzy
-way on ropes or wires stretched from shore to shore above the boiling,
-leaping water beneath.
-
-
-The Hudson River
-
-FROM OCEAN TO SOURCE
-
-_Historical--Legendary--Picturesque_
-
-By Edgar Mayhew Bacon
-
-Author of “Chronicles of Tarrytown,” “Narragansett Bay,” etc.
-
-_600 Pages, with 100 Illustrations, including a Sectional Map of the
-Hudson River. $3.50 net_
-
-“The value of this handsome quarto does not depend solely on the
-attractiveness with which Mr. Bacon has invested the whole subject,
-it is a kind of footnote to the more conventional histories, because
-it throws light upon the life and habits of the earliest settlers. It
-is a study of Dutch civilization in the New World, severe enough in
-intentions to be accurate, but easy enough in temper to make a great
-deal of humor, and to comment upon those characteristic customs and
-habits which, while they escape the attention of the formal historian,
-are full of significance.”--_Outlook._
-
-
-The Connecticut River
-
-AND THE
-
-Valley of the Connecticut
-
-THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES FROM MOUNTAIN TO SEA
-
-_Historical and Descriptive_
-
-By Edwin Munroe Bacon
-
-Author of “Walks And Rides in the Country Round About Boston,” etc.
-
-_500 Pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_
-
-From ocean to source every mile of the Connecticut is crowded with
-reminders of the early explorers, of the Indian wars, of the struggle
-of the Colonies, and of the quaint, peaceful village existence of the
-early days of the Republic. Beginning with the Dutch discovery, Mr.
-Bacon traces the interesting movements and events which are associated
-with this chief river of New England.
-
-
-The Columbia River
-
-_Its History--Its Myths--Its Scenery--Its Commerce_
-
-By William Denison Lyman
-
-Professor of History in Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
-
-_Fully Illustrated. Probable price, $3.50 net_
-
-This is the first effort to present a book distinctively on the
-Columbia River. It is the intention of the author to give some special
-prominence to Nelson and the magnificent lake district by which it is
-surrounded. As the joint possession of the United States and British
-Columbia, and as the grandest scenic river of the continent, the
-Columbia is worthy of special attention.
-
-
-_In Preparation_:
-
-_Each will be fully illustrated and will probably be published at $3.50
-net_
-
-  1.--Inland Waterways
-        By Herbert Quick
-
-  2.--The Mississippi River
-        By Julius Chambers
-
-  3.--The Story of the Chesapeake
-        By Ruthella Mory Bibbins
-
-  4.--Lake George and Lake Champlain
-        By W. Max Reid
-    Author of “The Mohawk Valley,” “The Story of Old Fort Johnson,” etc.
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Notes
-
-
-Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
-predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
-changed.
-
-Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.
-
-Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
-
-Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
-
-Page 190: “irreconciliable” probably is a misprint for “irreconcilable”.
-
-Page 226: Index entry for “Ship-builders” referenced page v, but the
-term was split across pages vi-vii, and is shown here as being on page
-vi.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Lakes, by James Oliver Curwood
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Lakes, by James Oliver Curwood
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: The Great Lakes
-       The Vessels That Plough Them: Their Owners, Their Sailors,
-              and Their Cargoes
-
-Author: James Oliver Curwood
-
-Release Date: September 4, 2016 [EBook #52976]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT LAKES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Roger Frank, Charlie Howard, and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-book was produced from images made available by the
-HathiTrust Digital Library.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;">
-  <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="515" height="800" alt="Cover" />
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div id="if_i_000" class="newpage p4 figcenter" style="width: 475px;">
-  <img src="images/i_000.jpg" width="472" height="600" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption red"><p>The Fountain of the Great Lakes</p>
-  <p class="smaller">Lorado Taft, Sculptor</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<h1 class="gesperrt red"><span class="large">The Great Lakes</span></h1>
-
-<p class="p1 center large vspace">The Vessels That Plough Them: Their Owners,<br />
-Their Sailors, and Their Cargoes</p>
-
-<p class="p2 center vspace"><span class="smaller">Together with</span><br />
-<span class="larger">A Brief History of Our Inland Seas</span></p>
-
-<p class="p2 center vspace"><span class="smaller">By</span><br />
-<span class="xlarge red">James Oliver Curwood</span></p>
-
-<p class="p2 center"><i>With 72 Illustrations and a Map</i></p>
-
-<p class="p2 center vspace"><span class="large red">G. P. Putnam’s Sons</span><br />
-<span class="larger gesperrt">New York and London</span><br />
-<span class="gesperrt">The Knickerbocker Press</span><br />
-1909</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="newpage p4 center vspace small">
-<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1909<br />
-BY<br />
-JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD</p>
-
-<p class="p2 center small bold">The Knickerbocker Press, New York</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p class="newpage p4 center vspace smaller">
-TO HIS<br />
-<span class="larger">FATHER AND MOTHER</span><br />
-WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND FAITH IN HIM HAVE BEEN UNFAILING,<br />
-THE AUTHOR<br />
-AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATES THIS BOOK
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v">v</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="Preface"></a>Preface</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> this volume, it has been my object to tell of the
-people and of the picturesque life of the Great
-Lakes, and to set before my readers actual facts
-about the cities, the commerce, and the future
-of the greatest fresh-water seas in the world. For
-some unaccountable reason, the Great Lakes, notwithstanding
-the fact that more than thirty million
-people live in the States bordering their shores, and
-in spite of the still more remarkable fact that they
-are doing more than anything else on the American
-continent for the commercial progress of the nation,
-have been almost entirely neglected by writers. To-day
-there are but few people who know that one of
-the three greatest ports and the largest fleet of freighters
-in the world are on these unsalted waters; and I
-mention the fact in this particular place simply to
-bring home to the casual reader how little is known
-by the public at large about our Inland Seas. For
-this reason, I have not dealt with any single side of
-Lake life, but have attempted to present as many
-phases of it as I could; and, for the same reason, I
-have added a brief historical account of the Lakes at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi">vi</a></span>
-the end of the book. It has been my desire, too, that
-these pages, from the beginning, should prove of
-especial value to those many thousands all over the
-world who are, or may in the future be, directly interested
-in the Lakes in a business way; and a great
-deal of attention has, therefore, been given to the
-commercial side of my subject&mdash;statistics and facts
-regarding Lake commerce, the opportunities of the
-present day, and a forecast of what the coming years
-hold in store for the men who have investments, or
-who plan to invest in business enterprises, on or
-about the Great Lakes.</p>
-
-<p>While dwelling upon the importance of the commercial
-life of the Inland Seas, I wish also to emphasise
-the fact that I have kept always in mind another
-large class of people who are keenly interested in
-my subject, though not from a commercial standpoint.
-The present volume is designed to interest
-this latter class by portraying another side of Lake
-life&mdash;the human side, the romance and the tragedy
-that have played their thrilling parts upon these
-waters; the wonders of their progress; the story of
-their ships, their men, their wars, for of all the pages
-in the history of the North American continent none
-are more thrilling, or more filled with the romantic
-and the picturesque, than those which tell the story
-of our fresh-water seas.</p>
-
-<p>In conclusion, I wish to say that I owe a great debt
-of gratitude to the scores of Lake “owners,” ship-builders,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii">vii</a></span>
-and captains who have aided me, in every
-way possible, in the preparation of this volume, and
-without whose personal co-operation the writing of
-it would have been impossible.</p>
-
-<p class="sigright">J. O. C.</p>
-
-<p class="p0 in0 in1 smaller">
-<span class="smcap">Detroit, Michigan</span>, 1909.
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix">ix</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table id="toc" summary="Contents">
-  <tr class="small">
-    <td> </td>
-    <td> </td>
-    <td class="tdr nobpad">PAGE</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdc chap notpad" colspan="3">PART I</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="3">THE SHIPS, THEIR OWNERS, THEIR SAILORS, AND THEIR CARGOES</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">I&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Building of the Ships</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#I">3</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">II&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">What the Ships Carry&mdash;Ore</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#II">25</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">III&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">What the Ships Carry&mdash;Other Cargoes</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#III">46</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">IV&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Passenger Traffic and Summer Life</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#IV">68</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">V&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Romance and Tragedy of the Inland Seas</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#V">89</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">VI&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Buffalo and Duluth: the Alpha and Omega of the Lakes</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#VI">113</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">VII&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#VII">137</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="3">PART II</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="3">ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE LAKES</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">I&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Origin and Early History</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#II_I">159</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">II&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lakes Change Masters</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#II_II">175</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdr top">III&mdash;</td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The War of 1812 and After</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#II_III">194</a></td></tr>
-  <tr class="last">
-    <td> </td>
-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#INDEX">223</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi">xi</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="Illustrations"></a>Illustrations</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table id="loi" summary="Illustrations">
-  <tr class="smaller">
-    <td> </td>
-    <td class="tdr"><i>Page</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Fountain of the Great Lakes</i></td>
-    <td class="tdl"><a href="#if_i_000"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Lorado Taft, Sculptor.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The First Step in the Making of a Ship&mdash;Laying the “Keel Blocks”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_4">4</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Second Step&mdash;Laying the Keel, or Bottom of the Ship, on the “Keel Blocks”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_6">6</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Growing Ship</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_8">8</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Vessel Almost Ready for Launching</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_10">10</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Monster of Steel and Iron Ready to be Launched</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_12">12</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Weight 9,500,000 lbs.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Launching</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_14">14</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The “Thomas F. Cole,” 11,200 Tons, Being Fitted with Engines and Boilers after her Launching</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_16">16</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The “Cole” is the largest ship on the Lakes. Length, 605 feet 5 inches.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Her First Trip&mdash;Off for the Ore Regions of the North</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_18">18</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>This Shows Some of the 800,000 Rivets that Go to the Making of a 10,000-Ton Leviathan of the Inland Seas</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_22">22</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Ice-Bound. Thirty-two Boats Tied up in the Ice at the Soo</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_26">26</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>From a Photograph by Lord &amp; Thomas, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Network of Tracks Running through the Ore Lands</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_28">28</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xii">xii</a></span></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Captains of the Vessels of the American Steamship Company</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_30">30</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The “Montezuma”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_32">32</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The largest wooden ship on fresh water being towed out of the Maumee River, Toledo.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Coal Dock at Superior, Wisconsin</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_34">34</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The pile of coal is 1400 feet long and 30 feet high.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Record Load Hauled by One Team out of the Michigan Woods, 20,000 Feet</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_36">36</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>One Steam Shovel Keeps Three Locomotives and Trains Busy</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_38">38</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Steamers at a Modern Ore Unloading Plant at Conneaut</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_40">40</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Main Slip in the Harbour of Conneaut</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_42">42</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Conneaut is the second largest ore-receiving port on the Lakes.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>One of the Huge Open Pits of the Mesaba Range</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_44">44</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Raft of Five Million Pulp Logs on the North Shore of Lake Michigan</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_48">48</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Scooping up Ore from the Mahoning Mine at Hibbing</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_52">52</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The largest open pit mine in the world.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Mining Town on the Mesaba Range, where a Few Years ago the Deer and Bear Roamed Undisturbed</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_54">54</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Harbour View at Conneaut, Ohio, Showing Docks and Machinery</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_56">56</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Steam Shovel at Work</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_58">58</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>This removes from 4000 to 8000 tons of ore a day.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Old and the New</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_62">62</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii">xiii</a></span></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>A modern freight carrier passing one of the old schooners.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Shaft on One of the Ranges</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_66">66</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The “North West”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_68">68</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>One of the finest passenger steamers on the Great Lakes.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Stop at Tashinoo Park, St. Clair Flats</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_70">70</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Landing at Mackinac Dock, Michigan</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_72">72</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Hickory Island at the Mouth of Detroit River</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_74">74</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>From a Photograph by Manning Studio, Detroit.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The “City of Erie”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_76">76</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The fastest steamer on the Lakes, holding a record of 22.93 miles per hour.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Little Venice, St. Clair River</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_80">80</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Showing the type of “Inns,” where people may pass their holidays at small expense.</i><br /><i>Courtesy of Northern Steamship Co.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Scene on Belle Isle, Detroit River</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_82">82</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Steamer “Western States”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_84">84</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>One of the largest and fastest boats on the Lakes. Carries 2500 people and her fastest speed is 20 miles an hour.</i><br /><i>From a Photograph by Detroit Photographic Co.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Steamship “North West” in American Lock</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_86">86</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Cottages Built at Small Expense along the St. Mary’s River</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_88">88</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Steamer Stripped by a Tow-line by Running between a Steamer and her Consort</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_90">90</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>From a Photograph by Lord &amp; Rhoades, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Remarkable Photograph Showing the Big Freighter “Stimson” in a Holocaust of Smoke and Flame</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_94">94</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>After a Fierce Night’s “Late Navigation” Run across Lake Superior</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_96">96</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv">xiv</a></span></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Ship that Made the Shore before she Sank. The Work of Raising her in Progress</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_100">100</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Treacherous Sea in its Garb of Greatest Beauty</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_102">102</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>One phase of Lake navigation.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A View of the “Zimmerman”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_104">104</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>After a collision with another freighter.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Steamer “Wahcondah</i>”</td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_108">108</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>One of the Lake grain carriers which was caught in a storm late in the season after being buffeted by the waves of Lake Superior for about fourteen hours.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>This is One of the Most Remarkable Photographs Ever Taken on the Lakes. It Shows a Sinking Lumber Barge just as She Was Breaking in Two</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_110">110</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The photograph was taken from a small boat.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Residence of Ansley Wilcox at Buffalo</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_114">114</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Where President Roosevelt took the oath of office.</i><br /><i>Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Bird’s-eye View of the Harbour of Duluth, Taken from the Hill</i></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_116">116</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>From a Photograph by Maher, Duluth.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Ship Canal and Aërial Bridge, Duluth, Minn.</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_118">118</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Fleet of Boats in Duluth Harbour Waiting to Unload</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_122">122</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>View Looking South-west from the New Chamber of Commerce Building, Buffalo</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_124">124</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Unloading at One of the Coal Docks at Duluth</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_126">126</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Fleet of Erie Canal Boats&mdash;Capacity of Each 150 Tons</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_128">128</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xv">xv</a></span></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The boats on the new canal will be 1000 tons each.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Jack-Knife Bridge at Buffalo</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_132">132</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A Scene on Blackwell Canal</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_134">134</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>The winter home of big boats in Buffalo.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Some of the Grain Elevators at Duluth, which Have a Combined Storage Capacity of 35,550,000 Bushels</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_136">136</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Mesaba Ore Docks</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_138">138</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>From the Deck of the Ship the Tug Looks Like an Ant Dragging at a Huge Prey</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_142">142</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Observation Room on the “Wm. G. Mather”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_144">144</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Which gives an idea of the luxuriousness of the guests’ quarters on a Great Lakes freighter.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Luxurious Dining-room on the 10,000-Ton Steamer “J.&nbsp;H. Sheadle”</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_146">146</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Tugs Trying to Release Boats Held in the Ice at the Soo</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_150">150</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Copyright 1906 by Young, Lord &amp; Rhoades, Ltd.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Whaleback Barges Preparing for Winter Quarters at Conneaut, Ohio</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_152">152</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub">(<i>The Whaleback is a type of vessel that has been tried and found wanting. They are going out of use.</i>)</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Ashore</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_154">154</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Arch Rock, Mackinac Island</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_160">160</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>One of the natural wonders of the world.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Fort Mackinac</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_168">168</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Marquette’s Grave, St. Ignace, Michigan</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_174">174</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvi">xvi</a></span></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Monument at Put-in-Bay in Memory of the British and Americans who Died in the Battle of Lake Erie</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_182">182</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Old West Blockhouse, Fort Mackinac</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_186">186</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl sub"><i>Built by the British, about 1780.</i></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>The Monument Erected to those who Fought and Died on Mackinac Island</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_190">190</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Mackinac Island, Showing Old Fort Mackinac</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_194">194</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Once the Scene of Bloodshed and Strife, these Old Trees Stand where French, Indian, and British Fought Years ago</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_200">200</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>A View of the Historic Battle-ground on Mackinac Island</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_206">206</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>An Old British Gunboat Discovered in the River Thames</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_212">212</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Scene when Admiral Dewey Passed through the Soo Locks</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_216">216</a></td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl"><i>Map</i></td>
-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_221"><i>At End</i></a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="Page_1"><a id="PART_I"></a><span class="larger">PART I<br />
-
-<span class="subhead wspace p1">The Ships, their Owners, their
-Sailors, and their Cargoes</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">3</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="I"></a>I<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">The Building of the Ships</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Not</span> long ago, I was on a Lake freighter pounding
-her way up Huron on the “thousand-mile
-highway” that leads to Duluth. Beside
-me was a man who had climbed from poverty to
-millions. He was riding in his own ship. His interests
-burned ten thousand tons of coal a year. He
-was one of the ore kings of the North&mdash;as rough as
-the iron he dug, filled to the brim with enthusiasm
-and animal energy of the Lake breed; a man who
-had helped to make the Lakes what they are, as
-scores of others like him have done. Before and behind
-us there trailed the smoke of a dozen of the
-steel leviathans of the Inland Seas. I had asked
-him a question, and there was the fire of a great
-pride in his eyes when he answered.</p>
-
-<p>“It would make a nation by itself&mdash;this Lake
-country!” he said. “And it would be America.
-It’s America from Buffalo to Duluth, every inch of
-it, and the people who are in it are Americans. That’s
-American smoke you see off there, and American
-ships are making it; they’re run by a thousand or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">4</a></span>
-more American captains, and they’re Americans
-fore ’n’ aft, too. We’ve got only eight States along
-the Lakes, but if we should secede to-morrow the
-world would find us the heart and power of the
-nation. That’s how American we are!”</p>
-
-<p>This is the patriotism one finds in the Lake country,
-from the roaring furnaces of the East to the vast ore
-beds of Minnesota. It is representative of the spirit
-that rules the Inland Seas; it is this spirit that has
-built an empire, and is building a vaster empire to-day,
-along the edges of the world’s greatest fresh-water
-highways.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_4" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_004.jpg" width="600" height="435" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The First Step in the Making of a Ship&mdash;Laying the “Keel Blocks.”</div></div>
-
-<p>With more than thirty-four millions of people
-living in the States bordering on them, possessing
-one third of the total tonnage of North America, and
-saving to the people of the United States five hundred
-million dollars each year, or six dollars for every
-man, woman, and child in the country, one of the
-most inexplainable mysteries of the century exists
-in the fact that the Great Lakes of to-day are as
-little known to the vast majority of Americans as
-they were a quarter of a century ago. While revolutions
-have been working in almost all lines of industry,
-while States have been made and cities born,
-America’s great Inland Seas have remained unwatched
-and unknown except by a comparative few. Upon
-them have grown the greatest industries of the nation,
-yet the national ignorance concerning them
-can hardly find a parallel in history. Were they to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">5</a></span>
-disappear to-morrow the industrial supremacy of the
-republic would receive a blow from which it could
-never recover. The steel industry, as a dominant
-commercial factor, would almost cease to exist. One
-half of the total population of the country would be
-seriously affected, and America would fall far behind
-in the commercial race of the nations.</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding these things, not one person in
-ten knows what the Great Lakes stand for to-day.
-While a thousand writers have sung of the greatness
-and romance of the watery wastes that encircle continents,
-none has told of those “vast unsalted seas”
-which mean more to eighty-five millions of Americans
-than any one of the five oceans. What has
-been written has been for those who find their commerce
-upon them; for the owners of ships and the
-masters of men; for the kings of ore and grain&mdash;a
-little statistical matter here and a little there, but
-nothing for the millions who are not at hand to feel
-the pulse of traffic or to see the great commercial
-pageant as it passes before their eyes. Even of those
-who live in the States bordering the Great Lakes but
-few know that these fresh-water highways of traffic
-possess the greatest shipping port in the world,
-that upon them floats the largest single fleet of
-freighters in existence, that in their great construction
-yards shipbuilding has been reduced to
-a science as nowhere else on earth, and that in
-their life the elements of romance and tragedy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">6</a></span>
-play their parts even as on the big oceans that
-divide hemispheres.</p>
-
-<p>In a small way the general lack of knowledge of
-the Great Lakes is excusable, for their development
-has been so rapid and so stupendous that people have
-not yet grasped its significance. Within the last
-quarter of a century or less they have become the
-industrial magnets of the nation. Along their shores
-have sprung up our greatest cities, with populations
-increasing more rapidly than those of New York,
-Boston, Philadelphia, or San Francisco. In the eight
-States which have ports on them is more than one
-third of the total population of the North American
-continent. Along their three thousand three hundred
-and eighty-five miles of United States shore
-line will be built this year more than one half of the
-tonnage constructed in America, and over their highways
-will travel at least six times as much freight as
-all the nations of the world carried through the Suez
-Canal in 1908.</p>
-
-<p>Just what this means it is hard for one to conceive
-when told only in figures. Perhaps in no better way
-can the immensity and importance of their traffic be
-described than by showing briefly one of the ways
-in which they earned a “dividend” of six dollars for
-every person living in the United States in 1907.
-This immense “dividend” did not go into the coffers
-of corporations, but actually, though indirectly, into
-the pockets of the people.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_6" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_006.jpg" width="600" height="427" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Second Step&mdash;Laying the Keel, or Bottom of the Ship, on the “Keel Blocks.”</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span>
-It is only fair to the Lakes and the vast interests
-upon them to use the figures of 1907 instead of those
-of 1908. In the following pages it is the author’s
-intention to paint conditions as they actually exist
-upon our Inland Seas <em>under normal conditions</em>. During
-1908, the financial depression that swept over the
-entire country produced conditions upon the Lakes
-which, in the author’s opinion, will not be seen again
-for a great many years to come. “Panic figures”
-give a wrong impression. Those of 1908 would
-show a falling off of business in various branches of
-Lake traffic of from twenty to sixty per cent. As one
-of the best known vessel-men in Duluth said to me
-recently, “We can count that the Lakes have lost
-just one year of progress because of the panic.” In
-other words, it is highly probable that the business
-of the Lakes will in this year of 1909 be just about
-what it should have been under normal conditions
-in 1908, and there are many who believe that within
-the next two years the loss of the “panic year” will be
-more than discounted.</p>
-
-<p>For this reason, in order to show how the Lakes
-earn their tremendous dividend for the people of the
-United States, we use the figures of 1907, when traffic
-was normal. In that year, for instance, it cost a
-little over ten cents to ship a bushel of grain from
-Chicago to New York by rail, and only five and one
-half cents by way of the Lakes and the Erie Canal.
-This saving on transportation of five cents a bushel<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">8</a></span>
-is divided between the producing farmer and the
-consuming public. It is a “nickel on which no trust
-can place its hands”&mdash;and this nickel, when multiplied
-by the number of bushels of grain produced in
-Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan,
-reaches the stupendous figure of ninety-eight
-million dollars! In the matter of iron ore the saving
-is still greater. Were it not for this saving all steel
-necessities, from rails to common kitchen forks, would
-advance tremendously in price, and the United States
-would not be able to control the steel markets of the
-world. To-day you can ship a ton of ore from Duluth
-to Ashtabula, Conneaut, or Cleveland, a distance of
-nearly one thousand miles, for less than you can send
-by rail that same ton from one of these ports to Pittsburg,
-a distance of only one hundred and thirty miles.
-In other words, while it costs about eighty cents to
-send a ton of ore from the vast ranges of the North
-to an Erie port by ship, the rail rate is seven times
-greater, which means that the vessels of the Great
-Lakes saved in 1907 on ore alone no less than one
-hundred and seventy-three million dollars!</p>
-
-<div id="ip_8" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_008.jpg" width="600" height="384" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Growing Ship.</div></div>
-
-<p>In another way than in this annual saving in cost
-of transportation are the Lakes fighting a great and
-almost unappreciated battle for the people. They
-are to-day the country’s greatest safeguard against
-excessive railroad charges. They are the governors
-of the nation’s internal commerce, and will be for all
-time to come. There is not a State north of the Ohio<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span>
-River and east of the Rocky Mountains which is not
-affected by their cheap transportation, and the day
-is not distant when hundreds of millions of bushels of
-grain raised in the Canadian west will go to the seaboard
-by way of the lake and canal route. At the
-present time there are about two hundred and forty
-thousand miles of railroad in the United States, constructed
-and equipped at a cost of more than thirteen
-billion dollars; yet, on the basis of ton miles, the
-traffic on the Lakes will in 1909 be one sixth as great
-as on all the roads in the country.</p>
-
-<p>These facts are given here to show in a small way
-the gigantic part the Great Lakes are playing to-day
-in the industrial progress of the nation. Yet, as paradoxical
-as it may seem, the nation itself has hardly
-recognised the truth. The “helping” hand that the
-Government has reached out has been pathetically
-weak. In history to come it must be recorded that
-great men&mdash;men of brain and brawn and courage&mdash;have
-“built up” the Lakes, and not the Government.
-And these men, scores and hundreds of them, are
-continuing the work to-day. Since the dawn of independence
-to the present time, the United States has
-expended for all harbours and waterways on the Great
-Lakes above the Niagara Falls less than ninety million
-dollars, yet each year this same Government hands out
-one hundred and forty million dollars to the army and
-navy and one hundred and twenty-seven million dollars
-to the postal service! In the face of this is the astonishing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span>
-fact that, in 1907, the saving in freight rates on
-Lake Superior commerce alone exceeded by a million
-dollars the total sum expended by the Government on
-the Inland Seas since the day the first ship was
-launched upon them!</p>
-
-<p>In this building of the “greater empire” of the Lake
-country there is now no rest. Wherever ships are
-built the stocks are filled. From the uttermost end
-of Erie to the shipyards of the north&mdash;in Buffalo,
-Lorain, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, West Superior,
-Chicago, and Manitowoc&mdash;the making of American
-ships is being rushed as never before. In the larger
-yards powerful arc-light systems allow of work by night
-as well as by day. The roaring of forges, the hammering
-of steel, the tumult of labouring men, and the
-rumbling of giant cranes are seldom stilled. With
-almost magical quickness a ten-thousand-ton monster
-of steel rises on the stocks&mdash;and is gone. Another
-takes its place, and even as they follow one
-another into the sea, racing to fill demands, there still
-comes the cry: “Ships&mdash;ships&mdash;we want more ships!”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_10" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_010.jpg" width="600" height="398" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Vessel Almost Ready for Launching.</div></div>
-
-<p>In the year 1908, it is estimated that very nearly
-three fifths of the total ship tonnage built in the
-United States was constructed in these busy yards
-of the Great Lakes. As early as January they were
-choked with orders for 1908 delivery, and even that
-early a number of them had orders running well into
-1909. A brief glance at the vessel construction of
-the Lakes during the six years up to and including<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span>
-1907 will give a good idea of the rapid growth of this
-industry along the Inland Seas. In 1902, the product
-was forty-two vessels, thirty-two of them being bulk
-freighters. In 1903, forty-two of the fifty vessels
-built were bulk freight steamers, with a carrying
-capacity of 213,250 tons. In 1904, the output was
-only thirteen vessels, but in 1905 twenty-nine bulk
-freighters with a carrying capacity of 260,000 tons
-were built. In 1906, there were turned out from the
-Great Lakes yards forty-seven vessels, of which forty
-were bulk freighters, and in 1907, the total was fifty-six
-vessels, including forty bulk freighters, three
-package freighters, and one passenger steamer. The
-early months of 1908 saw contracts in force for the
-construction of twenty-five bulk freighters for delivery
-before 1909.</p>
-
-<p>Taking the forty bulk freighters built in 1907, one
-gets a fair idea of the immensity of Lake traffic.
-They are but a drop in the bucket&mdash;a single year’s
-contribution to the great argosies of the Inland Seas;
-yet these forty ships have a carrying capacity of
-three hundred and sixty thousand tons. In other
-words, within four days after loading at Duluth they
-could be discharging this mountain of ore at Erie
-ports. To carry this same “cargo” by rail would
-require over three hundred trains of thirty cars each,
-or a single train seventy miles in length!</p>
-
-<p>But this is not particularly astonishing when one is
-studying the commerce of the Great Lakes. True,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span>
-it represents considerably over a half of the tonnage
-built in the United States during 1907, but even at
-that it “isn’t much to shout about,” as one builder
-of ships said to me. These men of the Lakes never
-express surprise at the wonders of the Inland Seas.
-They are used to them. They meet with them every
-day of their lives. On either coast these same “wonders”
-would be made much of. But the Lake breed
-is not the breed that boasts&mdash;unless you drag opinions
-from them. Why, over in Cleveland there is one man
-who directs the destinies of twice as many ships as
-the forty-eight mentioned above&mdash;a single commercial
-navy that can move six hundred and forty-eight thousand
-tons of ore in one trip, or enough to “make up”
-a train of sixteen thousand two hundred cars, which
-train would be one hundred and twenty miles in
-length! This man’s name is Coulby&mdash;Harry Coulby,
-President and General Manager of the Pittsburg
-Steamship Company, Lake arm of the United States
-Steel Corporation. There was a time when Coulby
-was a poor mechanic, working his ten hours a day.
-Then he developed “talent” and went into a shipyard
-draughting-room. Now he is undeniably the
-king of Lake shipping. His word is law in the directing
-of more than a hundred vessels, the greatest
-fleet in the world; and it is law in other ways, for it is
-common talk in marine circles that he (with the trust
-behind him) is responsible for nearly every important
-move on the Great Lakes. He is the eye and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span>
-ear and the mouth of the trust, and it is the trust that
-practically fixes the ore rates for each season, and
-does other things of interest. If these ships of Coulby’s
-were placed end to end they would reach a distance
-of eight miles! During the eight months of
-Lake navigation they can transport as much freight
-over the “thousand-mile highway” as the combined
-fleets of all nations take through the Suez Canal in
-twelve! Yet who has heard of Coulby? How many
-know of the gigantic fleet he controls? A few thousand
-Lake people, and that is all. A magnificent
-illustration is this of the national ignorance concerning
-the Great Lakes.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_12" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_012.jpg" width="600" height="420" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Monster of Steel and Iron Ready to be Launched.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Weight 9,500,000 lbs.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>And Coulby is only one of many. The fleet he
-controls is only one of many. The Lakes breed great
-men&mdash;and they breed great fleets. How many of
-our millions have heard of J.&nbsp;C. Gilchrist and the Gilchrist
-fleet?&mdash;a man in one way unique in the marine
-history of the world, and a fleet which, if plying between
-New York and Liverpool, would be one of the
-present-day sensations. Gilchrist, like Coulby, “worked
-up from the depths,” and to-day, as the head of the
-Gilchrist Transportation Company, he holds down
-seventy-five distinct jobs! Seventy-five owners have
-placed seventy-five ships under his generalship, and
-from each he receives a salary of one thousand dollars
-a season, or a total of seventy-five thousand dollars.
-He is one of the Napoleons of the Lakes. He handles
-ships and men like a magician; his holds are never<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span>
-empty; his dividends are always large. There was a
-day when one thousand dollars looked like a fortune
-to Gilchrist, and when eight dollars a week was an
-income of which he was mightily proud. That was
-when, from away down in Michigan, he turned his face
-northward toward the Lakes, filled with big ambition
-and a desire for adventure, but with little more than
-what he carried on his back. He got work as a sailor
-before the mast at forty dollars a month and board.
-From there he graduated to “bell hop” on a passenger
-steamer, and continued to graduate until the owners
-of great ships began to see in him those things which
-they themselves did not possess, and so handed over to
-him the destiny of the second greatest fleet of freight
-carriers in the world.</p>
-
-<p>Such men as Coulby and Gilchrist and the ships
-they have would make the fame of any nation on the
-high seas. They and men like Captain John Mitchell,
-who is the head of a fleet of twenty ships, J.&nbsp;H. Sheadle,
-G. Ashley Tomlinson, and G.&nbsp;L. Douglas, are of the
-kind that are choking the Great Lakes shipyards
-with orders, while along the ocean seaboards stocks
-are rotting and builders of ocean marine are starving.
-Cleveland claims the headquarters of both of these
-immense fleets&mdash;and Cleveland is fortunate in many
-other things. She counts her strong men of the Lakes
-by the score. She is a great owner of ships, a great
-buyer of ships, and a great builder.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_14" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_014.jpg" width="600" height="415" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Launching.</div></div>
-
-<p>But when it comes to the production of “bottoms,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span>
-Cleveland and all other Lake cities must give way
-to Detroit. There was a day when Detroit was one
-of the important ports of the Lakes, but that day is
-long past. Now she is the centre of shipbuilding.
-In 1907, there was built at Detroit more tonnage
-than in any other city in the United States. Of the
-vessels launched, twenty-one of the largest took their
-first dip in or very near Detroit. The tonnage of
-these vessels aggregated over one half of the total
-tonnage of the forty freighters constructed for the
-season’s delivery.</p>
-
-<p>It has been said that Detroit is a great shipbuilding
-city by accident, and there is a good deal of truth in
-the assertion. Six years ago the American Shipbuilding
-Company, the greatest trust of its kind in the world,
-held undisputed sway over the Lakes. It knew no
-competition. No combination of capital had dared
-to grapple with it. With eleven huge construction
-yards strung along the Lakes between Buffalo, Duluth,
-and Chicago, it held a monopoly of the shipbuilding
-industry. It was at this time that one of
-the country’s great industrial generals sprang up in
-Detroit. Then he was practically unknown; now as
-a leader and master of men, he is known in every city
-of this country where iron and steel are used. His
-name is Antonio C. Pessano. Detroit must always
-be proud of this man. He must count in the history
-of her future greatness, and always her citizens should
-be thankful that he and his indomitable courage did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">16</a></span>
-not first appear in Buffalo, Cleveland, or some other
-Lake city. Mr. Pessano’s ambition was to build at
-Detroit the most modern shipbuilding plant in the
-world. Some people laughed at him. Others pitied
-him. The trust twiddled its fingers, so to speak, and
-smiled. In the face of it all Mr. Pessano won the
-confidence of such Gibraltars of industrial finance as
-George H. Russel, Colonel Frank J. Hecker, Joseph
-Boyer, William G. Mather, Henry B. Ledyard, and
-others&mdash;won it to the extent of raising one million
-five hundred thousand dollars, with which he built
-the greatest shipbuilding yards on the Lakes and
-which have developed since then into the greatest in
-America, employing more than three thousand men.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Pessano’s shipbuilding rival is the president of the
-trust. His name is Wallace, “son of Bob Wallace, the
-elder,” Lake men will tell you, for Robert Wallace,
-the father, was a shipbuilder himself for a great many
-years. He is very proud of his boy.</p>
-
-<p>“I had three boys,” said he. “Two of ’em went
-to college, but Jim <em>he</em> wanted an education, so he
-didn’t take much stock in books, but got out among
-men. That was what made Jim!”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_16" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_016.jpg" width="600" height="385" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The “Thomas F. Cole,” 11,200 Tons, Being Fitted with Engines and Boilers after her
-Launching.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The “Cole” is the largest ship on the Lakes. Length, 605 feet 5 inches.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>To-day it is “Jim,” or James C. Wallace, of Cleveland,
-as he is better known, who is the champion shipbuilder
-of the world. He is President of the American
-Shipbuilding Company. Probably in no other part
-of the world is the romantic more largely associated
-with modern progress than on the Great Lakes, and in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span>
-these two men&mdash;Wallace and Pessano&mdash;it is revealed
-in a singular way. Together they govern shipbuilding
-on the Inland Seas. Both of these great men began in
-the dinner-pail brigade. They worked in overalls and
-grease, not for “experience,” but because they had to;
-they pulled and heaved with common labourers; they
-rose, step by step, from the lowest ranks&mdash;and to-day,
-monuments to courage and ambition, they are the earth’s
-two greatest builders of ships. In a novel such characters
-would be declared almost impossible. But the
-Lakes breed such as these. There are others whose
-careers have been even more remarkable, and I will
-tell of these later&mdash;men whose rise from poverty to
-wealth and power rivals in romance and adventure
-the most glowing stories of the Goulds and Astors.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Pessano, “the independent,” does not entirely
-monopolise Detroit shipbuilding, for Wallace was there
-ahead of him with one of the trust’s big yards, which
-is known under the name of the Detroit Shipbuilding
-Company. It materially assists in the city’s greatness,
-and will continue to do so more and more each
-year. During 1907, it launched six big freighters in
-Detroit, and that city, together with eight other Lake
-cities, heaps blessings on the trust. For the trust is
-most generous and unprejudiced in its distribution of
-yards. It builds ships in one huge yard at Superior,
-in two at Chicago, two at Cleveland, and in one at
-Lorain, Buffalo, Wyandotte, Detroit, and Milwaukee.
-Among these cities it has distributed over fifteen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span>
-million dollars in capital, and it is estimated that it
-affords a livelihood for between fifty and sixty thousand
-people. In 1907, the different yards built twice the
-tonnage of the next two largest shipbuilding concerns
-in the world combined&mdash;those of Doxford and Sons,
-of Sunderland, and Harland and Wolff, of Belfast,
-whose aggregate tonnage was not over one hundred
-and fifty thousand. The astonishing rate at which
-Lake shipbuilding is increasing is shown in the fact
-that the trust’s production for 1907 was twice that
-of 1905, which was 117,482 tons, divided among
-twenty vessels. A new factor has come into Lake
-shipbuilding which will count considerably in the
-future. This is the Toledo Shipbuilding Company,
-which purchased the Craig yards in 1906, and which
-has expended a great deal of money since that time in
-perfecting its plant, until now it has one of the most
-modern construction yards on the Lakes.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_18" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_018.jpg" width="600" height="539" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Her First Trip&mdash;Off for the Ore Regions of the North.</div></div>
-
-<p>It would seem that this activity in Lake shipyards
-must soon supply demands, but such will not be the
-case for many years to come. While the depression
-of 1908 has cast its gloom, Lake men cannot see the
-end of their prosperity. They are in the midst of
-fortune-making days on the Inland Seas. To-day one
-of the steel ships of the Lakes is as good as a gold mine,
-and will continue to be so for a quarter of a century
-to come. The shipyards are growing each year, but
-the increase of tonnage is outstripping them, and until
-cargo and ships are more evenly balanced the owners<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span>
-of vessels on the Great Lakes must be counted among
-the most fortunate men in the world.</p>
-
-<p>It is only natural that these conditions should have
-developed shipbuilding on the Lakes to a science unparalleled
-in any other part of the earth. I once had
-the good fortune to talk with a shipbuilder from the
-Clyde. He had heard much of the Lakes. He had
-built ships for them. He had heard of the wonders of
-shipbuilding in their cities. So he had come across
-to see for himself.</p>
-
-<p>“I had thought that your ships would not compare
-with ours,” he said. “You build them so quickly that
-I thought they would surely be inferior to those of
-the Clyde. But they are the best in the world; I will
-say that&mdash;the best in the world, and you build them
-like magicians! You lay their keels to-day&mdash;to-morrow
-they are gone!”</p>
-
-<p>This is almost true. A ten-thousand-ton leviathan
-of the Lakes can now be built almost as quickly as
-carpenters can put up an eight-room house. Any one
-of several shipyards can get out one of these monsters
-of marine commerce within ninety days, and the record
-stands with a ten-thousand-ton vessel that was launched
-fifty-three days after her keel was laid! One hardly
-realises what this means until he knows of a few of the
-things that go into the construction of such a vessel.
-Take the steamer <i>Thomas F. Cole</i>, for instance, launched
-early in 1907 by the Great Lakes Engineering Works.
-This vessel is the giant of the Lakes, and is six hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span>
-and five feet and five inches long. She is fifty-eight
-feet beam and thirty-two feet deep, and in a single
-trip can carry as great a load as three hundred freight
-cars, or twelve thousand tons. In her are nine million
-five hundred thousand pounds of iron and steel!
-What does this mean? It means that if every man,
-woman, and child in Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin,
-and Minnesota were to join in carrying this material
-to a certain place, each person would have to transport
-one pound. In the mass would be eight hundred
-thousand rivets, ranging in size from five eighths of
-an inch to one and one eighth inches in diameter.</p>
-
-<p>One who is investigating Lake shipbuilding for the
-first time will be astonished to discover that the modern
-freighter is in many ways a huge private yacht. They
-are almost without exception owned by men of wealth,
-and their cabins are fitted out even more luxuriously
-than those of passenger boats, for while these
-latter are intended for the use of the public, the passenger
-accommodations of freighters are planned for
-the friends and families of the owners. So above the
-deck which conceals ten thousand tons of ore the
-vessel may be a floating palace. The keenest rivalry
-exists between owners as to who shall possess the finest
-ships, and fortunes are expended in the fittings of
-cabins alone. Nothing that money can secure is omitted.
-In the words of a builder: “The modern freighter
-is like a modern hotel&mdash;only much more luxuriously furnished.”
-There is an electric light system throughout<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span>
-the ship; the cabins are equipped with telephones; there
-is steam heat; there are kitchens with the latest cooking
-devices, elegantly appointed dining-rooms; there are
-state-rooms which are like the apartments in a palace,
-and other things which one would not expect to see
-beyond the black and forbidding steel walls of these
-fortune-makers of the Lakes.</p>
-
-<p>With the first peep into modern methods one realises
-that the romantic shipbuilding days of old are gone.
-No longer does the shape, beauty, and speed of a vessel
-depend upon the eyes and hands of the men who are
-actually putting it together. For the ship of to-day
-is built in the engineering offices. In the draughting-room
-skilled men lay out the plans and make the
-models for a ship just as an architect does for a house,
-and when these plans are done they go to a great
-building which reminds one of a vast dance hall, and
-which is known as the “mould loft.” Seemingly the
-place is not used. Yet at the very moment you are
-looking about, wondering what this vacancy has to do
-with shipbuilding, you are walking on the decks of a
-ship. All about upon the floor, if you notice carefully,
-you will see hundreds and thousands of lines, and
-every one of these lines represents a line of the freighter
-which within three or four months will be taking her
-trial trip. Here upon the floor is drawn the “line
-ship” in exactly the same size as the vessel which is
-to be built. Over certain sections of this “line ship”
-men place very thin pieces of basswood, which they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span>
-frame together in the identical size and shape of the
-ship’s plates. By the use of these moulds, or templates,
-the workman can see just where the rivet holes
-should be, and wherever a rivet is to go he puts a
-little spot of paint. These model plates are then
-numbered and sent to the “plate department,” where
-the real sheets of steel are made to conform with them
-and where the one million five hundred thousand or
-more rivet holes are punched. With the plates ready,
-the real ship quickly takes size and form.</p>
-
-<p>Some morning a little army of men begins work
-where to the ordinary observer there is nothing but
-piles of steel and big timbers. From a distance the
-scene reminds one of a partly depleted lumber yard.
-On one side of this, and within a few yards of the water
-of a slip, are first set up with mathematical accuracy
-a number of square timbers called “keel blocks.”
-Upon these blocks will rest the bottom of the ship,
-and from them to the water’s edge run long shelving
-timbers, or “ways,” down which she will slide when
-ready for launching.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_22" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_022.jpg" width="600" height="409" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">This Shows Some of the 800,000 Rivets that Go to the Making of a 10,000-Ton
-Leviathan of the Inland Seas.</div></div>
-
-<p>Children frequently play with blocks which, when
-placed together according to the numbers on them,
-form a map of the United States. This is modern
-shipbuilding&mdash;in a way. It is on the same idea.
-There is a proper place for every steel plate in the
-yards, and the numbers on them are what locate them
-in the ship. A giant crane runs overhead, reaches
-down, seizes a certain plate, rumbles back, to hover<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span>
-for a moment over the growing “floor,” lowers its
-burden&mdash;and the iron workers do the rest. Within a
-few days work has reached a point where you begin
-to wonder, and for the first time, perhaps, you realise
-what an intricate affair a great ship really is, and what
-precautions are taken to keep it from sinking in collision
-or storm. You begin to see that a Lake
-freighter is what might be described as two ships,
-one built within the other. As the vessel increases
-in size, as the sides of it, as well as the bottom,
-are put together, there are two little armies of men
-at work&mdash;one on the outer ship and one on the inner.
-From the bottom and sides of the first steel shell of
-the ship there extend upward and inward heavy steel
-supports, upon which are laid the plates of the “inner
-ship.” In the space between these two walls will be
-carried water ballast. The chambers into which it
-is divided are the life-preservers of the vessel. A
-dozen holes may be punched into her, but just as
-long as only this outer and protecting ship suffers,
-and the inner ship is not perforated, the carrier and
-her ten-thousand-ton cargo will keep afloat.</p>
-
-<p>When the construction of the vessel has reached a
-point where men can work on the inner as well as the
-outer hull, it is not uncommon for six hundred to
-eight hundred workmen to be engaged on her at one
-time. Frequently as high as one hundred gangs of
-riveters, of four men each, are at work simultaneously,
-and at such times the pounding of the automatic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span>
-riveting machines sounds at the distance of half a mile
-like a battery of Gatling guns in action. So the work
-continues until every plate is in place and the vessel
-is ready for launching, which is the most exciting
-moment in the career of the ship&mdash;unless at some
-future day she meets a tragic end at sea. One by
-one the blocks which have been placed under her
-bottom are removed, until only two remain, one at
-each end. Then, at the last moment, these two are
-pulled away simultaneously, and the steel monster
-slides sidewise down the greased ways until, with a
-thunderous crash of water, she plunges into her native
-element.</p>
-
-<p>Thus ends the building of the ship, with the exception
-of what is known as her “deck work,” the fitting
-of her luxurious cabins, the placing of her engines,
-and a score of other things which are done after she
-is afloat. She is now a “carrier” of the Lakes. A
-little longer and captain and crew take possession of
-her, clouds of bituminous smoke rise from her funnels,
-and with flying pennants and screaming whistles
-she turns her nose into the great highway that leads
-a thousand miles into the North&mdash;to the land of the
-ore kings.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="II"></a>II<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">What the Ships Carry&mdash;Ore</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Picture</span> a train of forty-ton freight cars loaded
-to capacity, the engine and caboose both in
-New York City, yet extending in an unbroken
-line entirely around the earth&mdash;a train reaching
-along a parallel from New York to San Francisco,
-across the Pacific, the Chinese Empire, Turkestan,
-Persia, the Mediterranean, mid the Atlantic&mdash;and you
-have an idea of what the ships of the Great Lakes
-carry during a single eight months’ season of navigation.
-At least you have the part of an idea. For
-were such a train conceivable, it would not only completely
-engirdle the earth along the fortieth degree
-of north latitude, but there would still be something
-like two thousand miles of it left over. In it would
-be two million five hundred thousand cars, and it
-would carry one hundred million tons of freight!
-Were this train to pass you at a given point at the
-rate of twenty miles an hour, you would have to
-stand there forty days and forty nights to see the
-end of it.</p>
-
-<p>Only by allowing the imagination to paint such a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span>
-picture as this can one conceive to any degree at all
-the immensity of the freight traffic on our Inland
-Seas.</p>
-
-<p>“A hundred million tons,” repeated the mayor of
-one of our Lake ports when I told him about it recently.
-“A hundred million tons! That’s quite a lot of stuff,
-isn’t it?”</p>
-
-<p>Quite a lot of stuff! It might have been a hundred
-million bushels and he would have been equally surprised.
-His lack of enthusiasm does not discredit
-him. He does not own ships; neither does he fill them.
-He is like the vast majority of our millions, who have
-never given more than a passing thought to that gigantic
-inland water commerce which has largely been the
-making of the nation. It did not dawn on him that
-it meant more than a ton for every man, woman, and
-child on this North American continent; that in
-dollars it counted billions; that on it depended the
-existence of cities; that largely because of it foreign
-nations acknowledged our commercial prestige.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_26" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_026.jpg" width="600" height="358" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Ice-Bound. Thirty-two Boats Tied up in the Ice at the Soo.</p>
-  </div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>From a Photograph by Lord &amp; Thomas, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>No other hundred million tons of freight in all the
-world is as important to Americans as this annual
-traffic of the Great Lakes. To move it requires the
-services of nearly three thousand vessels of all kinds,
-employing twenty-five thousand men at an aggregate
-wage of thirteen million dollars a year. A million
-working people are fed and clothed and housed because
-of the cargoes this huge argosy carries from port to
-port.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span>
-It is impossible to say with accuracy how this
-hundred million tons of freight is distributed and
-of what it consists. Only at the Soo and at Detroit
-are records kept of passing tonnage, so the figures
-which are given showing the tremendous commerce
-that passes these places do not include the enormous
-tonnage which is loaded and emptied without passing
-through the Detroit River or the Sault Ste. Marie
-canals. The Detroit River is the greatest waterway
-of commerce in the world, and in 1906 there passed
-through it over sixty million tons, or more than three
-fifths of the total tonnage of the Lakes. Of this about
-a quarter moved in a northerly direction and three
-quarters toward the cities of the East. The principal
-item of the up-bound traffic was 14,000,000 tons
-of coal, of the south-bound 37,513,600 tons of iron
-ore, 110,598,927 bushels of grain, 1,159,757 tons of
-flour, 14,888,927 bushels of flaxseed, and over 1,000,000,000
-feet of lumber. In 1907, there was a big
-increase, the commerce passing through the Detroit
-River being over 75,000,000 tons.</p>
-
-<p>“And when you are figuring out what the ships
-carry, be sure and don’t leave out the smoke!” said
-the captain of an ore carrier, pointing over our port
-to a black trail half a mile long. “Never thought of
-it, did you? Well, last year our Lake ships burned
-three million tons of coal. Think of it! Three million
-tons&mdash;enough to heat every home in Chicago for
-two years!”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_28" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_028.jpg" width="600" height="369" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A Network of Tracks Running through the Ore Lands.</div></div>
-
-<p>But in this chapter I am not going to deal with
-smoke; neither with the grain that feeds nations, nor
-the lumber that builds their homes. They will
-be described in their time. The backbone of
-American manufacturing industry&mdash;the mainspring
-of our commercial prestige abroad&mdash;is iron; and it
-is this iron, gathered in the one-time wildernesses of
-the Northland and brought down a thousand miles
-by ship, that stands largely for the greatness of the
-Lakes to-day. “Gold is precious, but iron is priceless,”
-said Andrew Carnegie. “The wheels of progress
-may run without the gleam of yellow metal, but never
-without our ugly ore.” And the Lake country, or
-three little patches of it, produce each year nearly a
-half of the earth’s total supply of iron. Farmers in
-the wake of their ploughshares, our millions of workers
-in metal, and our other millions whose fingers daily
-touch the chill of iron have never dreamed of this.
-Few of them know that eight hundred great vessels
-are engaged solely in the iron ore traffic; that in a
-single trip this immense fleet can transport more
-than three million tons, and that in 1907, they brought
-to the foundries of the East and South over forty-one
-million tons. If every man, woman, and child,
-savage or civilised, that inhabits this earth of ours
-were to receive equal portions of this one product
-carried by Lake vessels in 1907, each person’s share
-would be forty pounds! And still the world is crying
-for iron. There is not enough to supply the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span>
-demand, and there never will be. The iron ore
-traffic of the Lakes has doubled during the last
-six years; it will double again during the next
-ten&mdash;and iron will still be the most precious thing
-on earth.</p>
-
-<p>If the iron ore mines of the North were to go out
-of existence to-morrow nearly half of the commerce
-of the Inland Seas would cease to be. With it would
-go the strongest men of the Lakes. For our iron has
-made iron men. In that Northland, along the
-Mesaba, Goebic, and Vermilion ranges, from Duluth’s
-back door to the pine barrens of northern Michigan
-and Wisconsin, they have practically made themselves
-rulers of the world’s commerce in steel and iron.
-To follow the great ships of the Lakes over their
-northward trail into this country is to enter into
-realms of past romance and adventure which would
-furnish material for a hundred novels. But people
-do not know this. The picturesque days of ’49, the
-Australian fever, and the Klondike rush are as of
-yesterday in memory&mdash;but what of this Northland,
-where they load dirty ore into dirty ships and
-carry it to the dirty foundries of the East? Ask
-Captain Joseph Sellwood; ask the “three Merritts,”
-Alfred, Leonidas, and N.&nbsp;B.; or John Uno Sebenius,
-David T. Adams, and Martin Pattison; ask any one
-of a score of others who are living, and who will tell
-you of the days not so very long ago when the iron
-prospectors went out with packs on their backs<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span>
-and guns in their hands to seek the “ugly wealth.”
-These are of the old generation of “iron men”&mdash;the
-men who suffered in the days of exploration and development
-in the wilderness, who starved and froze,
-who survived while companions died, who suffered
-adventures and hardships in the death-like grip of
-Northland winters that rival any of those in Klondike
-history. And the new generation that has followed
-is like them in “the strength of man” that is
-in them. They are a powerful breed, these iron kings,
-down to the newest among them; men like Thomas
-F. Cole, who rose from nothing to a position of power
-and wealth, and W.&nbsp;P. Snyder, the poverty-stricken
-Methodist minister’s son, who has fought the Steel
-Corporation to a standstill and who is talked of as its
-president of the future.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_30" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_030.jpg" width="600" height="248" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Captains of the Vessels of the Pittsburg Steamship Company.</div></div>
-
-<p>It will be a great “coming together” for the iron
-and steel industry, this winning of William Penn
-Snyder. To-day he is the king of pig iron. When he
-refused to deal with those who formed the United
-States Steel Corporation, his friends said that he was
-ruined. But he stood on his feet alone&mdash;and fought.
-He got a neck hold on the corporation. He cornered
-pig iron and because of him at the present time the
-corporation is paying very heavy prices for its outside
-product. Snyder is worth fifteen million dollars.
-In 1906, he cleaned up one million five hundred
-thousand dollars on pig iron alone, and there is no
-reason for doubting that his 1907 earnings were greater<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span>
-still. He is a powerful enemy to have as a friend&mdash;and
-the corporation wants him, and will probably
-get him.</p>
-
-<p>If you are going into the North to study the ore
-traffic at close range, the first man you will probably
-hear of after leaving your ship is Thomas F. Cole, of
-Duluth. You must know Cole before you go deeper
-into the subject of the forty or fifty million tons of
-ore which the ships will carry during the present year
-of 1909. The United States Steel Corporation will use
-about thirty million tons of the total output of the
-ore regions this year, and Cole is the United States
-Steel Corporation in this big Northland. He is the
-head of the finest and most delicate industrial mechanism
-in the world. This mechanism, in a way, is so
-fine that it may be said to be almost non-existent.
-It is simply an “organized and capitalized intelligence.”
-The Steel Corporation will mine some eighteen
-or twenty million tons of ore in Minnesota alone this
-year. Yet it owns not a dollar’s worth of property
-in the State. As a corporation it does no business in
-the State. It might be described as a huge octopus,
-and each arm of this octopus, representing a big
-mining interest, works independently of all other
-arms and of the body of the octopus itself. Through
-these arms the corporation accomplishes its aims.
-Each huge mine has its own executive organisation,
-is responsible for its own acts&mdash;but it must obtain
-results. The “central intelligence,” or body of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span>
-the corporation, is there to judge results, and Cole
-is the power that watches over all. Officially he is
-known as the president of the Oliver Mining Company,
-the greatest organisation of its kind in existence,
-which attends not only to the Steel Corporation’s
-interests in Minnesota, but in Michigan and Wisconsin
-as well. As the great eye of the world’s largest
-trust he guards the interests of thirty-one mines,
-employs fifteen thousand men, and gives subsistence
-to sixty thousand people.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_32" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_032.jpg" width="600" height="428" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The “Montezuma.”</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The largest wooden ship on fresh water being towed out of the Maumee River, Toledo.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Because of the transportation of this mighty product
-Cole is as closely associated with the Lakes and their
-ships as with the ranges and their mines. It has
-been said that he was “born between ships and mines,”
-and he has always remained between them. He is
-one of the most remarkable characters of the Inland
-Seas. Cole is only forty-seven years old, and for
-thirty-nine years he has earned his own livelihood,
-and more. When six years old, his father was killed
-in an accident in the Phœnix Mine. Baby Tom was
-the oldest of the widowed mother’s little brood, and
-he rose to the occasion. At the age of eight he became
-a washboy in the Cliff stamp mill. He had hardly
-mastered his alphabet; he could barely read the simplest
-lines; never in this civilised world did a youngster
-begin life’s battle with greater odds against him. But
-even in these days the great ambition was born in
-him, as it was born in Abraham Lincoln; and like Lincoln,
-in his little wilderness home of poverty and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span>
-sorrow, he began educating himself. It took years.
-But he succeeded.</p>
-
-<p>This is the man whose name you will hear first
-when you enter the mining country. To chronicle
-his rise from a dusty Calumet office of long ago to
-his present kingdom of iron would be to write a book
-of romance. And there are others of the iron barons
-of the North whose histories would be almost as interesting,
-even though fortune may have smiled on them
-less kindly.</p>
-
-<p>From the immensity of the interests which Cole
-superintends one might be led to believe that the iron
-ore industry is almost entirely in the hands of the
-trust. This, however, is not so. For every ship that
-goes down into the South for the trust another leaves
-for an independent. Nearly every maker of steel
-owns a mine or two in the ranges of Minnesota, Michigan,
-or Wisconsin. There are five of these ranges.
-The Mesaba and Vermilion ranges, both in Minnesota,
-produce about two thirds of the total product carried
-by the ships of the Lakes; the Goebic, Menominee,
-and Marquette ranges are in Michigan and Wisconsin.</p>
-
-<p>Somehow it is true that nearly every great thing
-associated with the Lakes is unusual in some way&mdash;unusual
-to an astonishing degree, and the iron ore industry
-is not an exception. Probably not one person
-in ten thousand knows that one lone county in this
-great continent is the very backbone of the steel industry
-in the United States. This county is in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">34</a></span>
-Minnesota. It is the county of St. Louis, and is about
-as big as the State of Massachusetts. Not much more
-than twenty years ago it was a howling wilderness.
-Even a dozen years ago the Mesaba bore but little
-evidence of the presence of man. Now this country
-is alive with industry. Buried in the wilderness
-which still exists are thriving towns; where a short
-time ago deer and bear wandered unmolested, is now
-the din of innumerable locomotives, the rumbling of
-thousands of trains, the screeching of whistles, and
-the constant groaning of steam shovels. There is
-not a richer county on the face of the earth. In it
-are over one hundred mines, from which one hundred
-and twenty-three million tons of ore have been taken
-since Charlemagne Tower, now Ambassador to Germany,
-brought down the first carload to Duluth in
-1884. These mines afford livelihood for more than
-two hundred thousand people, and because of them
-St. Louis County possesses the greatest freight traffic
-road in existence&mdash;the Duluth, Mesaba, and Northern
-Railway&mdash;which, in 1907, carried about fourteen million
-tons of ore from the mines to the docks.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_34" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_034.jpg" width="600" height="355" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Coal Dock at Superior, Wisconsin.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The pile of coal is 1400 feet long and 30 feet high.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>This comparatively little corner of Minnesota practically
-runs the whole State in so far as expenses are
-concerned. To administer the affairs of the State,
-including all of its activities, costs about two million
-six hundred thousand dollars, and, as inconceivable
-as it may seem, the three railroads in the ore region
-pay in taxes one fifth of this sum. They pay one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span>
-third of the total railroad tax of the State, notwithstanding
-the fact that some of the greatest lines in
-the country centre at Minneapolis and St. Paul. To
-this must be added about seven hundred thousand
-dollars paid in direct taxes by the mines themselves,
-so that the iron ore which the ships of the Lakes bring
-down to Eastern ports each season pays almost half
-of the total expense of running the State of Minnesota!</p>
-
-<p>And these mines will add more and more to the
-State exchequer each year, as will also the mines of
-the three ranges in Michigan and Wisconsin. For in
-no part of the world has mining been undertaken on
-a scale so gigantic as that of the Superior region, and
-every contrivance known to mining science is being
-used to increase month by month the mountains of
-ore which ever fail to satisfy the hungry furnaces of
-the East. It is predicted by Captain Joseph Sellwood,
-of Duluth, one of the oldest and greatest of the iron
-barons, that the time is not distant when the Mesaba
-range alone will be producing forty million tons of
-ore a year&mdash;as much as all five ranges are producing
-now.</p>
-
-<p>“It will cost over a billion dollars to get this ore to
-the docks,” said he. “And seven hundred and fifty
-million dollars more to land it in Lake Erie ports.”&mdash;Nearly
-a two-billion-dollar mining and transportation
-business for the people of the Lakes to look forward
-to, and this from a single range!</p>
-
-<p>“But will not this tremendous activity exhaust<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span>
-your mines?” I asked of several of these iron barons.
-“The ore doesn’t go down to China, and it doesn’t
-extend all over the State. What is the future?”</p>
-
-<p>The future! Few have thought of this. There are
-just at present too many millions of dollars in the
-making to give one time or inclination to picture the
-days when only black and silent scars will remain to
-give evidence of the time when this Northland was
-one of the treasure houses of the earth. But that
-time must come. Old mining men say so if you can
-get them to talk about it, and scientific computations,
-as far as they go, are proof of it. These computations
-differ, but they agree pretty generally that there are
-still between a billion and a half and two billion tons
-of ore in the Superior district. Within the next five
-years the ships will be bringing down fifty million
-tons a year, and there is no reason for believing that
-this will be the maximum. So it is obvious that the
-ore of the Lake Superior regions will not last beyond
-the year 1950 unless new deposits are discovered, or
-methods are found for the utilisation of immense deposits
-that cannot now be used.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_36" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_036.jpg" width="600" height="413" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Record Load Hauled by One Team out of the Michigan Woods, 20,000 Feet.</div></div>
-
-<p>“Will this event not prove ruinous to a large extent
-to shipping interests?” I asked G. Ashley Tomlinson,
-of Duluth, and others closely associated with iron
-and vessel interests. “To-day nearly half of the total
-tonnage of the Lakes is from the mines. If this industry
-becomes practically extinct what will become
-of the hundreds of ships engaged in the traffic?”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span>
-Mr. Tomlinson’s answer struck me as extremely
-logical. “The production of ore will probably reach
-its maximum within the next ten years,” he said. “It
-will then begin to decline. But the decrease will be
-gradual, and meanwhile other freight traffic on the
-Lakes will be increasing so rapidly that each year
-ships that were intended originally for the ore trade
-will carry other business. There will be no loss for
-the ships. The development of our own and the Canadian
-West has only begun, and the Lakes are the great
-links of commerce between their vast enterprises of
-the future and the East. The grain trade of the
-Canadian West alone will in the not distant future be
-something tremendous.”</p>
-
-<p>But whatever the future of the ore regions of the
-North may be, their present is one of great interest
-and importance to the world at large. Mining, like
-shipbuilding, has been reduced to a science on the
-Lakes. A stranger visiting for the first time any one
-of the five ranges is filled with astonishment. I will
-never forget the sensations with which I first saw
-mining on the Mesaba range. We had come up over
-a forest-clad hill and stood on the very edge of the mine
-before I had been made aware of its nearness. Below
-me there stretched a mile of deep, huge scars in the
-bottom of what seemed to be a great hole dug into
-the earth. One of these pits, half a mile in diameter,
-and, as I afterward discovered, nearly two hundred
-feet in depth, was almost at my feet.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span>
-“That’s iron ore,” said my companion. “And
-right there it goes one hundred feet deeper down.”</p>
-
-<p>This was one of the great “open pits” of the Mesaba
-range. There are many others like it in the Superior
-regions. They are the most wonderful mines in the
-world. Imagine that you take a barrel of salt, dig
-a hole, pour the salt into this hole, and cover it with a
-few inches of earth. This gives you an idea of one
-of these ore mines. After the earth has been “stripped”
-from the top the ore is reached and it is found in much
-the same way that the salt would be found. In the
-words of one superintendent, it is “all together.”
-It is as if Nature, like a pirate, had dug holes here and
-there in which she had hidden her treasure, covering
-it over for concealment with a few feet of earth.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_38" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_038.jpg" width="600" height="371" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">One Steam Shovel Keeps Three Locomotives and Trains Busy.</div></div>
-
-<p>Down into these pits and along their edges run the
-tracks of the ore cars. There is here but little of the
-shovelling and “picking” of men. Steam shovels,
-weighing from sixty to seventy-five tons each, do the
-work. Like a great hand one of these shovels dips
-down into the soft mass of ore, buries its great dipper
-until it holds from four to eight tons, and then, groaning
-and rumbling, slowly lifts its burden aloft, swings
-it over a car, and the actual work of mining is done.
-A thousand times a day it will repeat this operation,
-lifting from three thousand to eight thousand tons
-of ore. This one shovel keeps busy three locomotives
-and as many trains of dump cars. And there are
-nearly two hundred of these shovels in use on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span>
-Mesaba range alone. It costs only about six cents
-a ton to mine in this way, after the “stripping” has
-been done, or, in other words, after the ore has been
-laid bare. There are two other processes on the ranges
-where the ore is not so soft or so closely laid. One
-of these is the milling process, and the other is the
-blasting out of hard ore. Milling costs about thirty-five
-cents per ton, and the blasting process from one
-dollar to one dollar and twenty-five cents.</p>
-
-<p>Why it has for some time been impossible to build
-ships too fast for the demand may most graphically
-be shown, perhaps, by quoting a few figures which
-demonstrate the tremendous energy now being exerted
-in the ore regions of the North. Figures as a usual
-thing are uninteresting, but these enter so vitally into
-the welfare of every American citizen that they should
-be regarded with more than ordinary respect. As
-stated before, we are now making nearly half of all
-the iron and steel produced on earth. In 1880, we
-made only 1,240,000 tons of steel; in 1890, this had
-increased to over 4,000,000; in 1900, to 10,188,000 tons,
-and in 1905, to 20,023,000 tons. Lake ships and Lake
-mines had to supply this. And now we come to mine
-figures which almost stagger belief. In 1904, the
-Mesaba range, for instance, yielded only a little over
-12,000,000 tons. In the following year the production
-was nearly doubled, the ore carriers bringing down
-20,153,699 tons, which in 1906 was increased to almost
-24,000,000!</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span>
-This enormous annual tonnage of the Mesaba
-range, together with that of the other four ranges of
-the Superior region, is carried by rail directly from the
-mines to the great ore docks of Lake ports. The
-product of the Mesaba and Vermilion ranges, in
-Minnesota, is shipped from Duluth and Two Harbors;
-the eight million tons of the Goebic and Marquette
-ranges, in Michigan, from Escanaba and Marquette;
-and the five million tons of the Menominee range, in
-Wisconsin, from Ashland and Superior.</p>
-
-<p>To these six ports of the Northland come the vikings
-of the Lakes and their immense fleets. Four
-of these ports are within a radius of seventy-five miles,
-and the two others, in Michigan, are about one hundred
-and fifty miles farther east and south. No other area
-of lake or ocean in the world is as much travelled by
-shipping as that along which these ore harbours are
-situated. The people of Duluth have witnessed blockades
-of vessels such as have never been seen in the
-greatest ocean ports. Over this part of Superior
-there is a constant trail of smoke from the funnels of
-ships. During one month there were 1221 arrivals
-and clearances from Duluth alone, an average of forty
-a day.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_40" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_040.jpg" width="600" height="395" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Steamers at a Modern Ore Unloading Plant at Conneaut.</div></div>
-
-<p>Behind these great ships, which rest never a day
-nor an hour for eight months of the year, are the kings
-of Lake commerce&mdash;such men as J.&nbsp;C. Gilchrist, James
-Davidson, Captain Mitchell, William Livingstone, Harry
-Coulby, W.&nbsp;C. Richardson, A.&nbsp;B. Wolvin, G. Ashley<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span>
-Tomlinson, and scores of others. To write of these
-would be to chronicle a history of men who have fought
-their way to the top through sheer force of the “breed
-that is in them.”</p>
-
-<p>Take G. Ashley Tomlinson, of Duluth, for instance,
-whose ships carry a couple of million tons of ore a
-year. “Not a great record,” as Mr. Tomlinson modestly
-says, but still enough to supply every man,
-woman, and child in the United States with a little
-matter of fifty pounds each twelvemonth! In a novel
-Tomlinson would make an ideal soldier of fortune; in
-plain, matter-of-fact life he represents those elements
-which make the great men of the Lakes. He is forty
-years old. He has sixteen ships. His income is over
-one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year.</p>
-
-<p>Yet Tomlinson began, as did many other Great
-Lake men of to-day, with just two assets&mdash;the clothes
-on his back and a huge ambition. He started his
-career as a messenger boy in the State treasurer’s office
-at Lansing, Michigan. But there was not enough of
-the strenuous life in this for him, so he went West to
-become a cowboy. He succeeded, much to his regret;
-for soon after he had mastered the broncho and could
-handle a lasso there came the war between the cowboys
-and the White River Utes. In one of the fights Tomlinson
-was wounded and afterward captured by the
-redskins. During the whole of one night he was subjected
-to torture, and at dawn of the following day,
-when almost at the point of death, he was delivered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">42</a></span>
-by a party of ranchmen. Tomlinson was not one to
-display the white feather&mdash;but he had had enough
-of Western life, and as soon as possible he worked himself
-from Rawlins, Wyoming, to Chicago on a cattle
-train. After a time he came to Michigan, and with
-his savings attended the University of Michigan for
-about a year. This was enough of “higher education”
-for him, so he sold his text-books and went to work
-on the Detroit <cite>Journal</cite> at the munificent salary of
-six dollars a week. Newspaper work was all right
-until Buffalo Bill came along. Tomlinson joined the
-show, rode a bucking broncho for a year, then “developed”
-a voice and cast his fortunes with the
-Mapleson Opera Company. In 1889, he went to New
-York as a reporter on the <cite>Sun</cite>, returned the following
-year to become night editor of the Detroit <cite>Tribune</cite>,
-and in 1893 moved to Duluth.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_42" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_042.jpg" width="600" height="390" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The Main Slip in the Harbour of Conneaut.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Conneaut is the second largest ore-receiving port on the Lakes.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The Lakes began to hold a peculiar fascination for
-him. He went into the vessel brokerage business
-mostly on his nerve; but nerve made him money, and
-his capital began to grow. How fast it has grown
-during the past dozen years one must judge by his
-ships and his income. He is president of five steamship
-companies, vice-president of another, secretary
-to three more, and a director in the American Exchange
-Bank, of Duluth, and the Cananea Central
-Copper Company. He has developed from a typical
-adventurer of fortune into one of the great men of the
-Lakes. His romantic career is described here because<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span>
-it is illustrative of the fact that brain and brawn, not
-“pull” and money, have made the vikings and iron
-barons of the Inland Seas. No millionaires’ sons here,
-living on their fathers’ prestige&mdash;no blue-blooded
-drones in these regions of the five little seas, where
-only red blood counts!</p>
-
-<p>When the first ships of the season come up from the
-South in April or May nearly a million and a half tons
-of ore are awaiting them in the docks of the ore-shipping
-ports. There are twenty-six of these ore docks,
-one of which, at Duluth, has a storage capacity of
-ninety-six thousand tons. From a distance these
-docks look like great trestles, from fifty to one hundred
-feet above the water, some of them running for nearly
-half a mile out into the lake. Out upon these docks
-run the cars from the mines. From these cars the
-ore is dropped into huge pockets, from which run
-downward long chutes, or spouts. A ten-thousand-ton
-carrier runs alongside. Her hatches are opened.
-Into each hatch runs a chute. The chute “doors” are
-opened, and with a dull, rumbling, rushing sound the
-ore pours down by force of gravity from the huge
-pockets above. At dock No. 4, Duluth, 9277 tons
-were put aboard the steamer <i>E.&nbsp;J. Earling</i> in seventy
-minutes, being at the rate of 7988 tons an hour. The
-rapidity with which Lake transportation is carried on
-is shown in the fact that upon this occasion the <i>Earling</i>
-was in port only two hours and fifteen minutes before
-she began her thousand-mile return trip eastward.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">44</a></span>
-And now comes the last important phase. One
-viewing the continuous activity at the mines, the
-building up of cities on the ranges, and the tremendous
-interests represented in the great shipping ports may
-forget that this is but one end of the gigantic industry
-which makes the United States the steel-maker for
-the world. At the other end of the fresh-water highways
-is seen the other half of the picture. Down into
-Erie come the ships from the North. A few of them
-go to Chicago, but only a few. Out of a total movement
-of thirty-seven million tons, in 1906, thirty-two
-million tons were received at Lake Erie ports.
-There are eleven of these “receiving ports”&mdash;Toledo,
-Sandusky, Huron, Lorain, Cleveland, Fairport, Ashtabula,
-Conneaut, Erie, Buffalo, and Tonawanda.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_44" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_044.jpg" width="600" height="430" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">One of the Huge Open Pits of the Mesaba Range.</div></div>
-
-<p>Between these cities there is a constant battle for
-prestige. Now one leads in tonnage received, now
-another. At the present time the bitterest rivalry
-exists between Cleveland, Ashtabula, and Conneaut,
-the three greatest ore ports in the world. In 1901,
-Ashtabula led. In 1902, Cleveland bore away the
-“pennant,” with Ashtabula and Conneaut second and
-third. Cleveland was still ahead in 1903, but in 1904,
-Conneaut became the greatest ore-receiving port in
-the world. In 1905, Ashtabula had again won the
-ascendency, and in 1906, she maintained her prestige,
-receiving in that year 6,833,352 tons; Cleveland was
-second, and Conneaut third. Lorain, Fairport, Ashtabula,
-Conneaut, and Erie practically exist because<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span>
-of the ore which comes down from the northern mines.
-Seven million dollars are now being expended in the
-improvement of Ashtabula harbour by the Lake Shore
-and Pennsylvania railroad companies, and the capacity
-of the harbour has been doubled since 1905. With
-the improvement of that harbour Conneaut’s greatest
-advantage will be gone, for until a comparatively recent
-date nearly all of the largest vessels went to that port.
-The tremendous activity in Ashtabula must be seen
-to be fully appreciated. In one day lately almost four
-thousand ore and coal cars were moved between that
-port and Youngstown.</p>
-
-<p>At this end of the great ore industry the wonderful
-mechanism for the handling of cargoes is even more
-astonishing than that of the Northland. The ore
-carrier is run under a huge unloading machine which
-thrusts steel arms down into the score or more hatches
-of the vessel, and without the assistance of human
-hands the cargo is emptied so quickly that the uninitiated
-observer stands mute with astonishment. How
-quickly this work is done is shown in the record of the
-<i>George W. Perkins</i>, which discharged 10,346 tons at
-Conneaut in four hours and ten minutes.</p>
-
-<p>Once more, after this unloading, the steel monster
-of the Lakes is all but ready for her long journey into
-the North. Within a few hours she is reloaded, with
-a few sonorous blasts of her whistle she bids a last
-adieu, and again she is off on the long trail that leads
-to the “ugly wealth” in the ore ranges of Superior.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="III"></a>III<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">What the Ships Carry&mdash;Other Cargoes</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Not</span> long ago I went to see William Livingstone,
-President of the Lake Carriers’ Association&mdash;Great
-Admiral, in a way, of the world’s
-mightiest fleet of steel&mdash;an enrolled navy of 593
-ships and a tonnage of nearly one million nine hundred
-thousand. Unconsciously I had come to call this
-man the Grey Man and the Man who Knows. Both
-titles fit, as they will tell you from the twin Tonawandas
-to Duluth. For six consecutive years president
-of the greatest organisation of its kind on earth,
-an association of ships made up, if weighed, of half of
-the iron and steel floating on the Inland Seas, he has
-become a part of Lake history. I sought him for an
-idea. I found it.</p>
-
-<p>The Grey Man was at his desk studying over the
-expenditure of a matter of several millions of dollars
-for a new canal at the “Soo.” He turned slowly&mdash;grey
-suit, grey tie, grey eyes, grey beard, grey hair&mdash;all
-beautifully blended. He seldom speaks first.
-He is always fighting to be courteous, yet the days
-are ten hours too short for him.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span>
-“I want a new idea,” I opened bluntly. “I want
-something new in marine&mdash;something that will make
-people sit up and take notice, as it were. Can you
-help me?”</p>
-
-<p>He swung slowly about in his chair until his eyes
-rested upon a picture on the wall. It was a picture
-of the old days on the Lakes. My eyes, too, rested
-on the old picture. It reminded me of things, and I
-kept pace with the thoughts that might be his. I saw
-him, more than half a century before, the stripling
-son of a ship’s carpenter, swimming in the shadows of
-the big fore-’n’-afters that were monarchs before steam
-came&mdash;glorious days when ninety-eight per cent. of
-vessels carried sail, and sailors dispensed law with
-their fists and bore dirks in their bootlegs. Later I
-saw the proud moment of his first trip to “sea”&mdash;and
-then, quickly, I noted his rise: his saving dollar
-by dollar until he bought an interest in a tug, his
-monopolisation of it later, his climb&mdash;up&mdash;up&mdash;until&mdash;&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“I’m busy, very busy!” he broke in quietly.
-“But say, did you ever think of this? Did you
-ever build a city of the lumber we carry each year,
-populate that city, feed it with the grain we carry,
-and warm it with our coal? You can do it on paper
-and you will be surprised at what you find. It will
-show you more graphically than anything else just
-what the ships carry. Try it. You’ll be interested.”</p>
-
-<p>I have kept that idea warm. Now I am going to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span>
-use it. For probably in no better way can the immensity
-of the lumber, grain, coal, flour, and package
-freight traffic of the Great Lakes be given. Imagine,
-then, this “City of the Five Great Lakes.” We will
-build it, we will people it, feed it, and heat it&mdash;and our
-only material, with the exception of its inhabitants,
-will be the cargoes of the Lake carriers for a single
-season. And these carriers? If you should stand
-at the Lime Kiln Crossing, in the Detroit River, one
-would pass you on an average every twelve minutes,
-day and night, during the eight months of navigation;
-and when you saw their number and size you would
-wonder where they could possibly get all of their
-cargoes. The cargoes with which we will deal in this
-article will be of lumber, grain, flour and coal, for
-these, with iron ore, constitute over ninety per cent.
-of the commerce of the Inland Seas.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_48" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_048.jpg" width="600" height="390" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A Raft of Five Million Pulp Logs on the North Shore of Lake Michigan.</div></div>
-
-<p>To build our city we first require lumber. During
-the 1909 season of navigation about 1,500,000,000
-feet of this material will be carried by Lake ships.
-What this means it is hard to conceive until it is
-turned into houses. To build a comfortable eight-room
-dwelling, modern in every respect, requires about
-20,000 feet of lumber, and when we divide a billion
-and a half by this figure we have 75,000 homes, capable
-of accommodating a population of about 400,000
-people. With the thousands of tons of building stone
-transported by lake each year, the millions of barrels
-of cement, the cargoes of shingles, sand, and brick, our<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span>
-“City of the Lakes” for 1909 would be as large as
-Buffalo, Cleveland, or Detroit.</p>
-
-<p>But one does not begin fully to comprehend the
-significance of the enormous commerce of the Great
-Lakes, and what it means not only to this country
-but to half of the civilised world, until he begins to
-figure how long the grain which will be carried by
-ships during the present year would support this
-imaginary city of 400,000 adult people. There will
-pass through the “Soo” canals this year at least
-90,000,000 bushels of wheat and 60,000,000 bushels
-of other grain, besides 7,500,000 barrels of flour, all
-of which represents the “bread stuff” that is shipped
-from Lake Superior ports alone. There will, in addition,
-be shipped by lake at least 50,000,000 bushels
-from Chicago, Milwaukee, and other ports whose eastbound
-commerce is not reported at the “Soo.” In
-short, estimating conservatively from the past four
-years, it is safe to say that at least 200,000,000 bushels
-of grain and 11,000,000 barrels of flour will have been
-transported by the Great Lakes marine by the end of
-this year’s season of navigation.</p>
-
-<p>But what do these figures mean? They seem top-heavy,
-unwieldly, valuable perhaps to the scientific
-economist, but of small interest to the ordinary everyday
-eater of bread. Let us reduce this grain to flour.
-It takes from four and a half to five bushels of grain
-for a barrel of flour and dividing by the larger figure
-our grain would give us 40,000,000 barrels, which,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span>
-plus the 11,000,000, would make a total of 51,000,000
-barrels. Now we come right down to dinner-table
-facts. At least 250 one-pound loaves of bread can be
-made from each 196-pound barrel of flour, or a total
-of 12,750,000,000 from the whole, which would mean
-at least five loaves for every man, woman, and child
-of the two and one half billion people who inhabit this
-globe! In other words, figuring from the reports of
-food specialists, the grain and flour carried by the
-ships of the Lakes for one year would give the total
-population of the earth a food supply sufficient to keep
-it in life and health for a period of two weeks!</p>
-
-<p>This enormous supply of the staff of life would give
-each of the 400,000 bread-eating people in our “City of
-the Lakes” a half-pound a day for one hundred and
-seventy-five years, or it would supply a city of the
-size of Chicago with bread for fifty years! To each
-of the 60,000,000 bread-eaters in the United States
-it would give 212 one-pound loaves, or, with an allowance
-of half a pound for each person per day, it would
-feed the nation for one year and two months!</p>
-
-<p>Now, having built our city, peopled it, and supplied
-it with food, we come to the point of heating it. In
-1907, there were transported by Lake nearly 15,000,000
-tons of coal, and this year another million will probably
-be added to that figure. Here again mere figures fail
-to tell the story. But when we come to divide this
-coal among the homes of a city like Cleveland, Detroit,
-or Buffalo, which rank with our 75,000-home “City<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span>
-of the Lakes,” we again come to an easy understanding.
-Each of these 75,000 home-owners would receive as
-his share over 213 tons of coal, and if he burned six
-tons each winter this would last him for thirty-five
-years!</p>
-
-<p>In a nutshell, there is enough lumber and other
-material carried by Lake ships each year to build a
-city the size of Detroit; there is enough grain transported
-to supply its 400,000 inhabitants with bread-stuffs
-for a period of one hundred and seventy-five
-years, conceding the total population of the city to
-be adults; and enough coal is shipped from Erie ports
-into the North to heat the homes in this city for
-thirty-five years!</p>
-
-<p>When one knows these facts, when perhaps for the
-first time in his life he is brought to a realisation of
-the enormous proportions of the commerce of the
-Inland Seas, he may, and with excellent excuse, believe
-that he has reached the limit of its interest.
-But as a matter of fact he has only begun to enter
-upon its wonders, and the farther he goes the more
-he sees that economic questions which have long been
-mysteries to him are being unravelled by the Great
-Lakes of the vast country in which he lives.</p>
-
-<p>“Because of the ships of our Inland Seas,” James
-A. Calbick, late President of the Lumber Carriers’
-Association, said to me, “the people of the United
-States, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains,
-and as far south as Kentucky and Tennessee,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span>
-have been able to build the cheapest homes in the
-world&mdash;and the best,” and this assertion, which can
-be proved in several different ways, brings us at once
-to the lumber traffic as it exists on the Lakes to-day.</p>
-
-<p>Going through almost any one of the Eastern and
-Central States one will find thousands of old sheds
-and barns, travelling the road to ruin through age
-alone, though built of the best of pine and oak&mdash;materials
-of a quality which cannot be found in the
-best of modern homes in this year of 1909. For ten
-years past the price of lumber has been steadily
-climbing, and since 1900 the increase in the cost of
-building construction has brought lumber to a par
-with brick. While the commerce of the Lakes is
-increasing by tremendous bounds in other ways,
-people are now, perhaps unknowingly, witnessing the
-rapid extinction of one of their oldest and most romantic
-branches of traffic&mdash;the lumber industry; and
-each year, as this industry comes nearer and nearer
-to its end, the price of lumber climbs higher and
-higher, home-owners become fewer in comparison
-with other years, and fleets and lumber companies
-go out of existence or direct their energies into other
-channels.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_52" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_052.jpg" width="600" height="359" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Scooping up Ore from the Mahoning Mine at Hibbing.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The largest open pit mine in the world.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>To Lake people it is pathetic, this death of the
-lumber fleets of the Inland Seas. An old soldier who
-had sailed on a lumber hooker since the days of the
-Civil War once said to me, “They’re the Grand Army
-of the Lakes&mdash;are those old barges and schooners, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span>
-they’re passing away as fast as we old fellows of the
-days of ’61.” To-day no vessels are built along the
-Lakes for the carrying of lumber. Scores of ancient
-“hookers” and picturesque schooners of the romantic
-days of old are rotting at their moorings, and when a
-great steel leviathan of ten thousand tons passes one
-of these veterans the eyes of her crew will follow it
-until only her canvas remains above the horizon.</p>
-
-<p>Yet from the enormous quantity of lumber which
-will be transported by Lake during the present year,
-one would not guess that the great fleet which will
-carry it is fast nearing the end of its usefulness in this
-way. In every lumbering camp along the Lakes, in
-the great forests of Minnesota, and in the wilderness
-regions of Canada, unprecedented effort has been expended
-in securing “material” because of the high
-prices offered, and the result has been something beyond
-description. Recently I passed through the once great
-lumbering regions of the Lakes to see for myself what
-I had been told. Michigan is stripped; the “forest”
-regions of Georgian Bay are scrub and underbrush; for
-hundreds of square miles around Duluth the axe and
-the saw have been ceaselessly at work, though there
-is still a great deal of timber land in the northern
-part of the State. In the vast lumber regions of a
-decade ago, once lively and prosperous towns have
-become almost depopulated. Scores of lumbering
-camps are going to rot and ruin; saw-mills are abandoned
-to the elements, and in places where lumbering<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span>
-is still going on, timber is greedily accepted which
-a few years ago would have been passed by as
-practically worthless. A few years more and the
-picture of ruin will be complete. Then the lumber
-traffic on the Great Lakes will virtually have
-ceased to be, the old ships will be gone, and past
-forever will be the picturesque life of the lumberjack
-and those weather-beaten old patriarchs who,
-since the days of their youth, have been “goin’ up
-f’r cedar ’n’ pine.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_54" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_054.jpg" width="600" height="365" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A Mining Town on the Mesaba Range, where a Few Years ago the Deer and Bear Roamed
-Undisturbed.</div></div>
-
-<p>But even in these last days of the lumber industry
-on the Lakes the figures are big enough to create
-astonishment and wonder, and give some idea of
-what that industry has been in years past. Take
-the Tonawandas, for instance&mdash;those two beautiful
-little cities at the foot of Lake Erie, a few miles from
-Buffalo. Lumber has made these towns, as it has
-made scores of others along the Lakes. They are
-the greatest “lumber towns” in the world, and estimating
-from the business of former years there will
-be carried to them by ship in 1909 between 300,000,000
-and 400,000,000 feet of lumber. In 1890, there
-entered the Tonawandas 718,000,000 feet, which
-shows how the lumber traffic has fallen during the
-last nineteen years. It is figured that about 10,000,000
-feet of lumber, valued at $200,000, is lost each year
-from aboard vessels bound for the “Twin Cities.”
-In 1905, the vessels running to the Tonawandas
-numbered 300; this year their number will not exceed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span>
-250&mdash;another proof of the rapidly failing lumber
-supply along America’s great inland waterways.</p>
-
-<p>“This talk of a lumber famine is all bosh,” I was
-informed with great candour a short time ago. “Look
-at the great forests of Washington and Oregon! Think
-of the almost limitless supply of timber in some of the
-Southern States! Why, the stripping of the Lake
-States ought not to make any difference at all!”</p>
-
-<p>There are probably several million people in this
-country of ours who are, just at the present moment,
-of the above opinion. They have never looked into
-what I might call the “economy of the Lakes.” A
-few words will show what part the Lakes have played
-in the building of millions of American homes. At this
-writing it cost $2.50 to bring a thousand feet of lumber
-from Duluth to Detroit aboard a ship. It costs $5.50
-to bring that same lumber by rail! Conceding that this
-year’s billion and a half feet of lumber will be transported
-a distance of seven hundred miles, the cost of
-Lake transportation for the whole will be about $3,750,000.
-The cost of transportation by rail of this same
-lumber would be at least $7,500,000, or as much again!
-Now what if you, my dear sir, who live in New York,
-had to have the lumber for your house carried fourteen
-hundred miles instead of seven, or three thousand miles,
-from Washington State? To-day your lumber can
-be brought a thousand miles by water for $3 per thousand
-feet; by rail it would cost you $7! And this, with
-competition playing a tremendous part in the game.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span>
-When lumber is gone from the Lake regions, will our
-philanthropic railroads carry this material as cheaply
-as now, when for eight months of the year they face
-the bitter rivalry of our Great Lakes marine?</p>
-
-<p>“When the time comes that there is no more lumber
-along the Lakes, what will be the result?” I asked
-Mr. Calbick, the late President of the Lumber Carriers’
-Association. He replied:</p>
-
-<p>“Lumber will advance in price as never before.
-No longer will the frame cottage be the sign of the
-poor man’s home; no longer will the brick mansion be
-the manifestation of wealth. It will then cost much
-more to build a dwelling of wood than of brick or
-stone. The frame house will in time become the sign
-of aristocracy and means. It will pass beyond the
-poor man’s pocket-book, and while this poor man may
-live in a house of brick it will not be his fortune to live
-in a house of wood. That is what will happen when
-the lumber industry ceases along the Great Lakes.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_56" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_056.jpg" width="600" height="406" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Harbour View at Conneaut, Ohio, Showing Docks and Machinery.</div></div>
-
-<p>Then this great lumberman went on to say:</p>
-
-<p>“People are beginning to see, and each year they
-will see more plainly, how absolutely idiotic our State
-and National governments have been in not compelling
-forest preservation. For all the centuries to come
-Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota should be made
-to supply the nation with timber. In these three
-Lake States there are millions of acres of ideal forest
-land which is good for nothing else. Yet for at least
-half a century must these millions of acres now remain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span>
-worthless. Nothing has been left upon them. They
-are “barrens” in the true sense of the word, and
-before forests are regrown upon them fifty or a
-hundred years hence, the greatest timber famine
-the world has ever seen will have been upon us for
-generations.”</p>
-
-<p>Hardly could the significance of the passing of the
-lumber industry along our Inland Seas be appreciated
-without taking a brief glance into the past, to see
-what it has already done for the nation. There is
-now practically no white pine left in the State of
-Michigan&mdash;once the home of the greatest pine regions
-in the whole world. Michigan’s tribute to the nation
-has been enormous. For twenty years she was the
-leading lumber-producing State of the Union. As
-nearly as can be estimated, her forests have yielded
-160,000,000,000 feet of pine, more than one hundred
-times the total amount of lumber that will be transported
-on the Lakes this year. These are figures
-which pass comprehension until they are translated
-into more familiar terms. This enormous production
-would build a board walk five feet wide, two inches
-thick, and three million miles long&mdash;a walk that would
-reach one hundred and twenty times around the earth
-at the equator; or it would make a plank way one
-mile wide and two inches thick that would stretch
-across the continent from New York to San Francisco!
-In other words, Michigan’s total contribution of pine
-would build ten million six-room dwellings capable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">58</a></span>
-of housing over half the present population of the
-United States.</p>
-
-<p>As a consequence of this absolute spoliation of the
-forest lands, a large part of Michigan is now practically
-worthless. First, the lands were bought by lumbering
-companies; the timber was stripped&mdash;then came the
-tax-collector! But why pay taxes on worthless barrens,
-with only stumps and brush and desert sand to
-claim? So people forgot they owned them, and as a
-result one seventh of the State of Michigan is to-day
-on the delinquent tax list.</p>
-
-<p>Minnesota is going the way of Michigan. In 1906,
-there was cut in the Duluth district a total of 828,000,000
-feet of white pine; but each year this production
-will become smaller, until in the not distant future
-there will be nothing for the lumber ships of the Lakes
-to carry. What this will mean to the home-builders
-of the nation can be shown in a few words. Previous
-to 1860, the Chicago man could buy 1000 feet of the
-best white pine for $14. To-day it costs him $80!
-What will it cost ten years hence?</p>
-
-<div id="ip_58" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_058.jpg" width="600" height="435" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Steam Shovel at Work.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">This removes from 4000 to 8000 tons of ore a day.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Already the centre of lumber production has swung
-from the North to the South. The yellow pine of
-Louisiana is now taking the place once filled by white
-pine, and at the rate it is being cut another decade
-will see that State stripped as clean as Michigan now
-is, and then the country’s last resort will be to turn
-to the Pacific coast with its forests of Douglas fir.
-And still, as though blindfolded to all sense and reason,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span>
-almost every State government continues to look
-upon the fatal destruction without a thought for the
-future, though before us are facts which show that
-Americans are using nearly eight times as much lumber
-per capita as is used in Europe, and that the nation
-is consuming four times as much wood annually as
-is produced by growth in our forests.</p>
-
-<p>Ten years more and the last of the romantic old
-lumber ships of the Inland Seas will have passed
-away; gone forever will be the picturesque life of those
-who have clung thus long to the fate of canvas and
-the four winds of heaven; and with it, too, will pass
-the remaining few of those old lumber kings who
-have taken from Michigan forests alone fifty per cent.
-more wealth than has been produced by all the gold
-mines of California since their discovery in 1849.</p>
-
-<p>But in the place of this passing industry is rapidly
-growing another, the effect of which is already being
-felt over half of the civilised world, and which in a
-very few years from now will be counted the greatest
-and most important commerce in existence. The
-iron mines of the North may become exhausted, the
-little remaining forest of the Lake regions will fade
-away; but the grain trade will go on forever. Just
-as the Superior mines have produced cheap iron and
-steel, just as the Inland Seas have been the means
-of giving the nation cheap lumber, so will they for all
-time to come supply unnumbered millions with cheap
-bread. Like great links, they connect the vast grain-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">60</a></span>producing
-West with the millions of the bread-consuming
-East. And not only do they control the grain
-traffic of the United States. To-day western Canada
-is spoken of as the future “Bread Basket of the World,”
-and over the Lakes will travel the bulk of its grain.
-Looking ahead for a dozen centuries, one cannot see
-where there can be a monopoly of grain transportation,
-either by railroad or ship. The water highways are
-every man’s property; a few thousand dollars&mdash;a ship&mdash;and
-you are your own master, to go where you please,
-carry what you please, and at any price you please.
-For all time, in the carrying of grain from field to
-mouth, the Great Lakes will prove themselves the
-poor man’s friend. To bring this poor man’s bushel
-of wheat over the one thousand miles from Duluth to
-Buffalo by Lake now costs only two cents.</p>
-
-<p>And according to the predictions of some of the
-oldest ship-owners of the Lakes, the tremendous saving
-to the poor man because of the cheapness of Lake
-freightage is bound to increase in the not distant future.
-It must be remembered that at the present time ships
-are not built too fast for Lake demand, and as a consequence
-transportation rates, while exceedingly low
-when compared with rail rates, are such as to make
-fortunes each year for the owners of ships. Take the
-cargo of the <i>B.&nbsp;F. Jones</i>, for instance, delivered at
-Buffalo in October of 1906. She had on board 370,273
-bushels of wheat which she had brought from Duluth
-at two and three fourths cents a bushel, making her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span>
-four-day trip down pay to the tune of $7500! The
-preceding year one cargo of 300,000 bushels was
-brought down for six cents a bushel, a very extraordinary
-exception to the regular cheap rate&mdash;one
-of the exceptions which come during the last week or
-two of navigation. The freight paid on this cargo
-was $18,000. In other words, if this vessel had made
-but this one trip during the season the profit on the
-total investment of $300,000 represented by the ship
-would have been six per cent. There are on the Lakes
-vessels which pay from twenty to thirty per cent. a
-year, and an “ordinary earner” is supposed to run
-from ten to twenty.</p>
-
-<p>In viewing these enormous profits, however, the
-layman has no cause for complaint, for the vessels
-that make them do so not to his cost, but from the
-rapidity with which they achieve their work. The
-<i>W.&nbsp;B. Kerr</i> is a vessel that can carry 400,000 bushels
-of wheat. Figure that she makes twenty trips a season.
-If she carried grain continually she would transport
-a total of 8,000,000 bushels in a single season,
-which would supply Chicago with bread for nearly a
-year and a half. And it is an interesting fact, too,
-that with few exceptions the ships of the Lakes are
-not owned by corporations, but by the American
-people. Their stock is held, not by thousands, but
-by hundreds of thousands. Recognised as among the
-best and safest investments in the United States, they
-are the property of farmers, mechanics, clerks, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span>
-other small investors, as well as of capitalists. Recently
-one of the largest shipbuilders on the Lakes
-said to me, “A third of the farmers in the Lake counties
-of Ohio have money invested in shipping.” Which
-shows that not only in the way of cheap transportation
-are the common people of the country profiting
-because of the existence of our Inland Seas. It may
-be interesting to note at this point that the tonnage
-shipped and received at Ohio ports in 1907 exceeded
-that of all the ports of France.</p>
-
-<p>The rate at which the grain traffic of the Lakes
-is increasing is easily seen in the figures of the last
-few years. In 1905, over 68,000,000 bushels of
-wheat passed through the “Soo” canals. In 1906,
-this increased to more than 84,000,000, showing a
-growth in one year of 16,000,000 bushels, or 23 per
-cent. This rate of increase is not only being maintained,
-but it is becoming larger; and the grain men
-of the Lakes are unanimous in the opinion that even
-from the big increase of recent years cannot be figured
-the future grain business of the Inland Seas.</p>
-
-<p>“Ten years more will see the American and Canadian
-Wests feeding the world,” a grain dealer tells me.
-“Within that time I look to see the wheat production
-of North America not only doubled, but trebled.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_62" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_062.jpg" width="600" height="370" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The Old and the New.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">A modern freight carrier passing one of the old schooners.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>What western Canada is destined to mean to Lake
-commerce is already shown in marine figures. From
-Port Arthur and Fort William, the “twin cities” of
-Thunder Bay, were shipped in 1907 over 60,000,000<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span>
-bushels of grain, and it is safe to predict that the shipment
-of these two little cities will this year exceed
-70,000,000 bushels. The largest elevator in the world,
-with a capacity of 7,500,000 bushels, has been constructed
-at Port Arthur; and Fort William already
-has a capacity of 13,000,000 bushels.</p>
-
-<p>And as yet the fertile regions of western Canada
-have hardly been touched! These 70,000,000 bushels
-of 1909 will represent part of the production, not of
-a nation, but of a comparatively few pioneers in what
-is destined to become the greatest grain-growing
-country in the world&mdash;a country connected with the
-East and the waterways to Europe by the Five Great
-Lakes. When the task now under way of widening
-and deepening the Erie Canal is accomplished, the
-enormous Lake traffic in grain may continue without
-interruption to the Atlantic coast. Even as it is, the
-transportation of grain from Buffalo to New York by
-canal is showing a phenomenal increase. The value
-of the freight cleared by canal from Buffalo in 1907
-was nearly $19,000,000, while in 1905 it was less than
-$12,000,000.</p>
-
-<p>Like the building of ships the building of elevators
-is now one of the chief occupations along the Lakes.
-The “grain age,” as vessel-men are already beginning
-to call it, has begun. In the four chief grain ports of
-the Lakes, Chicago, Duluth-Superior, Buffalo, and
-Port Arthur-Fort William, there are now 145 elevators
-with a capacity of 138,000,000 bushels. Chicago<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">64</a></span>
-leads, with 83 elevators and a capacity of 63,000,000,
-although Duluth-Superior with their 27 elevators and
-35,000,000-bushel capacity shipped half again as much
-grain to Buffalo in 1907 as did Chicago. Buffalo is the
-great “receiving port” of the lower Lakes. There vast
-quantities of grain are made into flour, and the rest
-is transhipped eastward. At present the city possesses
-28 elevators with a capacity of 23,000,000 bushels.</p>
-
-<p>There is another potent reason why the passing of
-the lumber traffic and the future exhaustion of the
-iron mines do not trouble ship builders and owners.
-It has been asserted that when lumber and iron are
-gone there will no longer be business for all of the
-ships of the Lakes. How wrong this idea is has been
-shown by the growth of the grain trade. But grain
-will be only one item in the enormous commerce of
-the future. Each year the coal transportation business
-is growing, and the constantly increasing saving
-to coal consumers because of this commerce is astonishing.
-At one end of the Lakes are the vast coal deposits
-of the East; at the other is Duluth, the natural
-distributing point for a multitude of inland coal markets.
-Of the 16,000,000 tons of coal to be shipped by
-water this year probably 8,000,000 will go to Duluth,
-and will be carried a distance of one thousand miles
-for thirty-five cents a ton, just about what one would
-pay to have it shovelled from a waggon into his basement
-window! The remaining 8,000,000 tons will be
-unloaded at Chicago, Milwaukee, etc.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a></span>
-One of the most interesting sights to be witnessed
-along the Lakes is the loading and unloading of a
-big cargo of coal. The <i>W.&nbsp;B. Kerr</i> holds the record
-at this writing. She loaded 12,558 tons at Lorain for
-Duluth, and took on 400 tons of fuel in addition. Inconceivable
-as it may seem, such a cargo under good
-conditions can be loaded on a ship in from ten to
-fifteen hours. The vessel runs alongside the coal
-dock, her crew lifts anywhere from a dozen to twenty
-hatches, and the work begins. In the yards are hundreds
-of loaded cars. An engine quickly pushes one
-of these up an inclined track to a huge “lift,” or elevator,
-to the tracks of which the wheels of the car are
-automatically clamped. Then the car, with its forty
-or fifty tons of coal, scoots skyward, and when forty
-feet above the deck of the ship great steel arms reach
-out and turn it upside down. With a thunderous
-roar the coal rushes into a great chute, one end of
-which empties into a hatch. Then the car tips back,
-is quickly carried down by the elevator, and is “bumped
-off” by another loaded car, which goes through the
-same operation. Four or five days later, at the other
-end of the Lakes, powerful arms, high in the air, reach
-out over the open hatches of the same vessel. Out
-upon one of these arms suddenly darts a huge “clamshell”
-bucket; for a moment it poises above a hatch,
-then suddenly tumbles downward, its huge mouth
-agape, and half buries itself in the cargo of coal. As
-it is pulled up, the “jaws” of the clam are closed, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">66</a></span>
-with it ascend several tons of fuel. Three or four
-of these clam-shells may be at work on a vessel
-at the same time, and can unload 10,000 tons in
-about two days. In the days of old, it would have
-taken three weeks and scores of men to unload such
-a cargo.</p>
-
-<p>“And in looking into the future we must take another
-item into consideration,” said President Livingstone
-to me. “And that is package freight. It is almost
-impossible to estimate the amount that is carried, but
-it is enormous, and has already saved the country millions
-in transportation.”</p>
-
-<p>There is one other “item” that is carried in the
-ships of the Inland Seas&mdash;not a very large one, judging
-by bulk alone, but one which shows that the possibilities
-of romance are not yet gone from modern commerce.
-Perhaps, sometime in the not distant future, you may
-have the fortune to see a Lake ship under way. She
-is long, and black, and ugly, you may say; she carries
-neither guns nor fighting men, nor is she under convoy
-of a man-o’-war. Yet it may be she carries a richer
-prize than any galleon that ever sailed the Spanish
-Main. She is a “treasure ship” of the Inland Seas,
-bringing down copper from the great Bonanzas of
-the North. The steamer <i>Flagg</i> holds the record, carrying
-down as she did in 1906 $1,250,000 worth of
-metal.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_66" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_066.jpg" width="600" height="366" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A Shaft on One of the Ranges.</div></div>
-
-<p>Once a copper ship was <span class="locked">lost&mdash;&mdash;</span></p>
-
-<p>But I will keep that story a little longer, for it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a></span>
-properly belongs in “The Romance and Tragedy of
-the Inland Seas,” in which I pledge myself to show
-that the great salt oceans are not the only treeless
-and sandless wastes rich in mysterious, romantic, and
-tragic happenings.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">68</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="IV"></a>IV<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">Passenger Traffic and Summer Life</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> a previous article I have shown how the saving
-to the people of the United States by reason of
-Great Lake freight transportation is more than
-five hundred million dollars a year, or, in other
-words, an indirect “dividend” to the nation of six
-dollars for every man, woman, and child in it. Yet
-in describing how this enormous saving was accomplished
-I touched upon but one phase of what I might
-term the “saving power” of the Lakes. To this must
-be added that dividend of millions of dollars which
-indirectly goes into the pockets of the people because
-of the cheapness of water transportation and because
-of the extraordinarily low cost at which one may
-enjoy, both afloat and ashore, the summer life of the
-Lakes. These two phases of Lake life are among the
-least known, and have been most neglected.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_68" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_068.jpg" width="600" height="336" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The “North West.”</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">One of the finest passenger steamers on the Great Lakes.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>At the same time, considering the health and pleasure
-as well as the profit of the nation, they are among the
-most important. To-day it is almost unknown outside
-of Lake cities that one may travel on the Inland Seas
-at less cost per mile than on any other waterway in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span>
-the civilised world, and that the pleasure-seeker in
-New York, for instance, can travel a thousand miles
-westward, spend a month along the Lakes, and return
-to his home no more out of pocket than if he had indulged
-in a ten-day or two-week holiday at some seacoast
-resort within a hundred miles of his business.
-This might be accepted with some hesitancy by many
-were there not convincing figures behind the statements,
-figures which show that the Lakes are primarily
-the “poor man’s pleasure grounds” as well as his
-roads of travel, and that on them he may ride in company
-with millionaires and dine with the scions of
-luxury and fashion without overreaching himself
-financially. This has been called the democracy of
-the Lakes. And only those who have travelled on
-the Inland Seas or summered along their shores know
-what the term really means. It is a condition which
-exists nowhere else in the world on such a large scale.
-It means that what President Roosevelt describes as
-“the ideal American life” has been achieved on the
-Lakes; that the bank clerk is on a level, both socially
-and financially, for the time, with the bank president,
-with the same opportunities for pleasure and with the
-same luxuries of public travel within his reach. The
-“multi-millionaire” who boards one of the magnificent
-passenger steamers at Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, or
-Chicago, or any other Lake port, has no promenade
-decks set apart for himself and others of his class, as
-on ocean vessels; there are no first-, second-, and third-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span>class
-specifications, no dining-rooms for the especial
-use of aristocrats, no privileges that they may enjoy
-alone. The elect of fortune and fashion becomes a
-common American as soon as he touches a plank of
-a Lake vessel, rubs elbows with the everyday crowd,
-smokes his cigars in company with travelling men,
-rural merchants, and clerks, forgets himself in this
-mingling with people of red blood and working hands&mdash;and
-enjoys himself in the experience. It is a novel
-adventure for the man who has been accustomed to
-the purchase of exclusiveness and the service of a
-prince at sea, but it quickly shows him what life
-really is along the five great waterways that form the
-backbone of the commerce of the American nation.</p>
-
-<p>This is why the passenger traffic of the Inland Seas
-is distinctive, why it is the absolute antithesis of the
-same traffic on the oceans. If a $2,000,000 floating
-palace were to be launched upon the Lakes to-morrow
-and its owners announced that social and money distinctions
-would be recognised on board, the business
-of that vessel would probably be run at a loss that
-would mean ultimate bankruptcy. It is an experiment
-which even the wealthiest and most powerful
-passenger corporations on the Lakes have not dared
-to make, though they have frequently discussed it.
-A score of passenger traffic men have told me this.
-It is a splendid tribute to the spirit of independence
-and equality that exists on these American waters.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_70" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_070.jpg" width="600" height="432" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Stop at Tashinoo Park, St. Clair Flats.</div></div>
-
-<p>And there is a good reason for this spirit. In 1907,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span>
-sixteen million passengers travelled on Lake vessels
-and of these it is estimated that less than five hundred
-thousand were foreign tourists or pleasure-seekers
-from large Eastern cities. In other words, over fifteen
-million of these travellers were men and women of
-the Lake and central Western States, where independence
-and equality are matters of habit. Twelve
-million were carried by vessels of the Eighth District,
-which begins at Detroit and ends at Chicago, while
-only three and a half million were carried in the Ninth
-District, including all Lake ports east of the Detroit
-River. From these figures one may easily get an idea
-of the class of people who travel on the Lakes, and
-at the same time realise to what an almost inconceivable
-extent our Inland Seas are neglected by the people
-of many States within short distances of them. Astonishing
-as it may seem, nearly eight million passengers
-were reported at Detroit in 1907&mdash;as many as were
-reported <em>at all other Lake ports combined</em>, including
-great cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, and Chicago.
-These millions were drawn almost entirely from
-Michigan and Ontario, with a small percentage coming
-from Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Ninety per
-cent. of the Chicago traffic of two million was from
-Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, while of the three
-and a half million carried east of the Detroit River,
-from Erie and Ontario ports, fully two thirds were
-residents of Ohio and Pennsylvania. At Buffalo,
-which draws upon the entire State of New York and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span>
-upon all States east thereof, there were reported only
-a million passengers! To sum up, figures gathered
-during the year show that fully ninety per cent. of
-all travel on the Inland Seas is furnished by the States
-of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
-western New York, western Pennsylvania, and
-northern Kentucky.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_72" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_072.jpg" width="600" height="384" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Landing at Mackinac Dock, Michigan.</div></div>
-
-<p>Why is this? Why are the most beautiful fresh-water
-seas in the whole world neglected by their own
-people? Why is it that from the single city of Boston
-there travel by water two million more people than
-on all of the Lakes combined, which number on their
-shores the second largest city on the continent and
-four others well up in the front rank? I have asked
-this question of steamship companies in a dozen ports
-along the Lakes, and from them all I have received
-practically the same reply. There is a man in Detroit
-who has been in the passenger traffic business for
-more than a quarter of a century. I refer to A.&nbsp;A.
-Schantz, general manager of the largest passenger
-business on the Lakes. He was managing boats at
-the age of twenty, he has studied the business for
-thirty years, and he hits the nail squarely on the head
-when he says: “It’s because people <em>don’t know</em> about
-the Lakes. For generations newspapers and magazines
-have talked <em>ocean</em> to them. They know more
-about Bermuda and the Caribbean than they do
-about Mackinaw and the three thousand islands of
-Lake Huron. The people of three States out of four<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span>
-are better acquainted with steamship fares to London
-and Liverpool than to Duluth or Chicago; they have
-been <em>taught</em> to look to the oceans and ocean resorts,
-and to-day the five Great Lakes of America are more
-foreign, so far as knowledge of them is concerned,
-than either the Atlantic or the Pacific.”</p>
-
-<p>This is true. When Admiral Dewey made his triumphal
-journey through the Inland Seas even he found
-himself constantly expressing astonishment at what
-he saw and heard. It is so with ninety-nine out of
-every hundred strangers who come to them. Think,
-for instance, of travelling from Detroit to Buffalo, a
-distance of two hundred and sixty miles, for $1.25!&mdash;less
-than <em>half a cent a mile</em>! I recently told a Philadelphia
-man who has been to Europe half a dozen
-times about this cheap travel, and he laughingly asked,
-“What kind of tubs do you have on the Lakes that
-can afford to carry passengers at these ridiculous
-rates?”</p>
-
-<p>Well, there is one particular “tub” which offers
-this cheap transportation once a week, which cost
-a little over a million and a quarter dollars! Every
-bit of woodwork in the parlours, promenades, and
-dining-rooms is of Mexican mahogany. It carries
-with it a collection of oil paintings which cost
-twenty-five thousand dollars. Every one of four
-hundred state-rooms is equipped with a telephone
-and there is a telephone “central,” so that passengers
-may converse with one another or with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span>
-ship’s officers without leaving their berths. There
-are reading-rooms, and music-rooms, and writing-rooms,
-magnificently upholstered and furnished; and
-on more than one of these Lake palaces passengers
-may amuse themselves at shuffle-board, quoits, and
-other games which fifty millions of Americans believe
-are characteristic only of ocean craft. Another of
-these “tubs”&mdash;the <i>Eastern States</i>&mdash;broke Lake records
-in 1907 by berthing and feeding fifteen hundred
-people on a single trip; and the new <i>City of Cleveland</i>
-will accommodate two thousand without crowding.</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding the extreme cheapness of their
-rates of transportation, Lake passenger vessels constantly
-vie with one another in maintaining a high
-standard of appearance and comfort. This is illustrated
-in the interesting case of the <i>City of St. Ignace</i>,
-which was built a number of years ago at a cost of
-$375,000. Since that time, in painting, decorating,
-refurnishing, etc., and not including the cost of broken
-machinery or expense of crew, nearly $500,000 have
-been spent in the maintenance of this vessel, a sum
-considerably greater than her original cost. A Government
-law says that thirty per cent. of the cost of a
-vessel must be expended in this kind of maintenance
-before that particular boat can change its name.
-The <i>City of St. Ignace</i> could have changed her name
-four times! And the case of the <i>St. Ignace</i> is only
-one of many.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_74" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_074.jpg" width="600" height="418" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Hickory Island at the Mouth of Detroit River.</p>
-  </div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>From a Photograph by Manning Studio, Detroit.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>I have gone into these facts with some detail for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span>
-the purpose of showing that the extreme cheapness of
-travel and living along the Lakes does not signify a loss
-of either comfort or luxury. In few words, it means
-that the Lakes, as in all other branches of their industries,
-are agents of tremendous saving to the nation
-at large in this one; and that, were the pleasure-seekers
-and travellers of the country to become better acquainted
-with them, the annual “dividend” earned
-in freight transportation would be doubled by passenger
-traffic. The figures of almost any transportation
-line on the Lakes will verify this. Last year, for
-instance, one line carried two hundred thousand people
-between Detroit and Cleveland. The day fare between
-these points is one dollar, the distance 110 miles.
-Estimating that four fifths, or one hundred and sixty
-thousand, of these passengers travelled by day, their
-total expense would be $160,000. By rail the distance
-is 167 miles, and the fare $3.35, making a total railway
-fare of $536,000. These figures show that one passenger
-line alone, and between just two cities, saved
-the travellers of the country $376,000 in 1908. The
-saving between other points is in many instances even
-greater. Once each week one may go by water from
-Detroit to Buffalo, or from Buffalo to Detroit, a distance
-of 260 miles, for $1.25, while the rail rate is seven
-dollars; and at any time during the week, and on any
-boat, the fare is only $2.50. These low rates prevail,
-not only in localities, but all over the Lakes. The
-tourist may board a Mackinaw boat at any time in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span>
-Cleveland, for instance, travel across Lake Erie, up
-the Detroit River, through Lake St. Clair and Lake
-Huron, and back again&mdash;a round trip of nearly one
-thousand miles&mdash;at an expense of <em>ten dollars</em>. The
-round trip from Detroit to Mackinaw, which gives the
-tourist two days and two nights aboard ship and a
-ride of six hundred miles, costs eight dollars. The
-rail fare is $11. At a ticket expense of less than
-twenty-five dollars one may spend a whole week aboard
-a floating palace of the Lakes and make a tour of the
-Inland Seas that will carry him over nearly three
-thousand miles of waterway, his meal service at the
-same time being as good and from a third to a half as
-expensive as that of a first-class hotel ashore. Excursion
-rates, which one may take advantage of
-during the entire season, are even less, frequently
-being not more than half as high as those given above.</p>
-
-<p>When one becomes acquainted with these facts it
-is easy for him to understand the truth of Mr. Schantz’s
-statement that “people <em>don’t know</em> about the Lakes.”
-If they did, the annual passenger traffic on them
-would be thirty million instead of sixteen; and, instead
-of an estimated saving of ten million dollars to the
-people because of Lake passenger ships, the “dividend”
-that thus goes into their pockets would be
-twice that amount.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_76" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_076.jpg" width="600" height="387" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The “City of Erie.”</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The fastest steamer on the Lakes, holding a record of 22.93 miles per hour.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Foreign shipbuilders as well as Americans along the
-seacoasts frankly concede that vessel-building on the
-Lakes has developed into a science which is equalled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a></span>
-nowhere else in the world, evidence of which I have
-offered in a former article. This is true of passenger
-ships as well as of freighters, and the strongest proof
-of this fact lies in the almost inconceivably small loss
-of life among travellers on the Lakes. There was a
-time when the marine tragedies of the Inland Seas
-were appalling, and if all the ships lost upon them
-were evenly distributed there would be a sunken hulk
-every half-mile over the entire thousand-mile waterway
-between Buffalo and Duluth. But those days
-are gone. Lake travel has not only become the cheapest
-in the world, but the safest as well. The figures
-which show this are of tremendous interest when compared
-with other statistics. Of the sixteen million
-men, women, and children who travelled on Lake
-passenger ships in 1907, <em>only three were lost</em>, or one
-out of every 5,300,000. Two of these were accidentally
-drowned, and the third met death by fire. The percentage
-of ocean casualties is twelve times as great,
-and of the eight hundred million people who travelled
-on our railroads during 1906 approximately one out of
-every sixty thousand was killed or injured.</p>
-
-<p>To the great majority of our many millions of
-people the summer life of the Lakes is as little known
-as the passenger traffic. And, if possible, it offers
-even greater inducements, especially to those who
-wish to enjoy the pleasures of an ideal summer outing
-and who can afford to spend but a very small sum
-of money. Notwithstanding this fact, the shores and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">78</a></span>
-countless islands of the Great Lakes are taken advantage
-of even less than their low transportation
-rates. Only a few of the large and widely-advertised
-resorts receive anything like the patronage of seacoast
-pleasure grounds. If a person in the East or
-West, for instance, plans to spend a month somewhere
-along the Lakes, about the only information that he
-can easily obtain is on points like Mackinaw Island:
-popular resorts which are ideal for the tourist who
-wishes to pass most of his time aboard ship, or who,
-in stopping off at these more fashionable places, is not
-especially worried about funds.</p>
-
-<p>It is not of such isolated places as the great resorts
-that I shall speak first. They play their part, and an
-important one, in the summer life of the Lakes; but
-it is to another phase of this life, one which is almost
-entirely unknown, that I wish to call attention. The
-man who does not have to count the contents of his
-pocket-book when he leaves home will find his holiday
-joys without much trouble. But how about the man
-who works for a small salary, and who with his restricted
-means wishes to give his wife and children the
-pleasures of a real vacation? What about the men
-and women and children who look forward for weeks
-and months, and who plan and save and economise,
-sometimes hopelessly, that <em>somewhere</em> they may have
-two weeks together, free from the worry and care and
-eternal grind of their daily life? It is to such people
-as these, unnumbered thousands of them, that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span>
-Lakes should call&mdash;and loudly. And it is to
-such as these that I wish to describe the astonishing
-conditions which now exist along thousands
-of miles of our Great Lakes coast line&mdash;conditions
-which, were they generally known, would attract
-many million more people to our Inland Seas next
-year than will be found there during the present
-summer.</p>
-
-<p>“But <em>where</em> shall I go?” asks the man who is planning
-a vacation, and who may live two or three hundred
-miles away from the nearest of the Great Lakes.
-He is perplexed, and with good cause. He has spent
-other vacations away from home and generally speaking
-he knows what a hold-up game ordinary summer-resort
-life is. But he need not fear this on the Lakes.
-All that he has to do in order successfully to solve
-this problem of “where to go” is to get a map, select
-any little town or village situated on the fresh-water
-sea nearest to him, or three or four of them, for that
-matter, and write to the postmasters. They can turn
-the communications over to some person who will
-interest himself to that extent. Say, for instance,
-that you write to the little port of Vermilion, on
-Lake Erie. Your reply will state that “Shattuck’s
-Grove would be a nice place for you to spend your
-holidays; or you may go to Ruggles’ Grove, half a
-dozen miles up the beach; or you can get cheap accommodations,
-board and room for three or four dollars
-a week apiece, at any one of a hundred farmhouses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span>
-that look right out over the lake.” In fact, it is not
-necessary for you to write at all. When you are
-ready to leave on your vacation, when your trunk is
-ready and the wife and children all aglow with eagerness
-and expectancy&mdash;why, <em>start</em>. Go direct to any
-one of these little Lake towns. Within a day after
-arriving there, or within two days at the most, you
-will be settled. I have passed nearly all of my life
-along the Lakes, and have travelled over every mile
-of the Lake Erie shore; I have gone from end to end
-of them all, and I do not know of a Lake town that
-does not possess in its immediate vicinity what is
-locally known as a “grove.” A grove, on the Lakes,
-means a piece of woods that the owner has cleared
-of underbrush, where the children may buy ice-cream
-and candy, where there are plenty of swings, boats,
-fishing-tackle, and perhaps a merry-go-round, and
-where the pleasure-seeker may rent a tent at almost
-no cost, buy his meals at ridiculously low prices and
-live entirely on the grounds, or board with some
-farmer in the neighbourhood. A “grove,” in other
-words, is what might be called a rural resort, a place
-visited almost entirely by country people and the
-residents of neighbouring towns, and where one may
-fish, swim, and enjoy the most glorious of all vacations
-for no more than it would cost him to live at home,
-and frequently for less.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_80" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_080.jpg" width="600" height="394" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Little Venice, St. Clair River.</p>
-
-  <p class="smaller">Showing the type of “Inns,” where people may pass their holidays at small expense.</p>
-  </div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>Courtesy of Northern Steamship Co.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>There are many hundreds of these “groves” along
-the Lakes, unknown to all but those who live near<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span>
-them. Only on occasion of Sunday-school picnics or
-Fourth of July celebrations are they crowded. They
-are the most ideal of all places in which to spend one’s
-holidays, if rest and quiet recreations are what the
-pleasure-seeker desires. And these groves are easily
-found. I do not believe there is a twenty-mile stretch
-along Lake Erie that does not possess its grove, and
-sometimes there are a dozen of them within that distance.
-I know of many that are not even situated
-near villages, being five or six miles away and patronised
-almost entirely by farmers. In almost any one
-of them a family may enjoy camp life if they wish,
-buy their supplies of neighbouring farmers, do their
-own cooking, rent a good boat for from twenty-five
-to fifty cents a day, and get other things at a corresponding
-cost. I am personally acquainted with
-one family of four who came from Louisville to one of
-these sylvan resorts on Lake Huron last year, and
-the total expense of their three weeks’ vacation, not
-including railroad fare, was under fifty dollars. The
-experience of these parents and their children is not
-an exception. It is a common one with those who
-are acquainted with the Lakes and who know how
-to take advantage of them to their own profit.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_82" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_082.jpg" width="600" height="393" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A Scene on Belle Isle, Detroit River.</div></div>
-
-<p>There is another phase of Lake life, a degree removed
-from that which I have described, which is
-also unknown beyond its own local environment and
-which ought to be made to be of great profit and
-pleasure to those seeking holiday recreation along<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span>
-our Inland Seas. The shores of the Lakes, from end
-to end, are literally dotted with what might appropriately
-be called lakeside inns&mdash;places located far
-from the dust and noise and more fashionable gaiety
-of crowded resorts and cities, where one may enjoy
-all of the simpler pleasures of water-life for from six
-to eight dollars a week. This price includes room,
-board, boats, fishing-tackle, and other accommodations.
-At most of these places the board is superior to that
-which one secures at the large resorts. Fish, frogs’
-legs, and chickens play an important part in the bill
-of fare, and almost without exception they are placed
-upon the table in huge dishes, heaped with fresh viands
-from the kitchen as soon as they become empty.
-The fish cost the innkeepers nothing, for they are
-mostly caught by the pleasure-seekers themselves;
-frogs usually abound somewhere in the immediate
-vicinity, and where the landlord does not raise his
-own fowls they are purchased from neighbouring farmers.
-The inn is a local market for butter, eggs,
-celery, and vegetables of all kinds, so it is not difficult
-to understand why the board at these places is superior
-to almost any that can be found in a city. I have no
-doubt that if these lakeside inns were generally known
-they would be so crowded that life would not be worth
-living in them. But they are <em>not</em> known and as a
-consequence are running along in their old-fashioned
-way, sources of unrivalled summer joy to those who
-have been fortunate enough to discover them. At many<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span>
-of these inns only a dollar a day is charged, all accommodations
-included, and the price is seldom above
-$1.50 a day, even for transients. I know of one inn
-that has been “discovered” by half a dozen travelling
-men and their wives. Three of these families live in
-Cleveland, one in Pittsburg, and two in New York,
-and each year they spend a month together on Lake
-St. Clair. The cost is <em>six dollars a week</em> for each adult!
-A few weeks ago I was talking with one of these men,
-the representative of a New York dry-goods firm, and
-he told me that for himself, his wife, and two children
-it cost less to stay a month at this place than it did to
-pass a single week at an ocean resort, and that the
-accommodations and opportunities for pleasure were
-greater there than he had ever been able to afford on
-the Atlantic. I do not wish to emphasise the attractions
-of any particular inn, for in most ways all of
-them are alike. And the holiday-seeker who knows
-nothing of the Lakes can find them as easily as he
-can locate the groves I have described. The secret
-of the whole thing is in the knowledge that hundreds
-of such places really exist.</p>
-
-<p>I have often thought that if it were possible for
-every person in the United States to make a trip over
-the Lakes, beginning at Niagara Falls, our Inland
-Seas from that day on would be recognised as the
-greatest pleasure-grounds in the world. At Niagara
-Falls, the traveller takes the Gorge ride, and perhaps
-makes a trip on the <i>Maid of the Mist</i>. But he is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">84</a></span>
-probably unaware that in the immediate neighbourhood
-are a score of spots hallowed in history, and whose
-incidents have made up some of the most romantic
-and tragic pages in the story of our country. He
-may not know that within walking distance of the
-falls was fought the battle of Queenston Heights, that
-at certain points the earthworks of the British still
-remain, that he may stand in the very spot where
-General Brock fell dying, and that he may follow, step
-by step, that thrilling fight far up on the summit of
-those wild ridges. Neither does the ordinary tourist
-know that almost within sight of the falls is one of the
-oldest cemeteries in America, where many of the
-men who were slain in the battles of those regions
-are at rest. Old Fort Niagara remains almost unvisited,
-and the spot not far distant where the adventurer
-La Salle built the <i>Griffin</i>, the first vessel ever
-to sail the Lakes, is virtually unknown. Two weeks,
-and every hour of them filled with interest, might
-be spent by the Lake tourist at Niagara Falls, yet the
-average person is satisfied with a day. And it is all
-because he does not <em>know</em>. This may be said of his
-experiences from end to end of the Lakes.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_84" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_084.jpg" width="600" height="417" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Steamer “Western States.”</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">One of the largest and fastest boats on the Lakes. Carries 2500 people and her fastest speed
-is 20 miles an hour.</p></div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>From a Photograph by Detroit Photographic Co.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>When his ship passes into Lake Erie he enters upon
-new and even more thrilling pages of history. Near
-Put-in-Bay his captain can point out to him where
-Perry and his ships of war engaged and whipped the
-British fleet in 1813; for nearly a hundred miles his
-vessel will travel over the very course taken by the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span>
-fleeing British ships, and that course, if he follows it
-to the Thames, will lead to the scenes of the fierce
-battle that was fought there, and of the sanguinary
-conflict with the Indians in which the famous chieftain
-Tecumseh was slain. And all this time he will
-see rising along the white stretches of shore the smoke
-of great cities, and hundreds of miles of wooded beach,
-where unnumbered millions might pass their summer
-holidays without crowding. And when he enters the
-Detroit River he looks out upon quiet Canadian shores
-and little “Sleepy Hollow” towns, still characterised
-by the quaint French atmosphere and peacefulness
-that marked them a century ago.</p>
-
-<p>Now he begins to see the crowded, noisy, jostling
-pleasures of popular river resorts; then comes Detroit,
-the greatest excursion city on the Lakes. Here again
-history may add to the pleasure of his reflections, for
-three nations have fought for and possessed Detroit.
-He passes Belle Isle, the greatest pleasure ground in
-the world with the exception of Coney Island, and a
-few minutes later can almost throw a stone upon the
-island that was once the home of the famous Indian
-chief Pontiac, and where the plans for that bloodthirsty
-warrior’s assaults upon the whites were made.
-Then follows the course across beautiful Lake St.
-Clair, and the slow journey through Little Venice,
-where again the crowds and music and gay vessels of
-one of the most popular resorts in America greet his
-eyes for many miles; where every bit of land that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">86</a></span>
-thrusts itself out of the lake is lined with summer
-cottages and lakeside inns. Here the tourist may
-stop for a dollar a day or two dollars a day, and may
-mingle freely with bankers and merchants and millionaires
-as well as with the “common herd.” It is a
-mixed, happy, cosmopolitan life.</p>
-
-<p>From Little Venice the tourist’s ship enters the St.
-Clair River, along which live innumerable captains of
-ships. It is a paradise of beauty, yet along its length
-one may buy cottage sites cheaper than he can purchase
-ordinary city lots. Here the traveller will see
-the tents of happy campers from the city, comfortable
-inns, and now and then a summer resort hotel&mdash;a
-mixed life, one of pleasure for the man with a family
-and little money as well as for him who has more
-than he knows well how to spend.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_86" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_086.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Steamship “North West” in American Lock.</div></div>
-
-<p>Once out upon the bosom of Lake Huron, the scenes
-begin to change. Now there are miles of shore on
-which there is hardly a habitation to be seen. From
-Saginaw Bay northward for hundreds of miles along
-the Georgian Bay and Michigan shores, the grandeur
-and beauty of the wilderness are seen from the deck
-of the vessel. As one progresses farther north the
-scenes become wilder and wilder, until the captain may
-tell you that you are looking out over regions where
-the bear and the deer and the wolf make their homes;
-and if you have a drop of sportsman’s blood in you, he
-adds to your excitement by saying that you may see
-big game from the deck of the ship before the trip is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span>
-over. At times, and for long distances, the vessel
-seems to be picking her way between innumerable
-islands, and if the course is through Georgian Bay
-their number bewilders the traveller. They are on
-all sides of him. Here and there upon them are resort
-hotels; more numerous still are the simple, homelike
-places where the city worker and his family may stay
-at comparatively small expense, and along the mainland
-are the homes of settlers and farmers, nine out
-of ten of whom are glad to accommodate summer
-visitors at prices which make living there as cheap
-as at home.</p>
-
-<p>Farther northward the tourist’s ship carries him
-deeper into the wilderness country, through St. Mary’s
-River, with its forest-clad shores and islands, broken
-here and there by little cottages built and owned by
-city people; through the locks at the “Soo,” and into
-Lake Superior. Beyond this, as one captain expressed
-it to the writer, “there is howling wilderness on
-every shore.” At times the traveller may have
-glimpses of the Canadian coast, from which the
-unbroken wild stretches northward to Hudson Bay;
-his eyes may travel over the hazy distance of the
-greatest moose- and caribou-hunting country on the
-continent; and when near the Michigan shore he
-may see the smoke rising above the great copper
-mines of the Upper Peninsula. And at the end of
-this northern route he comes to Duluth, the second
-greatest freight-shipping port in the world, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span>
-destined to become one of the most important
-cities in America.</p>
-
-<p>At the Straits of Mackinaw, however, the tourist
-may turn into Lake Michigan instead of continuing
-into Superior: and if so, he soon comes within sight
-of Beaver Island, famous for all ages in history as the
-one-time stronghold of King Strang and his Mormons&mdash;an
-island about which piracy once flourished and
-where more than one vessel, in the years of long ago,
-met a mysterious and tragic end at the hands of buccaneers
-as bloodthirsty as any that ever roamed the
-seas.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_88" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_088.jpg" width="600" height="417" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Cottages Built at Small Expense along the St. Mary’s River.</div></div>
-
-<p>And so it goes, from end to end of the Lakes, every
-mile fraught with interest, every hour offering the
-traveller something new of scenery or history. At
-no time is there the monotonous sameness of ocean
-travel, and even night is to be regretted because of
-the things which are passed then and cannot be seen.
-And this life of the Lakes is not, like that of the salt
-seas, open only to those of means. It is within the
-poor man’s reach as well as the rich, is accessible to
-the hard-working housewife as well as to the woman
-who possesses her carriage and her servants.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="V"></a>V<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">The Romance and Tragedy of the Inland Seas</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap i"><span class="smcap1">I was</span> watching a blockade of ships in a Lake Erie
-harbour&mdash;a score of striving, crowding, smoking
-monsters of the Inland Seas, hung under a pall
-of black smoke, with screeching tugs floundering here
-and there, megaphone voices shouting curses and
-orders, and the crashing of chains and steel filling the
-air. And I thought of a theatre I had visited the
-night before where, arriving late, I was forced to crush
-in with the gallery gods and fight for a place in the fifth
-heaven. In the excitement of this “spring rush” of
-great ships for the freight-laden docks of the North, I
-spoke my sentiment to the man beside me&mdash;a man
-who had always before him in his office five miniature
-lakes, on which miniature vessels represented his steel
-leviathans of commerce, which he moved about, and
-played, and watched, day by day and almost hour by
-hour, as a player might move his men at chess. And
-this man, I noticed, was regarding the scene before
-him with different eyes from mine. His face was set
-in a frown, his eyes stared in their momentary anxiety,
-and I could almost feel the eager tenseness of his body.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span>
-Out there in that chaotic tangle, where captains were
-fighting for prestige and taking chances that might
-cost thousands, <em>he</em> had ships. I saw him clench his
-hand as a black monster crept forward into the gap
-between two ships ahead; I saw it forge on, yard by
-yard, saw the other vessels close up on it as though it
-were an egg which they were bent on crushing between
-them, heard the rumbling of steel side against steel
-side, and when at last I witnessed this ship break
-triumphantly into the lead, great blotches of paint
-scraped from it, I looked at the man again, and he was
-smiling.</p>
-
-<p>Then he turned to me, and as we walked away from
-the scene, he observed:</p>
-
-<p>“That’s good&mdash;that ‘crush’ idea of yours. I’d use
-it. It’s as pretty a comparison as you could get to
-the whole situation on the Lakes to-day, and it’s a
-key to what the situation is going to be ten years
-from now. It’s crush and crowd all over the Lakes
-from Duluth to Buffalo. Harbours are getting too
-small; the ‘Soo’ canals are becoming outgrown; the
-Lime Kiln crossing is a greater and greater menace
-as the number of ships increases. And the ships?
-They’re increasing so fast that unless the Government
-takes a hand, there will be more tragedies to write
-down in Lake history during the next decade or two,
-than in all of the years that have gone before.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_90" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_090.jpg" width="600" height="394" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Steamer Stripped by a Tow-Line by Running between a Steamer and her Consort.</p>
-  </div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>From a Photograph by Lord &amp; Rhoades, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>This possibility of the actual overcrowding, of the
-Lakes is one that I have discussed with half a hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span>
-captains and owners. It offers a new “future” for
-romance and tragedy on the Great Lakes. Since the
-day the first strong-hearted explorers sailed up the
-Inland Seas on the <i>Griffin</i>, the unusual, the tragic,
-and the romantic have made up thrilling chapters in
-their history&mdash;chapters in battle, piracy, and adventure,
-whose heroes and their exploits rank on even
-terms with Paul Jones, Kidd, Morgan, Hudson, and
-other worthies of the open seas. The romance of
-the old days, as upon the ocean, is gone; a new romance
-has taken its place&mdash;the romance of iron and steel
-and steam; and a new and greater peril than that
-born of wind and storm, many believe, is fast developing
-to face the fresh-water mariner of the future.
-This is the peril of collision&mdash;not as it exists to-day,
-but as it may exist a few years from now. Already
-this peril is an ever-present menace upon the Great
-Lakes, and hardly a day passes during the season of
-navigation that collisions do not occur. The Lakes,
-it is probable, will never be able to take entire care
-of the enormous commerce of the East and West,
-and as a result ships will continue to increase until,
-like the streets of a great city with their rushing automobiles
-and unceasing pandemonium of cars, vans,
-and seething multitudes, these water highways will
-become dangerously crowded with the vehicles of
-trade. Already the Lake Carriers’ Association seems
-to foresee the danger of future navigation on the Inland
-Seas, and has recommended that east and west courses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span>
-be established, so that up-bound vessels will be far
-out of the path of down-bound ships. This is but
-the first step toward government legislation, many
-believe, that will bring about the “cutting up of the
-Lakes into roads,” when vessels bound for given ports
-will have prescribed courses to travel, from which
-they will deviate, unless with good cause, at the risk
-not only of their safety, but of a heavy fine. Thus,
-it is probable, will the Lakes be made navigable for
-the myriad ships of the future, when, in the words of
-one ship-owner, “A pall of smoke will hover overhead
-day and night for seven months in the year, and when
-the world will witness water commerce as it has never
-existed before, and as it will never exist elsewhere on
-the globe.”</p>
-
-<p>This is looking into the future; but one acquainted
-with the Lake life of to-day cannot but see the picture.
-And this picture brings one to the real motif of this
-chapter&mdash;a description of the “human interest side”
-of America’s vast “unsalted seas,” that side in which
-the romantic and the tragic and not the realities of
-statistics and economic progress play the absorbing
-parts, and which should serve to make them of interest
-to hundreds of thousands of people who have yet
-their first trips to take upon them.</p>
-
-<p>From my twenty years of experience with them, I
-believe that failure to treat of the human interest
-of the Lakes is one of the most inexcusable omissions
-of American literature. In the rush of modern progress<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span>
-the Lakes have been forgotten&mdash;except in the
-way of their vital importance to the commerce of the
-nation. And each year their picturesque and thrilling
-aspects are becoming more deeply engulfed in
-considerations of profit and loss and corporation
-finance.</p>
-
-<p>Not long ago I asked a romantically inclined young
-woman, who was about to spend the savings of several
-years on an ocean trip, why she did not take a more
-economical, and pleasanter, holiday by making a tour
-of the Lakes. She looked at me as if I had gone out
-of my head.</p>
-
-<p>“Take a trip on the Lakes when I can have one on
-the ocean!” she cried. After a moment of continued
-surprise, she added: “I want something that I can
-think about. I want to go where something has
-happened&mdash;where there have been battles, and pirates,
-and where there’s sunken ships, and treasure, and
-things under us! I’m reading a story now that tells
-of the ocean&mdash;<i>The Cruise of a Lonely Heart</i>&mdash;situated
-in the very part of the sea we’re to cross, and I shall
-read every word of it over again while we’re aboard
-the ship!”</p>
-
-<p>That is the great trouble. Historians, novelists,
-and short-story writers have neglected the Lakes.
-I did not waste my breath in telling this young lady
-that real pirates flourished in the days of King Strang
-and his Mormons on the Lakes; that some of the most
-picturesque “sea fights” of history were fought upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span>
-them, and that treasure untold, and mysteries without
-number, lie hidden within their depths. But I
-am determined that she shall read these few pages,
-and I pray that she, as well as a few thousand others
-of my readers, may hereby be induced to “take to
-their history.”</p>
-
-<p>For centuries the oceans have been regarded as the
-realm of romance and mystery. In this age, the
-youths of Chicago, of New York, Cincinnati, or Denver,
-and even of Lake cities, search public libraries for
-tales of the South Seas and of the great Pacific; even
-the youngster whose every day has been spent on the
-shores of one of the five Great Lakes seeks afar the
-material that satisfies his boyish imagination. And
-so is it with his father and mother, his big brothers
-and sisters. Instead of a glorious trip over the Lakes,
-they prefer the old and oft-made journey to Europe,
-to the Bermudas; instead of seeking out the grand
-scenery and actual romance that environ them, they
-follow beaten paths laid out in books and pamphlets
-descriptive of the ocean.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_94" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_094.jpg" width="600" height="420" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A Remarkable Photograph Showing the Big Freighter “Stimson” in a Holocaust of
-Smoke and Flame.</div></div>
-
-<p>In view of the action already being taken to bring
-about legislation to prevent collisions, it is interesting
-to note that no similar area of any ocean, if suddenly
-robbed of its waters, would expose to human eyes
-more sunken ships, or more valuable cargoes, than
-the Great Lakes. During the twenty years between
-1878 and 1898, only one less than 6000 vessels were
-wrecked on the Inland Seas, and 1093 these were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span>
-total losses. The loss of cargo during this period of
-a little more than one fourth of the years of navigation
-on the Lakes was nearly $8,000,000, and from this
-it is quite safe to figure that the total amount of
-property that has gone to the bottom of the Lakes,
-including only cargoes, would make a total of at least
-$15,000,000, involving the wrecking of 14,000 vessels
-and the total loss of over 2000 ships. Were these
-“total losses” strung out in a row, there would be a
-sunken ship at a distance of every half-mile over the
-thousand-mile length of the Lakes between Buffalo
-and Duluth. What a field for romance here! What
-material for the seeker of human achievement, of
-heroism, of sacrifice! Scores of these vessels disappeared
-as suddenly and as mysteriously as though some
-great power had smuggled them from the face of the
-earth, leaving naught behind to tell of the tragedies;
-hundreds of ships carried with them valuable cargoes
-which remain to this day for lucky fortune-hunters
-to recover from the depths; and in their going thousands
-of lives were snuffed out, and thousands of
-unwritten acts of heroism were played and never heard
-of, or forgotten.</p>
-
-<p>How many remember the name of Captain James
-Jackson? Jackson is only one of a thousand heroes of
-the Inland Seas, and the deed which made him famous
-among Lake seamen is only one of a thousand of a
-similar kind. It happened one year in the closing
-days of navigation on Superior. The owners of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span>
-freighter <i>W.&nbsp;F. Sauber</i> had sent that ship from Duluth
-with one last load of iron ore under the command of
-W.&nbsp;E. Morris. Off Whitefish Point the vessel was
-caught in a fierce storm from the north. All night
-she weathered the gale, but with morning there came
-a blinding sleet with fierce wind and intense cold, and
-the breaking seas froze as they touched the upper works
-of the ship. Under the increasing weight of ice the
-disabled <i>Sauber</i> gradually settled. When thus the
-“little ice devils” of Superior gather upon a victim,
-it sometimes happens that no power of man can save
-the ship, and in this instance the crew of the doomed
-freighter realised that it was only a matter of a short
-time before the end would come. But strange things
-happen on the Inland Seas, as on the oceans.</p>
-
-<p>Upon this day, so far as is known, there were just
-two vessels on Lake Superior, and fate decreed that
-they should meet off Whitefish Point. While the
-men of the <i>Sauber</i> were waiting for death, the steamer
-<i>Yale</i> was tearing her way through the gale toward the
-“Soo,” and as he passed Captain Jackson sighted the
-sinking ship. It was then that occurred that act
-which won him a gold medal and a purse contributed
-to by hundreds of sailors all over the Lakes.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_96" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_096.jpg" width="600" height="394" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">After a Fierce Night’s “Late Navigation” Run across Lake Superior.</div></div>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding the peril of his own situation, Captain
-Jackson brought his vessel to. For hours it was
-buffeted in the trough of the sea, which was too heavy
-for small boats to attempt a rescue in. Night came,
-and the freighters drifted to within a stone’s throw of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span>
-each other. At dawn, when the <i>Yale</i> might have been
-safely in port, it was found that she, too, was gradually
-settling, and that the <i>Sauber</i> could not live an hour
-longer. Captain Jackson at once called for volunteers
-willing to risk their lives in an attempt at rescue; he
-himself went out in the first boat. If bravery was
-ever rewarded it was then. Every member of the
-<i>Sauber’s</i> crew, with the exception of the captain, was
-carried to the <i>Yale</i>. At the last moment Captain
-Morris attempted to lower himself into one of the
-boats&mdash;hesitated&mdash;then leaped back to the deck of the
-sinking ship.</p>
-
-<p>“Go on, boys!” he shouted through the gale. “Good
-luck to you, but I’m going to stay with the old boat!”</p>
-
-<p>This is heroism, sacrifice, faithfulness, as they are
-bred on the Inland Seas.</p>
-
-<p>Thirty minutes later the <i>Sauber</i> went under, and
-immediately after the explosion of her deck, caused
-by the pressure of air and water, those who were still
-courageously waiting in a small boat heard the last
-cries of Captain Morris rising above the gale.</p>
-
-<p>These “last days of navigation”&mdash;the season when
-life and property are hazarded by crews and captains
-with a recklessness that thrills one’s blood&mdash;are justly
-dreaded, and I have been told by a hopeful few that
-the time is coming when proper legislation will send
-ships into winter quarters earlier than now. It is at
-this time that casualties multiply with alarming
-rapidity, the perils of Lake navigation becoming tenfold<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span>
-as great as those of the ocean. Heavy fogs hide
-the beacons that mark the danger lines. Blinding
-snowstorms blot out the most powerful lights. Driven
-by fierce gales, weighted by ice, with heaven and sea
-meeting in a pall that conceals the guiding stars
-ashore, scores of vessels continue to beat onward in
-the hope of adding one more successful trip to their
-season’s record.</p>
-
-<p>The history of a Lake Superior tragedy is simple.
-One more trip from Duluth may mean thousands of
-dollars. The season is late&mdash;too late. But freight
-rates are high. No risk, no gain, argues the ship-owner,
-as he sends his vessel from port. Those are
-days of anxiety for captain, crew, and owner. In a few
-hours the clear sky may give place to banks of snow
-clouds. The air turns bitter cold. Darkness falls in
-the middle of the afternoon. The snow descends in
-dense clouds. It is far worse than the blackest night,
-for it shuts out the lights along the treacherous shores
-as completely as a wall of mountains. Upon the
-captain alone now depends the safety of the ship, for
-the Government’s attempts to aid him are futile.
-Perhaps his vessel is safely making her course miles
-from the coast. Or it may be that it is driving steadily
-toward its doom upon the dreaded Pictured Rocks.
-It was in this way that the steamer <i>Superior</i> was lost
-with all on board, and in the same way the <i>Western
-Reserve</i> beat herself to pieces within sight of the Big
-Sable light. And Superior has a harder fate in store<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span>
-for many of those who take the last ill-fated trip of
-the season. Sailors dread it more than the tragedy
-of dense snowstorms, when they run upon the rocks,
-for even there hope does not die; they dread it more
-than the fierce, sledge-hammer wash of Erie in a
-storm; more than the fearful dash for port in Lake
-Michigan, where ports are few; and this fate is the fate
-of “the little ice devils”&mdash;those masses of ice which
-freeze upon a ship until she is weighted beyond control.</p>
-
-<p>In these days of late navigation&mdash;days of fierce
-battles with snow, ice, and wind, days of death and
-destruction as they are never known upon the salt
-seas&mdash;is material for a generation of writers; unnumbered
-stories of true mystery, true romance, and true
-tragedy, which, if fed to the nation in popular form,
-would be of immeasurable value to lovers of the literature
-of adventure. Into what a fascinating tale of
-mystery, for example, might the loss of the <i>Queen of
-the West</i> be turned! And, yet, here is a case where
-truth is in reality stranger than fiction, and possibly
-an editor might “turn down” the tale as too improbable.
-Recently I chronicled a true romance of the Lakes.
-I had dates, names of ships, names of people, and even
-court records to prove the absolute verity of my story,
-which was related in the form of fiction. I sent it to
-several editors who had published other stories of
-mine, and one after another they returned it, saying
-that while my proofs were conclusive, the story was
-so unusual in some of its situations that their readers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span>
-would consider the tale as a gross exaggeration of anything
-that might occur on the Great Lakes!</p>
-
-<p>Well, here is the story of the <i>Queen of the West</i>&mdash;only
-one of scores of Lake incidents equally unusual;
-and I hope that it will have at least some weight in
-showing that things <em>can</em> occur on the Inland Seas.
-In the late navigation days of 1903, the freighter
-<i>Cordurus</i> left Duluth on a “last trip down.” In
-mid-lake, the lookout reported a ship in distress, and
-upon nearer approach the vessel was found to be the
-<i>Queen of the West</i>, two miles out of her course, and
-sinking. Captain McKenzie immediately changed his
-course that he might go to the rescue, at the same
-time signalling the other vessel to lay to. What was
-his astonishment when he perceived the <i>Queen of the
-West</i> bearing rapidly away from him, as though her
-captain and crew were absolutely oblivious of their
-sinking condition, as well as of the fact that assistance
-was at hand!</p>
-
-<div id="ip_100" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_100.jpg" width="600" height="411" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A Ship that Made the Shore before she Sank. The Work of Raising her in Progress.</div></div>
-
-<p>Now began what was without doubt the most unusual
-“chase” in marine history. Every eye on the deck
-of the <i>Cordurus</i> could see that the <i>Queen of the West</i>
-was sinking&mdash;that at any moment she might plunge
-beneath the sea. Was her captain mad? Each minute
-added to the mystery. The fleeing ship had
-changed her course so that she was bearing directly on
-to the north Superior shore. Added fuel was crammed
-under the <i>Cordurus’s</i> boilers; yard by yard, length by
-length, she gained upon the sinking vessel. Excited<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span>
-figures were seen waving their arms and signalling
-from the <i>Queen of the West’s</i> deck. But still the ship
-continued on her mysterious flight. At last Captain
-McKenzie came within hailing distance. His words
-have passed down into Lake history:</p>
-
-<p>“You’re sinking, you idiot! Why don’t you heave
-to?”</p>
-
-<p>“I know it&mdash;but I <em>can’t</em>,” came back the voice of
-the <i>Queen of the West’s</i> captain. “We’re almost gone
-and if we stop our engines for a second we’ll go down
-like a chunk of lead!”</p>
-
-<p>Not stopping to consider the risk. Captain McKenzie
-ran alongside. The <i>Queen of the West’s</i> engines were
-stopped and her crew clambered aboard. Hardly
-had the <i>Cordurus</i> dropped safely away when the doomed
-ship went down. Her momentum alone had kept her
-from sinking sooner.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most thrilling and interesting pages in the
-history of Great Lakes navigation, despite the comparative
-smallness of these fresh-water seas, is made
-up of “mysterious disappearances.” Ships have sailed
-from one port for another, and though at no time,
-perhaps, were they more than ten to thirty miles
-from shore, they have never been heard from again.
-Of some not even a spar or a bit of wreckage has been
-found. Only a few years ago the magnificent passenger
-steamer <i>Chicora</i> left St. Joseph, Michigan, for
-Chicago on a stormy winter night. She was one of
-the finest, staunchest, and best-manned vessels on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span>
-the Lakes. She sailed out into Lake Michigan&mdash;and
-thence into oblivion. Not a soul escaped to tell the
-story of her end. Through the years that have passed
-no sign of her has ever been found. Wreckers have
-sought for her, people along the shore have watched
-for years; but never a memento has the lake given up
-from that day to this. And this is only one of the
-many mysteries of the Inland Seas.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_102" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_102.jpg" width="600" height="414" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Treacherous Sea in its Garb of Greatest Beauty.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">One phase of Lake navigation.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Captains and sailors theorise and wonder to this
-day on the loss of the <i>Atlanta</i>, which went down in
-Lake Superior; and wonderful stories are told of the
-disappearance of the <i>Nashua</i>, the <i>Gilcher</i>, and the
-<i>Hudson</i>, and of the nameless vessels spoken of by old
-Lake mariners as “The Two Lost Tows” of Huron.
-The disappearance of these tows remains to this day
-unexplained. During the night the line which held
-them to their freighter consort parted and unknown
-to the steamer they fell behind. With the coming of
-dawn search was made for them, but in vain. What
-added to the uncanniness of the simultaneous disappearance
-of the two vessels was the fact that there was
-no storm at the time. No trace of the missing ships
-has ever been found. Almost as mysterious was the
-disappearance of the crack steamer <i>Alpena</i> in Lake
-Michigan. When last seen she was thirty miles from
-Chicago. From that day to this no one has been able
-to say what became of her. Of the fifty-seven people
-who rode with her that tragic night, not one lived to
-tell the tale.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span>
-Of all Lake mysteries, that of the <i>Bannockburn</i> is
-one of the freshest in the memory. The ill-fated vessel
-left Duluth in the days of the “ice devils,” a big,
-powerful freighter with a crew of twenty-two men.
-What happened to her will never be known. She
-went out one morning, was sighted the next evening&mdash;and
-that was the last. Not a sign of her floated
-ashore, not one of her crew was found. For eighteen
-months the ice-cold waters of Lake Superior guarded
-their secret. Then one day an oar was found in the
-driftwood at the edge of the Michigan wilderness.
-Around the oar was wrapped a piece of tarpaulin, and
-when this was taken off, a number of rude letters were
-revealed scraped into the wood&mdash;letters which spelled
-the word B-a-n-n-o-c-k-b-u-r-n. This oar is all that
-remains to-day to tell the story of the missing freighter.
-And now, by certain superstitious sailors, the <i>Bannockburn</i>
-is supposed to be the Flying Dutchman of
-the Inland Seas and there are those who will tell you
-in all earnestness that on icy nights, when the heaven
-above and the sea below were joined in one black pall,
-they have descried the missing <i>Bannockburn</i>&mdash;a ghostly
-apparition of ice, scudding through the gloom. And
-this is but one more illustration of the fact that all
-of the romance in the lives of men who “go down to
-the sea in ships” is not confined to the big oceans.</p>
-
-<p>Unnumbered thousands of tourists travel over the
-Lakes to-day with hardly a conception of the unrevealed
-interests about them. What attracts them is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span>
-the beauty and freshness of the trip; when they go
-upon the ocean they wonder, and dream, and read
-history. Tragedy has its allurement for the pleasure-seeker,
-as well as romance; and while certain phases
-of tragedy are always regrettable, it is at least interesting
-to be able at times to recall them. The Lake
-traveller, for instance, would feel that his trip had
-more fully repaid him if his captain should say, pointing
-to a certain spot, “There is where Perry and his
-log ships of war met the British: the battle was fought
-right here”; or, “There is where the <i>Lady Elgin</i> went
-down, with a loss of three hundred lives.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_104" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_104.jpg" width="600" height="378" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A View of the “Zimmerman.”</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">After a collision with another freighter.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Three hundred lives! The ordinary modern tourist
-would hold up his hands in incredulous wonder. “Is
-it possible,” he might ask, “that such tragedies have
-occurred on the Lakes?” I doubt if there are many
-who know that upon the Lakes have occurred some of
-the greatest marine disasters of the world. On September
-8, 1860, the <i>Lady Elgin</i> collided with the
-schooner <i>Augusta</i> and went down in Lake Michigan,
-carrying with her three hundred men, women, and
-children, most of whom were excursionists from Milwaukee.
-Two months later the propeller <i>Dacotah</i>
-sank in a terrific gale off Sturgeon Point, Lake Erie,
-carrying every soul down with her. Nothing but
-fragments were ever seen afterward, so complete was
-her destruction. On the steamer <i>Ironsides</i>, which
-dove down into one hundred and twenty feet of water,
-twenty-four lives were lost in full sight of Grand<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span>
-Haven. Many vessels, like the <i>Ironsides</i>, have perished
-with their bows almost in harbour. Less than
-four years ago, for instance, the big steel ship <i>Mataafa</i>
-was beaten to pieces on the Duluth breakwater,
-while not more than thirty or forty rods away thousands
-of people stood helpless, watching the death-struggles
-of her crew, who were absolutely helpless
-in the tremendous seas, and who died within shouting
-distance of their friends.</p>
-
-<p>Probably the most terrible disaster that ever occurred
-on the Lakes was the burning of the steamer
-<i>G.&nbsp;P. Griffin</i>, twenty miles east of Cleveland. The
-vessel was only three miles from shore when the flames
-were discovered, and her captain at once made an
-effort to run her aground. Half a mile from the mainland
-the <i>Griffin</i> struck a sand-bar and immediately
-there followed one of the most terrible scenes in the
-annals of marine tragedy. The boats were lowered
-and swamped by the maddened crowd. Men became
-beasts, and fought back women and children. Frenzied
-mothers leaped overboard with their babes in
-their arms. Scorched by the flames, their faces blackened,
-their eyes bulging, and even their garments on
-fire, over three hundred people fought for their lives.
-Men seized their wives and flung them overboard,
-leaping after them to destruction; human beings fought
-like demons for possession of chairs, boards, or any
-objects that might support them in the water, and
-others, crazed by the terrible scenes about them,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span>
-dashed into the roaring flames, their dying shrieks
-mingling with the hopeless cries of those who still
-struggled for life. From the shore scores of helpless
-people, without boats, or any means of assistance,
-watched the frightful spectacle, and strong swimmers
-struck out to give what aid they could. Only a few
-were saved. For days scorched and unrecognisable
-corpses floated ashore, and when the final death-roll
-was called, it was found that 286 lives had gone out
-in that frightful hour of fire.</p>
-
-<p>Is there a more tragic page in the history of any
-ocean than this?&mdash;a page to which must still be added
-the burning of the steamer <i>Erie</i>, with a loss of one
-hundred and seventy lives, the sinking of the <i>Pewabic</i>
-with seventy souls off Thunder Bay Light, in Lake
-Huron, the loss of the <i>Asia</i> with one hundred lives,
-and scores of other tragedies that might be mentioned.
-The Inland Seas have borne a burden of loss
-greater in proportion than that of any of the salt
-oceans. Their bottoms are literally strewn with the
-bones of ships and men, their very existence is one of
-tragedy coupled with the greatest industrial progress
-the world has ever seen. But there are no books
-descriptive of their “attractions,” no volumes of
-fiction or history descriptive of those “thrilling human
-elements” that tend to draw people from the uttermost
-ends of the earth. This field yet remains for
-the writers of to-day.</p>
-
-<p>And romance walks hand in hand with tragedy on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span>
-the Inland Seas. For two or three years past a new
-epidemic has been sweeping the world, an epidemic
-which has attracted attention in every civilised land
-and to which I might give the name “treasuritis”&mdash;the
-golden <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ignis fatuus</i> of hidden treasure which is
-luring men to all parts of the world, and which is
-bringing about the expenditure of fortunes in the
-search for other fortunes lost on land or at sea. While
-South Sea treasure-hunts have been exploited by
-newspapers and magazines, while Cocos Island and
-the golden Pacific have overworked the imaginations
-of thousands, few have heard of the treasure-hunts and
-lost fortunes of the Lakes. So businesslike are these
-ventures of the Inland Seas regarded by those who
-make them, that little of romance or adventure is
-seen in them.</p>
-
-<p>How treasures are lost, and sometimes found, in
-the depths of the Great Lakes is illustrated in the
-tragic story of the <i>Erie</i>. This vessel, under command
-of Captain T.&nbsp;J. Titus, left Buffalo for Chicago on the
-afternoon of August 9, 1841. When thirty-three miles
-out, off Silver Creek, a slight explosion was heard and
-almost immediately the ship was enveloped in flames.
-In the excitement of the appalling loss of life that followed,
-no thought was given to a treasure of $180,000
-that went down with her&mdash;the life savings of scores
-of immigrants bound for the West. For many years
-the <i>Erie</i> lay hidden in the sands, seventy feet under
-water. In 1855, a treasure-seeking party left Buffalo,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span>
-discovered the hull, towed it into shallow water, and
-recovered a fortune, mostly in foreign money.</p>
-
-<p>Not very long ago a treasure-ship came down from
-the North&mdash;the <i>William H. Stevens</i>, loaded with $101,880
-worth of copper. Somewhere between Conneaut,
-Ohio, and Port Burwell, Ontario, she caught fire and
-sank. For a long time unavailing efforts were made
-to recover her treasure. Then Captain Harris W.
-Baker, of Detroit, fitted out a modern treasure-hunting
-expedition that was as successful in every way as the
-most romantic youngster in the land could wish, for
-he recovered nearly $100,000 worth of the <i>Stevens’s</i>
-cargo, his own salvage share being $50,000.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_108" class="figcenter" style="width: 430px;">
-  <img src="images/i_108.jpg" width="430" height="600" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The Steamer “Wahcondah.”</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">One of the Lake grain carriers which was caught in a storm
-late in the season after being buffeted by the waves of
-Lake Superior for about fourteen hours.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>While there have been many fortunes recovered
-from the bottoms of the Lakes, there are many others
-that still defy discovery. Somewhere along the south
-shore of Lake Erie, between Dunkirk and Erie, lies a
-treasure-ship which will bring a fortune to her lucky
-discoverer, if she is ever found. One night the <i>Dean
-Richmond</i>, with $50,000 worth of pig zinc on board,
-mysteriously disappeared between those two places.
-All hands were lost and their bodies were washed
-ashore. In vain have search parties sought the lost
-vessel. The last attempt was made by the Murphy
-Wrecking Company, of Buffalo, which put a vessel
-and several divers on the job for the greater part of
-a season. In the deep water of Saginaw Bay lies
-the steamship <i>Fay</i>, with $20,000 worth of steel billets
-in her hold; and somewhere near Walnut Creek, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span>
-Lake Erie, is the <i>Young Sion</i>, with a valuable cargo
-of railroad iron. Off Point Pelee is the <i>Kent</i>, with a
-treasure in money in her hulk and the skeletons of
-eight human beings in her cabins; and somewhere
-between Cleveland and the Detroit River is a cargo of
-locomotives, lost with the <i>Clarion</i>. In Lake Huron,
-near Saginaw Bay, are more lost ships than in any
-other part of the Great Lakes, and for this reason
-Huron has frequently been called the “Lake of Sunken
-Treasure.” In the days when the country along the
-Bay was filled with lumber-camps, large sums of money
-were brought up in small vessels, and many of these
-vessels were lost in the sudden tempests and fearful
-seas which beset this part of Huron. Beside these
-treasure lumber barges, it is believed that the <i>City of
-Detroit</i>, with a $50,000 treasure in copper, lies somewhere
-in Saginaw Bay. The <i>R.&nbsp;G. Coburn</i>, also laden
-with copper, sank there in 1871, with a loss of thirty
-lives. Although searches have been made for her,
-the location of the vessel is still one of the unsolved
-mysteries of the Lakes.</p>
-
-<p>That treasure-hunting is not without its romance, as
-well as its reward, is shown by the case of the <i>Pewabic</i>.
-This vessel, with her treasure in copper, disappeared as
-completely as though she had been lifted above the
-clouds. Expedition after expedition was fitted out
-to search for her&mdash;a search which continued over a
-period of thirty years. In 1897, a party of fortune-seekers
-from Milwaukee succeeded in finding the long-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">110</a></span>lost
-ship six miles south-east of Thunder Bay. Another
-terrible event was the loss of the steamer <i>Atlantic</i>, off
-Long Point, Lake Erie, with three hundred lives.
-For many years, futile search was made for her; not
-till nearly a quarter of a century was she found, and
-$30,000 recovered.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_110" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_110.jpg" width="600" height="451" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>This is One of the Most Remarkable Photographs ever Taken on the Lakes.
-It Shows a Sinking Lumber Barge just as She Was Breaking in Two.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The Photograph was taken from a small boat.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Whisky and coal form quite an important part of the
-treasure which awaits recovery in the Inland Seas.
-Many vessels with cargoes of whisky have been lost,
-and this liquor would be as good to-day as when it
-went down. In 1846, the <i>Lexington</i>, Captain Peer,
-cleared from Cleveland for Port Huron, freighted with
-one hundred and ten barrels of whisky. In mid-lake,
-the vessel foundered with all on board, and though
-more than sixty years have passed, she has never
-been found. To-day her cargo would be worth $115
-a barrel. The <i>Anthony Wayne</i> also sank in Lake Erie
-with three hundred barrels of whisky and of wine; and
-five years afterwards, the <i>Westmoreland</i> sank near
-Manitou Island with a similar cargo. These are only
-a few of many such cargoes now at the bottom of the
-Lakes. Of treasure in lost coal, that of the <i>Gilcher</i>
-and <i>Ostrich</i>, steamer and tow, that disappeared in
-Lake Michigan, is one of the largest. The two vessels
-carried three thousand tons, and as yet they have not
-been traced to their resting place. In 1895, the steamer
-<i>Africa</i> went down in a gale on Lake Huron, carrying
-two thousand tons of coal with her, and at the bottom
-of Lake Ontario is the ship <i>St. Peter</i>, with a big cargo<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span>
-of fuel. It is estimated that at least half a million
-dollars in coal awaits recovery at the bottom of the
-Lakes.</p>
-
-<p>But, after all, perhaps the most romantic of all
-disappearances on the Inland Seas is that of the
-<i>Griffin</i>, built by La Salle at the foot of Lake Erie, in
-January, 1679. The <i>Griffin</i> sailed across Lake Erie,
-up the Detroit River, and continued until she entered
-Lake Michigan. In the autumn of 1680, she started
-on her return trip, laden with furs and with $12,000
-in gold. She was never heard of again, and historians
-are generally of the opinion that the little vessel sank
-during a storm on Lake Huron.</p>
-
-<p>Or it may be that one must choose between this
-earliest voyager of the Lakes and that other shrouded
-mystery&mdash;the “Frozen Ship.” Lake Superior has
-been the scene of as weird happenings as any tropic
-sea, and this of the Frozen Ship, perhaps, is the weirdest
-of all. She was a schooner, with towering masts, of
-the days when canvas was monarch of the seas; and
-the captain was her owner, who set out one day in
-late November for a more southern port than Duluth.
-And then came the Great Storm&mdash;that storm which
-comes once each year in the days of late navigation
-to add to the lists of ships and men lost and dead&mdash;and
-just what happened to the schooner no living man
-can say. But one day, many weeks afterward, the
-corpse of a ship was found on the edge of the pine
-wilderness on the north Superior shore; and around<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">112</a></span>
-and above this ship were the tracks of wild animals,
-and from stem to stern she was a mass of ice and
-snow, and when she was entered two men were found
-in her, frozen stiff, just as the “Frozen Pirate” was
-discovered in a story not so true.</p>
-
-<p>So might the tragedy and the romance of the Inland
-Seas be written without end, for each year adds
-a new chapter to the old; and yet, how many thousands
-of our seekers of novelty say, with the young woman
-I know, “I want to go where something has happened&mdash;where
-there have been battles, and pirates, and
-where there’s sunken ships, and treasure, and things!”</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="VI"></a>VI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">Buffalo and Duluth: the Alpha and Omega of
-the Lakes</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Is</span> the day approaching when Buffalo and not
-Chicago will be the second largest city in the
-United States? and when, at the end of Lake
-Superior, her back doors filled with the treasures of
-the earth and with a developed empire about her,
-Duluth will claim a million inhabitants? Is the day
-far distant when the world’s greatest manufacturing
-city will be located on the Niagara River? and when,
-as steel men all the world over believe, Duluth will be
-a second and perhaps greater Pittsburg?</p>
-
-<p>These are questions which have never been of
-greater interest than now, when the State of New
-York is expending over a hundred million dollars
-on the new Erie Canal, thus “bringing Buffalo and
-the Lakes to the sea,” and when, at the same time,
-the United States Steel Corporation is devoting ten
-million dollars to the erection of the most modern
-steel plant in the world at Duluth.</p>
-
-<p>“Buffalo is the great doorway of the Inland Seas,”
-said President McKinley only a short time before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span>
-his tragic death. “Some day she will reach out to
-the ocean, and when that time comes she will be
-one of the greatest cities in the world.” For many
-years the people of Buffalo have dreamed of this.
-And now it is coming true. And while the Pittsburger,
-entrenched in the prosperity of steel and
-fortified behind the smoke of his own mills, has been
-laughing at prophecies, away up at the end of the
-thousand-mile highway that leads to Duluth, other
-people have been dreaming. And their dreams,
-too, are coming true. For years the silent struggle
-for the supremacy of cities has been in progress along
-the Great Lakes. The outside world has seen little
-of it, and has heard little of it. Now the beginning
-of the end is at hand. The two great doors of the
-Inland Seas have been opened wide. At one end
-is Duluth, at the other Buffalo. Chicago is great,
-Buffalo may be greater. Pittsburg, like ancient
-Rome, feels that hers is to be a reign unbroken, and
-that she will still be “Pittsburg, Queen of the World
-of Steel” until the last call of Judgment Day. In
-another ten years&mdash;perhaps in less time&mdash;she will
-recognise the power of her rival in the North.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_114" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_114.jpg" width="600" height="413" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The Residence of A. Wilcox at Buffalo.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Where President Roosevelt took the oath of office.</p></div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>These are predictions, but they are well founded.
-To find just why they are made, one must go among
-the powerful men of the Lakes, among the iron barons
-of the North and the coal barons of the South and
-East&mdash;must, in short, become acquainted with the
-entire commercial and industrial mechanism which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span>
-exists on the Great Lakes to-day. They are not
-predictions that can be arrived at from New York,
-or San Francisco, or London, or Liverpool. One
-must talk with the men who make them, must live
-among those commercial and industrial conditions
-for a long time, and must know at first hand the
-two cities we speak of&mdash;Buffalo and Duluth. They
-are predictions which have a solid foundation of
-facts, and these facts are what make these two cities
-the most interesting as well as the most important
-ports in the Western World, with the exception of
-New York City. I venture to say that only a ridiculously
-small percentage of our own people&mdash;of
-Americans, whose very existence as an industrial
-and commercial power depends largely upon the
-Lakes&mdash;know these two cities beyond their names,
-their location, and possibly the number of their inhabitants.
-How many, for instance, know that
-to-day Duluth is the second greatest freight-shipping
-port on earth; that London, the capital of the British
-Empire, queen of the world’s commerce for many
-years, has abdicated in favour of a port so remote
-from the heart of British commercial enterprise that
-it is doubtful if fifty thousand of the five million
-people of London have ever heard of the name of
-the city which has taken the place of the world’s
-metropolis in the list of the great harbours of the world?
-And how many know, as well, that within a single
-night’s ride of the city of Buffalo&mdash;within a radius<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span>
-of less than five hundred miles&mdash;live sixty per cent.
-of the total population of North America?</p>
-
-<div id="ip_116" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_116.jpg" width="600" height="361" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Bird’s-eye View of the Harbour of Duluth, Taken from the Hill.</p>
-  </div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>From a Photograph by Maher, Duluth.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>These are only two of the remarkable facts about
-Buffalo and Duluth, the Alpha and Omega of the
-Inland Seas. That they are now two of the greatest
-freight-distributing points in the United States is
-shown by figures; that within the next generation
-they will become the two greatest distributing cities
-in the world is almost a certainty. It is not only
-Lake commerce that assures their destinies. Logically,
-they are situated to rule the world of commerce in
-the United States. Duluth is approximately midway
-in the continent, with a clear waterway soon to reach
-to the ocean, and with the great West behind her
-already webbed, with Duluth as the centre, by thirty-seven
-thousand miles of rail; and Buffalo, with sixty
-million people within five hundred miles of her City
-Hall, with fifteen great trunk-lines entering the
-city, with the greatest electrical power of the age
-at her doors, with “one hand on the ocean and the
-other on the Inland Seas,” holds a position which
-no other city can ever hope to attain. According
-to H.&nbsp;C. Elwood, Chairman of the Transportation
-Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Buffalo,
-the combined rail and water tonnage of that city
-is not exceeded by that of any other city in the United
-States, with the exception of Pittsburg. And the
-story of Buffalo’s commerce has just begun. In
-1885, Buffalo’s total tonnage of iron ore received<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span>
-by Lake was only a little more than eight thousand,&mdash;less
-than the single cargo carried by one of the great
-freighters of the Inland Seas to-day! Last year it
-was five and a half millions. The position that both
-Buffalo and Duluth hold in the commerce of the
-Lakes is briefly told in figures. Of the total tonnage
-of ninety-seven million carried on the Lakes in 1907,
-more than fourteen and a half million were registered
-at Buffalo and thirty-five million at Duluth-Superior.
-In other words, over a half of the total tonnage of
-the Lakes passed in or out of these two great doors
-of the Inland Seas in 1907.</p>
-
-<p>There are few cities in the world to-day in which
-romance and adventure have combined in more
-extraordinary ways with calamity, failure, and indomitable
-courage than in the upbuilding of Duluth.
-Chiselled back into the rocky hillsides, terrace upon
-terrace, and stretching for miles along the bay front
-where only a quarter of a century ago was the wild
-and rugged grandeur of virgin wilderness; built upon
-rock, and in rock; looking down upon one of the
-finest harbours in the world on one hand, and up over
-vast regions red with iron treasure on the other,
-Duluth is one of the most beautiful cities in the United
-States&mdash;one of the most wonderful and most interesting.
-Twenty-five years ago, only a village marked
-this stronghold of the iron barons. The deer, the
-wolf, the bear, the moose roamed unafraid over places
-now alive with commercial activity. Into the vast<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span>
-unexplored wildernesses, even less than a dozen years
-ago, prospectors went out with their packs and their
-guns, and searched and starved and even died for
-the “ugly wealth” hidden in the ranges that are now
-giving to the world three quarters of its iron and
-steel. And to-day many of these same men, “whose
-callouses of the old prospecting days have hardly
-worn away,” live in a city of eighty thousand people,
-whose annual receipts from its industries aggregate
-fifty-five million dollars, and whose invested wealth
-is over one hundred and fifty millions. While London,
-Liverpool, Hamburg, Antwerp, Hong-kong, and Marseilles
-have had eyes for New York alone in this
-Western World, while the ports of ancient and historic
-renown have been struggling among themselves for
-supremacy, away up at the end of the Lake Superior
-wilderness the second greatest freight-shipping port
-in the world was building itself, quietly, unobtrusively,
-unknown. That is the story of Duluth in a nutshell.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_118" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_118.jpg" width="600" height="434" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>The Ship Canal and Aërial Bridge, Duluth, Minn.</p>
-  </div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>Copyright 1908 by Detroit Photographic Co.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>But it is only the first chapter. The others will
-be written even more quickly, perhaps with even
-greater results. The commerce of America’s five
-Inland Seas has but just commenced, and the growth
-of this commerce and the growth of Duluth go hand
-in hand. In 1892, for instance, only four thousand
-tons of ore were shipped from the Duluth-Superior
-harbour; in 1907, including the sub-port of Two Harbours,
-the total was nearly thirty millions! And this
-same percentage of increase holds good with other<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span>
-products. Fifteen years ago very few people along
-our seaboards would have recognised the name of
-Duluth; to those who knew the town it was often
-an object of ridicule&mdash;the “pricked balloon,” the
-“town of blasted hopes.” Yet in 1907, this same
-town, still unknown in a large sense, handled one
-sixth of the combined tonnage of all the two hundred
-and forty shipping ports on the coast of the United
-States. During the two hundred and fifty days of
-navigation in 1907, an average of fifty-six vessels
-entered or left Duluth each day, or one ship every
-twenty-six minutes, day and night, for eight months.
-These vessels carried cargoes valued at two hundred
-and eighty-eight million dollars. In other words,
-over a million dollars a day left or entered Duluth-Superior
-harbour.</p>
-
-<p>Not long ago a writer who was seeking information
-on the possibilities of our inland waterways asked
-me what would happen when, as experts predicted,
-the ore of the North became exhausted. “Where
-will Duluth be then?” he questioned. This is what
-nine people out of ten ask, who are at all interested
-in the future of Duluth. There seems to be an almost
-universal opinion among people who do not live
-along the Lakes that, with the exhaustion of the
-great iron deposits, the commerce of our Inland Seas
-will dwindle. A more near-sighted supposition than
-this could hardly be imagined. At the present time
-ore is the greatest object of commerce on the Great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">120</a></span>
-Lakes, and it will continue to be so for many years.
-It is safe to say that the day is not far distant when
-fifty million tons of iron ore, instead of thirty million,
-will leave Duluth each year; and at the same time
-millions of tons of steel will be leaving by rail. But
-Duluth’s great future does not rest on iron and steel
-alone. As I have said, thirty-seven thousand miles
-of rail already reach out from the city into the vast
-agricultural regions of the West. It is the one logical
-doorway of the vast empire at its back, to which it
-offers the cheapest and shortest route to the Atlantic
-and Europe; just as it must become the great distributing
-point through which the bulk of the vast
-commerce of the East will flow into the West. There
-is more agricultural and grazing land tributary to it
-than to any other port in America. And Minnesota
-is still one of the great timber States of the country
-in spite of the vast scale on which lumber operations
-have been carried on within its boundaries during
-the past few years. Lake, Cook, and other northern
-counties (several of these counties are each as large
-as a small State) possess great forest wealth, and
-for many years to come Duluth will be the great
-lumber-shipping port of the Lakes.</p>
-
-<p>These are a few of the reasons why Duluthians
-see in their city a future metropolis of perhaps a
-million people.</p>
-
-<p>Though a large part of the almost endless fertile
-regions behind it are still undeveloped, Duluth has<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span>
-already become the great grain-shipping port of the
-world. In 1907, over eighty million bushels of grain
-were shipped from the Duluth-Superior harbour, or
-a bushel for every man, woman, and child in the
-United States. There was a time when it was thought
-that Chicago would always be the greatest grain
-port on earth. But that time has passed. Of the
-grain received at Buffalo in 1907, less than forty-two
-million bushels came from Chicago, while more than
-sixty-three million were shipped from Duluth-Superior.
-And this grain traffic is growing even more
-rapidly than the ore traffic. Ships can hardly be
-built fast enough to handle the volumes of wheat,
-oats, barley, and flax that come by rail into Duluth.
-The city can handle one thousand cars a day, or a
-million bushels, and yet this is not fast enough. So
-great is the crush at times that cars of grain are lost
-for three weeks in the yards! In the not distant
-future, Duluth will be handling two thousand cars
-a day. Not only wheat, oats, corn, rye, and barley
-are pouring into Duluth from the West, but she has
-now taken first place as shipper of flaxseed, nearly
-twenty million bushels having left Duluth-Superior
-harbour last year. Just what this quantity of flaxseed
-means very few people unacquainted with that product
-can realise. Take the four hundred thousand bushels
-brought down to Buffalo by the <i>D.&nbsp;R. Hanna</i> in a
-single trip, for instance. It was loaded in seven
-hours and was the product of forty thousand acres,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">122</a></span>
-or sixty-two square miles. It was worth $460,000,
-and would make one million gallons of linseed oil.</p>
-
-<p>Probably the most memorable day in the history
-of Duluth was April 1, 1907, for on that day official
-notice was received from New York that the Steel
-Corporation had decided to establish an iron and
-steel plant in Duluth. At first it was planned to
-cost ten million dollars. Now it is believed that
-much more than this will be expended. Preliminary
-work has already commenced, and within a year
-and a half it is expected that the plant will be in
-operation. This movement on the part of the great
-corporation that rules the world of steel is for several
-reasons the most interesting that it has ever made.
-For years, the ore of the North has been carried a
-thousand miles to the smelters of the East. To reach
-Pittsburg, it was not only transported that thousand
-miles, but was loaded three times and unloaded three
-times. And, meantime, while millions of dollars
-were being expended on the transportation of ore,
-while cities half-way across the continent existed
-and were growing because of their smelters, the city
-of Duluth, with the vast iron deposits at her back
-door, was not making a ton of steel. This is one of
-the mysteries which the Steel Corporation does not
-explain; but it is fair to assume that hitherto there
-has not been a sufficient market for the products
-of such a plant within paying reach of this port.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_122" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_122.jpg" width="600" height="371" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Fleet of Boats in Duluth Harbour Waiting to Unload.</div></div>
-
-<p>The new plant will bring thirty thousand people<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span>
-to Duluth&mdash;and this is not the end. Those who are
-acquainted with the situation say that it is but the
-first step in the making of a second Pittsburg. “The
-steel industry,” they say, “brought almost a million
-people and billions of dollars to Pittsburg&mdash;a city
-a thousand miles from its ore, and without natural
-advantages. What, then, will it mean to Duluth,
-with its strategic position on the great highways
-of commerce, with its cheap water-power, and above
-all with its ore ready to be dumped direct from the
-mine cars into the smelters?”</p>
-
-<p>In short, the dreams of Duluth’s old “boomers”
-are coming true. The great East, with its railroad
-and manufacturing development, has been supplied
-with its steel&mdash;from Pittsburg. Now it is the West
-and South-west, and the Orient, to which our great
-volumes of steel trade will turn. It is Duluth’s chance.
-Because the ore is at her doors, she can turn out iron
-and steel cheaper than any other city in the world;
-and she is the nearest distributing point to the West.
-This movement to Duluth is inevitable. The world’s
-steel industry has been constantly moving and changing.
-Since 1564, the centre of the industry has moved
-from Birmingham, England, from Lynn through
-Connecticut to New Jersey, then to Philadelphia,
-and lastly to Pittsburg, where it has remained for
-fifty years. Of late years, the tendency has been
-westward, the movement culminating in Chicago.
-Now it is centring in Duluth. In a way, Duluth’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span>
-history will be similar to that of Pittsburg. Duluth
-and Superior, twin cities with one harbour and identical
-interests, cannot follow the example of Pittsburg
-and Allegheny, and unite politically, as State lines
-divide them, Duluth being in Minnesota and Superior
-in Wisconsin; but commercially they are fast becoming
-one. Together they will not only head the
-ports of the world, probably for all time to come,
-but will become one of the greatest manufacturing
-centres on the continent. With a harbour frontage
-of forty-five miles, with electrical power from the
-St. Louis Falls second only to that of Niagara, with
-iron and steel at her doors, and with a world-market
-behind her, Duluth, already the largest coal-receiving
-port in the world, possesses manufacturing advantages
-beyond those of any other city on the continent,
-with the exception of Buffalo. There are good reasons
-why this coming Pittsburg of the North will never
-equal Buffalo in population and commercial activity;
-there are just as good reasons why no other city in
-the United States, with the exception of New York
-and Chicago, will equal Buffalo. At the same time,
-as a member of the Steel Corporation said to me:
-“If steel and only a few natural advantages made
-Pittsburg what it is&mdash;what will steel, and all the
-natural advantages in the world, do for Duluth?”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_124" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_124.jpg" width="600" height="362" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">View Looking South-west from the New Chamber of Commerce Building, Buffalo.</div></div>
-
-<p>Of course it is not possible to conceive that Duluth,
-even as a great steel city, would use more than a
-small fraction of the enormous ore tonnage that is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span>
-annually taken from the Minnesota ranges. If millions
-of dollars were spent each year in the erection of
-new steel plants in Duluth, even the annual <em>increase</em>
-of ore taken from the mines could not be used at
-home for a long time to come. The ore traffic on
-the Lakes is bound to become larger even as Duluth
-develops into a steel city. And a constantly increasing
-percentage of this ore is going to Buffao&mdash;not to
-be transhipped to Pittsburg, but to be converted
-into iron and steel in that city. I believe that very
-few people are aware of the fact that Buffalo is already
-an important iron- and steel-making plant. The
-largest independent steel-making plant in the United
-States is now in operation in South Buffalo. This
-is the Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company, capitalized
-at sixty million dollars, employing between
-six and ten thousand men, and undergoing constant
-enlargement. The plants of the New York Steel
-Company and the Wickwire Steel Company are now
-in course of construction on the Buffalo and Niagara
-rivers, and other steel- and iron-making plants are
-in operation. Each year sees Buffalo drawing more
-and more ore away from the Pittsburg smelters.
-In 1900, Buffalo made only three hundred and seventy
-thousand tons of pig-iron. In 1907, the production
-was one million three hundred and fifty thousand
-tons, and in 1909 there will be a considerable increase.
-A recent investigation showed that the many great
-iron-producing and iron-working plants which extend<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span>
-along the navigable waters of the Buffalo have doubled
-their pay-rolls and almost trebled their production
-since 1900. The same investigation brought forth
-the fact that a ton of foundry iron can be produced
-in Buffalo for sixty-three cents less than in Pittsburg.
-After a year’s study of the situation in Buffalo, Mr.
-Elisha Walker, the international expert in iron and
-steel manufacture, said that, in a few years, Buffalo
-would rival Pittsburg in the use of iron ore.</p>
-
-<p>While steel plants are generally the most powerful
-agents that work for the increase of a city’s population
-and wealth, and while it is true that scores of
-smaller users of iron and steel are flocking to Buffalo,
-just as other hundreds grouped themselves about
-the big parent furnaces in Pittsburg, Buffalo’s great
-future does not depend upon her development as
-a steel-manufacturing city. As F. Howard Mason,
-then Secretary of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce,
-said to me: “Buffalo has more than one iron in the
-fire. Steel is but one of many things that will make
-her a city of millions a quarter of a century from
-now.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_126" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_126.jpg" width="600" height="386" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Unloading at One of the Coal Docks at Duluth.</div></div>
-
-<p>From my own investigations and from my own
-close study of Lake traffic, I feel confident in saying
-that, although Buffalo is one of the important ore-converting
-centres of the country, steel and iron are
-not the most important of the agents that will work
-for her future greatness. This may seem inconceivable
-to those who live in cities the very existence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a></span>
-of which depends upon iron and steel; yet it is one
-of the soundest arguments for the optimistic opinion
-that Buffalo is destined to become the third, if not
-the second, largest city in the United States. Just
-as Duluth is the logical shipping and receiving port
-of the West, so is Buffalo the great receiving and
-distributing port of the East. Cleveland will always
-be an important Lake port, but it is impossible to
-compare its destiny with that of Buffalo. With the
-new Erie Canal in operation, lake highways from
-west to east will lead to Buffalo as surely as all roads
-led to old Rome. This year the total tonnage of
-Buffalo harbour, which is closed for at least four months
-of the year, will be considerably greater than that
-of Liverpool. Of the products passing through the
-Detroit River in 1907, ninety per cent. of the hard
-coal was shipped from Buffalo, seventy-five per cent.
-of the flour and ninety-five per cent. of the wheat
-came to Buffalo; also seventy-five per cent. of the
-corn, ninety-eight per cent. of the oats, ninety per
-cent. of the flaxseed, and ninety-five per cent. of the
-barley. In other words, Buffalo may be regarded
-as almost the only receiving port on the Lakes for
-Western grain.</p>
-
-<p>Mayor Adams hit the nail pretty squarely on the
-head when he said that Buffalo’s future greatness
-rests chiefly upon the fact that this city will, within
-a very few years, be the greatest converting, or manufacturing,
-point in North America. The cost of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">128</a></span>
-bringing raw materials to her workshops from all
-Western points is already reduced to a minimum.
-The Erie Canal will link her mills with the ocean.
-The unlimited resources of Niagara furnish her with
-the cheapest power in the world. Her proximity
-to the coal-fields provides her with fuel for $1.60
-to $2.60 per ton. Natural gas for manufacturing
-purposes is retailed at a little over twenty-seven
-cents per thousand cubic feet. And, above all, there
-are sixty millions of people within five hundred miles
-of her City Hall. It was between 1900 and 1905
-when Buffalo really awoke to her unlimited opportunities.
-It is interesting to compare her growth
-between those years with that of Pittsburg, one of
-the most progressive cities in the United States.
-In that time Pittsburg’s capital increased twenty-two
-per cent., Buffalo’s forty-six per cent. The
-number of wage-earners in Pittsburg increased a
-little over two per cent., while in Buffalo they increased
-twenty-nine per cent. The value of Pittsburg’s
-products increased three per cent.; of Buffalo’s,
-forty-two per cent. These figures show the remarkable
-rapidity with which Buffalo is overtaking the
-cities ahead of her in population.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_128" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_128.jpg" width="600" height="370" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Fleet of Erie Canal Boats&mdash;Capacity of Each 150 Tons.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The boats on the new canal will be 1000 tons each.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Because of the waterways at her door, cheap power,
-and the millions of consumers within a night’s reach
-of her mills, Buffalo has become the second city in
-the United States in the production of flour, now
-ranking next to Minneapolis, and at her present<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span>
-rate of increase she will be the world’s greatest milling
-centre in another five years. In 1901, she was producing
-only about half a million barrels of flour; in
-1907, her product was over three million barrels,
-and it is predicted that the output in 1909 will be
-four millions. Within the last three years Buffalo
-has become the chief malting city in America. In
-1907, her output was ten million bushels as compared
-with four million in 1900.</p>
-
-<p>To handle her Lake freight at the present time,
-Buffalo has twenty-four elevators with a total storage
-capacity of twenty-two million bushels, and a daily
-elevating capacity of six million bushels; nine ore
-docks; five coal trestles with a daily loading capacity
-of twenty-two thousand tons&mdash;and with these might
-be included three railroad storage-yards with an
-aggregate capacity of four hundred thousand tons.
-Thirteen lines of steamships, not including the many
-companies represented by the big freighters, ply the
-Lakes from Buffalo; and the fifteen trunk lines centring
-in the city provide two hundred and fifty-three passenger
-trains a day. With all of this vast machinery
-working night and day to care for Buffalo’s present
-traffic, the question naturally arises, What will happen
-to Buffalo when the new Erie Canal links her with
-the sea?</p>
-
-<p>During the next decade, or less, Buffalo will astonish
-the whole world by her industrial growth. The effects
-of the canal project are already being felt, and manufacturing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span>
-capital is hurrying to Buffalo as never
-before. The Federal Government is deepening the
-Niagara River to a depth of twenty-one feet as far
-down as North Tonawanda, and this, together with
-the deepening of the Buffalo River, is opening up
-a new territory for factory sites, soon to be accessible
-to the largest ships. Millions of dollars of capital
-are locating, or planning to locate, here. On the one
-side is the cheap transportation of the Lakes; on
-the other will soon be the “man-made river reaching
-to the sea.” With the joining of these waterways
-no other city in the United States will be
-able to compete with Buffalo as a manufacturing
-centre.</p>
-
-<p>The actual task of digging the new canal for which
-the people of New York voted one hundred and one
-million dollars, and which will connect Buffalo with
-tidewater by a thousand-ton waterway, is now at
-hand. Few people realise just how stupendous this
-task is. While every intelligent American is acquainted
-with the Panama Canal project, few know that this
-connecting link between the Lakes and the ocean is
-a greater public improvement for the State of New
-York to carry out than is the building of the Panama
-Canal for the United States Government, and it is
-of hardly less commercial value. Its cost will be
-greater than that of Suez, and in a short time its
-tonnage will be more than that of Suez. The first
-one hundred and twenty-five miles were under contract<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span>
-in January, 1908, with another sixty-five miles ready
-to be contracted for.</p>
-
-<p>This great waterway, including the Hudson River,
-will pass from or to and through the city of New
-York and adjacent cities in New Jersey, Poughkeepsie,
-Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Oswego,
-Rochester, and Buffalo, besides smaller towns, possessing
-an aggregate population of over six million.
-The canal when completed will really terminate at
-Tonawanda, on the Niagara River, the route to Buffalo
-from there being via the Niagara River, the federal
-ship canal, and the Erie Basin. While the old canal
-has a depth of only from seven to nine feet and a
-width on the bottom of fifty-two, the new waterway
-will have a uniform depth of twelve feet, with a minimum
-width at the bottom of seventy-five feet, thus
-being capable of carrying boats one hundred and
-fifty feet long, twenty-five feet beam, and with a
-draft of ten feet. The present capacity of an Erie
-Canal boat is two hundred and forty tons, while the
-new boats will carry a thousand tons.</p>
-
-<p>I have shown in preceding articles what a tremendous
-saving to the people of the United States
-is made because of Lake transportation, and this
-will be greatly increased by the new canal. Large
-aggregations of capital will own not merely Lake
-vessels, but terminals and canal fleets as well, so
-that from Lake ports they can name a through freight
-rate to New York or to foreign countries. Within<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span>
-a few years after its completion, the canal will probably
-be carrying twenty million tons of freight from Buffalo
-to the ocean. Taking this figure as a basis, it is easy
-to figure what a tremendous saving the canal will
-bring about. It now costs three and a half cents
-a bushel to send grain from Buffalo to New York.
-The new canal rate should be not more than a cent
-a bushel. On twenty million bushels of grain this
-means a saving of five hundred thousand dollars,
-which will either go into the pockets of the producer
-or the consumer or be divided between the two.
-Freight of all descriptions, manufactured products,
-and iron and steel, can be transported from Buffalo
-to tidewater for half of a mill per ton per mile. In
-other words, on the new canal all kinds of freight
-can be shipped from Buffalo to New York, a distance
-of four hundred and forty-six miles, at twenty-two
-cents per ton. The present cost is eighty-seven cents.
-On twenty million tons this saving of nearly sixty-five
-cents a ton would total nearly thirteen million
-dollars.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_132" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_132.jpg" width="600" height="433" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Jack-knife Bridge at Buffalo.</div></div>
-
-<p>What this would mean to Buffalo it is almost impossible
-to estimate, especially in regard to the steel
-industry. Buffalo now has an advantage over Pittsburg
-in the cost of ore, limestone, and several other
-matters incident to the manufacture of iron and
-steel, Pittsburg’s sole remaining advantage being
-its proximity to coking coal. This will be obliterated.
-A large percentage of the vast steel and allied industries<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span>
-centring at Pittsburg will, of their own
-volition, move within the boundaries of the State
-of New York and locate along the Niagara frontier.
-This industrial migration has already begun. It will
-continue, naturally, ceaselessly. The ore will meet
-the coke at Buffalo, and the manufactured product
-will be floated down the Erie Canal instead of being
-hauled across the Alleghanies. This is inevitable.</p>
-
-<p>And just as inevitable is the migration of other
-industries to Buffalo from other cities. Not only
-does the cheap lake and canal transportation call
-to them, but also the cheap and unlimited power
-of Niagara. A few years ago George Westinghouse
-said: “I expect to live to see the day when a city
-that will astonish the world will stretch along the
-entire Niagara frontier&mdash;and this city will be Buffalo.”
-Those who investigate this frontier to-day cannot
-fail to see the strength of his prediction. Tesla said
-that Niagara power would revolutionise manufacturing
-in the United States. It is already revolutionising
-it in and about Buffalo, and the power of the world’s
-greatest fall has only been tapped. On the American
-side the Niagara Falls Power Company is developing
-one hundred and five thousand horse-power, and
-the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing
-Company fifty thousand, while on the Canadian
-side the Canadian Niagara Falls Company is developing
-fifty thousand horse-power and the Electrical Development
-Company and the Ontario Power Company<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">134</a></span>
-sixty-two thousand each. Less than four per cent.
-of the total flow of water over Niagara Falls has
-been diverted by the companies now in operation.
-The total fall of water is theoretically capable of
-producing over seven million horse-power, which
-would run virtually all of the manufacturing plants
-in the United States.</p>
-
-<p>At the present time about seventy-five thousand
-electrical horse-power is consumed in Buffalo by
-manufacturing and mercantile establishments. What
-this cheap power means to the city can best be shown
-in figures. In nearly all cities the power required
-for manufacturing purposes is derived from steam
-produced from coal. In its simplest form this method
-of generating power requires apparatus consisting
-of steam boilers with their settings, pumps, steam-pipings,
-flues and stack, facilities for coal-storage,
-engines, foundations, and beltings&mdash;demanding altogether
-a large amount of floor-space. The cost
-of an installation of such equipment has been found
-to be approximately fifty dollars per rated horse-power.
-Electric motors using Niagara power can
-be installed for less than thirty dollars per rated
-horse-power. In other words, the saving in power
-to the manufacturer is almost one half. On the other
-hand, a steam plant requires a considerable force
-of men to operate and maintain it, while electrical
-power cuts down this service two thirds.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_134" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_134.jpg" width="600" height="401" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>A Scene on Blackwell Canal.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">The winter home of big boats in Buffalo.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Why manufacturers are flocking to Buffalo, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span>
-why the greatest manufacturing city in the world
-is bound to extend along the Niagara frontier, is
-graphically shown by the following figures comparing
-the cost of Buffalo power with that of other representative
-cities. Assuming the maximum power used
-to be one hundred horse-power, the number of working
-hours a day to be ten, and the “load factor,” or average
-power actually used, to be seventy-five per cent.
-of the total one hundred, the cost per month in the
-cities named is about as follows:</p>
-
-<table id="powercost" summary="Cost of power">
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">Boston</td>
-    <td class="tdr">$937.50</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">Philadelphia</td>
-    <td class="tdr">839.25</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">New York</td>
-    <td class="tdr">699.37</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">Chicago</td>
-    <td class="tdr">629.43</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">Cleveland</td>
-    <td class="tdr">559.50</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">Pittsburg</td>
-    <td class="tdr">419.62</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">Buffalo</td>
-    <td class="tdr">184.91</td></tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td class="tdl">Niagara Falls</td>
-    <td class="tdr">144.17</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>These figures show that the manufacturer on the
-Niagara frontier not only possesses the cheapest
-water-power in the country, but that his power costs
-him less than half as much as it cost his next nearest
-rival, the manufacturer at Pittsburg. While power
-costs his Boston competitor a hundred and fifty
-dollars per horse-power per year, the Buffalo manufacturer
-pays less than thirty dollars. Even without
-cheap transportation rates, this item alone would give
-him an overwhelming advantage in the race for trade.</p>
-
-<p>Destined to be one of the greatest if not the greatest
-manufacturing city on earth, Buffalo is also one
-of the most beautiful. To-day she possesses four<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span>
-hundred miles of asphalt pavement&mdash;more smooth
-pavement than is found in Paris, Washington, or
-any other city. She is the greatest “home city”
-in America. Out of a population of more than four
-hundred thousand people, the home-owning population
-is only thirty thousand below the total
-registered vote. As a convention city she has only
-one rival, and that is Detroit. Nature has showered
-blessings upon her without stint. And I confidently
-believe that many of the young men and women
-of Buffalo will live to see the day when one city will
-stretch along the entire Niagara frontier, with a
-population exceeded by that of only one or at most
-two other American cities.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_136" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_136.jpg" width="600" height="393" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Some of the Grain Elevators at Duluth, which Have a Combined Storage Capacity
-of 35,550,000 Bushels.</div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="VII"></a>VII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">A Trip on a Great Lakes Freighter</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> my previous chapters I have described nearly
-every phase of Lake shipping, with the exception
-of one, which, while not being vitally
-concerned with the story of our fresh-water marine, is
-still one of the most interesting, and perhaps the least
-known of all. That is the “inner life” of one of our
-Great Lakes freighters; the life of the crew and
-the favoured few who are privileged to travel as passenger
-guests of the owners upon one of these steel
-monsters of the Inland Seas. In more than one way
-our Lake marine is unusual; in this it is unique.</p>
-
-<p>Recently one of the finest steel yachts that ever
-sailed fresh water came up the St. Lawrence to the
-Lakes. Its owner was a millionaire many times
-over. With his wife he had cruised around the world,
-but for the first time they had come to the Lakes.
-I had the fortune to converse with him upon his
-yacht about the craft of other countries, and as we
-lay at anchor in the Detroit River there passed us
-the greatest ship on the Inland Seas&mdash;the <i>Thomas
-F. Cole</i>; and, addressing his wife, I asked, “How<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span>
-would you like to take a cruise on a vessel like that?”</p>
-
-<p>The lady laughed, as if such a suggestion were
-amusing indeed, and said that if she were a man
-she might attempt it, and perhaps enjoy it to a degree,
-and when I went on to describe some of the things
-that I knew about “those great, ugly ships,” as she
-called them, I am quite sure that all of my words
-were not received without doubt. This little experience
-was the last of many that proved to me the
-assertion I have made before&mdash;that to nine people
-out of ten, at least, our huge, silent, red ships that
-bring down the wealth of the North are a mystery.
-They are not beautiful. Freighted low down, their
-steel sides scraped and marred like the hands of a
-labourer, their huge funnels emitting clouds of bituminous
-smoke, their barren steel decks glaring in
-the heat of the summer sun, there seems to be but
-little about them to attract the pleasure seeker. From
-the distance at which they are usually seen their
-aft and forward cabins appear like coops, their pilot
-houses even less.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_138" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_138.jpg" width="600" height="446" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Mesaba Ore Docks.</div></div>
-
-<p>Yet fortunate is the person who has the “pull”
-to secure passage on one of these monster carriers
-of the Lakes, for behind all of that uninviting exterior
-there is a luxury of marine travel that is equalled
-nowhere else in the world except on the largest and
-finest of private yachts. These leviathans of the
-Lakes, that bring down dirty ore and take up dirtier
-coal, are the greatest money-makers in the world,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span>
-and they are owned by men of wealth. The people
-who travel on them are the owner’s guests. Nothing
-is too good for them. Each year the rivalry between
-builders is increasing as to whose ships shall possess
-the finest “guests’ quarters.” Behind the smoke
-and dirt and unseemly red steel that are seen from
-shore or deck, a fortune has been spent in those rooms
-over the small doors of which one reads the word
-“Owners.” You may climb up the steel side of the
-ship, you may explore it from stem to stern, but
-not until you are a “guest”&mdash;not until the “key
-to the ship” has been handed to you, are its luxuries,
-its magnificence, its mysteries, clearly revealed.</p>
-
-<p>My telegram read:</p>
-
-<p>“Take my private room on the <i>Harry Berwind</i>
-at Ashtabula.”</p>
-
-<p>It was signed by G. Ashley Tomlinson, of Duluth.
-The <i>Berwind</i> is one of the finest of Tomlinson’s sixteen
-steel ships and is named after one of the best known
-fuel transportation men on the Lakes&mdash;a vessel that
-can carry eleven thousand tons without special crowding
-and makes twelve miles an hour while she is doing
-it. I reached the great ore and coal docks at Ashtabula
-at a happy moment.</p>
-
-<p>The other guests had arrived, seven in all&mdash;four
-ladies and three gentlemen, and we met on the red
-and black dock, with mountains of ore and coal about
-us, with the thundering din of working machines
-in our ears, and out there before us, enshrouded in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span>
-smoke and black dust, the great ship that was to
-carry us for nearly a thousand miles up the Lakes
-and back again. It was a happy moment, I say,
-for I met the seven guests in this wilderness of din
-and dirt&mdash;<em>and six of them had never been aboard a
-freighter in their lives</em>. They had heard, of course,
-what lay beyond those red steel walls. But was
-there not a mistake here? Was it <span class="locked">possible&mdash;&mdash;</span></p>
-
-<p>Doubt filled their faces. High above them towered
-the straight wall of the ship with a narrow ladder
-reaching down to them. At the huge coal derricks
-whole cars of coal were being lifted up as if they
-were no more than scuttles in the hands of a strong
-man and their contents sent thundering into the
-gaping hatches; black dust clouded the air, settling
-in a thousand minute particles on fabric and flesh;
-black-faced men shouted and worked at the loading
-machine; the crash of shunting cars came interminably
-from the yards; and upon it all the sun
-beat fiercely, and the air that entered our nostrils
-seemed thick&mdash;thick with the dust and grime and
-heat of it all. A black-faced, sweating man, who
-was the mate, leaned over the steel side high above
-us and motioned us aft, and the seven guests hurried
-through the thickness of the air, the ladies shuddering
-and cringing as the cars of coal thundered high over
-their heads, until they came to the big after port
-with a plank laid to the dock. Up this they filed,
-their faces betraying more doubt, more uneasiness,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span>
-more discomfort as hot blasts of furnace air surged
-against them; then up a narrow iron stair, through
-a door&mdash;and out there before them lay the ship,
-her thirty hatches yawning like caverns, and everywhere
-coal&mdash;and coal dust. The ladies gasped and
-drew their dresses tightly about them as they were
-guided along the narrow promenade between the
-edge of the ship and the open hatches, and at last
-they were halted before one of those doors labelled
-“Owners.”</p>
-
-<p>Then the change! It came so suddenly that it
-fairly took the breath away from those who had
-never been on a freighter before. The guests filed
-through that narrow door into a great room, which
-a second glance showed them to be a parlour. Their
-feet sank in the noiseless depths of rich velvet carpet;
-into their heated faces came the refreshing breaths
-of electric fans; great upholstered chairs opened
-to them welcomingly; the lustre of mahogany met
-their eyes, and magazines and books and papers
-were ready for them in profusion. To us there now
-came the thunder of the coal as if from afar; here
-was restfulness and quiet&mdash;through the windows we
-could see the dust and smoke and heat hovering
-about the ship like a pall.</p>
-
-<p>This was the general parlour into which we had
-been ushered; and now I hung close behind the ship’s
-guests, watching and enjoying the amazement that
-continued to grow in them. From each side of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span>
-parlour there led a narrow hall and on each side of
-each hall there was a large room&mdash;the guest-chambers&mdash;and
-at the end of each hall there was a bathroom;
-and in the bedrooms, with their brass beds, their
-rich tapestries and curtains, our feet still sank in velvet
-carpet, our eyes rested upon richly cushioned chairs&mdash;everywhere
-there was the luxury and wealth of appointment
-that a millionaire had planned for the
-favoured few whom he called his guests.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_142" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_142.jpg" width="600" height="417" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">From the Deck of the Ship the Tug Looks Like an Ant Dragging at a
-Huge Prey.</div></div>
-
-<p>Now I retired from the guest-chambers to my
-own private room. I am going a good deal into detail
-in this description of the guests’ quarters of a great
-freighter like the <i>Berwind</i>, for I remember once being
-told by a shipbuilder of the Clyde that he “could
-hardly believe that such a thing existed,” and I know
-there are millions of others who have the same doubts.
-The forward superstructure of a Great Lakes freighter
-might be compared to a two-story house, with the
-pilot-house still on top of that; and from the luxurious
-quarters of the “first story,” which in the <i>Berwind</i>
-are on a level with the deck of the vessel, a velvet-carpeted
-stair led to the “observation room”&mdash;a
-great, richly furnished room with many windows
-in it, from which one may look out upon the sea in
-all directions except behind. And from this room
-one door led into the Captain’s quarters, and another
-into the private suite of rooms which I was fortunate
-enough to occupy on this trip. The finest hotel in
-the land could not have afforded finer conveniences<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span>
-than this black and red ship, smothered in the loading
-of ten thousand tons of coal. In the cool seclusion
-of its passenger quarters a unique water-works system
-gave hot and cold water to every room; an electric
-light plant aft gave constant light, and power for
-the fans. Nothing was wanting, even to a library
-and music, to make of the interior of this forward
-part of the ship a palace fit for the travel of a king.
-Within a few minutes we had all plunged into baths;
-hardly were we out and dressed when the steward
-came with glasses of iced lemonade; and even as
-the black clouds of grime and dirt still continued
-to settle over the ship we gathered in the great observation
-room, a happy party of us now, and the
-music of mandolin and phonograph softened the
-sounds of labour that rumbled to us from outside.</p>
-
-<p>Then, suddenly, there fell a quiet. The ship was
-loaded. Loud voices rose in rapid command, the
-donkey-engines rumbled and jerked as their cables
-dragged the steel hatch-covers into place, and the
-freighter’s whistle echoed in long, sonorous blasts in
-its call for a tug. And then, from half a mile away,
-came the shrieking reply of one of those little black
-giants, and up out of the early sunset gloom of evening
-it raced in the maelstrom of its own furious speed,
-and placed itself ahead of us, for all the world like
-a tiny ant tugging away at a prey a hundred times
-its size. Lights sprung up in a thousand places along
-shore, and soon, far away, appeared the blazing eye<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span>
-of the harbour light, and beyond that stretched the
-vast opaqueness of the “thousand-mile highway”
-that led to Duluth and the realms of the iron barons
-of the North. Once clear, and with the sea before
-us, the tug dropped away, a shudder passed through
-the great ship as her engines began to work, our
-whistle gave vent to two or three joyous, triumphant
-cheers, and our journey had begun.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_144" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_144.jpg" width="600" height="494" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Observation Room on the “Wm. G. Mather.”</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Which gives an idea of the luxuriousness of the guests’ quarters on a Great Lakes
-freighter.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>It was then that our steward’s pretty little wife,
-Mrs. Brooks, appeared, smiling, cool, delightfully
-welcome, and announced that dinner was ready,
-and that this time we must pardon them for being
-late. Out upon the steel decks men were already
-flushing off with huge lengths of hose, the ship’s
-lights were burning brilliantly, and from far aft,
-nearly a tenth of a mile away, there came the happy
-voice of a deckhand singing in the contentment of
-a full stomach and the beautiful freshness of the
-night. Not more than a dozen paces from our own
-quarters was a narrow deckhouse which ran the full
-length of the hatches&mdash;the guests’ private dining-room.
-It was now ablaze with light, and here another
-and even greater surprise was in store for those of
-our party who were strangers to the hospitality which
-one receives aboard a Great Lakes freighter. The
-long table, running nearly the length of the room,
-glittered with silver, and was decorated with fruits
-and huge vases of fresh flowers, and at the head of
-the table stood the steward’s wife, all smiles and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span>
-dimples and good cheer, appointing us to our seats
-as we came in. On these great ore and grain and
-coal carriers of the Inland Seas, the stewards and
-their wives, unlike those in most other places, possess
-responsibilities other than those of preparing and
-serving food. They are, in a way, the host and hostess
-of the guests, and must make them comfortable&mdash;and
-“at home.” On a few vessels, like the <i>Berwind</i>,
-there are both forward and aft stewards, with their
-assistants, who in many instances are their wives.
-The forward steward, like our Mr. Brooks, is the
-chief, and buys for the whole ship and watches that
-the aft steward does his work properly. Outside
-of this he devotes himself entirely to the vessel’s
-guests, and is paid about one hundred dollars a month
-and all expenses, while his wife gets thirty dollars
-for doing it. So he must be good. The stewards
-of Lake freighters are usually those who have “graduated”
-ashore, for even the crews of the Lakes are
-the best fed people in the world. Mr. Brooks, for
-instance, had not only won his reputation in some
-of the best hotels in the land, but his books on cooking
-are widely known, and especially along the fresh-water
-highways. I mention these facts because they
-show another of the little known and unusual phases
-of life in our Lake marine. For breakfast, dinner,
-and supper the tables in the crew’s mess-room are
-loaded with good things; very few hotels give the
-service that is found in the passengers’ dining-room.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span>
-Thus, from the very beginning, one meets with
-the unusual and the surprising on board one of these
-big steel ships of the Lakes. While towns and cities
-and the ten thousand vessels of the seas are sweeping
-past, while for a thousand miles the scenes are constantly
-changing&mdash;from thickly populated country to
-virgin wilderness, from the heat of summer on Erie
-to the chill of autumn on Superior,&mdash;the vessel itself
-remains a wonderland to the one who has never
-taken the trip before. From the huge refrigerator,
-packed with the choicest meats, with gallons of olives
-and relishes, baskets of fruits and vegetables&mdash;from
-this to the deep “under-water dungeons” where the
-furnaces roar night and day and where black and
-sweating men work like demons, something new of
-interest is always being found.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_146" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_146.jpg" width="600" height="417" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Luxurious Dining-room on the 10,000-Ton Steamer “J.&nbsp;H. Sheadle.”</div></div>
-
-<p>For the first day, while the steel decks are being
-scrubbed so clean that one might lie upon them without
-soiling himself, the passengers may spend every
-hour in exploring the mysteries of the ship without
-finding a dull moment. Under the aft deck-houses,
-where the crew eat and sleep, are what the sailors
-call the “bowels of the ship,” and here, as is not
-the case on ocean craft, the passenger may see for
-the first time in his life the wonderful, almost appalling,
-mechanism that drives a great ship from
-port to port, for it must be remembered that the
-“passenger” here is a guest&mdash;the guest of the owner
-whose great private yacht the great ship is, in a way,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span>
-and everything of interest will be shown to him if
-he wishes. Of the bottom of this part of the ship
-the “brussels-carpet guest”&mdash;as sailors call the passenger
-who is taking a trip on a freighter for the first
-time&mdash;stands half in terror. There is the dim light
-of electricity down here, the roaring of the furnaces,
-the creaking and groaning of the great ship, and
-high above one’s head, an interminable distance
-away it seems, one may see where day begins. Everywhere
-there is the rumbling and crashing of machinery,
-the dizzy whirling of wheels, the ceaseless pumping
-of steel arms as big around as trees; and up and
-up and all around there wind narrow stairways and
-gratings, on which men creep and climb to guard
-this heart action of the ship’s life. The din is fearful,
-the heat in the furnace-room insufferable, and when
-once each half-minute a furnace door is opened for
-fresh fuel, and writhing torrents of fire and light
-illumine the gloomy depths, the tenderfoot passenger
-looks up nervously to where his eyes catch glimpses
-of light and freedom far above him. And then, in
-the explanation of all this&mdash;in the <em>reason</em> for these
-hundreds of tons of whirling, crashing, thundering
-steel&mdash;there comes the greatest surprise of all. For
-all of this giant mechanism is to perform just one
-thing&mdash;and that is to whirl and whirl and whirl an
-insignificant-looking steel rod, which is called a shaft,
-and at the end of which, in the sea behind the ship,
-is the screw&mdash;a thing so small that one stands in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span>
-amazement, half doubting that this is the instrument
-which sends a ten-thousand-ton ship and ten thousand
-tons of cargo through the sea at twelve miles an hour!</p>
-
-<p>After this first day of exploration, the real joyous
-life of the ship comes to one. Every hour of every
-day is one of pleasure. You are on the only ship
-in the world into every corner of which a passenger
-is allowed to go. You are, in so far as your pleasure
-and freedom go, practically the owner of the ship.
-The crew and even the captain <em>may not</em> know but
-what you <em>are</em> one of the owners, for nothing but your
-name is given to the officers before you come aboard.
-Of course, the steward has the privilege to tell you
-to keep out of his kitchen, and the captain for you
-to keep out of the pilot-house&mdash;but they never do
-it. That guest, for instance, who haunts the pilot-house
-almost from morning to night, who insists
-upon taking lessons in steering, and who on any
-other craft in the world would soon be told to remain
-in his cabin or mind his business, may be a millionaire
-himself&mdash;a millionaire who is giving this line of ships
-many thousands of dollars’ worth of freight each year.
-So the captain and the crew <em>must</em> be affable. But,
-as I have said before, this is accepted as a pleasure
-and not as a duty on the Inland Seas. I have taken
-trips on a score of vessels, and it means much when
-I say that never have I encountered an unpleasant
-captain, and that only once did I meet with a mate
-who was not pleasant to his passengers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span>
-So, from the first day out, the big steel ship is
-an “open house” to its guests. Forward and aft
-of the cabins, great awnings are stretched, thick
-rugs and carpets are spread upon the deck, and easy
-chairs are scattered about. The captain and his
-mates are ready with the answers to a thousand
-questions. They point out objects and locations
-of interest as they are passed. There, in the late
-storms of last autumn, a ship went down with all
-on board; on yonder barren coast, five or six miles
-away, the captain guides your glasses to the skeleton
-of a ship, whose tragic story he tells you; he names
-the lighthouses, the points of coasts, and tells you
-about the scores of ships you pass each day. He
-shows you how the wonderful mechanism of the
-ship is run from the pilot-house, and he gives you
-lessons in the points of the compass, and perhaps
-lets you try your hand at the wheel. And each hour,
-if you have been abroad, you see more and more
-how an ocean trip cannot be compared to this. In
-a preceding chapter I have described what you see
-and what you pass in this thousand-mile journey
-to Duluth; how you slip from summer to autumn,
-from the heart of the nation’s population to vast,
-silent wildernesses where the bear and the wolf roam
-unmolested; how great cities give place to mining
-and lumber camps, and you come into the great
-northern lake where darkness does not settle until
-after nine o’clock at night.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span></p>
-
-<div id="ip_150" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_150.jpg" width="600" height="447" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Tugs Trying to Release Boats Held in the Ice at the Soo.</p>
-  </div>
-  <div class="captionl"><p>Copyright 1906 by Young, Lord &amp; Rhoades, Ltd.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>But these are not the only things which make
-a trip on a Great Lakes freighter interesting. It
-is what you can <em>do</em>. There are a dozen games you
-can play, from hatch-bag to shuffle-board; there
-is music and reading, eating and drinking&mdash;for the
-steward is constantly alive to your wants, always
-alive to add to your pleasures. And there is excitement&mdash;if
-not of one kind then of another. You may
-be thrilled by the sudden alarm of fire aboard ship,
-and find yourself burning with relief when you discover
-that you are witnessing nothing but an exciting
-fire drill; it may be a wrestling or boxing match
-between two of the ship’s champions, a race over
-the steel hatches, or&mdash;something like the following
-incident:</p>
-
-<p>One of the greatest sources of entertainment for
-guests aboard a Lake freighter is in the study of
-the men and boys of the crew, for the average crew
-of twenty-five or thirty always possesses some odd
-characters. Our party was very much amused by one
-individual, a youth of about twenty, large, round-faced,
-full-fed, a young man of unbounded good humour
-whose two great joys in life were his meals&mdash;and
-sleep. This youth never lost an opportunity to take
-a nap. After his dinner in the mess-room, he would
-promptly fall into a doze in his chair, to be aroused
-by a dash of cold water or some other practical joker’s
-trick; if he sat down on a hatch he would sleep; he
-would fall asleep leaning against the cabin. His<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span>
-actions caused no little uneasiness on the part of
-the captain, who liked the boy immensely. “Some
-day he will fall asleep and topple overboard,” he
-said.</p>
-
-<p>We had come into Superior, where the clear, dry
-air exerts a peculiar effect upon one. Coming suddenly
-from the warm atmosphere of the Lower Lakes
-a person has difficulty in keeping his eyes open half
-of the time up there. We were off Keweenaw Point
-when the thrilling alarm was spread that “Dopey,”
-the sleepy youth, had fallen overboard. The aft
-steward brought the news forward. Billy had eaten
-a huge dinner and was taking a comfortable siesta
-<em>standing</em>, half leaning over the aft rail. A moment
-after passing him the steward returned, bent upon
-stirring the boy from his dangerous position, and
-found him gone. The vessel was searched from stem
-to stern. Even the passengers joined in the hunt.
-But there was found no sign of the missing youth,
-and a deep gloom fell upon the people of the ship.
-An hour later, one of the young ladies approached
-the steep, narrow stair that led down into the forward
-locker. The mate himself had searched this gloomy
-nook for Billy. I was a dozen feet behind the girl
-and she turned to me with a white, startled face.</p>
-
-<p>“Come here&mdash;quick!” she cried. “Listen!”</p>
-
-<p>Together we bent our heads over the opening&mdash;and
-up to our ears there came a mysterious sound
-now so low that we could hardly hear it, then louder&mdash;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span>something
-that for a moment held us speechless and
-set our hearts beating at double-quick. It was the
-snoring of a sleeping person! In another instant
-we were down in that dingy hole of ropes and cables
-and anchor chains, and there, curled up in the gloom,
-we found Billy, sleeping a sleep so sound that it took
-a good shaking to awaken him. On deck he explained
-the mystery. The passing of the steward aft had
-aroused him from his nap against the rail, and he
-had wandered forward, seeking the cool seclusion
-of the locker.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_152" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_152.jpg" width="600" height="459" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Whaleback Barges Preparing for Winter Quarters at Conneaut, Ohio.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">(The Whaleback is a type of vessel that has been tried and found wanting. They are going
-out of use.)</p></div></div>
-
-<p>While this little affair did not end in a tragedy,
-I give it as an illustration of the fact that <em>something</em>
-of interest, if not excitement, is constantly occurring
-to keep the guests of a Great Lakes freighter alive
-to the possibilities of the trip. The night following
-Billy’s mysterious disappearance, for instance, the
-two young ladies aboard our ship nearly brought
-about a mutiny. Before going into the details of
-this incident, it is necessary for me to repeat what
-I have said in a preceding paragraph&mdash;that the seamen
-of our Lakes are the best fed working people
-in the world. If a captain does not provide the best
-of meats and vegetables and fruits, and in sufficient
-quantities, he may find himself minus a crew when
-he reaches port. One day as I was leaning over the
-aft rail the steward approached me and said:</p>
-
-<p>“Do you see that ship off there?”</p>
-
-<p>He pointed to a big down-bound freighter.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a></span>
-“Notice anything peculiar about it?” he continued.</p>
-
-<p>I confessed that I did not.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, this is the noon hour,” he went on, “and
-the sea-gulls always know when it’s feeding time.
-But there are no gulls following that ship. There
-are a good many more ships in that same line&mdash;and
-there’s never a gull behind them. Do you know
-why? It’s because the grub on those boats is so
-poor. The gulls have learned to tell them as far as
-they can see ’em, and they won’t have anything to
-do with ’em, and that’s the Lord’s truth, sir! Any
-man on the Lakes will tell you so, and the men on
-those boats most of all. They don’t take a job there
-until they’re down and out and can’t get work anywhere
-else.”</p>
-
-<p>On the afternoon of Billy’s adventure, the young
-lady who discovered him was taken slightly ill and
-was not present at dinner. Late that night, however,
-she was much improved&mdash;and ravenously hungry.
-As the steward and his wife were in bed there was
-no chance of getting anything to eat forward. In
-some way the girl had learned that a part of the crew,
-who were in the night watch, had luncheon in the
-aft mess-room at midnight, and this young lady
-and her chum, and the three young men in the party,
-planned to wait until after that hour and then, stealing
-quietly aft, help themselves to the “leavings.” At
-twelve-thirty, the decks were dark and silent, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">154</a></span>
-the watch ahead of the forward deck-houses, and the
-young people made their way unobserved to the
-mess-room. Not a soul was about, and on the table
-was meat and cake and pickles, and a huge pot
-of coffee was simmering on the range. The five
-helped themselves. No one interrupted them, and
-when fifteen or twenty minutes later they slipped
-back to their quarters the table was pretty well cleaned.
-Now it just happened that the night men, instead
-of eating at midnight, ate at <em>one</em>&mdash;an hour later,
-and when they came in after six hours of hard work,
-tired and hungry, only the wreck of what should
-have been, greeted their astonished eyes. The men
-were in a rage. They had been imposed upon as
-no self-respecting, liberty-loving man of the Lakes
-will allow himself to be imposed upon&mdash;in the way
-of food; and it took the combined efforts of the two
-stewards and their wives, and the humble apologies
-of the three young men, to straighten the affair out.
-Thereafter, at midnight, the mess-room door was
-locked.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_154" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_154.jpg" width="600" height="402" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Ashore.</div></div>
-
-<p>The more one comes in touch and sympathy with
-the lives of these men of the Lakes the more one’s
-interest increases; and it is not until one eats and
-drinks with them aft, and secures their confidence
-and friendship, that he is let into the secrets of the
-inner and home life of these red-blooded people,
-which is unlike the life of any other seafaring men
-in the world. It is when this confidence and friendship<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span>
-is won that you begin to reap the full pleasure
-of a trip on a Great Lakes freighter; it is then that
-the romance, the picturesqueness, and the superstition
-of the Lake breed creep out. Not until that
-time, for instance, will you discover that these rough
-strong men of the Lakes are the most indomitable
-home-owners in the world. A home is their ambition,
-the goal toward which they constantly work. From
-the deckhand to the young, unmarried mate it is the
-reward of all their labour, the end for which they are
-all striving. And there are good reasons for this&mdash;reasons
-which have made the “home instinct” among
-Lake sailors almost a matter of heredity. The ships of
-the Inland Seas are almost constantly in sight of land.
-Now it is a long stretch of coast a mile or so away;
-again it is a point stretching out to sea, or the shores
-of some of the most beautiful streams in America.
-And wherever there is land within shouting or megaphone
-or “whistle” distance of the passing vessels,
-there nestle the little homes of those who run the
-ships of our fresh-water marine. It may be that
-for an entire season of seven or eight months the
-Lake sailor has no opportunity of visiting his family.
-Yet every week or so he sees his home and his wife
-and children from the deck of his ship. It is easy
-for those ashore to learn from the marine officers
-when a certain vessel is due to pass, and at that hour
-wives and sweethearts, friends and children, assemble
-on the shore to bid their loved ones Godspeed. All<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">156</a></span>
-of the vessels on the Lakes have their private code
-of signals. Perhaps in the still hours of night, the
-sleeping wife is aroused by the deep, distant roar
-of the freighter’s voice. For a moment she listens,
-and it comes again&mdash;and from out there in the night
-she knows that her husband is talking to her; and
-the husband, his eyes turned longingly ashore, sees
-a light suddenly flash in the darkness, and his heart
-grows lighter and happier in this token of love and
-faith that has come to him. And in the hours of
-day it is more beautiful still; and the passengers
-and crew draw away, leaving the man alone at the
-rail, while the wife holds up their baby for the father
-to see, and throws him kisses; and there is the silence
-of voiceless, breathless suspense on the deck that
-the faint voice of the woman, or the happy cries of
-the children, may reach the husband and father,
-whose words thunder back in megaphone greeting.
-It is beautiful and yet it is pathetic, this constant
-union of the people of the Lake breed. And the
-pathos comes mostly when there is no answer from
-the little home ashore, for it is then that visions of
-sickness, of misfortune, and possibly of neglect cast
-their gloom.</p>
-
-<p>In a hundred other ways that I might describe
-does one see life on a Great Lakes freighter as on
-none of the vessels of the salt seas. It is a life distinct
-from all others, a life that is building a people
-within itself&mdash;the people of the Lake breed.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 id="Page_157"><a id="PART_II"></a><span class="larger">PART II<br />
-
-<span class="subhead p1">Origin and History of the Lakes</span></span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="II_I"></a>I<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">Origin and Early History</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">While</span> the modern romance of the Great
-Lakes, the vast commerce that has grown
-upon them, the great cities along their
-shores, and the part they have played in the
-history of the last generation form, to my mind,
-one of the most absorbing and at the same time
-one of the most fruitful subjects for the writer of
-to-day, it is to the “dim and mysterious ages of
-long ago” that one must allow his imagination to
-be carried, if he would understand, in its fullest measure,
-the part that our Inland Seas should hold within
-the hearts of the American people. It has been my
-desire, in this volume, to establish between our people
-and our Lakes that bond of friendship which unfortunately
-has never existed except upon their very
-shores. In the years in which I have studied the
-Lakes, their commerce, and their people, I have
-been astonished at the dearth of material which
-has been published about them, and not until this
-discovery came upon me forcefully did I understand
-that our own glorious Inland Seas, holding in perpetual<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">160</a></span>
-inheritance for the American people one half
-of the fresh water of the whole globe, are, indeed,
-“aliens in the land of their birth.”</p>
-
-<div id="ip_160" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_160.jpg" width="600" height="370" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Arch Rock, Mackinac Island.</p>
-  <p class="smaller">One of the Natural wonders of the world.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>For this reason, I am adding to my preceding
-chapters a brief history of the Lakes. It is not what
-might be called a history in detail, for such a story
-of the Inland Seas would fill volumes in itself. No
-other portion of the globe has been fraught with
-more incident of historical and romantic interest
-than these fresh-water heritages of our nation. The
-dramas that have been played upon them or along
-their shores would fill libraries. Their unrevealed
-pages of romance and tragedy would furnish rich
-material for the writers of a century. About them
-lie the dust of three quarters of the aboriginal inhabitants
-of North America. Along their shores
-were fought some of the world’s most relentless wars
-of absolute extermination. Upon their waters occurred
-the most romantic adventures of the early
-exploration of the continent. Every mile of these
-waters, now clouded with the smoke of a gigantic
-commerce, is fraught with the deepest historical
-interest. And yet, as I write this, there comes to
-my mind a thought of those countless thousands
-of Americans who, travelling afar for their pleasures,
-seek in every quarter of the globe that their feet
-may tread in awesome respect upon spots hallowed
-because of their historical associations, whether those
-associations be of fact, of legend, or of song.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span>
-The romance of the Lakes does not begin with their
-early discoverers; neither does it begin with the primitive
-inhabitants along their shores. It dawns with their
-making. Unnumbered thousands of years ago, before
-the glaciers of the Ice Age crept over the continent;
-when prehistoric monsters, still living in a tropical
-world, roamed throughout what is now the Lake
-region; and when man, if he existed at all, was in
-his crudest form, the Great Lakes were still unborn.
-Where their ninety-five thousand square miles of
-surface now afford the world’s greatest highways
-of water commerce there were then vast areas of
-plain, of highland and plateau, rising at times to the
-eminence of mountains. Those were the days when
-the North American continent was completing itself,
-when the last handiwork in the creation of a world
-was in progress. In place of the Lakes there were
-then a number of great rivers in these regions&mdash;rivers,
-which despite the passing of ages, have left
-their channels and their marks to this day. These
-rivers were all of one system and were all tributary
-to one great stream, the Laurentian River, whose
-channel to the sea was that of the St. Lawrence of
-to-day. Were it possible for one to conceive himself
-back in those primitive times a journey over this
-first great river system of the continent would have
-carried him, first of all, from the still unfinished ocean
-along the south shore of what is now Lake Ontario.
-He would have travelled within ten miles of where<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span>
-scores of towns and cities now flourish, and almost
-directly opposite what is now the Niagara River
-he would have encountered another great stream
-pouring into the Laurentian from the south and
-west. This river continued almost through the middle
-of what is now Lake Erie, and opposite where Sandusky
-is now situated divided itself into two branches,
-which still exist in the Maumee and the Detroit.
-The Laurentian continued northward close along
-the southern shore of Georgian Bay, turned southward
-to the centre of the Lake Huron basin, where
-the Huronian River, sweeping across central Michigan,
-joined it from Saginaw Bay. The Laurentian
-itself passed northward through the Straits of Mackinaw
-and terminated in what is now Lake Michigan.
-The story of this vast water system has been left
-in clearly defined outlines; its indelible marks are
-ancient valleys, sand-filled channels of the great
-streams, and worn escarpments. Seldom has science
-had an easier story to read of ages that are gone.</p>
-
-<p>Then came the second step in the creating of the
-Lakes of to-day. Slowly life changed as the Glacial
-Age approached, and with the sweeping back of
-life the rivers, too, passed out of existence. During
-the slow passing of centuries, their channels were
-filled, and the valleys were obstructed with drift,
-so that when the Ice Age had come and gone their
-channels no longer ran clear and unobstructed to
-the sea. As a consequence, great areas were submerged,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span>
-and hundreds of thousands of square miles
-of what is now fertile land, populated by millions
-and dotted by cities, became an ocean. But the
-continent was still in process of formation. The
-land in the Lake region began to rise, and continued
-in its elevation until out of the chaos of sea the Lakes
-were formed. To the north-east, as the centre of
-the continent rose, there was a tilting of the land
-oceanward, and this warping dropped Lake Ontario
-below the level of the other Lakes, thus interposing
-a barrier to free communication to the sea and giving
-birth to Niagara Falls.</p>
-
-<p>In this way, so far as science can tell, the Great
-Lakes of to-day were brought into existence. How
-early human life existed along their shores it is impossible
-even to guess, but that the earliest life of
-the continent should first of all gather in the valleys
-of the vast water system that gave them birth, and
-afterward reassemble along their shores, is highly
-probable. The earliest discoverers to penetrate into
-the wildernesses of the West found these shores
-inhabited by powerful nations. Other nations were
-facing extermination. Still others had ceased to
-exist and were forgotten except in legend. Along
-the Inland Seas have been found evidences of a superior
-race to the warlike aborigines of the days of La Salle.
-But only these evidences, utensils of copper and
-stone and clay, remain as proof of their existence.
-What they were, when they lived, and how they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span>
-died, is one of the mysteries that will remain forever
-unsolved.</p>
-
-<p>By the time the known history of the Lakes really
-begins their inhabitants had degenerated into warlike,
-ferocious savages, bent upon battle and extermination,
-and for the most part constantly embroiled
-in war of one kind or another. From Lake Ontario
-to the end of Superior the Lake regions were one
-great battle-ground, and this sanguinary history had
-extended so far into the past that with the coming
-of the first French explorers the Indians could give
-no comprehensive idea of when it had begun. At
-this time, early in the seventeenth century, the Lake
-country was the bone of contention among three
-quarters of the aborigines of North America. There
-was hardly a tribe that was not fighting some one
-of its neighbours, and the remnants of vanquished
-nations were constantly fleeing from their enemies
-and escaping total extermination by seeking safety
-in the West and South. In Northern Michigan and
-in Wisconsin there lived three branches of the Algonquin
-tribe, the Ottawas, the Ojibwas, and the Pottawatomies.
-The Ottawas had been driven westward,
-and the Ojibwas at this time were invading the hunting
-grounds of the Crees, who were entrenched on the
-northern shore of Lake Superior, their territory extending
-northward to Hudson Bay. On their west,
-the Ojibwas were also at war with the powerful
-Dakotas, who, fighting eastward from the Mississippi,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span>
-had secured a foothold on Superior. To the eastward,
-encroaching upon the tribes of Lake Ontario, were
-the Iroquois, or Five Nations, consisting of the Mohawks,
-Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and the Senecas.
-Between these and the fierce Algonquins of
-the Upper Lakes were wedged the Hurons and the
-Eries, fighting vainly against the almost total extermination
-which became their fate a little later.
-It was in the war between 1650 and 1655 that both
-the Eries and the Neuters, on the southern shore
-of Lake Erie, were wiped out of existence by the
-Iroquois, and it was about this same time that the
-Hurons received their death-blow. The few that escaped
-fled to the Mississippi and promptly became involved
-in a war with the Sioux. Reduced to a pitiable remnant
-the once powerful Sacs and Foxes were awaiting
-their end along Green Bay.</p>
-
-<p>In these days, the Lakes were already playing
-a part in commerce as well as in war. Great fleets
-of Indian canoes made annual voyages from the
-Upper to the Lower Lakes, and war fleets were common
-spectacles from almost every coast. The greatest
-of these fleets, so far as is known, was that of the
-Iroquois, which in 1680 carried six hundred selected
-braves across Lake Erie, up the Detroit River, through
-Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron, the Straits of Mackinaw,
-and down to the foot of Lake Michigan, where the
-adventurous navigators were utterly repulsed by
-the warriors of the Illinois. Another Iroquois fleet<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span>
-was annihilated near Iroquois Point, in Lake Huron.
-In 1600, according to stories told by the Indians,
-a fierce naval battle in which several hundred war
-canoes were engaged was fought in the middle of Lake
-Erie by the Wyandots and the Senecas. Only one
-Seneca canoe escaped.</p>
-
-<p>It was at this time, when the Lake country and
-the Lakes themselves were the stage upon which
-were being played the most thrilling dramas of aboriginal
-history, that the Inland Seas were first visited
-by their white discoverers. In 1615, the Franciscan
-friar, Joseph Le Caron, in company with three other
-Franciscans and twelve Frenchmen, invaded the
-seat of the Huron nation on Matchedash Bay, where
-Champlain joined him a few days later. The Hurons
-were preparing to attack their old enemies, the Iroquois,
-and Champlain accompanied them on their
-expedition. The campaign was unsuccessful but
-it led to the Frenchman’s discovery of Lake Ontario.
-Stephen Brule, an unlettered and reckless adventurer,
-was the first white man to rest eyes upon Lake Superior,
-his voyage up Lake Huron being made some
-time in 1629. Brule, however, was more interested
-in ingots of copper which he found than in the greatest
-body of fresh water on the globe, and he returned
-south almost immediately, while it was left for Raymbault
-and Jogues, two hopeful missionaries in search
-of a passage to China, to make the first navigation
-of Superior. This they did in 1641. Five years after<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a></span>
-Brule’s discovery, another adventurer, Jean Nicolet,
-paddled in a birch canoe from Georgian Bay across
-Lake Huron and through the Straits of Mackinaw,
-and thus discovered Lake Michigan. As surprising
-as it may seem, Erie was the last of the Great Lakes
-to be found by white men, and although its existence
-was known to the French as early as 1640, it was
-not until 1669 that Joliet, its discoverer, made his
-voyage upon it.</p>
-
-<p>The situation as it existed in the entire Lake country
-at the time of the coming of these first explorers
-was so unreasonably tragic that, viewed from the
-present day, it approaches dangerously near to having
-a touch of the comic about it. As one early writer
-says, “It was as if a pack of dogs were fighting over
-a bone. Only&mdash;where was the bone?” There was
-hardly an Indian tribe that was not at war with
-some other tribe, and in most instances, according
-to the discoverers, there were no evident causes for
-the sanguinary conflicts. “It was as if all the savages
-were impelled by a bad spirit, and a rage of extermination
-was sweeping over the land,” wrote one
-of the early Fathers. It is a popular superstition
-that the extinction of the red man must be ascribed
-to the coming of the white, but nothing shows more
-graphically the error of this belief than these conditions
-of the seventeenth century in the Lake country.
-The aborigines were exterminating themselves.
-They were doing the work completely, mercilessly.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">168</a></span>
-Nations had already been put out of existence. The
-Eries and Neuters were but lately annihilated. The
-once powerful Hurons were reduced to a remnant.
-The Sacs and Foxes were doomed. Existing tribes
-were weakened and scattered by ceaseless war. And
-sweeping down from the east the all-powerful Iroquois,
-the Romans of the wilderness, were coming
-each year to add to the completeness of the extermination.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_168" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_168.jpg" width="600" height="405" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Fort Mackinac.</div></div>
-
-<p>Now came the whites, and with their presence
-there developed slowly a check to the indiscriminate
-slaughter. At no time in the world was the missionary
-spirit more active, and scores of the disciples of the
-Church plunged fearlessly into the wilderness of
-the Lake regions, daring their perils of starvation
-and torture and death that the word of God might
-reach the hearts of the savages. And with them
-there came hundreds of adventurous spirits, trappers
-employed by the “Hundred Associates,” fortune-hunters,
-and reckless souls who had no other object
-than the excitement of exploration and discovery,
-but all of whom were staunch Catholics. The very
-fearlessness of these white invaders acted as a governor
-on the hostile energies of the savages, and their interests,
-in a small way at first, began to be diverted
-into other channels than those of war. Among the
-neutral nations on the Niagara River, Father Joseph
-de la Roche d’Aillon formed a mission early in the
-seventeenth century. As early as 1615, the Recollects<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span>
-had established a mission among the Hurons, which
-was later continued by the Jesuits. For more than
-thirty years, the missionaries had laboured among
-the Hurons when, in 1648, the Senecas and Mohawks
-fell upon their country, razed twenty of their villages,
-killed most of their 3000 fighters, and totally destroyed
-them as a people. Two of the Jesuit Fathers,
-Brébeuf and Daniel, gave up their lives in the fearful
-massacres of those days. It was only five years later
-that the Iroquois, destroyers of the Hurons, requested
-the French to send missionaries among them, and
-for nearly twenty years the zealous Jesuits brought
-about a lull in the sanguinary conflicts of the Five
-Nations, but at the end of that time when war flamed
-out anew they were compelled to abandon their
-missions. Meanwhile, along the Upper Lakes, the
-missionary movement was being prosecuted with
-extreme vigour. Garreau and Claude Allouez, with
-other missionaries, worked along the shores of Superior,
-establishing missions among the Sacs and Foxes
-and Pottawatomies. In 1668, Marquette established
-his famous mission at Sault Ste. Marie, and three
-years later founded the mission of St. Ignace on the
-Straits of Mackinaw.</p>
-
-<p>It would take a volume to describe the adventures
-of these early Fighters of the Faith, their trials
-and sacrifices, their successes and failures. The briefness
-of our sketch compels us to move quickly from
-these absorbing scenes to the first great event in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span>
-the history of Lake navigation, and to the beginning
-of that encroachment of the English which was to
-develop a hundred years of war along the Inland
-Seas. While the Jesuit Fathers were sacrificing
-their lives among the savages and while the Indian
-wars of extermination were still in progress, the
-French farther east had already begun to feel the
-hostile influence of the English. To check this influence
-La Salle and Count Frontenac brought about
-the erection of Fort Frontenac, in 1673, on the present
-site of Kingston. At this time, Robert Cavelier,
-Sieur de la Salle, a young man of eminence and learning,
-was of the supreme faith that he was destined
-to discover a water passage through the American
-continent to China and Japan, and the building of
-Fort Frontenac was only the first step in the gigantic
-scheme which he planned to carry out. A part of
-this scheme was the building of a vessel of considerable
-size in which La Salle planned not only to make a
-complete tour of the Lakes but in which he hoped
-to discover the route that would lead to the Orient.
-Five years later, the young adventurer made the
-portage around Niagara Falls, and at the mouth of
-Cayuga Creek, in Niagara County, New York, where
-is now located the town of La Salle, he began the
-construction of the first vessel ever to sail the Inland
-Seas.</p>
-
-<p>There are different estimates as to the size of the
-ship, but that it was somewhere between fifty and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span>
-sixty tons there is little doubt. Assisting in this
-work were Tonty and Hennepin, and it took all of
-the persuasive powers of the three to keep the <i>Griffin</i>,
-as the vessel had been named, from the hostile hands
-of the Senecas as she lay in her stocks. The ship,
-when launched, was completely rigged, found with
-supplies for a long voyage, and armed by seven pieces
-of cannon and a quantity of muskets. She carried
-two masts and a jib, and was decorated with the
-usual ornaments of an ancient ship of war, including
-a flying griffin at the jib-boom and a huge eagle aft.
-For hundreds of miles about, the Indians came to
-see this wonderful “floating fort” before she set
-sail. Thirty-two souls were to form the crew of the
-<i>Griffin</i> in her adventurous search for the route to
-Cathay, and on the day that she turned her prow
-up the Niagara River, La Salle and his followers
-fell upon their knees, invoking upon themselves the
-mercies of God in an undertaking which, they believed,
-was to be one of the most venturesome of their age.
-With all on board singing the <i>Te Deum Laudamus</i>,
-the <i>Griffin</i> passed into Lake Erie, and while at the
-sight of the great water ahead of them the priests
-again invoked the blessings of God, the first ship
-to sail the Lakes boldly headed into those “vast
-and unknown seas of which even their savage inhabitants
-knew not the end.”</p>
-
-<p>According to the historian Hennepin, who was a
-member of the expedition, days and nights of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">172</a></span>
-wildest speculation, of hope, of fear, and of anxious
-anticipation now followed. Rumour filled the seas
-ahead of them with innumerable perils. The hardy
-navigators knew not at what instant destruction
-might overtake them in any one of a dozen ways
-in which they supposed themselves to be threatened.
-Each morning and night the entire crew joined in
-prayers and in singing the hymns of the Church.
-Lake Erie was crossed in safety, and on the eleventh
-of August the <i>Griffin</i> entered the Detroit River.
-Hennepin was enthralled with its wonderful beauty.
-“The river was thirty leagues long,” he says, “bordered
-by low and level banks, and navigable throughout
-its entire length. On either side were vast prairies,
-extending back to hills covered with vines, fruit
-trees, thickets, and tall forest trees, so distributed
-as to seem rather the work of art than nature.” Passing
-between Grosse Isle and Bois Blanc Island, the
-<i>Griffin</i> sailed slowly up the river, frequent stops
-being made along its course; it passed the present
-site of Detroit, and on the day of the festival of Saint
-Claire the navigators entered the lake which they
-gave that name. On the twenty-third of August,
-the <i>Griffin</i> entered into Lake Huron, the Franciscans
-chanting the <i>Te Deum</i> for the third time, and the
-entire crew joining in offering up thanks to the Almighty
-for the smiling fortune that had thus far
-accompanied them on their voyage.</p>
-
-<p>Crossing Saginaw Bay the <i>Griffin</i> lay for two days<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span>
-among the Thunder Bay islands and then continued
-her way into the North. Almost immediately after
-this, La Salle and his companions were caught in
-a terrific storm, and in the height of its fury, when
-it was thought that the end had come and that all
-the demons of this mysterious world were working
-their destruction, La Salle made a vow that if God
-would deliver them he would erect a chapel in Louisiana
-to the memory of St. Anthony de Padua, the
-tutelary saint of the sailor. As if in response to this
-vow, the wind subsided and the storm-beaten <i>Griffin</i>
-found shelter in Michilimackinac Bay, where a mission
-had been built among the Ottawas. Early in September,
-the <i>Griffin</i> sailed into Lake Michigan and
-continued to Washington Island, at the entrance
-to Green Bay. Here a party of missionaries and
-traders had been established for a year. They had
-collected a large quantity of furs, valued at about
-twelve thousand dollars, and La Salle changed his
-original plans and sent the <i>Griffin</i> back to Niagara
-with this treasure, with the idea of continuing his
-own exploration by canoe.</p>
-
-<p>On the eighteenth of September, 1679, La Salle
-bade adieu to the <i>Griffin</i> and her crew, and from
-the point of a headland watched her white sails until
-they dropped below the horizon. It was the last
-he ever heard or saw of the ship. No sign of her
-was ever afterward found, no soul who sailed with
-her lived to tell the story of her tragic end. In the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span>
-years that followed, it was rumoured that Indians
-boarded and destroyed her, and massacred her crew.
-Hennepin was of the opinion that she was lost in
-a storm. Others believed that some of her crew
-had mutinied and that after murdering their companions
-they had joined the Ottawas, where they
-met their own fate. From time to time in recent
-years, relics have been found along the Lakes which
-have revived stories of the mysterious disappearance
-of the <i>Griffin</i>, but none of these finds have yet thrown
-reasonable light upon the tragic end of this first
-vessel to navigate the Inland Seas and of the venturesome
-spirits who manned her. By all but a few the
-<i>Griffin</i> is forgotten, or has never been known. Yet
-by the millions who live along the Great Lakes she
-should be held in much the same reverence as are
-the caravels of Columbus by the whole nation.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_174" class="figcenter" style="width: 434px;">
-  <img src="images/i_174.jpg" width="434" height="600" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Marquette’s Grave, St. Ignace, Michigan.</div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="II_II"></a>II<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">The Lakes Change Masters</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">For</span> more than a hundred years after the sailing
-of the <i>Griffin</i> the Great Lakes and the country
-about them were destined to be the scenes
-of almost ceaseless war. The fury of the internecine
-strife of the Indians was on the wane. Their conflicts
-of extermination had worked their frightful
-end and it now came time for them to give up the
-red arena of the Inland Seas to other foes, among
-whom the last vestiges of their power were doomed
-to melt away like snow under the warmth of the
-sun. For unnumbered generations they had fought
-among themselves. Nations of red men had been
-born, and nations had died. The Lake regions were
-white with their bones and red with their blood,
-and now those that remained of them were to be
-used as pawns in the games of war between the English
-and the French, among whom they were still
-to play an important though a fatal part.</p>
-
-<p>The romantic voyage of the <i>Griffin</i> marked that
-era when the French were gaining possession of
-the Lakes. Eight years before La Salle’s expedition,
-Simon Francis Daumont had taken formal possession<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span>
-of the Inland Seas in the presence of seventeen different
-Indian nations. In 1761, a fort had been
-erected at Mackinaw, and Daniel Deluth, after whom
-the city of Duluth was named, planted a colony of
-French soldiers among the Sioux and Assiniboines
-of Minnesota. From this time on, the power of the
-French steadily gained in ascendancy and the work
-of winning the allegiance of the Indians progressed
-for a number of years without interruption. In
-1686, Fort Duluth was built on the St. Clair River,
-and fifteen years later, in 1701, Cadillac built a fort
-on the present site of Detroit, which was destined
-to play a picturesque and important part in the
-century of war that was to follow. Other forts of
-the French were at Michilimackinac (Mackinac), Chicago,
-Green Bay, and on the Niagara River. Nearly
-all of the Indians of the Lake regions had become
-their allies, with the exception of the Iroquois. The
-forests and streams were the haunts of French traders.
-The Church was establishing itself more and more
-firmly among the tribes. The adventurous trappers
-of the fur companies were even living among the
-savages, and there was fast developing between the
-red men and the French that bond of friendship
-which was to remain almost unbroken through all
-of the troublous times that were to follow. The
-power of France, at this time, seemed bound to rule
-the destinies of the Inland Seas.</p>
-
-<p>On the other hand, the Iroquois were the implacable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span>
-enemies of the French and their allies, and the friends
-of the English. They were distributed over a territory
-which embraced the Lake Ontario regions
-and which extended to the English settlements of
-the East, thus offering a free and safe road of travel
-to English traders into the domains of the French.
-Reduced to less than a quarter of the fighting strength
-that they had possessed before the wars of extermination,
-they were still the terror of all other Lake
-tribes, and the English were not slow to take advantage
-of the opportunities which their friendship offered them.
-At every possible point the Five Nations checked the
-movements of the French, and at the same time
-assisted the English traders to invade their territory.
-In 1684, De la Barre, then Governor of Canada, determined
-to destroy this last menace to French dominion,
-and sent word throughout the Lake regions
-calling upon his warrior allies to assemble at Niagara
-for a great war of extermination upon the Iroquois.
-De la Barre himself proceeded to Lake Ontario with
-a powerful force of nearly two thousand men, but
-an epidemic of sickness attacked his army and the
-only result of the “campaign of extermination” was
-a peaceful conference with the Oneidas, Onondagas,
-and Cayugas.</p>
-
-<p>The failure of De la Barre’s plans was the first
-great blow to French dominion. The English traders
-became more daring and parties penetrated even
-as far as Michilimackinac, one of the French strongholds.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span>
-These traders were regarded as fair game
-by the French wherever found, but though several
-parties were captured the invasion from the East
-did not cease. Alarmed at the growing danger, the
-French determined to make another campaign against
-the Iroquois. To the existence of the Five Nations
-they ascribed their peril. With these fierce warriors
-out of the way they could easily hold the English
-back.</p>
-
-<p>In 1687, the Marquis Denonville, who had succeeded
-De la Barre, gathered two thousand troops
-and six hundred Indian warriors at Montreal, and
-with the advice that a thousand Indian allies would
-meet him at Niagara set out for the land of the Iroquois.
-On June 23d, the forces met at Fort Frontenac
-and from there proceeded to Irondequoit, in
-the enemy’s country. Only the Senecas, one branch
-of the Five Nations, had gathered to meet the invaders,
-and in the fierce battle that followed, the
-French and their allies were defeated and driven
-to the shores of the lake. Satisfied with their victory,
-the Senecas did not press the invaders, and Denonville
-took advantage of his opportunity to build
-Fort Niagara, after which he led the remnant of his
-defeated army back to Montreal, leaving a garrison
-of one hundred men in the new stronghold. During
-the winter that followed, the Senecas besieged the
-fort with such success that less than a dozen of its
-defenders escaped with their lives.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span>
-News of the defeat of the French spread like wildfire.
-It penetrated to the farthest fastnesses of the
-known wildernesses. English traders began to swarm
-into the Lower Lake regions. The Indian nations
-allied to the French were thrown into a panic. The
-war spirit of the Iroquois was aroused to a feverish
-height by their victory, and they swarmed to the
-invasion of the French dominions. Fort Frontenac
-was captured and burned. Both the allies and the
-French were swept back with tremendous slaughter,
-and their power upon the Lower Lakes was broken.
-“It seemed,” said an early writer, “as if the Five
-Nations would sweep over the entire Lake country,
-driving all enemies from their shores, and thus delivering
-into the hands of the English all that the
-French had gained.”</p>
-
-<p>But, in this hour of victory, the shadow of doom
-was hovering over the martial people of the Five
-Nations. For unnumbered years the conquerors of
-the New World, the time had at last come for their
-fall. The War of the Palatinate was at hand, and
-the hostilities of the French and the English spread
-to land and sea. Rumours came that Frontenac was
-about to sweep down upon New York, and the faithful
-Iroquois turned back to defend the city of their White
-Father. They threw themselves between the invaders
-and their friends, an unconquerable barrier. New
-York was saved, but in the struggle the power of
-the Five Nations was broken. For many years they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span>
-still remained a force to be reckoned with, but as the
-conquering Romans of the Wilderness and the terror
-of a score of nations, extending even to the Mississippi,
-their history was at an end. In their passing
-it must be said that a braver man, a truer friend,
-or a more relentless foe never existed on the American
-continent than the Iroquois warrior.</p>
-
-<p>There now came a brief lull in the warfare of the
-Lakes. The end of the War of the Palatinate was
-closely followed by Queen Anne’s War, but hostilities
-did not openly break out along the Inland Seas. The
-Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 left France technically
-in possession of the Lakes, but, even after this treaty,
-the English claimed as a sort of inheritance from
-the Iroquois the regions of Lake Ontario and Lake
-Erie. This fact again gave opportunity for plenty
-of excitement and trouble. The French had rebuilt
-Fort Frontenac and were establishing other strongholds,
-their object being to hem the English along
-their seacoast possessions by means of a string of
-forts extending from Canada southward. To frustrate
-these designs Governor Burnett, of New York, began
-the erection of a trading-post at Oswego in 1720.
-The French at once reciprocated by rebuilding Fort
-Niagara of stone, whereupon, in 1727, the English
-added a strong fort to their holdings in Oswego.
-This all but started active hostilities again. Beauharnois,
-the Governor of Canada, flew into a high
-dudgeon, sent a written demand for the English to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span>
-abandon the fort, and threatened to demolish it
-unless this was done. The response of the English
-was to strengthen their garrison. Instead of carrying
-out his threat of war, Beauharnois began the strengthening
-of all the French forts, a work which continued
-for several years. Meanwhile the French trappers,
-traders, and priests of the Upper Lakes had been
-stirring the passions of the Indians against the encroaching
-English. The latter, in 1755, built two
-warships on Lake Ontario, and it was pointed out
-to the Western tribes that these were two of the
-terrible engines that were intended to work their
-destruction. By the time of the breaking out of
-the Seven Years’ War, the French, though their
-population was less than a tenth of that of their
-enemies, were splendidly prepared for war.</p>
-
-<p>Actual operations in this last struggle between
-the French and the English for the possession of
-the Lakes began in 1756, when De Lery and De Villier
-set out with some six hundred men to capture Oswego
-and other forts. On the Onondaga River, De Villier
-encountered Bradstreet and his English and was
-completely defeated, more than a hundred of his men
-being killed. Meanwhile, from Fort Frontenac, General
-Montcalm was preparing to descend upon Oswego,
-and on the ninth of August, 1756, he arrived in sight
-of the English stronghold with three thousand men
-under his command. On the twelfth the battle began.
-From the beginning it was a surprise to both combatants.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span>
-The victory of the French was comparatively
-easy and complete. The English loss was one hundred
-and fifty killed and wounded. Nearly two thousand
-prisoners were taken, one hundred and twenty cannon
-and mortars, six war vessels, and an immense amount
-of stores and ammunition. The blow was a terrific
-one for the English. Oswego had been their Gibraltar.
-In it were their shipbuilding yard, nearly
-all of their heavy ordnance, and a large part of the
-stores that were to supply them during the war.
-For the first time, the English realised what a terrible
-loss they had sustained in the breaking of the power
-of the Five Nations.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_182" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_182.jpg" width="600" height="385" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Monument at Put-in-Bay in Memory of the British and Americans who Died in the Battle
-of Lake Erie.</div></div>
-
-<p>It was not until 1758 that the English regained
-a little of their lost prestige. Everywhere the French
-had been victorious. But, in the summer of this
-year, Colonel Bradstreet attacked Fort Frontenac
-with thirty-five hundred men, and after two days
-of battle the garrison surrendered. This was as decisive
-a blow to the French as was the loss of Oswego
-to the English. Ten thousand barrels of supplies,
-nearly a hundred cannon, and five vessels were destroyed.
-The French now saw that the beginning
-of the end was at hand. Little Fort Niagara was
-burned the following year to keep it from falling
-into the hands of their enemies, and a little later
-Fort Niagara surrendered. At this time French
-reinforcements were on their way to Niagara, but
-hearing of the fall of this last stronghold the ships<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span>
-which bore them were destroyed at the northern
-end of Grand Island, in a bay which from that time
-has been known as Burnt Ship Bay, and at the bottom
-of which, until a comparatively short time ago, the
-remains of the old vessels were plainly to be seen.
-With the fall of Montreal in 1760, the last flag of
-the French passed from the Great Lakes. Their
-warships were scuttled, their forts in the North surrendered,
-and within a few months England was
-everywhere supreme along the Inland Seas.</p>
-
-<p>There now followed a curious and absorbingly
-interesting phase of Lake history. The English had
-conquered the French&mdash;but they had not conquered
-the red allies. The warriors of the Upper Lakes
-could not be made to understand the situation. “We
-fight until there are none of us left to fight,” they
-said. “Why is it that our French brothers have
-run? Shall we run because they have run? We
-were their friends and brothers. We are their friends
-now, and though you have conquered them we will
-still fight for them, so long as there are among us
-men who can fight.” A more beautiful illustration
-of the friendship and loyalty of the Indian warrior
-could hardly be conceived than this.</p>
-
-<p>And it was largely this loyalty, this loyalty to a
-race that had been destroyed in their regions, that
-was to result in those terrible wars and massacres
-which marked the course of English rule along the
-Lakes, almost as regularly as mile-posts mark the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span>
-course of a road. In the hearts of the savages there
-was an intense, ineradicable hatred of the English.
-They, and not the French, were regarded as the
-usurpers and despoilers of the country. This hatred
-was even greater than that of the Five Nations toward
-the French. It was something, as one old writer
-says, “beyond description, beyond the power to
-measure.”</p>
-
-<p>In these days, a fearful fate was rolling up slowly
-for the string of forts along the Inland Seas, a doom
-that came without warning and with terrible completeness.
-At the head of the great conspiracy which
-was to result in the destruction of all the forts held
-by the English, with the exception of that at Detroit,
-was Chief Pontiac. On May 16, 1763, the first blow
-fell. By what was called treachery on the part of
-the Indians, but what would be termed stratagem
-in a white man’s war, Fort Sandusky was captured
-and its entire garrison, with the exception of one
-man, was massacred. Meanwhile a band of Pottawatomies
-from Detroit had hurried to the fort
-at the mouth of St. Joseph’s River, at the head of
-Lake Michigan, and, on the morning of the twenty-fifth,
-killed the whole of its garrison with the exception
-of three. Eight days later Michilimackinac
-(Mackinac) fell. On the morning of this fatal day,
-a large party of Ojibwas were to play a game of
-ball with the Sacs, and not a breath of suspicion
-filled the breasts of the doomed officers and men.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span>
-Discipline was relaxed on account of the game. Excitement
-ran high. The Indians were in the best
-of spirits, and had never seemed more friendly. Their
-sole thought seemed to be of the great game. Scores
-of blanketed squaws and old men had assembled,
-and these, without creating suspicion, had gathered
-close to the open gates. The game began, and the
-shouting, struggling savages rushed this way and
-that in pursuit of the ball. Now they would surge
-far from the stockade, now so close that they would
-crush against its pickets. Suddenly the ball shot
-high into the air and fell inside the fort, and
-a hundred yelling savages rushed to the gates.
-Instantly the scene was changed. The squaws and
-the old men threw back their blankets and gave
-hatchets and guns to the warriors as they rushed
-past them. Within a few minutes, seventeen men
-were killed and the rest of the garrison were prisoners.
-Five of these prisoners were afterward killed by
-their captors. The fate of the garrison at Presque
-Isle was less terrible. For two days, the defenders
-of the fort held off the savages and then surrendered
-upon the promise that their lives would be spared.
-The prisoners were carried to Detroit.</p>
-
-<p>During this time, while the conspiracy was working
-with such terrible success at nearly every point, the
-great Pontiac himself had failed in his designs upon
-Detroit. The garrison at this point was the strongest
-on the Lakes, being composed of one hundred and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span>
-twenty men under the command of Major Gladwin
-and some forty or fifty traders and trappers. They
-were strongly entrenched behind palisades twenty-five
-feet high, were well supplied with the necessities
-of war, and Pontiac regarded them as invincible
-unless he could overcome them by stratagem. By
-the merest chance a fearful massacre was averted.
-Early in May Major Gladwin received warning of
-Pontiac’s plotting, but paid comparatively little attention
-to it until, under a clever pretext, the Indian
-chieftain asked that he and a number of his warriors
-be allowed to enter the fort. Under their blankets
-Pontiac and his braves carried hatchets and short-barrelled
-rifles, their intention being to take the unprepared
-garrison by surprise and during the first
-excitement of the fray to throw open the gates for
-the hundreds of armed savages waiting near. But
-when the Indians came within the palisades they
-found the garrison under arms and awaiting them.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_186" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_186.jpg" width="600" height="448" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption"><p>Old West Blockhouse, Fort Mackinac.</p>
-
-<p class="smaller">Built by the British, about 1780.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>This frustrated all of the great chief’s carefully
-laid plans, and the attack was postponed. Three
-days later Pontiac again asked admittance to the
-fort, but was refused. Knowing that in some way
-his plot had been revealed to the English, Pontiac
-at once began his attack and for several hours
-fought desperately to take the stronghold, but was
-repulsed again and again with great loss. Desultory
-fighting, attacks and counter-attacks, were frequent
-features of the siege that followed. Meanwhile twenty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span>
-boats and a hundred men, together with a large quantity
-of supplies, had left Fort Niagara for Detroit
-under the command of Lieutenant Cuyler, and these
-reinforcements were anxiously awaited by the besieged.
-They were destined never to reach Detroit.
-On June 28th, Lieutenant Cuyler and his command
-landed on Point Pelee with the intention of camping
-there for the night. Hardly had they drawn their
-boats upon the beach when they were greeted by
-a tremendous volley of musketry, and with frightful
-yells a horde of savages rushed down upon them
-from their ambush. Taken completely by surprise
-the English made no resistance but fled precipitately
-for their boats. Less than forty men, many of them
-wounded, escaped in three boats and made for Fort
-Sandusky, which they found had been destroyed.
-All hope of reaching Detroit was now abandoned
-and the worn and wounded remnants of the reinforcing
-party rowed back to Niagara.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the condition of the garrison at Detroit
-was becoming desperate. Both ammunition and
-food were becoming exhausted, many of the defenders
-were wounded or sick, and each day seemed to add
-to the strength of the savage besiegers. On the morning
-of June 30th, seven weeks after the beginning
-of the siege, a large number of boats flying the English
-flag were seen coming up the river. Joy gave place
-to horror when it was seen that these boats were
-filled with Indians and with white prisoners, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span>
-latter being those who were captured at Point Pelee.
-While these savage victors had been making their
-way westward, Lieutenant Cuyler and his handful
-of fugitives were on their way to Niagara, where
-they brought news of the destruction of Fort Sandusky
-and of the possible fate of Detroit. At Fort
-Niagara was the armed schooner <i>Gladwin</i>, named
-after the defender of Detroit, and on July 21st, she
-sailed for the besieged fort carrying with her supplies
-and a reinforcement of sixty men. On the night
-of the 23d, while the schooner was lying becalmed
-between Fighting Island and the mainland in the
-Detroit River, she was attacked by the Indians, who
-were completely repulsed. For several days, while
-slowly making her way up the river against headwinds
-and current, the cannon of the <i>Gladwin</i> spread
-consternation and havoc among the savages along
-the shores. Late in July, Captain Dalzell arrived
-with a score of barges, bringing cannon, ammunition,
-supplies, and an additional force of three hundred
-men. Pontiac, however, was still hopeful of success.
-His force had been increased by more than a thousand
-warriors, and this fact led to the sending of
-another reinforcement from Fort Niagara. Six hundred
-regulars under the command of Major Wilkins
-left late in September. Near Pointe-aux-Pins they encountered
-a terrific gale on Lake Erie in which seventy
-men and three officers besides an immense amount
-of stores and ammunition were lost, a calamity which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span>
-compelled the survivors to return to Niagara. Winter
-brought partial relief to Detroit. The great number
-of Pontiac’s warriors made the struggle for subsistence
-a hard one and with the coming of the cold
-months the tribes separated to keep from starvation,
-leaving only a part of their fighting men to maintain
-the siege, thus removing for the time being the immediate
-danger of the capture and massacre of the
-garrison.</p>
-
-<p>During the winter that followed, the English prepared
-to begin a campaign in the spring of a magnitude
-heretofore unknown among the wilderness
-tribes. The daring and confidence of the Indians
-were becoming more and more menacing. On September
-14th, one of the most terrible massacres of
-the Lake country occurred at Devil’s Hole, three
-miles below Niagara Falls. The Devil’s Hole is now
-visited by thousands of tourists each year, but probably
-not one in a hundred knows of the bloody conflict
-that gave it its name. On that day, a convoy
-of soldiers were returning to Fort Niagara from Fort
-Schlosser, and in the gloomy chasm of the “Hole,”
-which leads from the bluffs above down to the river,
-a party of ambushed Senecas were awaiting them.
-Unaware of their danger, the soldiers came within
-a few rods of the ambush, and in the massacre that
-followed all but three of the total number of
-twenty-four were killed. A strong force from Niagara
-came to give the Indians battle and was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">190</a></span>
-completely defeated, losing about twoscore of its
-men.</p>
-
-<p>The English were now practically wiped out of
-the Lake country, with the exception of along the
-Niagara and at Detroit, and the investment at the
-latter place threatened to be successful unless prompt
-steps were taken for the relief of the fort with an
-overwhelming force. It was not until August of the
-following year that a force sufficiently powerful for
-the campaign was gathered at Fort Schlosser. With
-three thousand men, General Bradstreet set out in
-bateaux to first strike a blow at the Indians along
-Lake Erie. Instead of fighting, however, the Ohio
-tribes were anxious to make peace with the invaders,
-and after a few skirmishes and many promises on
-the part of the Indians, Bradstreet reached Detroit.
-The long siege, which had existed for more than a
-year, was broken, treaties of peace were signed with
-many Indian tribes, and the English again secured
-possession at Michilimackinac, Green Bay, and Sault
-Ste. Marie. But Pontiac was irreconciliable and, like
-Robert Bruce of old, fled into the West with a few
-of his followers to await another opportunity to
-swoop down upon his enemies.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_190" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_190.jpg" width="600" height="472" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">The Monument Erected to those who Fought and Died on Mackinac Island.</div></div>
-
-<p>But the balance of fate still seemed to be with the
-untamed children of the wilderness, for Bradstreet’s
-return to Fort Niagara was marked by disasters sufficient
-to offset much that he had achieved. At
-Rocky River, near Cleveland, he was caught in a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span>
-terrific gale and met a fate similar to that which
-had overtaken Major Wilkins in the preceding September.
-In the rush for shore, twenty-five of his
-bateaux, six cannon, and a great quantity of his
-baggage and ammunition were lost, together with
-scores of his men. The force was now divided, a
-part of it to make its way through the wilderness,
-and the remainder to travel in the uninjured bateaux.
-Bradstreet reached Niagara on November 4th, but
-for twelve weeks the land force fought its way through
-tangles of forest and swamp, fighting, starving, and
-dying of disease and exposure. The number of those
-who were lost in the storm and in this overland march
-has never been recorded, but it was so large as to
-occasion petitions to the government, which was
-an unusual thing in those days of war and carnage.
-From that day to this, at various times, Lake Erie
-has given up relics of the lost fleets of Major Wilkins
-and General Bradstreet in portions of old bateaux,
-gun-flints, musket-barrels, bayonets, cannon balls,
-and other objects. At one time, when a sandbar
-at the mouth of the Rocky River changed its position,
-a vast quantity of these relics were revealed, showing
-that one of the lost bateaux had sunk there and had
-been uncovered after a lapse of many generations.</p>
-
-<p>For a number of years after the subjugation of
-the Indian tribes, the peace of the Lakes was disturbed
-only by the rivalries of the fur-traders and
-unimportant skirmishes with the savages. The era<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span>
-of warships on the Inland Seas had now begun, and
-by the time the Revolutionary War broke out, they
-were patrolled by quite a number of armed vessels
-bearing the flag of England. The Lakes were destined
-to play but a small part in the struggle for independence,
-however, and the most tragic event of these
-years upon them was the loss in a storm of the British
-ship <i>Ontario</i>, of twenty-two guns, which went down
-between Niagara and Oswego with her entire crew
-and more than a hundred of the 8th King’s Own
-Regiment. At this time, Spain was scheming to
-gain a foothold in the Lake regions, and, in 1781,
-a force under Don Eugenio Purre left St. Louis in
-the depth of winter and captured the English fort
-at St. Joseph. For only a few hours the flag of Spain
-floated over the Lake country, Don Eugenio’s scheme
-being merely to secure a “claim” to the regions,
-and once his banner had risen triumphantly above
-the captured fort he abandoned his position and
-retreated to St. Louis.</p>
-
-<p>Several times during the Revolutionary War it
-was proposed that an attempt be made to capture
-Detroit, but no efforts were made in this direction,
-so that when peace was declared and the colonies
-were granted their independence, England still remained
-in possession of the Great Lakes. It was
-not until 1796 that the line of forts along their shores
-were surrendered into the hands of the Americans.
-On July 4th of that year, Forts Niagara, Lewiston,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span>
-and Schlosser floated for the first time in history
-the banner of the new nation, and a week later, Captain
-Moses Porter raised the same emblem above
-Detroit. Thus after having been the stage of almost
-ceaseless war for more than a century and a half
-did it seem that peace had at last come to the Great
-Lakes regions. Yet were the clouds already gathering
-which a few years later were to burst forth in another
-storm of blood along the shores and upon the waters
-of the Inland Seas.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="vspace"><a id="II_III"></a>III<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">The War of 1812 and After</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> years of peace which followed the surrender
-of the English along the Lakes were not ones
-of rapid development. It was as if this vast
-country, bathed in blood for more than a hundred
-and fifty years, had fallen into a restful
-sleep. Until 1800 there was almost no emigration
-west. By the new nation, the shores of Lake Erie
-were still regarded as in the far wilderness. The
-fur-trade, it is true, increased in volume, but not
-until after 1805 did the traffic of the Lakes begin
-to show any decided growth. From then on conditions
-brightened. Settlers began going into Ohio.
-Lake Ontario developed a considerable shipping-trade,
-and both the United States and Great Britain
-began to strengthen their naval forces, the American
-ships being almost entirely on Lake Ontario. At
-the time of the breaking out of the War of 1812,
-American interests on Lake Erie were almost entirely
-unguarded, the only vessel patrolling it being
-a small brig armed with six-pounders which, after
-its capture by the British, was named the <i>Detroit</i>. To<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span>
-make the situation of the Americans still worse a
-curious change had been working among the Indians
-and French. The bitter enemies of the English only
-a few years before, they now became their staunchest
-allies, and the first blow struck was largely by the
-Ottawas and Chippewas, who joined Captain Roberts
-at St. Joseph in an attack upon Mackinac. Lieutenant
-Hanks, who was in command of the fort,
-had no knowledge of the declaration of war and fell
-an easy victim to the strategy of Roberts and his
-Indians and French. Not a gun was fired in the
-capture of this important post, which gave to the
-victors the key to the entire North, and at once placed
-them in a commanding position for the approaching
-struggle.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_194" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_194.jpg" width="600" height="369" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Mackinac Island, Showing Old Fort Mackinac.</div></div>
-
-<p>Events now began to assume a more warlike aspect
-along the Lakes. At Detroit, the Americans had
-been assembling in force, and on July 12, 1812, General
-Hull crossed the river into Canada at the head
-of twenty-two hundred men, his object being to
-prevent further construction on British fortifications
-which were in progress near Sandwich. Seven
-days later, Commodore Earle, in command of the
-British naval forces on Lake Ontario, made a futile
-bombardment of Sacketts Harbour. Meanwhile at
-York, now Toronto, Major-General Brock was assembling
-his forces, and before Hull crossed the
-river, he had established himself at Fort Niagara
-and had sent reinforcements under Colonel Proctor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span>
-to Amherstburg, a few miles down the river from
-Detroit, where the British were to act as a check
-to Hull. The latter had prepared to march upon
-Malden when General Brock’s appearance at the
-head of a large body of British and Indian troops
-sent him in precipitate retreat to Detroit.</p>
-
-<p>Before his attack upon the Americans, Brock
-sought an interview with the Indian chief Tecumseh
-and succeeded in winning his friendship to the British
-cause. On August 15th, the attack upon Detroit
-was made, beginning with a bombardment from
-guns situated across the river. The Americans in
-their trenches were eager for battle. Never had a
-garrison been more confident of repulsing an enemy.
-As the British and Indians swept up to the attack,
-the men stood behind their shotted guns with lighted
-matches in their hands. When the enemy was less
-than five hundred yards away, and as his men,
-anxiously awaiting the order to fire, were sighting
-along their guns, General Hull suddenly commanded
-the white flag to be hoisted above the fort. Never
-were two combatants more thoroughly astounded.
-With a powerful force, strongly entrenched, Hull
-had surrendered without firing a shot. Two thousand
-men longing for battle and with the odds all in their
-favour became the prisoners of less than eight hundred
-British and six hundred Indians. It was a humiliating
-defeat. In an hour the prowess of the Americans
-had dropped to the lowest ebb. Hull’s cowardice<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span>
-not only placed the British in supreme control of
-the Upper Lake region but added greatly to the foes
-of the Americans. Those Indian tribes that had
-remained neutral at once turned to the British, and
-the disaffected militia of Canada were moved into
-enthusiastic support of Brock. On this same day
-Hull was directly responsible for one of the most
-horrible massacres of the Lake country. The commander
-at Fort Dearborn, which stood on the present
-site of Chicago, had received orders from Hull to
-evacuate his position, and, on the morning of Brock’s
-bombardment of Detroit, the fort’s entire garrison
-of seventy soldiers, together with many women and
-children, set out from its protection. They had
-gone as far as what is now Eighteenth Street when
-they were attacked from the rear by Miami Indians
-and a merciless slaughter followed. When only
-twenty men remained, the little force surrendered,
-and the captives were distributed among the savages.</p>
-
-<p>At about this time there occurred an event on
-Lake Erie which somewhat lightened the gloom
-occasioned by the American reverses. Commodore
-Chauncey, in command of the American naval forces
-on Ontario, had sent Commander Jesse D. Elliott
-up to Erie to begin the construction of a navy. Elliott
-was a born fighter and not slow to grasp opportunities
-that came his way, and when he learned that the
-British ships <i>Detroit</i> and <i>Caledonia</i> were anchored
-under Fort Erie, he set out from Black Rock with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span>
-one hundred and twenty-eight men, ran his boats
-alongside the two ships, and captured them in a
-fierce hand-to-hand conflict which began at three
-o’clock in the morning. The two vessels were at
-once got under way and the <i>Caledonia</i> was brought
-within the protection of an American battery near
-Black Rock. The <i>Detroit</i> was less fortunate and
-was compelled to haul to within a few hundred yards
-of a British battery. Elliott refused to abandon
-her until his ammunition gave out, and even then
-succeeded in bringing his prize to Squaw Island,
-where she was within the range of both American
-and British batteries. No sooner would one side
-gain possession of her than her captors would be
-driven off by the guns of the other, and in these attacks
-and counter-attacks the vessel was destroyed.
-Elliott, however, had the nucleus for his new fleet
-in the captured <i>Caledonia</i>.</p>
-
-<p>At the beginning of the war, it was believed by
-both British and American officers that at least one
-of the decisive battles for the mastery of the Lakes
-would be fought somewhere on the Niagara frontier,
-and no sooner had Brock arranged civil and military
-matters in the West after the fall of Detroit than
-he hastened back to this scene of action. Meanwhile
-the Americans had been preparing to attack
-Queenston, near Niagara Falls, and from that point
-begin their invasion of Canada. The British were
-strongly entrenched upon the Heights but their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span>
-force was considerably inferior in number to that
-of Colonel Van Rensselaer, who was in command
-of the Americans. On the evening of October 12th,
-a dozen boats began ferrying the troops across the
-river, while at the same time, Colonel Chrystie, with
-three hundred men, and Colonels Stranahan, Mead,
-and Bloom were marching to Lewiston. Early on
-the morning of the 13th, the British opened fire,
-in the face of which the Americans began scaling
-the Heights, driving the enemy back as they advanced.
-At the time of the crossing of the Americans,
-Brock was at Fort George but lost no time in hastening
-to the field of battle. In a little marshy plot
-at the foot of the summit on which the final struggle
-occurred, now marked by a small stone monument
-and overgrown with long grass and weeds, a bullet
-struck him through the body and he fell mortally
-wounded. This was a terrible blow to the British,
-but, in the face of the calamity, they gallantly mustered
-their forces for the recapture of the Heights. There
-were still about fifteen hundred Americans across
-the river, and if once they were allowed to join Colonel
-Van Rensselaer a position would be achieved of even
-greater importance than that of the British at Detroit
-and Mackinac. With one thousand men, the British
-began a furious attack of the Heights, which were
-defended by not more than three hundred of the
-Americans who had crossed the river. The battle
-was one of the most desperate and at the same time<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">200</a></span>
-one of the most picturesque of the war, parties of
-the combatants being at times on ground so precipitous
-that it was difficult to maintain a footing.
-The Americans were gradually beaten back, and,
-notwithstanding the fact that a superior force was
-only a short distance away, they were compelled
-to surrender, those surrendered including all that
-had crossed the river, the majority of whom took
-no part in this last battle of the Heights. Ninety
-Americans were killed, about one hundred wounded,
-and over eight hundred became prisoners of war.
-The British lost less than one hundred and fifty men
-killed and wounded.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_200" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_200.jpg" width="600" height="408" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Once the Scene of Bloodshed and Strife, these Old Trees Stand where French, Indian,
-and British Fought Years ago.</div></div>
-
-<p>Thus far almost unbroken disaster had followed
-the American land forces in the Lake regions, much
-of which must be ascribed to the incompetence of
-commanding officers. Another fatal mistake was
-made a few weeks after the battle of Queenston Heights
-when, on November 28th, another invasion of Canada
-was attempted. Three thousand men under General
-Smyth were to comprise this expedition. At three
-o’clock in the morning, twenty-one boats left the
-American shore near Black Rock, but met with such
-a warm reception at the hands of the British that
-a number of the boats were compelled to fall back,
-and in the general excitement only a part of the
-force landed. Captain King, in command of one
-division, captured two batteries after a desperate
-struggle, spiked the guns, and with the assistance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">201</a></span>
-of Commander Angus and his men would have won
-a complete victory had not the latter, for some reason
-that has never been explained, retreated in his boats.
-As a consequence Captain King and a number of
-his men were captured, and thus a second attempt
-at a Canadian invasion fizzled out in complete disaster.
-This was practically the end of the campaign
-of the year 1812. There had been several minor
-naval events besides those which I have described
-and a few small operations on land, but all of them
-were unimportant.</p>
-
-<p>The following year opened more auspiciously for
-the Americans, who were the first to begin active
-hostilities. On April 25th, Commodore Chauncey set
-sail with a squadron of fourteen vessels and seventeen
-hundred troops to attack York (Toronto). At this
-time York was poorly defended notwithstanding
-the fact that a 24-gun ship was almost completed
-in the harbour and an immense quantity of supplies
-were stored there. The Americans began disembarking
-early in the morning of the 27th, under the
-command of Brigadier-General Pike, while the armed
-schooners beat up to the fort and opened on it with
-their long guns. A strong wind forced the small
-boats, in which the troops were being carried, so close
-to the works that the landing instead of being made
-at a safe distance as had been planned was in the
-face of a galling fire. Despite this, General Pike
-assembled his men on the beach and began an immediate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">202</a></span>
-assault, the Canadians and English being
-driven from their works with heavy loss. In the
-moment of defeat, the garrison fired their powder
-magazine, and in the terrific explosion that followed,
-fifty-two of the victors were killed and one hundred
-and eighty wounded. Altogether the Americans
-lost seventy killed in both the land and naval forces,
-and the British one hundred and eighty killed and
-wounded and two hundred and ninety prisoners.
-The 24-gun ship was burned, and another
-vessel, the <i>Gloucester</i>, was added to the American
-fleet.</p>
-
-<p>This victory was of tremendous importance to
-the Americans, and it was determined to at once
-follow it up by an attack on Fort George, where
-the British General Vincent was stationed with a
-force of over two thousand men, fifteen hundred
-of whom were regulars. On May 26th, Commodore
-Chauncey reconnoitred the enemy’s position and
-afterward held their interest while the <i>Conquest</i> and
-<i>Tompkins</i> destroyed a battery some distance down
-the lake. A part of General Vincent’s regulars attempted
-to prevent a landing at this point, but they
-were so terribly cut up by the short-range fire of
-the ships that they could offer but little opposition.
-So great was their loss that the British made little
-further effort to hold their position, blew up their
-fort, and retreated. Of the Americans, eighteen
-were killed and forty-seven wounded. The British<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">203</a></span>
-loss was fifty-two killed, nearly three hundred
-wounded, and five hundred taken prisoners.</p>
-
-<p>This last blow lost the Niagara frontier to the
-British. General Vincent at once gave orders that
-Forts Chippewa and Erie and all public property
-as far down as Niagara Falls should be destroyed.
-The magazine at Fort Erie was fired, and a little later,
-Lieutenant-Colonel Preston, in command of the
-Americans at Black Rock, took possession of what
-remained of the stronghold, thus giving Perry an
-opportunity to get out of the Niagara River five
-of the vessels which were to play such an important
-part in the naval history of Lake Erie. Sacketts
-Harbour was now in much the same condition that
-York (Toronto) had been, and was even more poorly
-defended. The British planned to regain a part of
-their lost prestige by its capture, and on May 27th,
-Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo sailed with a large
-fleet and a strong land force under Sir George Prevost
-to make the attack. On the 29th, eight hundred
-of the British regulars landed, but despite the astonishing
-inadequacy of the American garrison they
-were beaten back with a loss of fifty-two killed and
-two hundred and eleven wounded, while the Americans
-lost but twenty-three killed and one hundred and
-fourteen wounded. The British squadron returned
-to Kingston, and for several weeks thereafter co-operated
-with the army forces and made several
-unimportant naval captures while Chauncey awaited<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span>
-the completion of the new ship <i>Pike</i>. During July,
-General Dearborn was recalled from his command
-at Fort George because of the capture by the British
-of Lieutenant-Colonel Boerstler and seven hundred
-men, and during this same month Black Rock was
-captured by the enemy and recaptured by the Americans,
-but it was not until the 30th that an important
-blow was struck by either side. On this day the
-Americans again descended upon York, destroyed
-eleven transports, burned the barracks, and captured
-a considerable quantity of supplies and ammunition.</p>
-
-<p>Both the Americans and the British were now
-looking for a decisive naval battle between Yeo and
-Chauncey upon Lake Ontario. The squadrons were
-quite evenly matched with the advantage, if any, in
-favour of the Americans. Both commanders watched
-for a favourable opportunity to attack, but not until
-the 11th of August was a gun fired. After an almost
-harmless long-distance cannonade between the fleets,
-the <i>Julia</i> and <i>Growler</i>, two of Chauncey’s vessels,
-became separated from the main squadron and were
-cut off and captured by Yeo. For a month, the two
-fleets were chasing or evading each other, and it
-was not until the 11th of September that they approached
-close enough for another engagement, which
-was only slight. These “chase-and-run tactics” continued
-until the 28th, when the squadrons came
-together again in York Bay. In the action that
-followed, Yeo’s ships were badly damaged and ran<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span>
-for protection into Burlington Bay. This victory,
-although not resulting in the capture of the British
-fleet, completely established Chauncey’s supremacy
-and for the remainder of the season Yeo remained
-at Kingston.</p>
-
-<p>For some months past, Captain Oliver Hazard
-Perry, acting under Commodore Chauncey, had been
-devoting his energies to the creating of a fleet on
-Lake Erie, and with such energy that on the memorable
-morning of September 10th, when from the
-masthead of the <i>Lawrence</i> at Put-in-Bay was seen
-the approaching squadron of Captain Robert Barclay,
-he had under his command nine vessels carrying
-a total of fifty-four guns and five hundred and thirty-two
-men. These vessels were the <i>Lawrence</i>, <i>Niagara</i>,
-<i>Caledonia</i>, <i>Ariel</i>, <i>Scorpion</i>, <i>Somers</i>, <i>Porcupine</i>, <i>Tigress</i>,
-and the <i>Trippe</i>. Barclay’s fleet was composed of
-the <i>Detroit</i>, <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, <i>Lady Prevost</i>, <i>Hunter</i>,
-<i>Chippeway</i>, and <i>Little Belt</i>, carrying a total of sixty-three
-guns and four hundred and forty men. It
-is interesting to note, according to Theodore Roosevelt’s
-<cite>Naval War of 1812</cite>, that notwithstanding the
-superior number of their guns the British ships were
-capable of throwing a broadside of only 459 pounds
-as against 936 pounds from the American squadron,
-a fact which shows the overwhelming superiority
-of Perry’s fleet and incidentally robs his victory of
-some of its glory.</p>
-
-<p>In my examination of the many and various<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span>
-accounts of the naval battle of Lake Erie, I have found
-that the most complete and authentic report is that
-of Mr. Roosevelt, who goes with minute detail into
-the preparation, comparative strength, and handling
-of the two squadrons, and inasmuch as this battle
-of Erie is one of the most thrilling episodes of our
-Inland Seas, I have secured the very kind permission
-of Mr. Roosevelt to use a part of his description of
-the actual contest. Soon after daylight, on September
-10th, Perry got under way and advanced toward
-the enemy in battle form.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_206" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_206.jpg" width="600" height="415" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">A View of the Historic Battle-ground on Mackinac Island.</div></div>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>“As, amid light and rather baffling winds, the American
-squadron approached the enemy” [says Roosevelt], “Perry’s
-straggling line formed an angle of about fifteen degrees with
-the more compact one of his foes. At 11.45, the <i>Detroit</i> opened
-the action by a shot from her long 24, which fell short; at
-11.50, she fired a second which went crashing through the
-<i>Lawrence</i>, and was replied to by the <i>Scorpion’s</i> long 32. At
-11.55, the <i>Lawrence</i>, having shifted her port bow-chaser, opened
-with both the long 12’s, and at meridian began with her carronades,
-but the shot from the latter all fell short. At the
-same time, the action became general on both sides, though
-the rearmost American vessels were almost beyond the range
-of their own guns, and quite out of range of the guns of their
-antagonists. Meanwhile, the <i>Lawrence</i> was already suffering
-considerably as she bore down on the enemy. It was twenty
-minutes before she succeeded in getting within good carronade
-range, and during that time the action at the head of the line
-was between the long guns of the <i>Chippeway</i> and <i>Detroit</i>, throwing
-123 pounds, and those of the <i>Scorpion</i>, <i>Ariel</i>, and <i>Lawrence</i>,
-throwing 104 pounds. As the enemy’s fire was directed almost<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span>
-exclusively at the <i>Lawrence</i> she suffered a great deal. The
-<i>Caledonia</i>, <i>Niagara,</i> and <i>Somers</i> were meanwhile engaging, at
-long range, the <i>Hunter</i> and <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, ... while
-from a distance the three other American gun-vessels engaged
-the <i>Prevost</i> and <i>Little Belt</i>. By 12.20 the <i>Lawrence</i> had worked
-down to close quarters, and at 12.30 the action was going on
-with great fury between her and her antagonists, within canister
-range. The raw and inexperienced American crews committed
-the same fault the British so often fell into on the ocean
-and overloaded their carronades. In consequence, that of
-the <i>Scorpion</i> upset down the hatchway in the middle of the
-action, and the sides of the <i>Detroit</i> were dotted with marks
-from shot that did not penetrate. One of the <i>Ariel’s</i> long
-12’s also burst. Barclay fought the <i>Detroit</i> exceedingly well,
-her guns being most excellently aimed, though they actually
-had to be discharged by flashing pistols at the touchholes,
-so deficient was the ship’s equipment. Meanwhile, the <i>Caledonia</i>
-came down too, but the <i>Niagara</i> was wretchedly handled,
-Elliott keeping at a distance which prevented the use either
-of his carronades or of those of the <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, his antagonist;
-the latter, however, suffered greatly from the long
-guns of the opposing schooners, and lost her gallant commander,
-Captain Finnis, and first lieutenant, Mr. Stokes, who
-were killed early in the action; her next in command, Provincial
-Lieutenant Irvine, perceiving that he could do no good,
-passed the <i>Hunter</i> and joined in the attack on the <i>Lawrence</i>
-at close quarters. The <i>Niagara</i>, the most efficient and best-manned
-of the American vessels, was thus almost kept out
-of the action by her captain’s misconduct. At the end of the
-line the fight went on at long range between the <i>Somers</i>, <i>Tigress</i>,
-<i>Porcupine</i>, and <i>Trippe</i> on one side, and <i>Little Belt</i> and <i>Lady
-Prevost</i> on the other; the <i>Lady Prevost</i> making a very
-noble fight, although her 12-pound carronades rendered her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span>
-almost helpless against the long guns of the Americans. She
-was greatly cut up, her commander, Lieutenant Buchan, was
-dangerously, and her acting first lieutenant, Mr. Roulette,
-severely wounded, and she began falling gradually to leeward.</p>
-
-<p>“The fighting at the head of the line was fierce and bloody
-to an extraordinary degree. The <i>Scorpion</i>, <i>Ariel</i>, <i>Lawrence</i>,
-and <i>Caledonia</i>, all of them handled with the most determined
-courage, were opposed to the <i>Chippeway</i>, <i>Detroit</i>, <i>Queen Charlotte</i>,
-and <i>Hunter</i>, which were fought to the full as bravely.
-At such close quarters the two sides engaged on about equal
-terms, the Americans being superior in weight of metal, and
-inferior in number of men. But the <i>Lawrence</i> had received
-such damage in working down as to make the odds against
-Perry. On each side almost the whole fire was directed at
-the opposing large vessel or vessels; in consequence the <i>Queen
-Charlotte</i> was almost disabled, and the <i>Detroit</i> was frightfully
-shattered, especially by the raking fire of the gunboats, her
-first lieutenant, Mr. Garland, being mortally wounded, and
-Captain Barclay so seriously injured that he was obliged to
-quit the deck, leaving his ship in command of Lieutenant
-George Inglis. But on board the <i>Lawrence</i> matters had gone
-even worse, the combined fire of her adversaries having made
-the grimmest carnage on her decks. Of the 103 men who were
-fit for duty when the action began, 83, or over four fifths, were
-killed or wounded. The vessel was shallow, and the wardroom,
-used as a cockpit, to which the wounded were taken,
-was mostly above water, and the shot came through it continually,
-killing and wounding many men under the hands
-of the surgeon.</p>
-
-<p>“The first lieutenant, Yarnall, was three times wounded,
-but kept to the deck through all; the only other lieutenant
-on board, Brooks, of the marines, was mortally wounded.
-Every brace and bowline was shot away, and the brig almost<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span>
-completely dismantled; her hull was shattered to pieces, many
-shot going completely through it, and the guns on the engaged
-side were by degrees all dismounted. Perry kept up the fight
-with splendid courage. As the crew fell one by one, the commodore
-called down through the skylight for one of the surgeon’s
-assistants; and this call was repeated and obeyed till none
-were left; then he asked, ‘Can any of the wounded pull a rope?’
-and three or four of them crawled up on deck to lend a feeble
-hand in placing the last guns. Perry himself fired the last
-effective heavy gun, assisted only by the purser and chaplain.
-A man who did not possess his indomitable spirit would have
-then struck. Instead, however, Perry determined to win by
-new methods, and remodelled the line accordingly, Mr. Turner,
-in the <i>Caledonia</i>, when ordered to close, had put his helm up,
-run down on the opposing line, and engaged at very short
-range, though the brig was absolutely without quarters. The
-<i>Niagara</i> had thus become next in line astern of the <i>Lawrence</i>,
-and the sloop <i>Trippe</i>, having passed the three schooners ahead
-of her, was next ahead. The <i>Niagara</i> now, having a breeze,
-steered ahead for the head of Barclay’s line, passing over a
-quarter of a mile to windward of the <i>Lawrence</i>, on her port
-beam. She was almost uninjured, having so far taken very
-little part in the combat, and to her Perry shifted his flag.
-Leaping into a rowboat, with his brother and four seamen,
-he rowed to the fresh brig, where he arrived at 2.30, and at
-once sent Elliott astern to hurry up the three schooners. The
-<i>Trippe</i> was now very near the <i>Caledonia</i>. The <i>Lawrence</i>, having
-but fourteen sound men left, struck her colors, but could not
-be taken possession of before the action recommenced. She
-drifted astern, the <i>Caledonia</i> passing between her and her
-foes. At 2.45, the schooners having closed up. Perry, in his
-fresh vessel, bore up to break Barclay’s line.</p>
-
-<p>“The British ships had fought themselves to a standstill.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">210</a></span>
-The <i>Lady Prevost</i> was crippled and sagged to leeward, though
-ahead of the others. The <i>Detroit</i> and <i>Queen Charlotte</i> were
-so disabled that they could not successfully oppose fresh antagonists.
-There could thus be but little resistance to Perry,
-as the <i>Niagara</i> stood down, and broke the British line, firing
-her port guns into the <i>Chippeway</i>, <i>Little Belt</i>, and <i>Lady Prevost</i>,
-and the starboard ones into the <i>Detroit</i>, <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, and
-<i>Hunter</i>, raking on both sides. Too disabled to tack, the <i>Detroit</i>
-and <i>Charlotte</i> tried to wear, the latter running up to leeward
-of the former; and, both vessels having every brace and almost
-every stay shot away, they fell foul. The <i>Niagara</i> luffed athwart
-their bows, within half pistol-shot, keeping up a terrific discharge
-of great guns and musketry, while on the other side
-the British vessels were raked by the <i>Caledonia</i> and the schooners
-so closely that some of their grape-shot, passing over the foe,
-rattled through Perry’s spars. Nothing further could be done,
-and Barclay’s flag was struck at 3 <span class="smcap smaller">P.M.</span> after three and a quarter
-hours’ most gallant fighting.”</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>In this conflict off Put-in-Bay, the American loss
-was twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded.
-Of these, twenty-two were killed and sixty-one
-wounded aboard the <i>Lawrence</i>. The British loss
-was forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded, the
-loss falling most heavily on the <i>Detroit</i> and <i>Queen
-Charlotte</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Immediately after the battle, Perry wrote his
-famous dispatch to General Harrison: “We have
-met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two
-brigs, one schooner, and one sloop”; and in a postscript
-he added, “Send us some soldiers to help<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span>
-take care of the prisoners, who are more numerous
-than ourselves.”</p>
-
-<p>It is interesting to note what became of the vessels
-which played such an important part in this tragic
-drama of Lake Erie. The <i>Lawrence</i>, afterward repaired,
-was sunk in Misery Bay for preservation.
-Long afterward a part of her stem was raised and
-kept as a memorial. For years the <i>Niagara</i> was
-a training ship on Lake Erie, and was then sunk
-near the Lawrence. The <i>Ariel</i>, <i>Little Belt</i>, <i>Chippeway</i>,
-and <i>Trippe</i> were destroyed by the British at Buffalo.
-The <i>Detroit</i> was also sunk near the <i>Lawrence</i>, but
-in 1835, she was raised and rigged by a Captain Miles.
-She was afterwards purchased by a Niagara man,
-and as a spectacle for a crowd of curious people was
-allowed to break herself to pieces on the rocks above
-the Falls. The <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, <i>Lady Prevost</i>, and
-the <i>Hunter</i> were used in the Lake trade, and the
-<i>Caledonia</i> became the <i>General Wayne</i>. Both the <i>Scorpion</i>
-and the <i>Tigress</i> were recaptured by the British
-on Lake Huron.</p>
-
-<p>The effects of Perry’s victory over Barclay’s squadron
-were immediate. The British at once gave
-up all hope of retaining their possessions on the
-Upper Lakes, and General Proctor began the evacuation
-of Forts Detroit and Malden. With all the
-boats that he could get into his possession he began
-a precipitate flight up the river Thames, where he
-was joined by the Indian chief Tecumseh and his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">212</a></span>
-warriors. Encouraged by this reinforcement he determined
-to select his own position for giving battle
-to the Americans, who were hurrying across country
-from Amherstburg under the command of General
-Harrison. Meanwhile, a number of the smaller American
-war vessels made their way up the Thames and
-Proctor prepared to meet them with his own armed
-boats. Harrison’s force, which outnumbered Proctor
-two to one, came up to the enemy close to the river,
-and the fierce charge of Colonel Johnson and his
-Kentucky horsemen almost immediately broke the
-enemy’s line. After a desperate struggle the regulars
-surrendered, but Tecumseh, who had from one thousand
-to two thousand warriors, continued to fight
-until he fell mortally wounded, when his braves broke
-and fled. The armed boats in the river were destroyed
-to keep them from falling into the hands of
-the Americans. Only a few years ago, two of these
-were discovered and raised. An accompanying illustration
-shows one of these vessels just after it was
-brought above the water, with a heap of old cannon
-balls amidships.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_212" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_212.jpg" width="600" height="410" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">An Old British Gunboat Discovered in the River Thames.</div></div>
-
-<p>Perry’s victory and Harrison’s defeat of the British
-virtually decided the war along the Lakes, although,
-during the following winter, the British prepared
-to make one more tremendous effort to regain a part
-of the supremacy they had lost. This effort was
-to be made on Lake Ontario. During the whole
-of the winter of 1813–14, both Yeo and Chauncey<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">213</a></span>
-strained every resource to prepare themselves for
-this final conflict, and it was during this time that
-the largest ships of war that ever floated on the Lakes
-were built, among them being the American ship
-<i>Superior</i>, to carry sixty-two guns, and the British
-ships <i>Prince Regent</i>, fifty-eight, and the <i>Princess
-Charlotte</i>, forty-two. The two fleets were pretty
-evenly matched, each squadron having eight ships,
-but with the Americans leading in tonnage, number
-of men, and guns. Yeo, however, was prepared for
-battle earlier than Chauncey, and taking advantage
-of this he prepared to attack Oswego, which was
-garrisoned by less than three hundred men and was
-in a wretched state of defence. On the 3d of May
-he set sail, having on board his squadron a detachment
-of over a thousand troops. The fire of the
-fort was drawn on the fifth, but it was not until
-the following day that the battle began in earnest,
-when five of the British warships began a terrific
-bombardment under cover of which eight hundred
-troops and two hundred seamen were landed. The
-little garrison fought with desperate valour and when
-they were finally driven from their position the British
-had lost ninety-five men, a number a third as great
-as the American force opposed to them. The Americans
-lost six men killed and thirty-eight wounded,
-the remainder escaping to the Falls.</p>
-
-<p>On May 19th, Yeo transferred his operations to
-Sacketts Harbour, where he began a strict blockade,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">214</a></span>
-much to the discomfiture of Chauncey, who still
-lacked important material for the completion of
-the <i>Superior</i>. It was while attempting to capture
-several small boats with a part of this material that
-two British gunboats, three cutters, and a gig, carrying
-several heavy guns and one hundred and eighty
-men, started up Sandy Creek on the thirtieth, and ran
-into an ambush laid by Major Appling and one hundred
-and twenty American riflemen. In the terrific volleys
-that followed, the British suffered heavily, eighteen
-of their number being almost immediately killed
-and fifty wounded. The entire force was captured
-with a loss on the American side of but one wounded.
-On June 6th, Commodore Yeo raised his blockade
-and from then until July 31st, when Chauncey brought
-out his squadron, nothing of importance was accomplished
-with the exception of two or three successful
-cutting-out expeditions on the part of the
-Americans. Even after this date, until the close
-of navigation, the two fleets acted merely in the
-capacity of watch-dogs, neither daring to attack
-the other. During the greater part of this period,
-Yeo was penned up in Kingston, while Chauncey,
-whose superior force would have made his co-operation
-of tremendous value to the land forces under General
-Brown, peremptorily refused this assistance, saying
-that his object was the destruction of the enemy’s
-fleet and not to “become a subordinate or appendage
-of the army.” On the other hand, he could not get<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">215</a></span>
-Yeo to fight, so that his powerful force remained
-practically useless.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile General Brown undertook his contemplated
-invasion of Canada, sending Generals Scott
-and Ripley to the attack of Fort Erie, which soon
-surrendered. A few days later, on July 5th, General
-Riall with a force of nearly 2000 British met the Americans
-near Chippewa, and one of the fiercest and
-most important battles of the war was the result.
-Notwithstanding the superior numbers of the enemy,
-the victory fell to the Americans, whose loss was
-61 killed and 255 wounded as against 236 killed and
-322 wounded on the British side. It was at this
-critical moment, when a successful and complete
-invasion of Canada might have been made, that
-General Brown wrote to Chauncey asking for his
-co-operation. Soon after this, General Riall was
-reinforced by 800 men under Sir George Gordon
-Drummond, and on the 25th of July, General Scott
-was sent against them with a force of 1200 men.</p>
-
-<p>Scott was unaware of the full strength of the enemy
-until he found Riall and Drummond drawn up to
-meet him at Lundy’s Lane. This was at five o’clock
-in the afternoon, and with the idea of impressing
-upon the British that the entire American army
-was at his back, General Scott at once began the
-attack. The struggle was one of intense courage
-on both sides and continued until 10.30 at night,
-when the British were driven from the field, leaving<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">216</a></span>
-General Riall a prisoner. The American loss had
-also been so severe that they retired from the field,
-abandoning a captured battery. During the night,
-this battery was again manned by the British and
-a bloody fight ensued the following morning before
-it was recaptured. At Lundy’s Lane, the Americans
-lost 171 killed and 571 wounded; the British 84
-killed and 559 wounded. General Scott had been
-severely wounded in the struggle, and General Brown
-was laid up with injuries at Back Rock, so that the
-command fell upon General Ripley who at once made
-preparations to recross into the American frontier.
-Brown sent positive orders that this move should
-not be made and that General Ripley should hold
-Fort Erie. On August 2d, General Drummond, who
-had been reinforced by over 1000 men, laid siege
-to this stronghold, and for two weeks desultory fighting
-occurred around it. On the night of the 14th, at
-twelve o’clock, a terrific assault was begun upon
-the works and continued until daylight. The British
-had captured one of the bastions and it was while
-holding this position that a fearful explosion occurred
-directly under their feet, killing and wounding the
-greater portion of them and striking the decisive
-blow of the siege. The American loss was 17 killed
-and 56 wounded, while the British lost 221 killed
-and 174 wounded.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_216" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_216.jpg" width="600" height="313" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Scene when Admiral Dewey Passed through the Soo Locks.</div></div>
-
-<p>For several weeks, both sides continued to strengthen
-their positions, and by the middle of September,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">217</a></span>
-5000 Americans under Generals Brown and Porter
-were ready for an attack on the British. On the
-17th, Riall was engaged by the entire American
-force and was driven from the position he had taken,
-with a loss of about 500 in killed and wounded.
-Meanwhile, General Izard’s division was hurrying
-to the frontier and with his arrival the American
-force was increased to 8000. Riall and Drummond
-in the face of these overwhelming odds retreated
-to Fort George and Burlington Heights, and on November
-4th, Fort Erie was blown up, General Izard believing
-that it would be of no further use to the
-Americans. Active operations along the frontier
-then ceased for the winter.</p>
-
-<p>During this breaking of British power along the
-Niagara frontier, there had occurred one or two
-interesting events on the Upper Lakes. Now that
-the British had lost their fleet on Erie, and that they
-had become almost fugitives from the American
-forces, those that remained of them seemed endowed
-with almost superhuman courage and ability. Captain
-Sinclair had sailed up into Lake Huron with
-the <i>Niagara</i>, <i>Caledonia</i>, <i>Ariel</i>, <i>Scorpion</i>, and <i>Tigress</i>,
-and had burnt the fort and barracks of St. Joseph,
-when the first of these exploits occurred. On August
-4th, Sinclair had made an unsuccessful attack on
-Fort Michilimackinac (Mackinac), had burned a blockhouse,
-and then departed for Lake Erie, leaving
-the <i>Scorpion</i> and <i>Tigress</i> on Lake Huron. On the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">218</a></span>
-3d of September, four small boats filled with British
-made an attack on the <i>Tigress</i> under cover of darkness,
-and after a brief hand-to-hand struggle captured
-her. The commander of the <i>Scorpion</i> had no knowledge
-of this attack, and on the 5th, he innocently
-ran within a couple of miles of the <i>Tigress</i>, which
-was still flying the American flag. Early the following
-morning, the <i>Tigress</i> ran close up to the <i>Scorpion</i>,
-cleared her deck with a volley of musketry, and
-captured her without resistance being made. Meanwhile
-on the night of August 12th, a daring British
-expedition in small boats captured the armed schooners
-<i>Somers</i> and <i>Ohio</i>, with another armed ship, the <i>Porcupine</i>,
-lying near. In this exploit, seventy British
-seamen in small boats had captured two well-armed
-vessels carrying ninety men and with a strong sistership
-a few cable-lengths away, an achievement which
-has few rivals in naval history.</p>
-
-<p>But these latter events, brilliant though they
-were, were of but slight importance. The British
-were defeated and broken from end to end of the
-Lakes, and peace was at hand. On December 24,
-1814, fifteen days before the battle of New Orleans,
-peace was declared at Ghent, and with the signing
-of the treaty the sanguinary history of the Lakes,
-a story that had covered more than two centuries
-of ceaseless war and bloodshed, was at an end. From
-this time on, their history was to be one of colonization
-and commerce.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">219</a></span>
-For a number of years previous to the War of
-1812, there had been a growing tendency on the
-part of the people of the East to emigrate into the
-West, but the unsettled conditions of the whole Lake
-region, threatened by Indian war and the bloody
-feuds of rival trading-companies, held the bulk of
-the pioneers along Lake Ontario. Now the floodgates
-burst loose. Thousands of settlers hurried
-into Ohio, and others pushed on through the wilderness
-into Michigan. In 1818, the <i>Walk-in-the-Water</i>,
-the first steamer to float upon the Upper Lakes,
-was launched in Lake Erie, and began making trips
-from Buffalo to Detroit, charging eighteen dollars
-per passenger for the journey. Other vessels engaged
-in the passenger trade and emigrants were
-enabled to travel entirely by water. By 1820, Ohio
-possessed a population of over half a million. Nineteen
-out of twenty of the west-bound pioneers stopped
-somewhere along the shores of Lake Erie, and at
-this date Michigan’s population was less than nine
-thousand. But with the coming of other steamers,
-not only Michigan, but Illinois and Wisconsin began
-to receive a part of the westward-flowing tide. The
-Erie Canal had been opened as early as 1825, and
-the rapidity of the growth of commerce on the Inland
-Seas may be judged by the fact that in 1836 more than
-three thousand canal-boats were employed upon it, a
-large part of their traffic being the transportation of
-emigrants and their effects to the larger vessels on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">220</a></span>
-Lake Erie. During this year, there were ninety steamboat
-arrivals at Detroit, and one of these vessels,
-the <i>United States</i>, carried as high as seven hundred
-emigrants on a single trip. From that day to this,
-the ships of the Great Lakes have never been able
-to more than keep pace with the demands of trade.
-In 1836, vessel-men earned as high as eighty per cent.
-on the cost of their vessels. To-day they are still
-earning thirty.</p>
-
-<p>Beginning with 1839, the emigrant travel to Chicago
-was so great that a line of eight vessels engaged in
-this traffic alone, each vessel making the trip once
-in sixteen days. It was now impossible to build
-ships fast enough to keep pace with the developing
-commerce. During the ten years between 1830 and
-1840, the population of Michigan increased from
-31,000 to 212,000, and practically the whole of it came
-by lake. In 1840, Wisconsin’s population was less
-than 31,000; ten years later, it was 305,000. By
-1846, the value of the commerce of the Lakes was
-already enormous. Its value for that year is estimated
-to have been over eighty millions of dollars. In
-1835, the American Fur Company built the <i>John
-Jacob Astor</i>, the first large ship to sail Lake Superior,
-and the trade in copper began soon after. With
-the discovery of the rich mineral deposits, hundreds
-of prospectors began flocking into the North, men
-with capital hurried to the regions of the red metal,
-and, in the race after wealth, vessel-men did not wait<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">221</a></span>
-to build ships on Superior but hauled their vessels
-bodily across the mile portage at Sault Ste. Marie.
-In 1855 was built the Falls Canal, and from that
-date, the commerce of Superior became an important
-factor in the traffic of the Lakes. All that was needed
-to make it the most important body of fresh water
-on the globe was the discovery of iron. This discovery,
-and the part that iron has played in the
-making of our nation, have been described in preceding
-pages.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_221" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
-  <img src="images/i_222.jpg" width="600" height="422" alt="" />
-  <div class="caption">Map of the Great Lakes Region<br />
-  <a href="images/i_222l.jpg"><i class="smaller hidepub">(Larger)</i></a>
-  </div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">223</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter p4">
-<div class="index">
-<h2 class="p1 nobreak"><a id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
-
-<ul class="index">
-
-<li class="ifrst">A</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aborigines, warlike, of the early history of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Adams, Mayor, of Buffalo, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aillon, Father Joseph de la Roche d’, mission formed by, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Algonquin, a tribe of Indians, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Alpena</i>, the, of Lake Michigan, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">American Fur Company, the, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">American Shipbuilding Company, the, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Argosy, the huge, of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ariel</i>, the battle-ship, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Assiniboines, the, of Minnesota, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Astor, John Jacob, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Atlanta</i>, the loss of the, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Atlantic</i>, loss of, with valuable cargo, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">B</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Bannockburn</i>, the mystery of the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barre, Governor De la, of Canada, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beauharnois, Governor, of Canada, 1727, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Beaver Island, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Belle Isle, a great pleasure ground, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>B.&nbsp;F. Jones</i>, the cargo of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Bread Basket of the World,” the future, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brock, General, the death of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brule, Stephen, discovers Lake Superior, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Buffalo, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burnett, Governor, of New York, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">C</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cabins on a freighter, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Calbick, James A., President of the Lumber Carriers’ Association, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Caledonia</i>, the capture of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canada, the fertile regions of western, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canadian Niagara Falls Company, the, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Canals, the, at Sault Ste. Marie, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cargoes of the Great Lakes, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Caron, Joseph Le, discovers Lake Ontario, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Carriers,” the, of the Great Lakes, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cayuga Indians, the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cheapness of travel on the Lakes, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Chicago, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Chicora</i>, the passenger steamer, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“City of the Five Great Lakes,” the, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>City of St. Ignace</i>, the, a passenger steamer, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cleveland, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cliff stamp mill, the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coal, immense amount consumed, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cole, Thomas F., President of the Oliver Mining Company, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Collisions, danger of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Commerce, the, on the Lakes, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Construction of a Lake ship, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Cordurus</i>, the freighter, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Coulby, Harry, President of the Pittsburg Steamship Company, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Cruise of a Lonely Heart, The</i>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cuyler, Lieutenant, defeat of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">D</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Dacotah</i>, the loss of the, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dakotas, the powerful tribe of the, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Daumont, Simon Francis, takes possession of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Davidson, James, mentioned, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Dean Richmond</i>, the treasure ship, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">224</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Deluth, Daniel, a fort erected by, 1761, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Denonville, Marquis, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Detroit, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">great industry at, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tonnage passing, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the defence of, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Detroit <cite>Journal</cite>, the, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Detroit River, the, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Detroit Shipbuilding Company, the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Detroit <cite>Tribune</cite>, the, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Development, the, of the region, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Devil’s Hole, the massacre at, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dining-room on a freighter, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dividends on an investment in a Lake freighter, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Douglas, G.&nbsp;L., <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><a id="Duluth"></a>Duluth, the “highway” to, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the great future of, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">E</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Earle, Commodore, on Lake Ontario, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Earling</i>, the loading of the, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Early history of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Electrical Development Company, the, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elevators, the building of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elliott, Commander Jesse D., <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elwood, H.&nbsp;C., of the Chamber of Commerce in Buffalo, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">English, settlements of the olden time on the Lakes, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">traders, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Erie Basin, the, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Erie Canal, transportation on, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the widening of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the new era for, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Escarpments, the worn, of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Extent of the ore deposits, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">F</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Five Nations, the Indian tribes known as the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Flagg</i>, a cargo of copper on the, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Flour, amount carried on the Lakes, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Flying Dutchman, the, of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Food, the various kinds of, on a freighter, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Forests of Minnesota, the, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fort Niagara, the remains of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Foxes, the extermination of the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Freight, amount of, on the Great Lakes, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Freighters, the largest fleet of, iii;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the luxuriance of the, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fresh-water seas, iii</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Frontenac, Fort, built, 1673, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">taken by English, 1758, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Frozen Ship,” the mystery of the, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fuel, the loading of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fur trade, the increase of the, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">G</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>George W. Perkins</i>, the record of the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Georgian Bay, a trip past, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Gilcher</i>, the loss of the, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gilchrist, J.&nbsp;C., the head of the Gilchrist Transportation Company, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Glacial Age, the, in North America, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gladwin, Major, defends Fort Detroit, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>G.&nbsp;P. Griffin</i>, the burning of the, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Grain Age,” the beginning of the, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Grand Army,” the, of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Great Lakes, the (see Inland Seas)</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Griffin</i>, the, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the romantic loss of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the history of the, <a href="#Page_171">171</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Groves” as pleasure resorts, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Guests’ quarters,” the, on a freighter, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">H</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Harry Berwind</i>, a private room on the, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hatch-bag, playing of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hazard, Captain Oliver, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Hudson</i>, the loss of the, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hull, General, invades Canada, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cowardice of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Huron, Lake, a trip up, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">I</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ice Age, the waning of the, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Ice devils,” the damage done by, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Indian canoes, fleets of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">225</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Industrial supremacy, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Inland Seas, the, commercial life of, iv;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the leviathans of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the spirit of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">normal condition, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">shipbuilding on, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the wonders of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fortune-making on, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cargoes on, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">commerce of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">death of the lumber fleets of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">cheap transportation on, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">transportation of copper on, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">passenger traffic on, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">summer life, <a href="#Page_68">68</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Admiral Dewey visits, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">marine tragedies of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the spring rush on, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dangers of navigation, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">danger of ice, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">mysteries of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">struggle for supremacy of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">greatest ship on the, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">early history of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>ff.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">missions established on, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">change of masters, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">England supreme, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">peace on, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">naval battle of Lake Erie, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Inner life,” the, of a great freighter, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Iron, the prominence of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Iron ore, the transportation of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ironsides</i>, the steamer, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Iroquois, the, of Lake Ontario, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">J</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jackson, Captain James, the heroism of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jesuits, the missions established by the, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">K</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Kent</i>, the wreck of the, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">King Strang, the Mormon, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">L</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Lady Elgin</i>, the sinking of the, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lake Carriers’ Association, the, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lakeside inns, life at the, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Laurentian River, the, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Lawrence</i>, the attack on the, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Lexington</i>, lost with a cargo of whisky, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Life of the Great Lakes, iii</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Little Venice, mentioned, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Livingston, William, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lorain, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Loyalty, the, of the Indians, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lumber Carriers’ Association, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lumber industry, the extinction of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">M</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mackinaw Island, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Maid of the Mist</i>, the, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Manitou Island, a wreck near, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Manitowoc, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mapleson Opera Company, the, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mason, F. Howard, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Mataafa</i>, the steel ship, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Matchedash Bay, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">McKenzie, Captain, peculiar situation of, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mesaba, the, as a wilderness, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mesaba range, the richness of the, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mess-room, the, on a freighter, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mexican mahogany woodwork, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Miami Indians, the, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Michilimackinac, the fort at, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the destruction of the garrison at, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mines, the working of, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mitchell, Captain John, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mohawks, the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montreal, the fall of, 1760, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">N</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Nashua</i>, the disappearance of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Neuters, a tribe of Indians, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">New York Steel Company, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Niagara Falls, money expended above, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Niagara Falls Power Company, the, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Nicolet, Jean, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">North Tonawanda, the growth of, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">O</li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Observation room,” the, of a freighter, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ohio River, the country north of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ojibwas, the, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oliver Mining Company, the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oneida Indians, the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">226</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Onondaga Indians, the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ontario</i>, the battle-ship, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ontario Power Company, the, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ore beds, the, of Minnesota, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ore docks, the, at Duluth, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Origin, the, of the Great Lakes, <a href="#Page_161">161</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Ostrich</i>, the resting place of the, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Oswego, a trading-post at, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ottawas, the tribe of the, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Owners, the ship, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">P</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Palatinate, the War of the, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Passenger steamers, the, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Passenger traffic, the, <a href="#Page_68">68</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pay-rolls, the, of Buffalo, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Perry, Commodore, the victory of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pessano, Antonio C., <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Pewabic</i>, the, in Thunder Bay, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the finding of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Phœnix mine, an accident in the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pike, Brigadier-General, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pilot-house, the, on a Lake steamer, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pine wood, the total amount from Michigan, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Pittsburg of the North,” the, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>. (See <a href="#Duluth">Duluth</a>)</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pittsburg Steamship Company, the, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Plate department,” the, of a shipyard, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Point Pelee, the battle of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pontiac, the Indian chief, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Port Arthur, the shipping of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Porter, Moses, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pottawatomies, a tribe of Indians, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Purre, Don Eugenio, departure of, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Put-in-Bay, historical events at, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the great naval battle of, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Q</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Queen Anne’s War, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Queen of the West</i>, the loss of the, <a href="#Page_99">99</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Queenston, the attack on, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Queenston Heights, the battle of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">R</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richardson, W.&nbsp;C., <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Riveting machines, the, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roberts, Captain, at St. Joseph, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rocky River, the change of position of, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Romans of the Wilderness, the, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Roosevelt, President Theodore, account by, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ruggles’ Grove, overlooking the Lake, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">S</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sacketts Harbour, operations at, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sacs, a tribe of Indians, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sailors on the Lakes, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sandusky, Port, the capture of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sault Ste. Marie canals, the, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Savages, the first, near the Lakes, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Schantz, A.&nbsp;A., General Manager, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Scorpion</i>, the battle-ship, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sellwood, Captain Joseph, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seneca Indians, the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seven Years’ War, the beginning of the, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shattuck’s Grove, an inexpensive resort, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sheadle, J.&nbsp;H., <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ship-builders, the, of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_vi">vi</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ships, the, of the Great Lakes, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shuffle-board, the playing of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Signals in code used on the Lakes, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Silver-ware on a freighter, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sinclair, Captain, on Lake Huron, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sioux Indians, the, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Snyder, W.&nbsp;P., <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Social equality on the Lakes, the, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Soo,” records of tonnage at the, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Clair, Lake, a summer at, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Steam shovels, the work of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Steel Corporation, the, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">St. Mary’s River, the, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Stripping,” the work of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Suez Canal, the, in 1908, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Summer life on the Lakes, the, <a href="#Page_68">68</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Superior</i>, the steamer, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Superior, Lake, commerce on, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Supremacy, the struggle for, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">T<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">227</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Taxes in Michigan, the lapse of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Te Deum Laudamus</i>, the singing of, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Thames, the battle of the, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Thomas F. Cole</i>, the steamer, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Thousand-mile highway,” the, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Toledo, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Toledo Shipbuilding Company, the, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tomlinson, G. Ashley, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">an opinion of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tonawandas, the twin, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tower, Charlemagne, Ambassador to Germany, 1884, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tragedies, the, of the Lakes, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Twin Cities,” the, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Two Lost Tows,” the, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">U</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>United States</i>, the emigrant ship, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Upper Peninsula, the, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Utes, the, of White River, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Utrecht, the Treaty of, 1713, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">V</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Van Rensselaer, Colonel, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vermilion ranges, the, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Vessels of the Lakes, the construction of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">W</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Walk-in-the-Water</i>, the first steamboat of the upper Lakes, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wallace, James C., of Cleveland, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">War of 1812, the, <a href="#Page_194">194</a> <i>ff.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>W.&nbsp;B. Kerr</i>, capacity of the, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">West Superior, shipyards at, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Western Reserve</i>, the, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Westinghouse, George, an opinion by, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Westmoreland</i>, loss of the, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>W.&nbsp;F. Sauber</i>, the, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">the sinking of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Whisky, a valuable cargo, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">White River Utes, the, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wickwire Steel Company, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>William H. Stevens</i>, the treasure ship, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wolvin, A.&nbsp;B., <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Y</li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Yale</i>, the steamer, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Yellow pine of Louisiana, the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Yeo, Sir James Lucas, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><i>Young Sion</i>, the disappearance of the, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-</ul>
-
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="ad">
-<h2 class="p1"><i>American Waterways</i></h2>
-<hr class="wide" />
-
-<div class="intact">
-<h3>The Romance of the Colorado River</h3>
-
-<p>The Story of its Discovery in 1540, with an account of the Later
-Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell
-through the Line of the Great Canyons.</p>
-
-<p class="center">By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh<br />
-<span class="smaller">Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>435 pages, with 200 Illustrations, and Frontispiece in Color. $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>“His scientific training, his long experience in this region, and his eye
-for natural scenery enable him to make this account of the Colorado River
-most graphic and interesting. No other book equally good can be written
-for many years to come&mdash;not until our knowledge of the river is
-greatly enlarged.”&mdash;<cite>The Boston Herald.</cite></p>
-
-<p>“Mr. Dellenbaugh writes with enthusiasm and balance about his
-chief, and of the canyon with a fascination that make him disinclined to
-leave it, and brings him thirty years later to its description with undiminished
-interest.”&mdash;<cite>New York Tribune.</cite></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>The Ohio River<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">A COURSE OF EMPIRE</span></h3>
-
-<p class="center">By Archer B. Hulbert<br />
-
-<span class="smaller">Associate professor of American History, Marietta College,<br />
-Author of “Historic Highways of America,” etc.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>390 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>An interesting description from a fresh point of view of the international
-struggle which ended with the English conquest of the Ohio Basin,
-and includes many interesting details of the pioneer movement on the Ohio.
-The most widely read students of the Ohio Valley will find a unique and
-unexpected interest in Mr. Hulbert’s chapters dealing with the Ohio River
-in the Revolution, the rise of the cities of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville,
-the fighting Virginians, the old-time methods of navigation, etc.</p>
-
-<p>“A wonderfully comprehensive and entirely fascinating book.”&mdash;<cite>Chicago
-Inter-Ocean.</cite></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>Narragansett Bay</h3>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Its Historic and Romantic Associations and Picturesque Setting</i></p>
-
-<p class="center">By Edgar Mayhew Bacon<br />
-
-<span class="smaller">Author of “The Hudson River,” “Chronicles of Tarrytown,” etc.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>340 pages, with 50 Drawings by the Author, and with Numerous
-Photographs and a Map. $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>Impressed by the important and singular part played by the settlers
-of Narragansett in the development of American ideas and ideals, and
-strongly attracted by the romantic tales that are inwoven with the warp
-of history, as well as by the incomparable setting the great bay affords for
-such a subject, the author offers this result of his labor as a contribution
-to the story of great American Waterways, with the hope that his readers
-may be imbued with somewhat of his own enthusiasm.</p>
-
-<p>“An attractive description of the picturesque part of Rhode Island.
-Mr. Bacon dwells on the natural beauties, the legendary and historical associations,
-rather than the present appearance of the shores.”&mdash;<cite>N.&nbsp;Y. Sun.</cite></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>The Great Lakes</h3>
-
-<p class="center">By James Oliver Curwood</p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>With about 80 Illustrations. Probable price $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>This profusely illustrated book, as entertaining as it is informing, has
-the twofold advantage of being written by a man who knows the Lakes
-and their shores as well as what has been written about them. The general
-reader will enjoy the romance attaching to the past history of the
-Lakes and not less the romance of the present&mdash;the story of the great
-commercial fleets that plough our inland seas, created to transport the
-fruits of the earth and the metals that are dug from the bowels of the
-earth. To the business man who has interests in or about the Lakes, or
-to the prospective investor in Great Lakes enterprises, the book will be
-found suggestive. Comparatively little has been written of these fresh-water
-seas, and many of his readers will be amazed at the wonderful
-story which this volume tells.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>The St. Lawrence River</h3>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Historical&mdash;Legendary&mdash;Picturesque</i></p>
-
-<p class="center">By George Waldo Browne<br />
-
-<span class="smaller">Author of “Japan&mdash;the Place and the People,” “Paradise of the Pacific,” etc.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>385 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>While the St. Lawrence River has been the scene of many important
-events connected with the discovery and development of a large portion
-of North America, no attempt has heretofore been made to collect and
-embody in one volume a complete and comprehensive narrative of this great
-waterway. This is not denying that considerable has been written relating
-to it, but the various offerings have been scattered through many volumes,
-and most of these have become inaccessible to the general reader.</p>
-
-<p>This work presents in a consecutive narrative the most important
-historic incidents connected with the river, combined with descriptions of
-some of its most picturesque scenery and delightful excursions into its
-legendary lore. In selecting the hundred illustrations care has been taken
-to give as wide a scope as possible to the views belonging to the river.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>The Niagara River</h3>
-
-<p class="center">By Archer Butler Hulbert<br />
-<span class="smaller">Professor of American History, Marietta College; author of “The Ohio River,”
-“Historic Highways of America,” etc.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>350 pages, with 70 Illustrations and Maps. $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>Professor Hulbert tells all that is best worth recording of the history
-of the river which gives the book its title, and of its commercial present
-and its great commercial future. An immense amount of carefully ordered
-information is here brought together into a most entertaining and informing
-book. No mention of this volume can be quite adequate that fails to take
-into account the extraordinary chapter which is given to chronicling the
-mad achievements of that company of dare-devil bipeds of both sexes who
-for decades have been sweeping over the Falls in barrels and other
-receptacles, or who have gone dancing their dizzy way on ropes or wires
-stretched from shore to shore above the boiling, leaping water beneath.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>The Hudson River<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">FROM OCEAN TO SOURCE</span></h3>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Historical&mdash;Legendary&mdash;Picturesque</i></p>
-
-<p class="center">By Edgar Mayhew Bacon<br />
-
-<span class="smaller">Author of “Chronicles of Tarrytown,” “Narragansett Bay,” etc.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>600 Pages, with 100 Illustrations, including a Sectional Map of the Hudson
-River. $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>“The value of this handsome quarto does not depend solely on
-the attractiveness with which Mr. Bacon has invested the whole subject,
-it is a kind of footnote to the more conventional histories, because it
-throws light upon the life and habits of the earliest settlers. It is a study
-of Dutch civilization in the New World, severe enough in intentions to
-be accurate, but easy enough in temper to make a great deal of humor,
-and to comment upon those characteristic customs and habits which, while
-they escape the attention of the formal historian, are full of
-significance.”&mdash;<cite>Outlook.</cite></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>The Connecticut River<br />
-<span class="xsmall">AND THE</span><br />
-Valley of the Connecticut<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES FROM MOUNTAIN TO SEA</span></h3>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Historical and Descriptive</i></p>
-
-<p class="center">By Edwin Munroe Bacon<br />
-
-<span class="smaller">Author of “Walks And Rides in the Country Round About Boston,” etc.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>500 Pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>From ocean to source every mile of the Connecticut is crowded with
-reminders of the early explorers, of the Indian wars, of the struggle of the
-Colonies, and of the quaint, peaceful village existence of the early days of
-the Republic. Beginning with the Dutch discovery, Mr. Bacon traces
-the interesting movements and events which are associated with this chief
-river of New England.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<div class="intact">
-
-<h3>The Columbia River</h3>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Its History&mdash;Its Myths&mdash;Its Scenery&mdash;Its Commerce</i></p>
-
-<p class="center">By William Denison Lyman<br />
-
-<span class="smaller">Professor of History in Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington</span></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Fully Illustrated. Probable price, $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p>This is the first effort to present a book distinctively on the Columbia
-River. It is the intention of the author to give some special prominence
-to Nelson and the magnificent lake district by which it is surrounded.
-As the joint possession of the United States and British Columbia, and
-as the grandest scenic river of the continent, the Columbia is worthy of
-special attention.</p>
-
-<p class="p2 in0"><i class="uline">In Preparation</i>:</p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Each will be fully illustrated and will probably be published at $3.50 net</i></p>
-
-<p class="in0 in2">
-<span class="large bold">1.&mdash;Inland Waterways</span><br />
-<span class="in4">By Herbert Quick</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="large bold">2.&mdash;The Mississippi River</span><br />
-<span class="in4">By Julius Chambers</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="large bold">3.&mdash;The Story of the Chesapeake</span><br />
-<span class="in4">By Ruthella Mory Bibbins</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="large bold">4.&mdash;Lake George and Lake Champlain</span><br />
-<span class="in4">By W. Max Reid</span><br />
-<span class="subhead in4">Author of “The Mohawk Valley,” “The Story of Old Fort Johnson,” etc.</span>
-</p>
-</div>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="transnote">
-<h2 class="nobreak p1"><a id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
-
-<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
-preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p>
-
-<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.</p>
-
-<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</p>
-
-<p>Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.</p>
-
-<p>Page <a href="#Page_190">190</a>: “irreconciliable” probably is a misprint for “irreconcilable”.</p>
-
-<p>Page <a href="#Page_226">226</a>: Index entry for “Ship-builders” referenced page v,
-but the term was split across pages vi-vii, and is shown here
-as being on page vi.</p>
-</div></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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