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diff --git a/old/52976-0.txt b/old/52976-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 083c01e..0000000 --- a/old/52976-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6993 +0,0 @@ -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 - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT LAKES *** - -***** This file should be named 52976-0.txt or 52976-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/9/7/52976/ - -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.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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