DURATION OF NAVIGATION SEASON

56. The channels between Lakes Superior and Erie are, on the average, closed by ice from December 17 to April 18. The Welland Canal is, on the average, closed from December 10 to April 15. The various lake harbors are usually open by the time that the through channels are open.

PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE COMMERCE

57. A very complete analysis of the traffic of the Great Lakes for the year 1923 has been published in a document entitled "Transportation on the Great Lakes," prepared by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors in cooperation with the United States Shipping Board. For the year 1923 the total freight movement is given as 125,517,551 tons of 2,000 pounds, of which 73 per cent, or 91,379,658 tons, passed through the St. Marys Falls Canals.

58. The traffic through the St. Marys Falls Canals for the period 1887 to 1926, inclusive, is shown in the table, page 18. The stone and coal movements which do not pass through the St. Marys Falls Canals are shown in the following table for the years 1921 to 1926, inclusive:

59. These tables of traffic indicate a slight tendency for increased business in the items coal, flour, wheat, and grain other than wheat. The tables also show a rapid increase in the stone business.

60. The principal item in the lake commerce is the movement of iron ore from the head of Lake Superior to the lower lakes. Near the head of Lake Superior there are large deposits of high-grade ore and practically inexhaustible deposits of lower-grade ore. At the present time the higher-grade ores are supplying the market and there is little use for the low-grade products. The known reserves of high-grade ore are sufficient to last at the present rate of consumption for nearly 30 years and represent a tonnage of about 1,500,000,000 tons. (Mineral Resources of the United States, 1925, Part I, Department of Commerce.) This reserve has remained at substantially the same figure for a number of years, despite the annual consumption. Whenever prospecting operations demonstrate the presence of these high-grade ores, their taxation begins and the owners are therefore slow in proving their existence far in advance of the time for placing them upon the market. It is practically certain that additional deposits of high-grade ore will be developed from time to time, but authorities consider it unlikely that such new deposits will maintain the known reserves at their present figure for any considerable period of years.

101739°-H. Doc. 253, 70–1- -3

1, 545, 008
8, 328, 694
27, 448, 071
24,889, 688
26, 078, 384
30,000, 935
16, 174, 659
24, 760, 547
27, 740, 822
32,095, 646
33, 030, 992
39, 229, 553
54, 343, 155
43, 463, 338

61. Methods of concentration or beneficiation of the low-grade ores are being studied, but at the present time no known method of concentrating the low-grade ores is able to compete on a commercial scale with the production of high-grade ores. As the high-grade reserves become depleted it is possible that the low-grade Lake Superior ores will take their place.

62. All lake traffic is seasonal in its nature. The grain traffic is usually concentrated near the close of one navigation season and the opening of the succeeding season. The ore, coal, and stone business is fairly well distributed throughout the navigation season.

63. There is no indication that the volume of bulk traffic on the Great Lakes has reached its peak, and the board is of the opinion, after a study of the trend of commerce, that an average increase of from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 tons per annum may be expected for some years.

TYPES OF VESSELS

64. The main transportation business of the Great Lakes involves the handling of bulk commodities, and for this purpose a special type. of vessel has been developed. These vessels are described in the publication Transportation on the Great Lakes, above referred to, and it is only necessary to state here that by placing the engines aft and the pilot house close to the bow the remaining length of the ship is made available for bulk cargo. Access to the cargo hold is obtained through hatches spaced 12 or 24 feet center to center. Ore is chuted into the cargo space from elevated ore pockets. Coal cargoes are handled by dumping cars into a chute, which in turn leads the coal to the hold of the vessel. Stone cargoes are ordinarily loaded by belt conveyors, and grain is carried into the hold by the usual grain conveyors and spouts. Coal, ore, and stone are removed from the hold of the vessel by grapple buckets of special design. Grain is unloaded by means of elevator legs in the usual manner.

65. A special type of self-unloading vessel has recently been developed and is used to a considerable extent in the stone and coal business. These vessels are loaded in the usual manner, but their cargo' holds are so arranged that they can be emptied by belt conveyors installed on the ship, and a similar belt conveyor or unloading arm places the material ashore at a reasonable distance from the side of the vessel.

66. The following table shows the general dimensions of the vessels using the St. Marys Falls Canals for the years 1908 to 1926. It will be noted that the number of vessels 500 feet in length and over has increased materially, that the number of vessels 400 feet to 499 feet in length is about stationary, and that the number of smaller vessels is decreasing.

Sizes of freight carriers using the locks in the St. Marys Falls Canals

10 8 12 10 13 22 15 48 25 40 35 37 45 36 29 20 19 28 113 121 100 101 96 94 89 83 74 66 50 57 42 30 30 33 37 30 21 223 224 234 177 203 212 171 166 125 108 84 75 73 70 90 152 123 130139 136 161 152 130 156 157 126 147 156 149 122 113 113 69 104 107 102 100 100 137 157 162 145 159 160 144 155 156 158 158 155 155 113 153 155 149 154 157 96 104 121 95113115 113 116 117 121 121 120 120 109 124 120 126 125 127 4 7 8 24 26 28 29 29 34 41 42 42 46 44 47 55 58 63 67 806 870 877 765 853 852 813 806 863 780 749 733 678 596 669 774 713729732

67. As shown in the above table, the number of individual vessels using the locks at the St. Marys Falls Canals during the year 1926 was 732. These vessels are organized in fleets of various sizes, the largest being the fleet of the Pittsburgh Steamship Co., a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, with a carrying capacity of about 741,400 tons per trip. There are 8 other fleets whose aggregate capacity per trip exceeds 1,434,000 tons and there are 21 additional smaller fleets whose aggregate capacity is 737,000 tons per trip.

68. The following table prepared by the Lake Carriers' Association shows pertinent data concerning the vessels of its members, which vessels have about 92 per cent of the bulk cargo capacity of the lake fleet:

The above classification does not include self-unloaders, package freighters or barges.

TERMINAL AND TRANSFER FACILITIES

69. The principal traffic on the Great Lakes consists in the handling of bulk commodities and special loading and unloading facilities have been developed for this purpose. For detailed information for the year 1923, see document Transportation on the Great Lakes.

70. A typical dock for loading iron ore into the vessels consists of a group of elevated pockets with trap doors in the bottom and chutes for discharging the ore by gravity into the hold of the vessel. The speed with which ore can be chuted into the hold of a vessel depends

mainly upon the manner in which the vessel is maneuvered and to some extent upon the time spent in trimming the vessel to its maximum draft considering the depths available. In an effort to establish a record for speed of loading, one vessel was loaded in 1921 in 161⁄2 minutes, or at a rate of over 51,000 tons per hour. In ordinary practice vessels are loaded at rates of 3,000 to 5,000 tons per hour. At the lower lake ports the ore is unloaded by grapple buckets to railroad cars or to stock piles on the docks. In 1923 the aggregate capacity of all unloading machines was about 45,000 tons per hour. The time for unloading a typical ore vessel is about 10 hours.

71. For handling grain large elevators have been built at the upper lake ports, these being used partly for transfer and partly for storage. In the grain movement the elevator capacity is largely supplemented during the winter season by the use of vessels for storage. In 1924 the storage capacity of the elevators at the upper lake ports was about 161,600,000 bushels. At the lower lake ports the elevator capacity was about 55,300,000 bushels and at the ports of Montreal and Quebec about 13,800,000 bushels.

72. The soft coal cargoes are almost all loaded at Lake Erie ports, the greater part being moved to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. A typical arrangement for transferring soft coal from railroad car to vessel consists in a car dumper by means of which coal cars of any capacity are picked up, inverted, and spilled into a hopper from which the coal is chuted into the hold of the vessel. The capacity of these dumpers ranges from 20 to 50 cars per hour. The car dumper is supported by a railroad yard of adequate size so that the coal for any particular vessel may be segregated on certain tracks and then run to the dumper by gravity when the time for loading the boat arrives. At the Lake Erie ports in 1923 the aggregate capacity of the car dumpers was about 480 cars per hour.

73. At the upper lake ports the coal is transferred from vessel to cars or storage by clamshell buckets and bridge cranes. In 1923 the aggregate unloading capacity of the Lake Superior docks was about. 21,000 tons per hour.

74 Stone is ordinarily loaded by means of belt conveyors from the storage piles to vessel. During 1926 the shipments from the largest stone port exceeded 9,000,000 tons. A considerable proportion of the stone is carried on vessels equipped for self-unloading. The remaining stone is unloaded in a manner similar to the practice for iron ore or coal.

75. Docks and warehouses for handling miscellaneous freight and passengers are reasonably adequate for this business and the various car-ferry services have their own terminals specially adapted to their work.

76. The terminal facilities on the Great Lakes are considered to be the best in the world and there is no necessity for any special requirements on the part of the Federal Government with respect to additional facilities of this nature in connection with the improvement of the through channels.

WATER POWER

77. The hydroelectric-power installations on the St. Marys River, at Niagara and on the St. Lawrence River will not be affected by the improvements covered by the survey hereinafter recommended.