President Frank J.

The matter, however, was not allowed to rest. Firth, of the Lake Carriers' Association, gave his attention to the business. Agitation began on the part of those interested in navigation. The matter was brought before Congress, and there was incorporated in the River and Harbor Act of the first session of the 57th Congress, approved June 13, 1902, subject to many restrictions, authority to the Michigan Lake Superior Power Company, its successors and assigns, after first obtaining the consent of the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers and their approval of the canal and remedial works proposed, to divert water from the St. Mary's river into its water power canal.

The company is prohibited by this act from injuriously affecting navigation or impairing or diminishing the water levels of Lake Superior or of the ship canal and locks.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE DRY DOCK THAT MAY BE BUILT.

HE first official suggestion of a dry dock as an auxiliary to the canal was made by Superintendent George W. Brown in his annual report for 1863 to Austin Blair, "War Governor" of the State, and in 1864 he averred that twice since the canal was opened vessels had sunk in the canal, and urged that a dry dock would prevent blockades of such a character. Superintendent Spalding and Collector Chandler, in their joint report of 1877, recommended the construction of a dry-dock, and in their report of 1878 they renewed the recommendation.

Having the benefit of these reports the Legislature of the State of Michigan, in the Act of 1881, which provided for the transfer of the canal. to the United States, also authorized the Board of Control at any time they might deem proper, to transfer all material belonging to the canal, and to pay to the United States the moneys in the canal fund, provided the United States in consideration thereof would construct a dry-dock to be operated in connection with the canal for the use of disabled vessels.

Congress, in the River and Harbor Act of 1882, accepted the offer of the state, enacting that whenever the government should not further use the old lock of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, it should be converted into a dry-dock for the repair of government dredges, revenue cutters and other craft belonging to the government and for craft belonging to private persons on such terms as the Secretary of War should prescribe; and that for the expense and construction the amount of $65,000, balance of tolls in the possession of the State of Michigan and offered by the state for that purpose be accepted by the United States.1

When the House of Representatives in December, 1882, requested the Secretary of War to inform the House what, if any, additional works were necessary to serve the interests of commerce of the northern lakes in the River of St. Mary's and the canal, General Weitzel, to whom the reply was assigned, reported that the construction of a dry-dock was necessary; that the navigation of Lake Superior in the first months of each year was

122 Stat. at L., p. 204.

subjected to the danger of dense and persistent fogs, and in the latter par: of the season to violent storms, often accompanied by blinding snow, and that it often happened in each year that vessels were injured and required a dry-dock for examination and repairs, and that Port Huron, where the nearest dock was located, was 285 miles distant from Sault Ste. Marie, and that no place on the lakes was beter suited for a dry-dock.

General Weitzel was relieved and the charge of the improvement of the River St. Mary and the works at the falls were assigned to General O. M. Poe on July 27, 1883, and the transfer was made on the 10th of August following.

It appears from his report of August 9, 1883, that General Poe was of the opinion that any dry-dock should be wholly independent of the system of lockage.

Congress, in 1884, without reference to its acceptance in August, 1882, of the offer of the state to transfer the balance of tolls to the United States, in the River and Harbor Act of July 5, mentioned the tender of the tolls by the state, and directed the Secretary of War to cause plans and estimates for a dry-dock above the locks, and to report whether the old locks could be used for a dock and the cost of fitting the same for that purpose. General Poe, reporting in November following to the Chief of Engineers, pointed out, as he had done in June preceding, that the construction of the dock by the government would cause it to enter into competition in a business which belonged to private enterprise. He stated that in view of the great increase in commerce, the objections to any modifications of the old locks to adapt them to dry-dock purposes were overwhelming, and that such a work above the locks would be either insufficient or would materially interfere with the use of the locks and canal.

It is probable that the dry-dock project received its death blow in his supplemental report of December 3, 1884, wherein General Poe showed that in the four seasons since the old locks had been transferred to the United States, they had been used for dry-docking an aggregate of only 3442 hours, and that the general commerce to and from Lake Superior in that period of time made use of the locks for such purpose an aggregate of only 170 hours, and that in his opinion no dry-dock should be built by the government for use in connection with the canal.

In 18971 the Legislature directed the Auditor-General to transfer the credit balance of the St. Mary's Ship Canal fund, of $68,927.12, to the general fund of the state, and a few years thereafter suit was brought by the United States against the state for an accounting as to sales of land and as to tolls received, and the matter is not yet settled.2

'Public Acts, 1897, Joint Resolution No. 20.

United States vs. State of Michigan, 190 U. S., p. 379.

CHAPTER XVII.

DEEP WATER SHIP CHANNEL IN THE SHALLOWS OF THE CONNECTING WATERS BETWEEN CHICAGO,

DULUTH AND BUFFALO.

N THE River and Harbor Act of September 19, 1890, Congress took action looking toward a ship channe twenty-one feet in depth and of suitable width in the shallows of the connecting waters of the lakes between Chicago, Duluth and Buffalo. For such a channel improvements were required at Sailors' Encampment, St. Clair Flats, Grosse Pointe Flats, and at the mouth of the Detroit River, the foot of Lake Huron, and the shoals near Round Island, in St. Mary's River. The estimated expense exceeded three millions of dollars.

In furtherance of this project, Senator James McMillan, of Michigan, and Representative Samuel M. Stephenson, of the Twelfth (Lake Superior) District, organized an excursion to the Upper Lakes, which was participated in by members of the Senate Committee on Commerce and the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors. The expenses of the trip were defrayed by the gentlemen named and by contributions from the vessel interests. Among the party were Senators Sawyer, of Wisconsin, and Stockbridge, of Michigan; Representatives Henderson, of Illinois; Stephenson, of Michigan; Gibson, of Maryland; Townsend, of Pennsylvania, and Blanchard, of Louisiana, and Charles H. Keep, of Buffalo, then Secretary of the Lake Carriers' Association, and now Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The start was made at Cleveland, and stops were made at Detroit and Mackinac Island.

On July 14, 1891, the U. S. Revenue Cutter Fessenden arrived at Sault Ste. Marie with the congressional party. A reception was held by Hon. and Mrs. Henry W. Seymour, and both the locks and the Hay Lake improvement were examined. The necessity of the Hay Lake Channel was impressed on the visitors by the steamer Pontiac, then one of the largest lake vessels, which had been sunk on the forenoon of the day of their arrival, by collision with the Canadian steamer Athabasca, in the St. Mary's River near Wilson's dock, Sugar Island.

From Sault Ste. Marie the trip was continued to Marquette, Houghton,

Calumet, Duluth and Chicago, in each of which cities the party was entertained by the citizens. Mr. Blanchard, on succeeding General Henderson as chairman of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, ardently espoused the cause of the deep-water channel, and during the session of Congress succeeding the excursion that project was adopted by the government, and appropriations were made therefor.1

Operations were commenced in the spring of 1893, and by 1897 the required width of three hundred feet or more had been excavated through all the shoal areas which were considered at the time the estimates were made.

Congress has already indicated that the commerce of the lakes has not, in its opinion, reached its full development. The River and Harbor Act of March 3, 1905, made provision for preliminary examinations or surveys for securing information concerning the commercial importance, present and prospective, of the channel, with a view to obtaining depths of twenty-two and twenty-five feet respectively.2

Appropriations for the channel were as follows:

"Report of Chief of Engineers for 1904, Appendix O. O., p. 3093.