Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — The Lake Carrying Trade. [ARTICLE]

The Lake Carrying Trade.

Canadian vessels whether steam or sail, are at a disadvantage, compared with American craft, in the carrying trade of the great lakes of this continent, because so many of them are built of a limited size to go through the canals to Lake Ontario and Montreal; whereas the later American craft nre of much greater size, not requiring to go farther east than Buffalo on Lake Erie. The largest of these are 300 to 400 feet in length and able to carry 100,000 to 200,000 bushels of grain on a draught of 10 to 18 feet of water. Some of the latest Canadian steamers can, however, carry cargoes of 50,000 to 70,000 bushels. We hear this week of some new vessels of the Kingston and Montreal Forwarding Company, namely, the Thursh, capacity 47,000 bushels of wheat, and the Lapwing and the Hiawatha, 40,000 bushels each, which go up to Port Arthur, Lake Superior, where they load wheat at Fort William for Kingston.—Toronto Monetary Times