HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1943-08-05, Page 6THE SEAFQI T H NEWS
THURSRAY, AUGUST 5, 1943
Lake Freighters Race
Against Tine
Visitors to Sault Ste.: Marie this
year witness at ark, hand one i1Yl-
portant phase of the 'great battle of
production: whereby •the 'United Na-
tions intend to defeat the 'Axis' Day
and night the St. Marys. Riser, join-
nig Lake Superior to Lake Huron and
Lake Michigan, is filled with freight-
ers carrying. Ore to the great steel
mills to the south,. At any time in the
24 hours one can see these long, slim
ships passing through the locks and
the sound of their whistles is a
never-ending call for speed and pro-
duction.
The story of this remarkable fleet
and still more remarkable officers
and men is told in The Christian Sci-
ence Monitor by Charles B. McFad-
den. It is the story of iron and steel,
ships and men joined in one mighty
effort to see that the steel milis do
not go idle this coming winter, and
of their trials and dangers, He says:
The battle on the Great Lakes is a
battle to move an unprecedented
amount of war -precious iron ore—the
goal is 95,000,000 tons — from mines
to blast furnaces before the current
navigation season closes. To meet,
war demands the Great Lakes ore
fleet this season must top by, some
3,000,000 tons the all-time record ore
movement of last season, during
which shipments soared to 92,076,781
tons,
What makes surpassing, or even
equaling last year's record season
such a herculean undertaking is that
this season the lakes were locked in
a severe winter's icy grip for a full
month later than in 1942. Last year,
an early thaw opened the lakes in
late March, the earliest in history,
and a late autumn kept them open
until December 12 (past the usual
November 30 shipping deadline, when
insurance expires).
With the steel industry some 7,-
000,000 tons behind last year's ore
shipments at this season's opening,
there is now a terrific battle against
time taking place on the greatest in-
land waterways system in the world.
Engaged in this gigantic battle is the
greatest lakes ore fleet in history:-
322
istory-822 ships of United States 'registry,
including 16 new ones being put into
service at various times during the
season, and 42 Canadian' ships. The
16 new ore carriers. upon which ship-'
pers pin their• hopes for making . up
lost time 'this season, are 17,000 -ton
vesels of the Pittsburg • Steamship
Company, largest operator of carriers
on the lakes and a subsidiary of Un
ited Statet Steel Corporation.
Iu eight ice -free inonths between
the spring thaw and the winter
freeze, the Great Lakes ore boats
and the 13,000 officers and men who
sail them must haul enough ore to
keep the steel mills working through
the winter. Theirs is a vital job the
magnitude of which becomes appar-
ent when you realize that iron ore is
more precious than gold to the war
effort. For without iron ore, you
can't make steel. And without steel,
you can't make ships, gums, tanks,
and planes neeesary to defeat the
Axis forces on sea and land and in
the air. Thus, the battle of supplying
the raw material for the steel sinews
of America's war machine is an all -
portant link in America's war pro-
duction chain.
The battle of the Great Lakes be-,
gins at the Lake Superior ore -loading
ports of Duluth and Two Harbors in
Wisconsin. There the lake freighters
are loaded with ore from the most
productive iron ore region in the
world, the strata surrounding Lake
Superior, which normally produces
four-fifths of the nation's iron, There
ore from the fabulous Mesabi and her
sister ranges, the Vermilion, Cuyuna,
Marquette, Menominee, and Gogebic,
pours into waiting freighters with
amazing speed (average loading time,
14,000 tons in three hours; record
loading time: 13,000 tons in 16 min-
utes).
inutes).
Their hatches filled with brick -
colored dust, the carriers push hteir
way out of the harbors, pousd down
the long reaches of Superior—and—
day and a half later—enter the
Sault Ste. Marie, or Soo, locks. Boats
now pass through these locks on an
average of one every 15 minutes, 24
bours a day, week in and week out.
(Iron ore shipments down the lakes
send more traffic through the Soo
locks in a single month than was
ever carried by the Panama Canal in
a full year,) Dropping down 22 feet
from Lake Superior to the level of
Lake Huron, the ships drive on down
to ore -receiving ports fringing the
lower shores of Lake Michigan and
Lake Erie.
In this manner iron ore moves over
the Great Lakes to the giant furn-
aces, arsenals of the steel makers, in
Chicago, Gary, Detroit, Toledo, Lor-
ain, Cleveland, Buffalo, Youngstown,
and. Pittsburg—all lusty, brawling
cities that gave America world sup-
remacy in indttatrial production in
peace time and now are malting steel
for vietcry In war, time. To move
OTTAWA'
BUSY WARTIME TELEPHONE CENTRE:
•
Since the beginning of .the war, the Dominion Government's telephone switch-
board (left) has been extended from eight operators' positions to 25; the Ottawa
dial telephone building (centre) has been expanded as telephones in service rose
from 39.000 to 54,000; and out-of-town messages handled by the capital's long
distance switchboard (right) have jumped from 37,000 a month to 100,000.
That, in brief, is the story of wartime Ottawa. Serving over 7,000 telephones
and handling 110,000 calls of all kinds every day', the government's private branch'
exchange today is large enough to serve a city the size of Kingston.
New long distance facilities have also been provided between Ottawa an
Washington, New York, the Maritimes, and the ,Prairies. Circuits to Montreal hay
from 12to 48. Altogether, voice channel.
increased from 19 to 52, those to Toronto g ,
leading from the city have jumped from 114 to 203.
95,000,000 tons of iron ore -9,000
miles of freight cars full—down the
lakes before winter closes the season,
the lakes ore fleet is battling day and
night, fighting storm and heavy wea-
ther, working through the peril of
fog.
Months before President Roosevelt
proclaimed the necessity of a seven-
day, 168 -hour week, the Great Lakes
ore carriers adopted such a work
week last season, But this season
freighters which in other years made
20 trips per season will make bet-
ween 80 and 35 trips, depending on
the length of the season. When you
consider that from Buffalo to Duluth
and back -2,000 miles—is an eight-
day voyage, you can understand why
there will be no rest fox' the ore
ships this season.
Such a strenuous schedule is poss-
ible largely because of the cargo -
carrying efficiency of the• lake freigh-
ters. Their open construction, the
vast cargo space between the deck-
house, the location of the engines
astern, the small amount of coal they
calry (500 tons for a large vessel
round trip from Buffalo to Duluth)
and the rapidity with which they can
be loaded and unloaded — all these
factors make them the most efficient
carriers in the world.
Many lake freighters carry more
tonnage than the average ocean
freighters. A typical ore carrier
(cost, nearly $2,000,000; length, 595
feet; beam, 60 feet; depth, 35 feet)
can carry 12,000 deadweight Ions
when loaded 'to a 22 -foot draft. The
16 new. 17,000 -ton carriers augment-
ing the ore fleet this season are good
for monthly deliveries of 1,000,000
tons themselves.
Although they are working, hard
for it, ships' officers' and men on the
lakes are making good pay and they
have no idle moments in which to
spend it. Ships' captains' are receiv-
ing around $700 a month. Unlicensed
Wren receive 'wages ranging from
$142,50 per month for coalpassers to
$186 per month for able seamen
wheelsmeu. Even" the green deck
hands are getting $100 a month. In
addition, meals and lodging are fur-
nished by the vessel operator, More-
over, incentive wages are paid by
many companies to men who remain
continuously in .their employ during
the navigation season.
Forage Crop Seeds
for Needy Countries
Several of the European .countries
that are within the group of United
Nations, are looking to Canada to
provide a considerable part of the
reserve stock of seed of several kinds
of field crops that will be required
when the war ends. The principal
concern now is in connection with
seed of forage crops, which were
in short supply last year, says Nel-
son Young, Seeds Administrator. If
farmers will save the maximum am-
ount of alsike, red clover and alfalfa
seed this year it is going to be of
great help to the countries which
have asked for it, he said.
The Seeds Administrator pointed
out that farmers who are assured of
a heavy crop of hay may find it pos-
sible to leave a small plot of alsike,
alfalfa and red clover for seed. Al-
sike seed is always taken from first
I growth. Alfalfa seed can be harvest-
ed from either the first or second cut
and medium red clover seed is usual-
ly harvested from the second crop.
If weather conditions are unfavor-
able for making hay from the first
crops they can then be left to pro-
duce seed—and there is a' fair price
and a ready mdrket for all seed of
these crops. ,Farmers who can save
enough seed from their forage crops
to meet their own requirements for
next year will enable the commercial
growers to release more for export
overseas. And if they can, in addi-
tion, supply some to seed buyers, it
I will be easier to meet the requests
that have been received by the Seeds
1 Administrator.
Want and For Sale ads, 3 weeks 500,.
C.P.R. RUSHES BACON TO BRITAIN
•
Many millions of pounds of
Canadian bacon for embattled
Britain have been handled in
Canadian Pacific Railway over-
head, refrigerator cars, similar to
the one being iced in this picture,
it is revealed by H. J.. Maui,
genereLsuperintendent of trans-
portation, whose department di-
rects these precious loads needed
by fighting men and civilians.
Particularly suited for continuing
the cure of bacon in transit there
are 360 of these cars of a type
pioneered on the North American
continent by the Canadian Pacific
seven years ago. This constitutes.
the largest overhead -type refrig-
erator fleet in Canada and the
United States, with all of the
overhead cars running as "bacon
specials" while 3,546 refrigerator
10
cars of other types look after the
handling of the fresh neat, fish,
fruits and vegetables needed for
a healthy Canada.
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•
he Seaforth News
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO,