Enjoys a Boom and Looks for a Prosperous Season

Special Correspondence of the TRIBUNE

Milwaukee, Wis. June 7. - The shipyard work of Milwaukee for a year past has been about $300,000. Of this amount less than $180,000 is for new work, there being but four new vessels, two being steam barges and two being tugs. The former are the Josephine of 372 tons and costing $35,880 and the W. J. Carter of 171 54-100 tons, costing $20,000; the two tugs are duplicates, twenty tons each, one being the George K. West of Racine, the other being still on the market. They cost $6000 each.

Other new tonnage in the Milwaukee district are the steam barge Rand, built at Manitowoc, measuring 147 tons and costing $24,000; the tug Sheboygan built at Sheboygan, measuring 31 44-100 tons costing $10,000. What might also be considered new tonnage was the entire rebuilding of the steam barge J. R. Whiting, now the Bessemer, and the remodeling of the steam barge Minnesota.

The Whitney (sic) was cut in two, lengthened 45 feet, and widened three feet, increasing her tonnage to 440.27 at a cost of $12,000.

The Minnesota was raised two feet all around to correspond with the Massachusetts and Merrimac, built at Detroit. She was given new decks and a new cabin, the total cost of which was $15,000.

A notable feature in connection with ship-yard work was the (dry-)docking of the barge H. Rutter with a cargo of 60,000 bushels of wheat at Wolf & Davidson's yard, a feat never before accomplished at any dock on the lakes. At the time the barge was drawing 15½ feet of water, her owners accepting the entire responsibility.

The prospects for work in the shipyard for the coming season are better than for several years, as already two large steam barges are contracted for. One of these is a mammoth steam barge, which is nearly in frame at Wolf & Davidson's yard and will be, when completed, the largest vessel ever built on Lake Michigan. Her measurement is intended to be about 2,000 tons. She will have compound engines and steel boilers, will cost $112,000, and will be ready for launching by the opening of navigation next season. A steam barge is already in frame at the Milwaukee shipyard which is to have a capacity of about 1,200 tons. She will be double-decked, and will have inside steel arches, as well as a steel boiler. Motive power will be furnished by a fore-and-aft compound engine, which is in process of construction by the Dry-Dock engine works of Detroit, Michigan. This vessel will cost $60,000. But six new engines have been built here for a year, three of which were shipped south, one being placed in the steam barge Carter, and the remaining two being placed in the two new tugs mentioned. These engines were worth $30,000. There are no new engines being built here at present, but the engine of the dismantled tug, William Goodnow, is compounded and placed in a new steam barge to be commenced next fall. A notable feature is the number of new wheels built here, James Sheriffs having manufactured seventy during the year, a majority of which were shipped to ocean and gulf ports. During the past year five new boilers were built, three of which were shipped to other points. At present several are in process of construction.

The ship-chandlery business for the season aggregates about $100,000, and the indications are for an increased business for the coming season. The freight situation is much more encouraging than at this time last year, the shipments of wheat out of Milwaukee during the month of May aggregating 1,069,000 bushels, an amount nearly equal to the entire grain shipment during the navigation last year. There are still, however, 2,500,000 bushels in stock here, some of which has been stored here for the past three years, and shippers are anxious to move it. The prospects are that all of it will be out before fall, which will keep a fleet of vessels busy that would otherwise be likely to go into the ore trade and break rates. At present shippers are paying 2½ cents to Buffalo, or a cent more than at this time last year. More coal will be brought into this port this season than in any previous year, and as the receipts have been light thus far, in consequence of the strikes in the yards here, coal dealers expect to be obliged to pay much higher freights to secure their required supply. The labor troubles have also affected the lumber and coarse freight markets, as shipments were entirely suspended. In fact, the labor outbreak has had the effect of shortening the season a month, and as the stock must be carried, vessel owners are inclined to look for a season more prosperous in every way for the vessel interests than last year.

The well known Milwaukee ship yard company, situated opposite elevators B and C, Menominee river, Milwaukee, Wis., of which John Fitzgerald is president, A. M. Joyes secretary, of the firm G. D. Norris & Co., and Lewis Pahlow and Robert Allan are master mechanics, are the successors of Allan, McClelland & Co., who started business in 1861, where they transacted business until 1874 when the present company was formed. Since that time they have built the schooner Porter, 747 tons; schooner Myosotis, 333 tons, both built in 1874; steam barge R. G. Peters, 400 tons, built in 1879; propeller James H. Shrigley, 459 tons, built in 1881; steam barge C. H. Starke, 266 tons, built in 1881; steam barge Marshall F. Butters, 376 tons, built in 1882; steam barge Louis Pahlow, 350 tons, built in 1882; tow barge Menominee, 433 tons, built in 1883; steam barge George C. Markham, 309 tons, built in 1883; tow barge Fred Carney, 342 tons, built in 1883; steam barge Joys, 221 tons, built in 1884; propeller Susie Chipman, 210 tons, built in 1885; steam barge Josephine, 372 tons, built in 1886, and they are now building a new steam barge not yet named (5) for the Milwaukee tug boat line (Capt. Dennis Sullivan, formerly of the schooner Moonlight), of which the dimensions are 200 feet keel, 215 feet over all, beam 34 feet, depth of hold 14½ feet, of a tonnage of 550 tons. She is to be furnished with a fore-and-aft compound 20x40 and 40 square engine and boiler by the Detroit dry dock iron works, and will be a remarkably fine specimen of naval architecture. She is expected to carry about 1,400 gross tons.

The facilities of the yards are unsurpassed and have all the conveniences for docking and repairing vessels of all sizes. Spars of all kinds are kept on hand and furnished at the most reasonable rates. The water at these yards is deep enough to unship and ship the largest center boards - they are also furnished with derricks, etc., to hoist the largest spars and boilers. Their equipment is perfect, mulay, (6) jig and circular saws, and all the necessary machinery to do the most rapid, complete, and at the same time cheapest work. Their superintendents and master mechanics are amongst the most experienced and competent men in the business, and their reputation for superior work of every description is well known. The popularity of the yards stands very high among the vessel community, and accounts for the large patronage they are constantly receiving, even in these general depressing times. They are at present employing upwards of one hundred men and are running on full time, as they do the year around. The Milwaukee ship yard company is one of the best exponents in their line of business to be found along the chain of the great lakes.

The Marine boiler works of Milwaukee, of which Richard Davis (commonly known as Dick Davis) is proprietor, is one of the best known industries of its kind in fresh water ports. The business was established in 1862 under the firm name of Davis & Wilkinson, but Mr. Wilkinson retired in 1864, since which time Mr. Davis has been sole proprietor. Some of the finest boiler work made for vessels on the lakes has been turned out from his works, and, being a shrewd business man as well as a successful manufacturer, he competes favorably for all kinds of marine work with other well-known firms. He employs steadily a large force of experienced and competent workmen, and the character of his productions are unsurpassed in durability, strength and general excellence. The firm has built (among hundreds of others) boilers for the well-known steam vessels Leviathan, Tift, Bertchy, Torrent, Aldrich, Business,Jim Sheriffs, Shrigley, Butters, Goldsmith, W. H. Wolf, George Burnham, Pahlow,Markham and the revenue cutter Andy Johnson. During the past few months he has been manufacturing boilers for the Colin Campbell and Josephine, which are models in every respect of fine workmanship. The dimensions of each are 15x8 feet, which would allow a pressure of 100 pounds to the square inch. They are as excellent in every way as it is possible to manufacture them. His superintendents, foremen, and mechanics are all high-classed, skilled workmen, and the fine work he turns out meet with universal approval. The very finest repair work of all kinds is executed at his shops, which are kept busy at all seasons of the year. The large majority of marine boiler work done in Milwaukee is performed at his works. He has recently shipped to Florida three boilers for use in a saw-mill built on a boat for use in the lumber trade. He gives personal attention and supervision to all works contracted for, and stands deservedly high among the well-known and prominent marine boiler makers of our inland seas.

Notes

5. Propeller VERONICA (US#161560)

6. I couldn't find a good definition of a mulay saw, but from context I gather it was a water or steam operated crosscut saw, similar to the large two-man "pit saws" used cut planking from logs. Also called a mulay-gang saw.

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