Early Fleets and Organizations

The owners of the earliest vessels on the lakes were usually individuals or companies of large financial resources. Lake commerce began in the prosecution of vast enterprises, of which transportation by water was only a part. The Griffin was built, partly for the fur trade, partly to advance the great scheme of territorial conquest, which burned in the breast of the ambitious and indomitable La Salle. The early fur trading companies, extending operations far beyond the lake region, built pioneer vessels.

Next, in the progress of lake fleets, came government ownership. Squadrons sprang up at the command of nations, contending for mastery of the Great Lakes, and, when peace finally followed, the individual lake carriers began years flourished in ever-increasing numbers. During the first half of the pres-ent century, masters were usually owners or part owners of the craft they commanded, especially of the sailing vessels.

Soon after steam became established as a motive power, the vessel owners began to form associations for mutual advantage. The principal commercial lines in operation on the lakes in 1853 were the American Transportation Company, Western Transportation Company, New York and Lake Erie line, Northern Transportation Company, composed of twelve steamers; Troy and Western line; Lake Superior line, between Cleveland and the Sault, and Detroit and the Sault, three different lines; Detroit and Sandusky, steamer Bay City; Detroit and Port Huron, steamers Pearl and Ruby, E. B. & S. Ward, proprietors; also a line of boats between Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago.

The principal commercial lines in operation on the lakes in 1853 were the American Transportation Company, Western Transportation Company, New York and Lake Erie line, Northern Transportation Company, composed of twelve steamers; Troy and Western line; Lake Superior line, between Cleveland and the Sault, and Detroit and the Sault, three different lines; Detroit and Sandusky, steamer Bay City; Detroit and Port Huron, steamers Pearl and Ruby, E. B. & S. Ward, proprietors; also a line of boats between Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago.

Many of the iron ore mining companies on the upper lakes purchased vessels, and transported their own ore to lower lake ports.

Iron Ore Shipping Docks, Duluth, Minn. Length of each 2,304 feet; total capacity 100,000 tons; time required to load 5,000 tons of ore into a vessel, one hour.

The Cleveland Iron Mining Company

his company was one of the first to mine iron ore in the Lake Superior district. It was organized for the purpose of mining ore in Marquette county, Michigan, where they owned about 3,000 acres of land. The ore was transferred from the mines near Ishpeming to the port of Marquette, where it was loaded on vessels, and then brought down to Lake Erie ports, Cleveland, Ohio, being one of these ports.

The first cargo of iron ore ever shipped from the Lake Superior region was transported by the steamer Ontonagon for the Cleveland Iron Mining Company in 1856, and consisted of 269 tons.

a new corporation was formed, taking a controlling interest in the stocks of the two companies, and was named The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company.n 1893 the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company built the steel steamers Pioneer and Cadillac. The Pioneer was constructed by the Detroit Dry Dock Company.

Hanna, Garretson & Co.

began business in 1851, and boat building in 1857. They also became interested in Lake Superior copper mines, and in 1857 built a twin-screw propeller, named the City of Superior, being intended for the Lake Superior trade, and running between Cleveland and Superior City, then an important point, Duluth not having been thought of.

In 1858 this firm built the Northern Light to take the place of the City of Superior, which had been lost. n 1865 Hanna, Garretson & Co. built the Lac-La-Belle, a much larger and far superior boat to any then on the lakes. The Lac-La-Belle was sunk in St. Clair river by coming in collision with the steamer Detroit, the sunken steamer being afterward raised and repaired and again put into commission.

In 1874 Marcus A. Hanna and H. M. Hanna organized the Cleveland Transportation Company in connection with the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, and in that year built two steamers and two schooners.The schooners were the Genoa and the Verona.

This line of boats ran for many years, engaged in carrying the products of the Cleveland Iron Mining Company under contract with the Cleveland Transportation Company. This company went out of existence in 1889

The Minnesota Steamship Company

was organized September 3, 1889, for the purpose of doing a general freighting business, but more especially for freighting the ores of the Minnesota Iron Company on the Great Lakes. The Minnesota Iron Company was perhaps the largest ore mining company on the lakes, its only rival being the Rockefeller-Carnegie interests.very heavy annual output, is moved by the fleet of nine steel steamers and five barges owned by the Minnesota Steamship Company. These vessels are capable of moving probably close to 1,000,000 tons in a season of navigationThe five ore-shipping docks of the company at Two Harbors, Lake SuperiorFrom 15,000 to 40,000 tons of ore are handled daily at Two Harbors.

The Republic Iron Company

The company was organized in 1870 for the purpose to handle the iron ore of the company at Republic, Mich., and the shipping of the ore to Lake Erie ports. The first boat loaded by this company reached Cleveland in 1872,.The business was carried on in this way, the ore being carried to market in other people's vessels until 1881, when they brought the schooner Grace Holland, and built the steamer Republic, the later being known as the steamer Marquette. In 1882 this company built the steamers Continental and Colonial, and next, in 1890, built the steel steamer Republic.

The Menominee Transit Company

This company was organized in 1890 as the Menominee Transit Company with the view of building about ten steamers for the purpose of carrying the ores of the Chapin mine, and of carrying on outside business, when there should not be ore enough to be handled to keep the steamers busy.

An order was at once placed with the Globe Iron Works Company for the building of six steel steamers, the first of which steamers, the Norman, came out in the fall of 1890. She made six or seven trips that fall, and was lost in collision with the steamer Jack, on Lake Huron, May 30, 1895.

The other steamers were all ready for business and all in commission by August 1, 1891. These steamers were, in the order in which they were completed, the Saxon, German, Briton, Grecian and Roman. These boats continued to carry the ores of the Chapin Mining company until the failure of that company in 1893, when the Menominee Transit Company and its six steamers went into the control of the builders of the boats.

The Bessemer Steamship Company

It was the most powerful transportation company on the lakes. It represented the Rockefeller interests, and was closely affiliated with some of the largest iron-mining properties in the Northwest, and with the Carnegie Steel Company, the largest producer of steel in the world. The Bessemer Steamship Company was organized in 1896 with 21 vessels being owned. Their actual carrying capacity per trip is about 100,000 gross tons. They averaged 20 trips per season between Duluth, Chicago and Lake Erie ports, and therefore, carried annually about 2,000,000 gross tons. As a rule they did not carry cargoes up the lakes. This magnificent fleet was named for 21 famous inventors, as follows:

Largest Vessel on the Lakes -- Propeller Samuel F. B. Morse
Steamers -- Henry Cort, James B. Neilson, Sir Henry Bessemer, Sir William Siemens, James Watt, John Ericsson,Sir William Fairbairn, Robert Fulton, George Stephenson, Samuel F. B. Morse. Barges -- Sir Joseph Whitworth, John Scott Russell, George H. Corliss, Sir Isaac Lothian Bell, Alexander Holley, James Nasmyth, Alfred Krupp, Sidney G. Thomas, Wm. Le Barren Jenney, John Fritz, John A. Roeb-ling.

The propeller Morse is the largest vessel on the lakes.

Once the largest Vessel on the Lakes -- Propeller Samuel F. B. Morse

THE LINE COMPANIES

The Union Steamboat Company.

The Western Transit Company

The Erie & Western Transportation Company,

The Northern Steamship Company

The Lehigh Valley Transportation Company

The Union Transit Company

The Lake Erie Transportation Company

Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Company

The Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company

THE ASSOCIATION OF LAKE LINES.

At the opening of the season of navigation of 1895 the association was formally organized. At that time the membership comprised the following lines: The Western Transit Company, Union Steamboat Line, Erie & Western Transportation Company, Northern Steamship Company, Lehigh Valley Transportation Company, Lackawanna Transportation Company, Union Transit Company, and Minneapolis, St. Paul & Buffalo Steamship Company.Beginning with the season of 1897 the Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Company and the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company became members of the association, thus practically extending the jurisdiction of the association to all carriers engaged in the package freight service.

LAKE CARRIERS ASSOCIATION.

The primary movement of looking toward the association of vessel owners had its inception in Cleveland, and on September 1, 1880, the nucleus was formed of the Cleveland Vessel Owners Association,In 1885, on account of the weakness of the vessel owners to establish a general vessel owners association under the plan adopted at the Chicago convention in 1881, the Lake Carriers Association was organized at Buffalo,t was soon discovered that the two associations were operating largely in the same fields.

t was decided, with the consent of both associations, to reorganize the Lake Carriers Association, to amalgamate the Cleveland Vessel Owners Association with it, and invite all vessel owners on the lakes to come into the general organization,

LUMBER CARRIERS ASSOCIATION.

At Detroit in February, 1898, there was organized a Lumber Carriers Association for the purpose of fixing minimum rates for carrying.

CANADIAN TRANSPORTATION LINES

Among the principal Canadian transportation companies may be mentioned the Canadian Navigation Company, of Toronto; Canadian Pacific Steamship Line, of Owen Sound; Northwest Transportation Company, of Sarnia; North Shore Transportation Company, of Collingwood; Great Northern Transportation Company, of Collingwood; Montreal Transportation Company, of Kingston; Merchants Line and G. E. Jacques & Co., Montreal and Hamilton; Mathews Line, of Toronto; and the Kingston & Montreal Forwarding Company, of Kingston.

The Canadian Navigation Company

The Merchant's Line

The Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Marine Association

was organized February 18, 1885, for the purpose of protecting the mutual interests of Canadian vessel owners. At first the membership was composed of the principal steamboat lines and vessel men, the membership being about forty.