Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. Commodities shipped from the Port of Duluth include coal, iron ore, grain, limestone, cement, salt, wood pulp, steel coil, and wind turbine components. Duluth is south of the Iron Range and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Taconite is a variety of banded iron formation, an iron-bearing sedimentary rock, in which the iron minerals are interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate. The name "taconyte" was coined by Horace Vaughn Winchell (1865–1923) – son of Newton Horace Winchell, the Minnesota State Geologist – during their pioneering investigations of the Precambrian Biwabik Iron Formation of northeastern Minnesota. He believed the sedimentary rock sequence hosting the iron-formation was correlative with the Taconic orogeny of New England, and referred to the unfamiliar and as-yet-unnamed iron-bearing rock as the 'taconic rock' or taconyte.
The Aerial Lift Bridge, earlier known as the Aerial Bridge or Aerial Ferry Bridge, is a landmark in the port city of Duluth, Minnesota. The span began life in 1905 as the United States' first transporter bridge: Only one other was ever constructed in the country, Sky Ride in Chicago. The span was converted in 1929–1930 to a vertical-lift bridge, also rather uncommon, although there are six such bridges along Ontario's Welland Canal. It remains in operation. The bridge is owned and operated by the City of Duluth. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 1973. The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains a nearby maritime museum.
Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.
Transportation in the U.S. State of Minnesota consists of a complex network of roadways, railways, waterways and airports. The transportation system is generally overseen by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, a cabinet-level agency of the state government. Additionally, regional governments such as the Metropolitan Council have authority over regional planning for the transportation system and local governments such as cities and counties oversee the local transportation network.
SS William A. Irvin is a lake freighter, named for William A. Irvin, that sailed as a bulk freighter on the Great Lakes as part US Steel's lake fleet. She was flagship of the company fleet from her launch in the depths of the Great Depression in 1938 until 1975 and then was a general workhorse of the fleet until her retirement in 1978.
The Thomas Wilson was a whaleback freighter built in 1892 and used to haul bulk freight on the Great Lakes. The ship sank in Lake Superior just outside the harbor of Duluth, Minnesota, United States, on 7 June 1902, after a collision with the George Hadley. The wreck of the Thomas Wilson is one of the best remaining examples of a whaleback steamer, and it is also significant for the changes made in operating procedures at the Duluth harbor. The remains of the ship were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
William M. Black is a steam-propelled, sidewheel dustpan dredge, named for William Murray Black, now serving as a museum ship in the harbor of Dubuque, Iowa. Built in 1934, she is one of a small number of surviving steam-powered dredges, and one of four surviving United States Army Corps of Engineers dredges. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. She is open for tours as part of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium.
The Port of Cleveland is a bulk freight and container shipping port at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River on Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is the third-largest port in the Great Lakes and the fourth-largest Great Lakes port by annual tonnage. Over 20,000 jobs and $3.5 billion in annual economic activity are tied to the roughly 13 million tons of cargo that move through Cleveland Harbor each year.
Samuel P. Ely is a shipwreck in Two Harbors, Minnesota listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She was a schooner that sailed the Great Lakes carrying iron ore, coal, and other bulk freight. She was built in 1869 and was a fairly typical example of the 200-foot schooner built in the 1870s, though she was reinforced for the demands of carrying iron ore.
MV Paul R. Tregurtha is a Great Lakes-based bulk carrier freighter. She is the current Queen of the Lakes, an unofficial but widely recognized title given to the longest vessel active on the Great Lakes. Launched as MV William J. De Lancey, she was the last of the thirteen "thousand footers" to enter service on the Great Lakes, and was also the last Great Lakes vessel built at the American Ship Building Company yard in Lorain, Ohio. The MV Paul R. Tregurtha is the current flagship for the Interlake Steamship Company.
The Duluth Ship Canal is an artificial canal cut through Minnesota Point, providing direct access to Duluth harbor from Lake Superior. Begun privately in 1871, it was put under federal supervision and maintenance several years later. It is still an important component of the harbor facilities.
SS Onoko was an iron hulled Great Lakes freighter. She was launched in 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio as hull number #4, and sank on September 14, 1915 in Lake Superior near Knife River, Minnesota. Onoko is thought to be the prototype for every single steel hulled Great Lakes Bulk carrier that ever sailed. These vessels made possible the cheap transport of bulk cargoes such as iron ore, coal and limestone. Her wreckage still remains on the bottom of Lake Superior and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The George Spencer was a wooden lake freighter that sank on along with her schooner barge Amboy on Lake Superior, near Thomasville, Cook County, Minnesota in the Mataafa Storm of 1905. On April 14, 1994, the wrecks of the Spencer and the Amboy were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
USAVEssayons was a hopper dredge of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. At the time of her construction, she was the largest hopper dredge ever built. She was the flagship of the Army Corps of Engineers dredge fleet. Her primary mission was to maintain the entrance to New York Harbor and other East Coast ports, but she was employed all around the United States and at several international locations. She was launched in 1949 and retired in 1980.
Essayons was a tugboat of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Her mission with the Corps was to support the installation of breakwaters and piers, and the dredging of harbors on Lake Superior. She was built in 1908 and served with the Army until 1949, when she was sold to the Zenith Dredge Company. Essayons continued her support of port construction and maintenance under her new owner until the mid 1960s. In 1994 she was sold again, this time to a local businessman, who hoped to convert her into a floating Bed and Breakfast. This plan never came to fruition and she sank at her moorings in Duluth Harbor in 2009.
