Coolest thing I've seen in a very long time. And I'm a 57yo combat vet. Seen a lot of cool stuff but this is one of the coolest. Thank you to the producer of this video and also thank you to the people who work this dock and this ship. God bless. 👍🇺🇸
I worked on Zug Island for many years repairing the ore dock cranes. I've watched this ship unload pellets there many times but not until I saw this video did I ever see pellets being loaded onto a ship. Thank you for sharing.
My Uncle was Captain of the Paul R. Tregurtha some years ago! He’s happily retired and a converted dry lander! EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, my dad worked on that very dock! He worked for the railroad in the U.P. a few years before I was born. My whole family is involved in that dock in one way or another!
I had the opportunity to watch a ship load in Two Harbors years ago while visiting relatives in Duluth. Beautiful country and friendly people. Thanks for the video.
This is so fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing. Truly amazing! She's a beautiful ship and to watch the workings her cargo being loaded is incredible!
Pretty amazing how precise the shutes an cargo bays have to be to be loaded....400 foot span with 20 cargo bays have line up with the shutes every ship has to fit the same
George: Thank you for this high resolution aerial drone footage. Excellent video quality. Ironically (pun, iron), I had just been watching an old film on the Ford iron ore bulk pellet ship, the SS William Clay Ford. She did this trip many times from here to Detroit. The old film shot from 1962 showed this loading system, but the film was so blurry that I couldn't see how it worked. Your video filled in those details for me. Can you imagine how many American cars were made from the very iron ore pellets that came from this loading system? Very cool. A long history here that continues this day. Cheers!
Thanks for showing that. I have loaded iron ore pellets before but the drone shots were a new view for me. It was pretty difficult walking on the deck after a load. Those pellets make a pretty good marble.
Awesome video! I’ve always been fascinated by the ore ships. The Edmund Fitzgerald started the fascination with the ore ships and freighters. Keep it up, love the content! Thank you!
I got lucky enough to watch this in person a few years back after visiting the maritime museum in Marquette (I highly recommend checking that out). It was a gloomy and rainy day and we saw the ship (the Cuyahoga) going by from a little beach by the museum. We were driving around after the museum and got down there by the ship on accident. I stood on the beach there and watched, what a great experience!
I worked over 30 years in the mine which produced this ore. Payday was every Wednesday & the first thing our family would do after I got home from work at 4pm, was to drive into Marquette, get a TOGO's sub for everyone & go to the Presque Isle Park & watch this while eating our subs. Sometimes there was no boat. Other times one would just be coming in,or going out. Always exciting!! I miss it too. Moved to ND. Brought 2 friends with me this past summer for a visit. We spent 4 days in the area, never saw a boat. So I posted this to him. He thanked me for it.
At 3:37 and 3:49 you can see how fast a car empties. Everything on the Great Lakes is measured in multiples of 12 or 24 feet, and has been for at least the last hundred years. This uniform standard allows efficiencies like this ore dock. The boats are moved along the dock by pulling and slacking cables from the multiple winches on deck. This allows precise positioning under the chutes.
That's not efficiency -- it's just compatibility. Nowhere else in the world do you have to half-load a ship through narrow hatches from narrow silos and then move the ship a tiny distance to let the other half-load in from the other half of the narrow silos. It's not even particularly energy-efficient -- at first, it looks great, as everything is moved by gravity but that only happens after a bunch of heavy train cars are pushed up a hill.
It's interesting watching the train cars emptying into the chutes... great shots. I had a small drone once but it kept flying into my head so i got rid of it.
Thank you!!! I often see posts of docks no longer in use, the train tracks/trestles removed. Had forgotten there were multiple docks! Also curious as to the current status, health, and projections for Michigan mines. One revelation/day keeps "Al's Timer" away! Grazie!
th-cam.com/video/rPayuJLg5ro/w-d-xo.html wake up seller, buyer, politician, rich man, poor man, weaver, drunkard, sleeper, successful earthly dweller, or lost dweller, for you are an angel trapped in flesh. Satan controls your thoughts, your job, your life. 2 Timothy2:26 Repent! 2 Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Noah was here for the flood. The Angel of the church of Philadelphia is here before the fire that will DESTROY the entire earth. Only those who turn back to Jesus Christ will be saved.
Back in the late 30’s early 40’s my Dad sailed the lakes for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. The name of his vessel was the Ishpeming. I still remember looking at the different buoys and their colored marker lamps in a book on piloting that he used.
vern wallen Thank you for that. Very interesting. One thing that I do remember my dad talking about was clearing ice while coming through The Soo locks in winter in Sioux Ste. Marie, Mi. Sounded pretty rough.
Great video as usual hearing all the stories from my father up in the Mesabi iron ore range where I was born never did he tell us the story how it was loaded I knew they shipped on the Great Lakes but that's feels a gap how I imagined it got everywhere
Lakers have a much longer lifespan than is normally expected of a cargo ship. This is because, being too large to escape the Lakes, they never touch saltwater and are spared its corrosive effects.
When I see the Tregurtha sail into Marquette, I feel like I am seeing a celebrity. The TV show Mighty Ships has an entire episode on the Lee A. Tregurtha. Very interesting. In Sault St. Marie, there is a museum ship called the Valley Camp. It is an ore ship you can tour. Very interesting and an eye opening thing to experience.
The first time I saw the Arthur M. Anderson, I experienced a range of emotion from awe, to sadness, to gratitude, and a feeling of watching history in slow motion. The Chippewa were right, “Michigan”, “Big Water”.
Oh man, that has to start getting pretty cold this time of year! Marquette is cool for sure. Safe travels and here’s hoping for a nice winter break for you.
@@beeble2003 nope normal coal cars((open hoopers)) can hold way more ore then those rail cars can. A normal coal car can carry 100 tons of coal or iron
@@matthewwilson5019 A given volume of iron ore weighs about six times as much as the same volume of coal. If you filled a 100-ton coal hopper with iron ore, it would have about 600 tons of ore in it, and it would collapse. Conversely, if you loaded 100 tons of iron ore into a 100-ton coal hopper, the hopper would be only one-sixth full. This is why ore is generally carried in smaller cars. Same reason that cement hoppers are only about half the size of plastic pellet hoppers. The cement weighs about twice as much per cubic foot, so 100 tons of cement fits in a much smaller car.
@@matthewwilson5019 Train cars cannot carry 600 tons of material in a car designed for 100 tons. If they were carrying iron ore, the cars will have been well under a quarter full. If the cars were full, it was not iron ore.
back in the 70's and living next to Bethlehem steel Buffalo NY this stuff was called pig iron on the rail cars. it was roughly size of a jagged marble.
No, pig iron is actual metal (iron with a relatively high carbon content), extracted from the ore and used as the main input to the steelmaking process. This is taconite -- the ore iself. Pig iron is usually in lumps of 10-25lbs, whereas taconite pellets are about the size you describe.
We just camped in Munising and there was no way I was not making the Trek North to see this collossus. Wife and kids were not real happy but, I really did not care and told them this may not be for you lol.
@@FlatBroke612 Ths numbnuts knows what he did. It is simply a reference to the Edmund Fitsgerald. Another carrier on Superior. Still it is nice to be acknowledged.
@@FlatBroke612 You have one on me. I never served on board a ship. I was shore based. I always envy those who have srved on ships. Thank you for your service be in military or civilian.
Interesting, I have seen these ships loading in the port of Duluth, MN, where I grew up, but I never knew Michigan was a source for iron ore. I was always under the impression that these ships UNLOADED there for the auto industry. I guess that's why we should never ASSUME anything.
There is a steel mill in Sault Ste. Marie ONT. At the terminus of lake superior on the eastern end. If you travel north on I-75 about a mile before the toll booths to cross into Canada, there is a drop in elevation of about 200 feet. At night as you reach that drop off on the interstate, you can look across the bay & see Algoma steel mill. There are a couple of stacks that have a flame rising out of them. One is blue the other is orange. That steel mill is a 24/7 operation so imagine seeing this on a cold winter night with the snow gently falling.
@@dbeekman9738 Right, and Henry Ford built a steel mill in Detroit to do precisely that. Everyhing from iron ore to finished car on one site. The mill is still there, though it's not been owned by Ford since 1989.
I think the fantastic Hullets were used only for unloading until the advent of the self unloading systems. The ore docks like those in Duluth, Two Harbors, Marquette, etc., did the loading. Thanks for watching.
@@mattharper588 I had to go watch a video about them after you commented. Wow, the operator rides the bucket arm, talk about crazy! I’m so glad you mentioned them, I’ve seen them but had no clue about the operation of them.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff the Hullets are the dinosaurs of the lakes anymore, with a vast majority of vessels having self unloading equipment. Not even 100% sure they use them now
No dust, no spillage American ingenuity. Don't know if it's mentioned. They load the ship's holds in a very specific order. If they don't they can break her back and do big stresses on the hull and keel.
Homeport: ‘Steamship, CO’ Never knew Colorado was a big shipbuilding state… Always makes me wonder - in the year 2075 what industries or processes or sights will people look at wistfully…? And say ‘well you don’t see that much anymore in this country’
Actually I think I may not be completely correct because the Lee, built in 1942, was involved in WW2 under a different name and her original length was 501 ft. In '59 she was stretched to her present length & renamed.
The ship has an auger and conveyer belt system built in. That's the crane looking structure above the deck. They point it off the side of the ship and unload that way with the auger in the hold feeding the conveyor.
that's downtown. the dock in the downtown area has been closed for years. wonder if anyone knows what went on on the neat island just n/w of the LS&I dock?
George I would like to have the information about the book you wrote and I have a couple questions I am 65 yo female I rode the rails as a young girl with some friends well is it safe for a single female to ride today its on my bucket list I am healthy and still strong 20 years of dancing and bartending kept me fit so give me some insight
Hi Regina. Here is a link to the book, books.apple.com/us/book/im-a-train-hopper/id1612209010. I think it's probably as safe as it's ever been riding the rails. The females I have run into on the road have been enjoying themselves and didn't relay any fears, other than getting caught;)
As I understand it, there us a conveyor belt that runs under the holds. They open doors and the ore flows onto the conveyor and is transported via belts to the unloading boom.
They process them with limestone so that the pellets can go directly into the blast furnace. I'm not really much of an expert on it, but that is my understanding.
Jack O Neil look for my answer to you question else where in the comments. Limestone slurry is added to the iron ore slurry in the concentrator plant, bentonite clay is added to the iron ore powder, in the pelletizing plant. The iron ore, bentonite mixer is fed into 15 foot diameter balling drums, that are 30 feet long, set on a 5 or maybe a 10 degree elevation. It's conveyored in at the head & as the drum turns the powder is rolled into the 3/8th diameter pellet, then falls off the down hill end of the drum. Like kicking snow down a hill. There were 14 of these drums on the balling floor at the Tilden mine. The rotary kiln produced 800--900 tons of pellets per hour 24/7 365 except for scheduled repairs twice a year spring & fall. There were 2 kilns each producing the 8--900 ton per hour. 6.5 million ton per year.
Most, including this one, are considered self unloading ships. That boom on deck holds a conveyor belt that is swing out from the boat. It is my understanding that there is a system of augers and conveyor belts below that feed the cargo unloading boom.
The ore is pelletized, and generally self levels, but there is also ballast. I remember touring the mine in elementary school, and being on the Barker when my uncle was a crewman and seeing all the cool parts of the boat as a kid. Was super fun!
Bert Canepa I guess it takes four to six hours to complete the loading. I'm not sure how many carloads it takes. The solos below the cars are full before the loading starts from the cars above.
There is a video of the LS&I loading the pocket dock. It takes a while to load up the pockets. They do this the day before the boat arrives, in the winter they try to do it the day of the boats arriving. If the pellets stay in the pocket to long in the winter they have a freezing problem.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff I see the rail cars don't have roof.. So I think rain isn't a Big deal for iron ore pellets.. It just will add a little bit of their weight..
J M I don't recall the title but I use Epidemicsound.com and have a license through them. So it is one of their songs. Shazam should work to get the title for you.
I couldn’t tell exactly, but the ships have thrusters that can move it sideways, and can be directed slightly to move it fore and aft too. It’s also possible that they used the ropes, loosening the one at the stern as they tightened the one on the bow,. All in all, I can’t say for sure. Thanks for watching.
It is moored to the dock with some really big lines. They release just enough slack in those lines for the ship to move where they want it to move. Once it is in the right place, they take up the slack. The energy to move the ship twelve feet could come from winches on shore, the winches that take up the slack in the lines, from the ships propellers and/or bow thrusters, or even just wave action. In some ports, ships shutdown their engines while loading and unloading. This saves fuel and reduces air pollution, but requires shore power connections.
Coolest thing I've seen in a very long time. And I'm a 57yo combat vet. Seen a lot of cool stuff but this is one of the coolest. Thank you to the producer of this video and also thank you to the people who work this dock and this ship. God bless. 👍🇺🇸
Glad you liked it. I have video of some of the operations of the CN ore dock in Duluth too.
I worked on Zug Island for many years repairing the ore dock cranes. I've watched this ship unload pellets there many times but not until I saw this video did I ever see pellets being loaded onto a ship. Thank you for sharing.
My Uncle was Captain of the Paul R. Tregurtha some years ago! He’s happily retired and a converted dry lander!
EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, my dad worked on that very dock! He worked for the railroad in the U.P. a few years before I was born. My whole family is involved in that dock in one way or another!
Who is your uncle? Is it Tim Dayton? I was a lucky winner of a trip on the Paul R. and he was the captain.
@KarMylow Ponderosa Well, friend you'd better Love love love
the wind and Snow snow snow 🥴
Bump for hoping he answers Memphisdougs question.
I had the opportunity to watch a ship load in Two Harbors years ago while visiting relatives in Duluth. Beautiful country and friendly people. Thanks for the video.
This is so fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing. Truly amazing! She's a beautiful ship and to watch the workings her cargo being loaded is incredible!
Pretty amazing how precise the shutes an cargo bays have to be to be loaded....400 foot span with 20 cargo bays have line up with the shutes every ship has to fit the same
George: Thank you for this high resolution aerial drone footage. Excellent video quality. Ironically (pun, iron), I had just been watching an old film on the Ford iron ore bulk pellet ship, the SS William Clay Ford. She did this trip many times from here to Detroit. The old film shot from 1962 showed this loading system, but the film was so blurry that I couldn't see how it worked. Your video filled in those details for me. Can you imagine how many American cars were made from the very iron ore pellets that came from this loading system? Very cool. A long history here that continues this day. Cheers!
I watched that video on the William Clay too! Thanks for watching. I'm hoping to get one loading at the CN dock in Duluth.
The ships themselves were built from that ore.
Thanks for showing that. I have loaded iron ore pellets before but the drone shots were a new view for me. It was pretty difficult walking on the deck after a load. Those pellets make a pretty good marble.
Oh man, yeah, I'm guessing it's like walking on ball bearings!
@@Jumpingoffthecliff -- Sure is. First job for the deckhands is hosing off the deck. Never hurt myself but I was younger then. :)
Like ore through the ore dock, so are the days of our lives.
lol
Well said, friend👍
Awesome video! I’ve always been fascinated by the ore ships. The Edmund Fitzgerald started the fascination with the ore ships and freighters. Keep it up, love the content! Thank you!
I got lucky enough to watch this in person a few years back after visiting the maritime museum in Marquette (I highly recommend checking that out). It was a gloomy and rainy day and we saw the ship (the Cuyahoga) going by from a little beach by the museum. We were driving around after the museum and got down there by the ship on accident. I stood on the beach there and watched, what a great experience!
I worked over 30 years in the mine which produced this ore. Payday was every Wednesday & the first thing our family would do after I got home from work at 4pm, was to drive into Marquette, get a TOGO's sub for everyone & go to the Presque Isle Park & watch this while eating our subs. Sometimes there was no boat. Other times one would just be coming in,or going out. Always exciting!! I miss it too. Moved to ND. Brought 2 friends with me this past summer for a visit. We spent 4 days in the area, never saw a boat. So I posted this to him. He thanked me for it.
At 3:37 and 3:49 you can see how fast a car empties. Everything on the Great Lakes is measured in multiples of 12 or 24 feet, and has been for at least the last hundred years. This uniform standard allows efficiencies like this ore dock.
The boats are moved along the dock by pulling and slacking cables from the multiple winches on deck. This allows precise positioning under the chutes.
Thanks for that information. Fascinating process for sure.
That's not efficiency -- it's just compatibility. Nowhere else in the world do you have to half-load a ship through narrow hatches from narrow silos and then move the ship a tiny distance to let the other half-load in from the other half of the narrow silos. It's not even particularly energy-efficient -- at first, it looks great, as everything is moved by gravity but that only happens after a bunch of heavy train cars are pushed up a hill.
George, this was awesome to see. Many years of watching the freighters and never got a chance or timing to see it done. Thank you.
Very interesting. Not something one would normally be able to watch. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! What interesting history of a ship, that is still working strong. Lovely video. tyvm! ❤️👍😊
It's interesting watching the train cars emptying into the chutes... great shots. I had a small drone once but it kept flying into my head so i got rid of it.
Thank you!!!
I often see posts of docks no longer in use, the train tracks/trestles removed.
Had forgotten there were multiple docks!
Also curious as to the current status, health, and projections for Michigan mines.
One revelation/day keeps "Al's Timer" away!
Grazie!
Fascinating. I've been watching the ship videos for a while and always wondered about the loading anf unloading. Now i understand the loading.
Great job filming and subject, I could watch this all day.
th-cam.com/video/rPayuJLg5ro/w-d-xo.html
wake up seller, buyer, politician, rich man, poor man, weaver, drunkard, sleeper, successful earthly dweller, or lost dweller, for you are an angel trapped in flesh. Satan controls your thoughts, your job, your life. 2 Timothy2:26 Repent!
2 Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Noah was here for the flood. The Angel of the church of Philadelphia is here before the fire that will DESTROY the entire earth. Only those who turn back to Jesus Christ will be saved.
Used to watch the ore ships in Bayfield WI, going towards Ashland WI. SOO LINE railroad had a ore dock 1800 ft long there. Sadly the ore dock is gone.
Moving away from marquette in a couple days. This is one thing I’ll miss watching
Nice job! Great footage of the loading process!
Nice job with the filming of this weighty subject!!....:)
Back in the late 30’s early 40’s my Dad sailed the lakes for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. The name of his vessel was the Ishpeming. I still remember looking at the different buoys and their colored marker lamps in a book on piloting that he used.
Up until the mid seventies Cleveland Cliffs had at least 25 ships on the lakes.Then they slowly disappeared from the scene.⚓⚓
vern wallen Thank you for that. Very interesting. One thing that I do remember my dad talking about was clearing ice while coming through The Soo locks in winter in Sioux Ste. Marie, Mi. Sounded pretty rough.
Thank you for a wonderful video and great views!
Great video as usual hearing all the stories from my father up in the Mesabi iron ore range where I was born never did he tell us the story how it was loaded I knew they shipped on the Great Lakes but that's feels a gap how I imagined it got everywhere
Great video, never seen that before !
That ship is almost 80 years old and still going!? Amazing.
Lakers have a much longer lifespan than is normally expected of a cargo ship. This is because, being too large to escape the Lakes, they never touch saltwater and are spared its corrosive effects.
@@calliarcale 100%
With all the metal fatigue that those years do, these are the ships that crack
Forgive me for also thinking, made in America not China! Yes environment means a lot!
Good maintenance.
Wow- that was fascinating! Neat video!
Thanks for doing this! I love watching stuff like this. Thinking of all the engineering, drawings and manufacturing of the equipment.
No thanks, I’m on vacation shoreside.
DEBI JANE I understand that completely. No different than a surgeon who studies the workings of the human body.
When I see the Tregurtha sail into Marquette, I feel like I am seeing a celebrity. The TV show Mighty Ships has an entire episode on the Lee A. Tregurtha. Very interesting. In Sault St. Marie, there is a museum ship called the Valley Camp. It is an ore ship you can tour. Very interesting and an eye opening thing to experience.
The first time I saw the Arthur M. Anderson, I experienced a range of emotion from awe, to sadness, to gratitude, and a feeling of watching history in slow motion. The Chippewa were right, “Michigan”, “Big Water”.
@@markg.4246 I see the Anderson in Sturgeon Bay many winters.
Cool video. Thanks for sharing it.
JT
Great video thank you for sharing big hugs for Minnesota
My hat's off to the musicians. wow
That was a fabulous video! Thanks!
Those chutes must wear out quickly and get very hot.
Nice Video. Enjoy your adventure!!!
Love this. Thanks!! I used to watch them every day on my lunch. I worked at Rti surgical right around the corner
7-10 seconds to MT a car. Amazing.
There’s a great little bar about a $6 taxi ride from that dock.
What is the name of said establishment?
Flannigans ?
Think of all the monster pike and musky lurking about that huge dock.
Nice video, don’t see this in Texas, great job and music.👍👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I work on the Lee A. Love going to Marquette. Nice video
Oh man, that has to start getting pretty cold this time of year! Marquette is cool for sure. Safe travels and here’s hoping for a nice winter break for you.
nice topview friend
Very interesting
Why am I here? Why do I like this?
Ayyyy, first time ever seeing a video in my recommended from where I live(d)!
Same here!!!!!
SAME!! I loved seeing it!
Hello from Manistique
the scale of the ships is amazing when you see the train cars next to it.
Though remember that they are unusually small train cars. The ore's so heavy that a larger car would be overweight when only part full.
@@beeble2003 nope normal coal cars((open hoopers)) can hold way more ore then those rail cars can. A normal coal car can carry 100 tons of coal or iron
@@matthewwilson5019 A given volume of iron ore weighs about six times as much as the same volume of coal. If you filled a 100-ton coal hopper with iron ore, it would have about 600 tons of ore in it, and it would collapse. Conversely, if you loaded 100 tons of iron ore into a 100-ton coal hopper, the hopper would be only one-sixth full. This is why ore is generally carried in smaller cars.
Same reason that cement hoppers are only about half the size of plastic pellet hoppers. The cement weighs about twice as much per cubic foot, so 100 tons of cement fits in a much smaller car.
@@beeble2003 welp I have seen some trains carry iron ore in normal coal cars and they haven't fallen apart.
Train cars are not flimsy and weak
@@matthewwilson5019 Train cars cannot carry 600 tons of material in a car designed for 100 tons. If they were carrying iron ore, the cars will have been well under a quarter full. If the cars were full, it was not iron ore.
Great video!
Back it up 18’ and come back forward 6’!
Anothr great vid, been there hundreds of times but 1st ever shot from above!!!
Very interesting, I wonder how many of those pellets are on the lakebed underneath? 🤔
Malien 1973 probably enough to mess with a compass!
26,000 tons from the E. Fitzgerald alone.
back in the 70's and living next to Bethlehem steel Buffalo NY this stuff was called pig iron on the rail cars. it was roughly size of a jagged marble.
No, pig iron is actual metal (iron with a relatively high carbon content), extracted from the ore and used as the main input to the steelmaking process. This is taconite -- the ore iself. Pig iron is usually in lumps of 10-25lbs, whereas taconite pellets are about the size you describe.
I used to watch the boats come into ore doc & the unloading chutes would be lowered
Love this ty
I wish you'd shown more close-ups of the ore sliding down the chutes.
steemdup I’m headed up toward Duluth one of these days. I’ll see if I can’t get some closer shots. Thanks for watching.
Can fit ALOT more silverado's into the boat doing it now...
We just camped in Munising and there was no way I was not making the Trek North to see this collossus. Wife and kids were not real happy but, I really did not care and told them this may not be for you lol.
"The legend lives on from the Chipawa on down".
Wrong video numbnuts
@@FlatBroke612 Ths numbnuts knows what he did. It is simply a reference to the Edmund Fitsgerald. Another carrier on Superior. Still it is nice to be acknowledged.
TheAznative101 I’ve sailed ships older than the ‘fitz. I know what he did.
@@FlatBroke612 You have one on me. I never served on board a ship. I was shore based. I always envy those who have srved on ships. Thank you for your service be in military or civilian.
Great video.
I could watch the iron ore pellets be loaded onto a ship all day if I wanted to.
I Worked at the Tilden And Empire mines.
Fire painter Me too! Retired 2007 you?
@@stantaylor3350 worked on construction of the mines. in 70s
Cool video thank you
Interesting, I have seen these ships loading in the port of Duluth, MN, where I grew up, but I never knew Michigan was a source for iron ore. I was always under the impression that these ships UNLOADED there for the auto industry. I guess that's why we should never ASSUME anything.
Marquette is on the UP Michigan. Hardly can be considered Michigan, sorta like how Lionel Ritchie can’t be called black after he left the Commodores.
You can't build a car out of iron ore pellets it has to go to the steel mill first.
@@FlatBroke612 Anyone wanting to understand the UP needs to watch Escanaba in da Moonlight. Should be mandatory really. Better than Fargo
There is a steel mill in Sault Ste. Marie ONT. At the terminus of lake superior on the eastern end. If you travel north on I-75 about a mile before the toll booths to cross into Canada, there is a drop in elevation of about 200 feet. At night as you reach that drop off on the interstate, you can look across the bay & see Algoma steel mill. There are a couple of stacks that have a flame rising out of them. One is blue the other is orange. That steel mill is a 24/7 operation so imagine seeing this on a cold winter night with the snow gently falling.
@@dbeekman9738 Right, and Henry Ford built a steel mill in Detroit to do precisely that. Everyhing from iron ore to finished car on one site. The mill is still there, though it's not been owned by Ford since 1989.
Loaded the American Spirit a few times there
If you’re ever up there again let me know, would like to meet you in person. Like your videos and spirit of adventure
Thanks Danny!
If you want to see how it used to be done before this process Google Hulett ore loaders,that is really cool
I think the fantastic Hullets were used only for unloading until the advent of the self unloading systems. The ore docks like those in Duluth, Two Harbors, Marquette, etc., did the loading. Thanks for watching.
You are correct, I made a mistake on that one thanks for correcting me
@@mattharper588 I had to go watch a video about them after you commented. Wow, the operator rides the bucket arm, talk about crazy! I’m so glad you mentioned them, I’ve seen them but had no clue about the operation of them.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff the Hullets are the dinosaurs of the lakes anymore, with a vast majority of vessels having self unloading equipment. Not even 100% sure they use them now
What an impressive site, very nice to watch...👍👍 How many rail cars does it take to fill up the ship ?
I'm not sure about that. I think each picket holds two rail cars.
Thanks Great Vid thumbs up
No dust, no spillage American ingenuity. Don't know if it's mentioned. They load the ship's holds in a very specific order. If they don't they can break her back and do big stresses on the hull and keel.
Interesting, I didn't know that.
Love watching the ships come in
Trucks move small loads trains move medium loads ships MOVE LOADS
Airplanes move cargo expensively and quickly
Homeport: ‘Steamship, CO’
Never knew Colorado was a big shipbuilding state…
Always makes me wonder - in the year 2075 what industries or processes or sights will people look at wistfully…? And say ‘well you don’t see that much anymore in this country’
How much draft the the freighter have when empty vs. full?
About thirty feet I think. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for video
You are most welcome!
Could you tell me the name of this music and who plays it? Love this video. So relaxing.
Hi Walt. It is a song called "One More For You" by River Run Dry. I license most of the music on my channel through Epidemic Sound.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff Thank you so much. That video is so relaxing. Keep up the good work.
How many boxcars fill one hold of the ship?
Depends on whether they are ore jenneys or coal cars, but a 1,000 foot freighter can hold over 300 coal cars.
Incredible
Music sounds like Dire Straights.
Is this the one in Marquette Michigan because when I want their it looked very old and like it was not working
Yes this is in Marquette. There is a super old one downtown too.
where is the destination of the Iron Ore pellets...........
Steel mills in places like Cleveland or Chicago, etc.
Even back in ‘42 they were building lakers they knew would never leave the upper lakes. She’s about 100 feet too long for the Welland.
Actually I think I may not be completely correct because the Lee, built in 1942, was involved in WW2 under a different name and her original length was 501 ft. In '59 she was stretched to her present length & renamed.
How do they UNload the ship?
The ship has an auger and conveyer belt system built in. That's the crane looking structure above the deck. They point it off the side of the ship and unload that way with the auger in the hold feeding the conveyor.
@RTLL thanks for asking, wondered about that myself.
Remies Bar in Marquette, now thats what I call home!!!
that's downtown. the dock in the downtown area has been closed for years. wonder if anyone knows what went on on the neat island just n/w of the LS&I dock?
George I would like to have the information about the book you wrote and I have a couple questions I am 65 yo female I rode the rails as a young girl with some friends well is it safe for a single female to ride today its on my bucket list I am healthy and still strong 20 years of dancing and bartending kept me fit so give me some insight
Hi Regina. Here is a link to the book, books.apple.com/us/book/im-a-train-hopper/id1612209010. I think it's probably as safe as it's ever been riding the rails. The females I have run into on the road have been enjoying themselves and didn't relay any fears, other than getting caught;)
Reminiscent of the Edmund Fitzgerald 1958 - 1975
Awesome video how do they unload them things that's what I'd like to know anybody know?
As I understand it, there us a conveyor belt that runs under the holds. They open doors and the ore flows onto the conveyor and is transported via belts to the unloading boom.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff thank you sir for replying. I love your videos
How come the pellets are round?
They process them with limestone so that the pellets can go directly into the blast furnace. I'm not really much of an expert on it, but that is my understanding.
Jack O Neil look for my answer to you question else where in the comments. Limestone slurry is added to the iron ore slurry in the concentrator plant, bentonite clay is added to the iron ore powder, in the pelletizing plant. The iron ore, bentonite mixer is fed into 15 foot diameter balling drums, that are 30 feet long, set on a 5 or maybe a 10 degree elevation. It's conveyored in at the head & as the drum turns the powder is rolled into the 3/8th diameter pellet, then falls off the down hill end of the drum. Like kicking snow down a hill. There were 14 of these drums on the balling floor at the Tilden mine. The rotary kiln produced 800--900 tons of pellets per hour 24/7 365 except for scheduled repairs twice a year spring & fall. There were 2 kilns each producing the 8--900 ton per hour. 6.5 million ton per year.
How do they get the stuff out at the other end of the trip?
Most, including this one, are considered self unloading ships. That boom on deck holds a conveyor belt that is swing out from the boat. It is my understanding that there is a system of augers and conveyor belts below that feed the cargo unloading boom.
When they move the boat 12 feet to access the other pockets, do they use the main engines or drag with mooring lines and windlasses?
Winches and it’s called “shifting”
Thanks for that explanation. I really enjoyed the whole process.
What is submerged on the other side? Cool vid, tnx!
Jason those are the piling froM a much earlier ore dock.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff cool tnx!
Why doesn't adding all that ore to the starboard side not cause it to list? How do they even it out?
Roscoe Macbeth that’s a great question. I think the ore is pelletized and evens out on its own to certain extent, but, I don’t know that for sure.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff Thanks Jumper.
They have ballast tanks to fill or empty depending on how th load sits.
The ore is pelletized, and generally self levels, but there is also ballast. I remember touring the mine in elementary school, and being on the Barker when my uncle was a crewman and seeing all the cool parts of the boat as a kid. Was super fun!
Holds of self unloaders are V shaped so loads end up self leveling.
So, how many carloads to load that ship? How long to load the ship in this manner?
Bert Canepa I guess it takes four to six hours to complete the loading. I'm not sure how many carloads it takes. The solos below the cars are full before the loading starts from the cars above.
There is a video of the LS&I loading the pocket dock. It takes a while to load up the pockets. They do this the day before the boat arrives, in the winter they try to do it the day of the boats arriving. If the pellets stay in the pocket to long in the winter they have a freezing problem.
about 85 tons per car so about 300-350 cars to load a boat this size. 750ish for the 1000ft ers
The spice must flow…
Um.. Is there a question what is the unloading process if it's raining?
Yul Hizhar I don’t think it’s an issue unloading. I doubt a moderate rain would be a problem loading, but I really don’t know for sure.
@@Jumpingoffthecliff I see the rail cars don't have roof.. So I think rain isn't a Big deal for iron ore pellets.. It just will add a little bit of their weight..
Ahh, Marquette. My home away from home.
Sweet music, mind sharing?
J M I don't recall the title but I use Epidemicsound.com and have a license through them. So it is one of their songs. Shazam should work to get the title for you.
It's "One More for You" by River Run Dry. From their album "Short Straw". 2014.
Wonder did the Edmond Fitzgerald ever load there
Not sure, but I would assume it was a possibility.
How do they move the ship just twelve feet?
I couldn’t tell exactly, but the ships have thrusters that can move it sideways, and can be directed slightly to move it fore and aft too. It’s also possible that they used the ropes, loosening the one at the stern as they tightened the one on the bow,. All in all, I can’t say for sure. Thanks for watching.
Put it in reverse gear ! :-)
Practice! 😉
Tugboats?
It is moored to the dock with some really big lines. They release just enough slack in those lines for the ship to move where they want it to move. Once it is in the right place, they take up the slack.
The energy to move the ship twelve feet could come from winches on shore, the winches that take up the slack in the lines, from the ships propellers and/or bow thrusters, or even just wave action.
In some ports, ships shutdown their engines while loading and unloading. This saves fuel and reduces air pollution, but requires shore power connections.
How long does it take to load a ship ?
Six to eight hours I think.
You can hardly see anything in the video