Another Day in Duluth

Friday, September 18, 2015

It was cloudy and cool but no rain this morning.  We have three points of interest to visit today so we had better get started.

Our first stop was at the Depot.  This is a restored railroad depot from the early 1900s.  It contains not only a really great railroad museum, but also a historical museum and art gallery.  Entering the railroad museum is like stepping back a 100 years.  The layout contained a nice collection of rolling stock, but there were offices and stores fashioned to look like the early 1900s.  Dan liked the trains; Lynn liked the surrounding store & office fronts.  They let you climb around the trains which was nice.  Within some of the cars were history of the railroads in Duluth.

The history area told about the economic boom driven by lumber and iron ore.  The railroad played a key role in this boom. As more track was laid, it opened up new areas of development. When the railroad reached the Vermillion mountains, Duluth really expanded.  There was an area in the Depot called an immigrant waiting area. Much of the population growth came from people immigrating from Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Poland to work in the mines and logging camps.  It was amazing the determination these people had.  The two or three months it took them to get here, many with no money, only the clothes on their back, traveling in extremely crowded and unsanitary conditions.  Waiting days in lines to be processed. Wow, look what we take for granted!

This thing is a snow blower for the railroad tracks!  I bet it can move some serious snow.

Next stop, the freighter SS William A. Irvin. It was first in service in 1938, under the US Steel flag.  It was named after the president of US Steel at the time. It’s 610 ft long, carried 14,000 tons, with a top speed of 11 MPH.  Propulsion was twin, steam turbines spinning a single wheel.  Personnel consisted of 32 crew and 9 officers.  By 1978 it was obsolete and retired. 

What made this ship interesting were the guest quarters, located in the forward area of the ship.  They were reserved for execs from US Steel.  Often, Irwin and his wife would also travel aboard.  Everything from sleeping quarters, bathroom, lounges, and service was on par with the nicest cruise ship.

Our final stop was a harbor cruise.  We traveled under the lift bridge, out into the lake, then back. Then around the harbor to see some of the loading areas for big ships. 

A couple of grain loading docks.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Today we traveled to Superior, Wisconsin.  Actually it’s just across a bridge over the St. Louis River.  A few things there had our interest.  The first was the Old Firehouse & Police Museum.  It is housed in an 1898 fire hall used by Superior until 1982.  Inside was some cool antique equipment.

This horse drawn, steam driven pumper is not original to Superior, but included it here because they are very rare.

Old time firebox.  The panel below was the network of connections; the firemen could tell which box was alerted for a fire and would know where to respond.

Next was the SS Meteor, a whaleback freighter, the last of its kind in the world.  Originally there were several hundred of these things built during a period from about 1890 to 1910.  This one was built in 1896 and remained in service until 1972.  The Meteor was hull #136.  All have sunk or have been scrapped.   

Their name is derived from their shape.  Actually its more cigar shaped, but in the water it looked like a whale.  Very different design than today.  They were all in the 350 to 400 foot range; the Meteor is 380 ft long with a beam of 48 feet.  Their design advantage was large cargo capacity and shallow draft.  But they had some disadvantages.  They had a habit of rolling over in bad seas.  Loaded, the freeboard was so low, the deck could not be seen from a distance and they got run over by other ships.  They were slow and consumed fuel, coal, at a rate 4x conventional ships of their size and capacity.  Amazingly though, the Meteor went through 3 refits and continued in service twice as long as the Irwin; 76 years versus 40 years.

The picture isn’t great here, but these models show the hull shape of the whaleback design.

This shot is looking forward down the deck.  Note, there are no hatch covers.  The Meteor’s third re-fit turned it into an oil tanker.  In fact they have a bit of a problem, there is still some oil in her nooks and crannies they can’t get out and its leaking into the sand pile its sitting in.

Last stop was to see a lighthouse at the Superior Entry.  This entry leads to the same harbor as the Duluth entry.  Not sure how many ships come in here.  It certainly is closer to the ore docks, but it may not be dredged, so it may not have enough depth.

This is our last day in Duluth.  We have enjoyed our stay here, and believe it or not, we did not do everything there is to do around here.  But, as many of you know, we get the itch to move on after 4 or 5 days.  So tomorrow we are off to Ontonagon in the Porcupine Mountains, back into Michigan.