North Country Ribbons
Duluth Docks at Dusk
IC #6252 and company are almost finished dumping their fresh loads of taconite on Dock 6 as the sky's pinks and purples fade to dark blues and the lights across the harbor in Superior begin to twinkle. The dock loads ships via a conveyor belt system or gravity-feed; the conveyor belt system can load 10,000 tons of iron ore pellets onto a ship per hour. With marine shipping closed for the winter season though, the taconite will get added to the massive stockpiles (frame left) and get shipped out in the spring when the harbor opens up again.
Of the six docks, the first was originally built on the Superior side of the harbor in 1892. The Duluth Mesabi & Northern Railway built their first wooden ore dock here the next year in 1893. As ore mining exploded on the Mesabi Iron Range into the next decade, the railroad built larger and more advanced ore docks to accommodate the steam freighters that were increasing in size.
By World War One, there were four ore docks almost a half-mile long operating here alongside smaller docks for receiving coal and limestone. The adjacent and inactive Dock 5 was built back 1914 while Dock 6 was indeed the sixth and final dock built at this location in 1918. Over time, the smaller, wooden ore docks were retired and deconstructed while the steel docks remained.
To the very far right is CN's Hallett Dock, used for both outgoing and incoming cargos. Various products are handled here from bentonite clay and limestone, both used in the taconite production process.
More on the Duluth Docks and the harbor history can be read where this is sourced from:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4ac782082b9147b79a76b689de89...
Duluth Docks at Dusk
IC #6252 and company are almost finished dumping their fresh loads of taconite on Dock 6 as the sky's pinks and purples fade to dark blues and the lights across the harbor in Superior begin to twinkle. The dock loads ships via a conveyor belt system or gravity-feed; the conveyor belt system can load 10,000 tons of iron ore pellets onto a ship per hour. With marine shipping closed for the winter season though, the taconite will get added to the massive stockpiles (frame left) and get shipped out in the spring when the harbor opens up again.
Of the six docks, the first was originally built on the Superior side of the harbor in 1892. The Duluth Mesabi & Northern Railway built their first wooden ore dock here the next year in 1893. As ore mining exploded on the Mesabi Iron Range into the next decade, the railroad built larger and more advanced ore docks to accommodate the steam freighters that were increasing in size.
By World War One, there were four ore docks almost a half-mile long operating here alongside smaller docks for receiving coal and limestone. The adjacent and inactive Dock 5 was built back 1914 while Dock 6 was indeed the sixth and final dock built at this location in 1918. Over time, the smaller, wooden ore docks were retired and deconstructed while the steel docks remained.
To the very far right is CN's Hallett Dock, used for both outgoing and incoming cargos. Various products are handled here from bentonite clay and limestone, both used in the taconite production process.
More on the Duluth Docks and the harbor history can be read where this is sourced from:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4ac782082b9147b79a76b689de89...