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This steel-framed dock juts out almost a
quarter of a mile into Lake Superior, 75 feet above the water. It's
a monumental sight to see - and to hear when loading is in progress.
The railroad approach is a mile-long earthen embankment. Railroad
cars bring taconite pellets from Cleveland-Cliffs Iron's
taconite processing facility near their vast open-pit mines
south of Ishpeming and Negaunee, the tilden and Empire mines. The
rail cars continually move out along the top of the ore dock and
empty taconite pellets down into the ore dock's 200 pockets.
(Taconite is a concentrated form of iron-bearing rock, formed with
clay into balls for compact, cost-effective shipment.)
Some 20 to 30 bulk ore carriers a month come to load taconite.
Chutes from each pocket are lowered into the vessel's cargo hold,
and taconite thunders down into it. Then the ship shifts 20
or 30 feet (winches being tightened or loosened let it move), and
new pockets empty into the hold. It's a noisy, impressive
spectacle - a worthwhile opportunity to view big freighters in
action. Vessels that carry taconite are usually older 600-footers.
Thousand-footers usually come to Marquette only to unload coal.
This particular ore dock, built by a Cleveland-Cliffs
subsidiary in 1912, revolutionized the shipping of iron ore.
Its technology has been superseded by Escanaba's ore dock, which
uses conveyors to load the ore.
The first vessel of spring to come to Marquette Harbor is
greeted with fanfare. This tradition is always covered in
Upper Peninsula newspapers as a welcome sign of spring. It goes back
to the city's early years when citizens were isolated all winter and
depended on ships to deliver their food.
Nearby is the giant, coal-fired generating station of
Wisconsin Electric Power. It's the main electrical plant in the
Upper Peninsula. Environmentalists and landscape lovers were sick
that it was built over strong objections.
On Lakeshore Boulevard, shortly before the entrance to Presque
Isle Park, about 4 miles northeast of downtown. Visible from a
vehicle. |
