The Upper Peninsula gets supplies such as coal, road salt, cement, to name a few, delivered via freighters such as this one photographed by Rod Burdick. Of course they also transport iron ore out of the U.P. According to Rod, this is the motor vessel Calumet, arriving off Menominee's North Pier light. At this location, the Menominee River flows into Green Bay and was once a major shipping point for the abundant crop of the areas forests. The port of Menominee is still bustling with ships such as this one carrying coal. I found it quite interesting that this ship is named Calumet and it started me to wondering what the origin of the name might be...

Good Morning

Good morning from Mishawaka IN.

Good Morning from Florida , looks like we are going to get hit again with another Hurricane, time to move to the UP, I would just have to split wood and shovel snow no putting up hurricane shutters.

Mornin', Thanks for the boat pic. We don't see them down here--ever.

Look at the color of the lake. It almost looks black. Have a nice day everyone.

Good morning everyone

Good Morning from South Georgia.
The pic is a good wake along with a cup of coffee

Is it a boat or a ship or a freighter? When does a boat become a ship?

Good Morning From Ann Arbor

Great picture I always look for them when im in the upper. I would like to be one of those fisherman by the light . What a sight to see a big ship that close. My son worked the summer on a charter fishing boat in the summer in Oscoda. They had gone out on lake huron early one morning in the fog and stopped on the edge of the shipping lane ,where he said a freighter passed them about 100 ft away . The captain seen it on the radar but didn't mention it the my son. He said it scared him too death. Everyone on the boat new what the captain was doing except my son. New deck hand training 101.

Joe

"Calumet" is generally accepted to mean "peace pipe." It orignated from "chanupa" the Lakota name for a reed pipe. "Calumet" is the French word for "reed." (or so one source says)

The word calumet is an adaptation of the French word chalumeau, which means a reed or reed pipe (it is the word used to describe the lowest register of the clarinet)

This vessel belongs to Lower Lakes Towing and they name most of their boats after rivers that feed the Great Lakes. Boats in their fleet include the Calumet, Maumee, Cuyahoga, Saginaw, Michipicoten, and the Mississagi. All rivers feeding the Great Lakes somewhere.

TEN days and counting until this L.P.er is back in the U.P.

In the Beginning the ship was !!! See below

Built by the Great Lakes Engineering Works, River Rouge (Detroit), MI; the Myron C. Taylor was launched in 1929 for the Pittsburgh Steamship Company (the private fleet of the U.S. Steel Corp.). Constructed as a Great Lakes traditional styled straight decker, the Taylor was 1 of 3 new vessels joining the Pittsburgh fleet that year; the other 2 being the William G. Clyde (now the Calcite II) and the Horace Johnson (scrapped 1984). The Myron C. Taylor sailed on her maiden voyage from Detroit, MI to Duluth, MN on August 27, 1929. The vessel's namesake is Mr. Myron Charles Taylor; a former Chairman of the Finance Committee of the U.S. Steel Corp. Mr. Taylor died May 6, 1959.


Her lay up in Sarnia was a result of a pending sale to a U.S. affiliate of a Canadian shipping company. Late March, 2001; the sale of the Myron C. Taylor and her fleet mate Calcite II was announced. The vessels were sold to Grand River Navigation Co., Cleveland, OH; an affiliate of Lower Lakes Towing Ltd., Port Dover, ON. On Saturday, April 21, 2001; the vessel was christened Calumet in honor of the Calumet River which empties into Lake Michigan at Chicago, IL. Also christened at this time was her former and continued fleet mate Calcite II, now the Maumee. A second former fleet mate, the George A. Sloan, was reflagged Canadian and christened Mississagi as part of the same ceremony.

Hope this explaine the name Calumet . I was interested also

Here's a pic I took not too long back of a couple ships chasing each other on the lake near Eagle Harbor. By the way, these are ships or freighters, a 'boat' is something you could put on a 'ship'.

I grew up calling them ore "boats" as a youngster and it would be pretty tough to fit one on top of another. That being said, I don't care what yah call em, huge and magnificient works for me!

WOW...What a GREAT picture.....

Wasn't there also an Indian Chief named Calumet? That comes from somewhere way w-a-y back in my memory... I think! Did I make that up? I know someone will have an answer.

Looking at that Ore Boat the word 'majestic' comes to mind.

Good morning from Elkhart Indiana. Have been enjoying your sight for a long time. I have not been up to the Copper Country for about 15 years. This sight reminds me of what I have missed.

I see I am not the only person from northern Indiana that goes up there

Nice picture today..Many, many Yoopers sailed on the lakes in past years. A great site for great lakes info can be found at www.boatnerd.com

Boats are submarines.
Ships are targets.

The terms ship & boat & freighter are pretty much used interchangeably. Both ship & boat are used in the lyrics of the song "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald": "...the ship was the pride of the American side.." "...and the iron boats go as the mariners all know with the gales of Novemeber remembered..."

That said, in my family when someone spots a vessel coming up the lake, we call out "ship!" not "boat".

Some very interesting reading here with a slight mention of a "Chief's calumet", referring to his pipe.

http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/hi_explore.html

Ooooooo! The bridge is down!

On the St. Clair River, where I grew up, everyone called the bulk carriers "boats," even though we knew the rule of thumb that says a "boat" is something that can be carried on a "ship." Now I work for a Navy contractor and have learned that you better be careful to abide by the rule when it comes to warships. As usual, there are rules and there is what people actually do.

Carole Sterling Hts. Mi.... That was the cabin.. you were able to see more than I did because my Dad brought me to see this in the late 60's. The house accross the road was the owner of a small sawmill from what I remember my Dad telling me. Also his Grandmother would tell him stories of feeding the Indians that would come down from the cliffs.

The bridge is down. Does that mean the snowmobile trails are open?

The First Mate was in a rare mood as he finished drilling the crew. He barked out a final order: "All right, you idiots, fall out!" The men fell out, but one sailor stood firm.

The sailor stared as the First Mate and smiled. "There were a lot of them weren't there sir?

There was a Calumet baking powder

The "calumet" was the peace pipe they fashioned and used, according to legend, from the red cliffs in the mid west.

Does anyone know why WBKP, channel 5 & 10, has been off the air for several day?

calumet [Fr.,=reed], name given by the French to the peace pipe used by the indigenous people of North America for smoking tobacco; it consisted of a long, feathered stem, with or without a pipe bowl. Such pipes were considered sacred, offering communion with the animate powers of the universe and embodying the honor and the source of power of Native Americans who possessed them. Every aspect of their fashioning and decoration was symbolic, and they varied from tribe to tribe. Calumets were particularly used at the conclusion of peace treaties and in ceremonies of adoption. They served as ambassadors' credentials and were passports of safe-conduct wherever recognized. To refuse to smoke the calumet when invited was considered an extreme insult. The pipes were principally used by the Dakotan (Siouan) and Algonquian peoples of the Great Plains and in the SE United States. However, pipes were used throughout most of North America, and communal smoking, wherever found, usually carried the guarantees of amity granted with food sharing. In the Middle West pipestone was much used in making them.

Thanks for showing my hometown lighthouse!

Since working on the lakes a little bit while I was at school at MTU, I've called them 'lakers' for the great lakes freighters, 'salties' for the ones that traverse the ocean (most lakers are too long to get through the Seaway locks), and boats for everything smaller. Unless it's the Queen or the Ranger.

But mostly, when I see them up close, I call them 'Holy Wah!'

Just in case anyone else is a freighter geek like me, here’s a good web site:

www.boatnerd.com

Really like the photo today. Makes me think of what I miss seeing, living where I do. They are always nice to see on the lakes. Miss those Great Lakes.

All the wonderful conversation this morning brings back memories of listening, late at night, to the music of the Great Lakes: "upbound" and "downbound" boats signaling each other as they passed through Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. Haunting melodies, indeed.

Matt, I remember the time you and I saw the the Bulk Freighter 'George Williams' docked just west of the Houghton/Hancock Lift Bridge. What a sight!!

Candy, CA

Thanks for the tips. I didn't know about Marquette General Hospital. I've checked the others from time to time but I've never seen any Network Geek openings in the UP. 8^(

It was a sad day when they retired the SS Williams. We got to see the final call for all hands on deck.

finnferrfunn and JFWH Mi.,
Thanks for the chuckles this morning.

A boat becomes a ship when it reaches 200 pounds. No, wait, that's pigs & hogs! I guess I've spent too many years teaching 1st graders to read from a book that teaches that.

Thanks to the folks who make the pasties. We received 4 of them, on time yesterday, and enjoyed them for dinner. There aren't many pasties to be found here in Middle Georgia. I get a craving for them once in a while, and the only solution short of driving to the UP (no, I don't cook), is to order from the UP. Thanks again for making a Yooper happy.

Good Morning from Houston!

OK, so when they drop the bridge, what does that mean? Is it the end of summer boat traffic in the canal?

I think it means the beginning of snowmobile traffic. :-)

Hey is that the gerbil peering through the anchor opening???

No, I think the gerbil is in the Lighthouse Tower! See him?

maybe there are two and they're waving at each other?

To Mike B. Pittsburgh-

OOOOHHHH! That's what my brain did! It connected all that stuff I learned a long time ago about the Calumet and it's link to Chiefs! and came up with Chief Calumet! (Chief Peace Pipe?) Thanks for straightening that out.

hello to all. Hope the weather in the UP is nice because I'm returning there tonight after visiting my neice and family in Texas. Does anyone know what the term "harbor lights" means referring to something to do with a ship-boat?

Good morning from Vegas!

http://themotorcity.blogspot.com

Cool new site

On the Great Lakes they're boats. So says the farmers through the years that made 'em run. Else where they'd be ships.

The air in S.E. Mi is BROWN today! Makes me want to breath real slow so's not to use to much of it. It can't be good for anyone.

Spec-
I think you are right! Oh my goodness! Two gerbil sightings in one picture! This is a historical day my friend.

I was raised in Menominee. I frequently visit &
cross the mouth of the Menominee River at the Minnekaunee Bridge to get over to Marinette. The freighters stop short of the bridge and unload slag there for a large processing plant. A couple years ago a couple freighters were grounded in the low waters of Green Bay. It is fascinating
to look upstream from the bridge to see the current products of Marinette Marine--the four-decker Staten Island Ferries. The lighthouse is near what we called the "Ann Arbor ferry docks." The ferries (no longer running)carried railroads, cars, and people over to Frankfort, via the Sturgeon Bay passageway. There is a great marina in Menominee, a product of the WPA, and one can see dozens of sailboats racing on a Saturday. The water of Green Bay is warmer than The Big Lake, but it can be treacherous! The fetch from Manistique to the city of Green Bay is pretty darned long and the sloshing from Menominee to the Door Peninsula can be misleading. BTW, the "Signal" manufacturing company there is closing down--over 250 folks will lose jobs as the electric/electronic parts factory shifts operations to Mexico. Nice to see the picture.

Shelly... did you mean hysterical!

Calumet High School's yearbook has been the Peace Pipe for years, based on the traditional meaning for the word.

Ooooooo! The bridge is up!

Nothing hysterical about this day:
Number 1. I'm at work and
Number 2. Ivan is headed this way and should drop his rain fall on us around rush hour traffic time; so I was told from a co-worker....

That in itself is enough to make me cry.

Way above, Joe mentioned Calumet Baking Soda. I find that really funny, because after reading the notes this morning, I walked into our kitchen, and saw our can of Calumet Baking Soda, (which I didn't even know we had), sitting right next to the microwave! Almost as if to say, "Hey! You forgot to mention me on Pasty!"

It has a picture of an American Indian on it. Kind of a weird co-ink-a-dink!

To DaveF

"I see I am not the only person from northern Indiana that goes up there"

lol, I grew up in northern Inddiana, Michigan City
to be exact. only difference is when I came Up
here in 1977 I never left. ;-)

to throw gas on the fire, I have been told a boat
is something that stays on the great lakes, a ship
goes on the oceans.

Thus the salties that come in for grain and coal etc are ships, and the ore carriers are ore boats.

My brother alternated between calling the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Constellation, "The Boat" and "The Connie." I understand that she is of a goodly largeness.

shelly
thoughts and prayers with you for your run in with Ivan

Now the bridge is back up.

To Jim Berryman... I just read yesterday's mail and was elated to see that you did get financing for a new White House. I told you that you would succeed if you simply refused to give up. Keweenaw just would'nt be the same without it. I am going to jump in my new Ford truck next Thursday (9/30)and I am coming home. Dinner is on me kid!!! GO LIONS..GO COPPER KINGS!!!

Roudy, the air here in Port Huron is brownish yellow! I try not to breathe much either!
Sure do miss the clean air of home! Go Copper Kings!

Hi Aunt Cheryl-

Thanks for visiting and staying with us in Texas. We had a great time!

What is the status of the leaves in Houghton?

What is the status of the bears in the porkies?

Hey Chimba
This is a pretty good site:

http://www.foliagenetwork.com/reports/midwest_us/

Sailor: "Cap'n, can I go downstairs and go to the bathroom?"
Captain: "Listen, you numbskull, this is a ship. You don't go 'downstairs' to the 'bathroom', you go 'below decks' to the 'head'. And that's fore and that's aft, that's port, and that's starboard, and if you ever make a dumb mistake like that again, I'll shove you through one of those little round windows over there!"

SarahK:
The Bears are from Chicago and the Lions beat them!

But the Bears beat the Packers and that is all that counts.

Da bears

Calumet County Wisconsin originally spelled "Chalumet” derived its name from a Menominee Indian Village lying on the east shore of Lake Winnebago. The name means "peace" and signifies the Indian pipe of peace.

The Indians (not PC) believed that the smoke from the Peace Pipes of the resident Menominee’s ascended to the great spirit from with their boundaries. This said I believe it is a Indian word for peace. I Could be wrong though.

I only like two football teams; the Minnesota Vikings and whoever is playing the Green Bay Packers :-)

yooper66, just to let you know, your picture features the 'Canadian Navigator' chasing the 'Joseph H. Thompson/Jr.'

my mistake that should read 'Canadian Prospector', not navigator

Ceremonial pipes were and are among the most sacred possessions of a tribe. The tribes who lived around the Great Lakes made such a prominent cult of the pipe that they are sometimes called by the name of the Calumet People. The word calumet is an adaptation of the French word chalumeau, which means a reed or reed pipe (it is the word used to describe the lowest register of the clarinet), applied to it by the early French Canadians (others say it was French Jesuits). Indeed, it was so beaded, feathered, ribboned and sculpted that it resembled an exotic musical instrument.

Speaking of Calumet/Chalumeau: we have a Chalumeau rank of pipes in the Casavant organ here at St. Joseph Church in Lake Linden - 4 miles S/E of Calumet. It does sound like a small clarinet and is a rank of small reed pipes. It is playable on the upper keyboard and in the pedals. There are 61 of these Chalumeau pipes in the "Recit" of our instrument. Ken Reed of Lauck Pipe Organs built them for us in 2000.

Yah, what is the deal with 5&10 (which I call "Five and Dime" - fits the quality of their news operation)?? Have not been able to get them on the "ears" lately.

Hi All:

Thinking of the sound of the oar boats that used to dock at the Hubbell docks years ago. We would go to bed and fall asleep listening to their sounds. That and the sound of the frogs at the Traprock River in the night always put us to sleep. Sure miss those sounds and think of them often. Mary

we called the boats/ships lakers and perhaps all the aborriginals out there would have some concept of the word calumet as meanings change over time with the changing dialects

Funny. Someone at the start of the day mentioned that the lake looked dark. On Sunday I was driving along the coast here in Ventura and mentioned to the young person in the car that the ocean that day looked just like Lake Superior! It was dark, choppy, very much like today's picture.

I meant da fuzzy bears that smell da food from da cabins in the porkies! food being people?

Gerbil? What gerbil? I still haven't found it on Seneca Lake!

To murphysurf are you trying to be funny or what??

Roudy, It's brown in Milwaukee area as well. My sentiments exactly. Don't breathe till your in the UP.
Beautiful pix, thankyou

Yooper66 & NKR Mishawaka: a couple of weeks ago an estute Yoop stated that boats are freighters on inland lakes and ships are ships on the open seas.

Daddy and Grandad were both RR workers and they never referred to anything on Lake Superior as a ship--only boats, in particular, oar boats. And both were native Lake Superiorans.

Squirrel, squirrel on the bird feeder!!!

What is the status of the Packers in Cheesetown.

Go Lions

They still have 11 more world champianships than the lions - Bears are 2nd, and the last winning season for the lions was - when???

Yeah what JJ said!!

OH and your welcome Mooch!

Packers, Lions, and Bears hey hey. Packers, Lions,
and Bears, hey hey. Go! Fight! Win!

Last time I watched the Packers and Bears I thought I saw Gerbils AAAAAAAH!

Hey Charlie and Edie (AKA: Dad and Mom),
Love the pics of the UP...can't wait to get back up that way. Carl, the kids and I will be up there over Christmas for about 2 weeks, so maybe we can get together at some point. I would love to see you again and of course let you meet the additions to our family. You have only met James who is 4 now. Alexis will be 2 the beginning of December. And in March there will be a 3rd and final MacCarthy added. :) Anyway, sorry to hear about Casey. I didn't know about it until I got an email from Becky recently. She was a great companion. I hope you are both doing well. I think of you often even if I haven't had much oppertunity to keep in touch as often as I would have liked to. Love ya and talk to you soon!
Love,
Vania

"Ore boats" and he works on "the boats" are the words I've heard for many years. Then we have the shipping lanes. Go figure.

lisa you have won the hearts of your countrymen

My dad, a navy man, used to tell me that a boat was something that could be hoisted aboard a ship.

I live in Chesterton, Indiana - originally called Calumet. That name is apparently more common than I thought. We are in NW Indiana on Lake Michigan, about 50 miles from Chicago -- home of the Indiana Dunes State Park.

Sorry to have been repetitive.....just posted before I read farther through the day...:)

That is the light station at the mouth of the Menominee river in Menominee, Michigan. Southern-most tip of the Upper Peninsula. The water appears to be black because it is cold and deep and not highly reflective like ocean water. A great deal of tannin is also present in these waters. Tannin is a dark residu found in boreal waters due to the tremendous amount of decomposing vegetation carried downstream and deposited in the delta mouth. On the Great Lakes, watercraft of any size, including freighters, are always correctly referred to as "boats." Ocean going freighters are always referred to as "ships" even though they are often much smaller than our one thousand foot boats.