There are a number of different ways to transport cargo around the U.P. and several appeared on this day in the archives. We start with an "oldie", which was a Shoebox Memory back in 2008 shared from the MTU Archives. This is what winter looked like in Houghton, back in the horse and carriage days. That's the Douglas House at the top of the street on the right and I think the Library where it says, "Café". I'm guessing the horse drawn sleighs were delivering goods to those establishments on this day in history.

Rod Burdick shared the second photo of the John J. Boland at the ore dock in Marquette Harbor, back in 2011. Her bow is pretty well coated with a clear sheet of ice, so you know she's been in some rough seas where the water was washing up good and high, that's a lot of ice coating that boat. I'm not sure what the Boland was delivering or picking up that day, but the shipping season was drawing to a close soon after this shot.

Then in 2015, Lois Haglund captured a shot of a logging truck in the Crystal Falls area, loaded and transporting those logs to a lumber mill somewhere in the U.P. Looks like the roads were in pretty good condition with little to no ice, which is a huge plus when you're hauling heavy loads like that.

Brenda Leigh snapped a couple neat shots recently, while checking out the freighter traffic on the St. Mary's River in the Soo. That's the Cason J. Callaway passing by with her cargo, but what makes these two shots unique are the two foxes that were out on the ice, feasting on something for their breakfast, Brenda figured. She said one ran when they saw her, but the other one must have been hungrier, so he stayed. Brenda still managed to get a shot of them both, just not in the same frame.

Looking at the ice coating the Boland and the ice on the St. Mary's River in the shots, today, I thought you'd enjoy seeing this video today from the U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes, showing the crew breaking ice off the deck of the USCGC Alder in -8 degree weather, while out breaking ice a year ago. And you thought shoveling snow was a tough job!

The 2017 pictures are interesting..... wonder if the foxes caught a gull or was there a dead fish? Inquiring minds want to know!

I like the old time picture of the horses and sleighs.
As to the the fox and lunch I would guess he discovered the left overs of a fish that was caught by an eagle.

I love the old Houghton picture. Yes, that's looking up Isle Royale Street.

Those Coast Guard deckhands seem to be barely making a dent in that ice. Looks like they were more interested in making a path of sorts than removing critical "top heavy" ice. Or maybe they were showing off for the camera. Either way, they all have my respect. One crew member's hammer appears to be far heaver than the others.

Wow...what a task! I'm surprised that there isn't a deicing system, like they use on aircraft. Would make a great workout video, though.

Alex: The lake freighters also use warm water on their hoses in addition to sledge hammers; I did a lot of it when I was a deckhand on the lakes.

Alex,

Aircraft deicing uses propylene glycol antifreeze chemicals that would run directly into the lake. There are systems used on some ships that use mini-excavators or superheated water in power washers. My estimate is they are actually making a path (or trench if you will) so later warm water applied has a path to run off easily rather than refreezing.