Danielle Putnam was at the Upper Harbor Ore Dock in Marquette last week and captured a few aerial shots of the American Spirit there loading. She mentioned that it’s been a while since she was there and caught a boat at the docks, so it’s great she shared them with us. Danielle said they back in like that at the dock, to start loading and then they go back out, turn around and pull in bow first for the rest of the loading. Some freighters do it that way, others load on one side of the dock and then go to the other side for the remainder of the loading. I’m not certain as to why they do it either way, maybe one of our “boat nerds” can explain the advantages of doing it both ways.

MI Playground comes to us from Sault Ste. Marie with a video of the 806 foot Honorable James L. Oberstar as it passes through the St. Marys River, with something that’s always a treat, a salute! Plus a quick look at the Sugar Island Ferry right at the end.

Good set that highlights the immensity
of this behemoth.
I’m no expert, but my guess would be
for distribution purposes???
Cool video too.

And I have a MARY question:
You delight us daily with an excellent
selection of photos and videos as well
as your well-worded commentary,
do you ever take a vacation???
Or perhaps living UP there is a vacation,
living the dream!

These photos are great. Haven't heard from
Danielle in a bit. Thanks for sharing these.

The video was cool too.

A MARY reply for Alex...
I guess I am living the dream. My Pasty Cam work has been a part of that dream now for 20 years, being able to work from home all this time. I don't get vacation time, but I'm able to prepare pages ahead of time and then Charlie puts them on the page each morning, so I do have days off that way. Plus when there has been an emergency or if I'm ill, Charlie fills in for me. So it's all good and YES, I'm living the dream, getting to meet so many folks like you!

Alex has the correct answer, the chutes in Marquette
are not long enough to reach the far side of the
1000 footers as they are 105 feet wide. So they
load then turn around or go to the other side of the
dock to evenly distribute the load. I'm no expert
either, but if memory serves me correctly, I have
seen this discussed on the discussion board at the
Boatnerd website on several occasions.

a piece of the Boatnerd discussion:

It takes longer to load at Marquette because they
can only load one side of the ship at a time
because the chutes can't reach the centerline of
the ship. As a result the American Spirit has to
be kept ballasted as she's loading (to fit under
the chutes and have the proper angle of those
chutes), then de-ballasted slowly on the side
they're loading her. Then they have her shift to
the other side and continue the loading and de-
ballasting. Time consuming and a reason why she
rarely loads in Marquette.

BTW, the ore dock in Marquette has the highest
hinge point (from water line to the hinge point of
the chute) at 43 feet of any of the gravity ore
docks.

Always enjoy the photos of the ore boats! And seeing them right there in Marquette makes it even better! Plus i learned something too - i always thought that was the Upper Harbor, so i had it switched. Thanks Mary and Danielle!

I had to look up James Oberstar:

James Louis Oberstar (September 10, 1934 – May 3,
2014) was an American politician who served in the
United States House of Representatives from 1975
to 2011.[1] A member of the Minnesota Democratic–
Farmer–Labor Party, he represented northeastern
Minnesota's 8th congressional district, which
included the cities of Duluth, Brainerd, Grand
Rapids, International Falls, and Hibbing. He was
chair of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee from 2007 to 2011,
ranking minority member before that. In November
2010, he was defeated by a margin of 4,407 votes
by Republican Chip Cravaack. He is the longest-
serving United States House of Representatives
member from Minnesota.

Beautiful aerial pictures and a different
perspective showing the size of these
1000' freighters as well as a great view of the
Upper Harbor. Spent plenty of time there when
attending NMU.
Cool video as well, use to enjoy a Clyde's Burger
right there at Sugar Island watching the ferry go
back n forth. Whenever I was there to call on War
Memorial Hospital, I always took a drive down
there as well as watching at the locks.

Great job as always MS Mary!!

My mistake identifying the Upper Harbor as the Lower Harbor. Today's pictures are definitely the Upper Harbor Ore dock. I have corrected it in my notes above, but I don't have access to change the photo title.

So, Jbuck, please unlearn what you thought you learned here today. You were right all along, this IS the Upper Harbor! :-)
Sorry for causing so much confusion!

OK, so downtown is the Lower Harbor, right? It has been a while and i just figured i remembered it wrong. Thanks again Mary - really enjoy anything to do with Marquette!

Correct Jbuck!! :=)