• Tuesday-What'sUP October 25 - 09:23 pm

It's inevitable folks, before too long, winter will be upon us here in the Copper Country. To get ready for the icy roads we'll have to deal with, the freighter Algosoo, made an important delivery of salt to Mattila's dock in Hancock. Danielle Adams was on hand to record the event, from start to finish and here's what she had to say about her adventure:

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The Algosoo anchored in Keweenaw Bay Friday night and got under way about 0835 Saturday morning. They reached the dock around 1120 am and started unloading the 18,000 tons of road salt. I was at the Portage Lake Cabins when I found the boat just before 9 am. Then from there I headed back to Houghton and went to the Waterfront Park and got a few really good shots of it coming to and under the bridge. Then I went along the Canal Road and stopped and got a few good shots from across the Canal. From there I went to Hancock to the dock and took some more pictures.

This salt is trucked to Keweenaw, Gogebic, Iron, Houghton, Ontonagon, and Baraga. Trucks were to begin hauling it away Monday morning. There will be another boat in later this week with about 10,000 tons of salt. I believe the boat will be the Canadian Transport. I talked to the dock owner and he wasn't 100% sure when the boat would be here, and which was coming.

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Pasty Central and Pasty.NET announces a real-time display of boat traffic on Lake Superior. In cooperation with MarineTraffic.com, Pasty.NET provides continuous updates from its network center on Mount Horace Greeley. To see current vessel locations on Lake Superior, click on the link below this image:

CLICK HERE to see live map.
When the updated map appears, mouseover any vessel to identify it.

Great shots, Danielle. How lucky you are to get to witness these things. Thanks for sharing.

Nice pics! A salty reminder of what is to come.

Danielle,thank you for being our official Roving Reporter for these Lakers coming or going! You are not such a *bad kid*! :) Didn't see too many Lakers out on our recent ATV vacation. :(

We Were down there when the freighter came in. We did not watch it unload or anything like that this year. It is always fun to see.

Great pictures Danielle.

I love your photos, Danielle, thank you! And, thank you for the heads up beforehand. With the advance knowledge, I was able to follow the progress of the ship on Michigan Tech's motion web cams, including watching it go under the bridge. I would have missed it, otherwise, because I would not have thought to look at the right time to catch it. Seeing ships progress through the Portage on the motion web cams gives me goose bumps; I can just imagine what it would be to see them in real life! You're a good kid! :-)

Fantastic interactive map of current ship locations on the Big Lake!

Nice link, Charlie! I am wondering why more ships are not using the canal...not deep enough, perhaps?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MARY DREW!!! 8 years of bringing the Pasty Peeps...the Pasty Pics....you ROCK!!!

Mary says: Why thank you, Donna! :->

I would assume it has to do with speed, Alex. More than likely, it's faster to round the Keweenaw then have to slowly make their way through the Portage.

I must say, Danielle is certainly not a bad kid in wranglers either.....

Now Capt, I just know you meant to end that last sentence with..."just like Dr. Nat!"
(You can thank me later) :-)

Alex, another reason is those 1000 footers don't like navigating the short turns in the channel, especially Hospital Point.

Great pics, Danielle, and thanks for the map, Charlie. It'll be fun trying to keep up with the big boats now.

Thanks so much for the link - it's been added to my "favorites".

Danielle, thanks for these views! Don't you love the ship engine sounds when they're up close and personal that way. We experienced that sensation several times when the old Myron C. Taylor would pass through the Pine River Channel in Charlevoix.

Thanks for the link to the MarineTraffic.com link---didn't know that something along those lines existed----appreciate the "edumactaion." :)

How long has road salt been used? If my memory serves (which can be spotty now days), stamp sand was used exclusively when I lived in the Keweenaw some 35 years ago.

Is stamp sand still used at all?

Thanks Danielle, always nice to see the freighters come thru the Portage system. For me it goes way back to the 1940's as we watched them come into Hubbell, Dollar Bay and Houghton. Back in the 50-60's they even had tankers deliver fuel oil to the dock in Dollar Bay near where the new Coast Guard Station is located.

As far as I know DA, they still use stamp sand mixed with salt on most of the roads. Of course, someone who currently lives up there could confirm this; I haven't lived there now in 7 long agonising years....

I could have ended it that way Alex. Problem is, Dr Nat isn't a "kid" anymore so that would be a big mistake. No, the Dr. is more like a fine wine; only getting better with age!! ;-)

I LOVE the photos today . It makes me so happy to be able to have pasty.net as my home page again!!!!

The pictures today relate to the subject I was involted in.I went to Battle Creek, Michigan this past weekend to do a TV interview about the Edmund Fitzgerald for Access TV. It will be broadcast on PBS TV at 7:00PM on Monday night through Novemberin the Battle Creek & surrounding areas.I will get the link for viewing it from Dave Eddy whose show I was on.It also can be viewed on your computer come November. It was a series of 3 30 minute interviews put together to view. I definitely was a bit nervous appearing on a real TV studio interview but everyone there said I did great so I guess we'll see.

Hey Charlie ~

How cool is that?!! Even the Ranger is pictured.

Thanks!!

Cheryl, please if you get info as to when your interview will be available by computer could you please inform us? I so appreciate you opening up your personal family experience with the Fitz. I would love to be able to see your interviews on the Fitz. Thank You! Janie

My husband and I got to see a freighter go under the bridge a few years ago when we were on our way up to our property between Copper and Eagle Harbor, that was amazing to see! Something you just don't see everyday!! Thank you for sharing!

Love those Great Lakes freighters.

Awesome pictures!

Thanks for the ship tracking link... Been looking for that for
some time.

FYI, their is a flight tracking site, too... Just like the ship
tracking site. Fun to watch the aviation action around the
Keweenaw.

www.flight aware.com

Thomas Wachowski (Skibdr):

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Quote:

"… FYI, their is a flight tracking site, too... Just like the ship
tracking site. Fun to watch the aviation action around the
Keweenaw.

www.flight aware.com"

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Very nice! The lift bridge and the freighter, how cool is that. Thanks Danielle and Pasty Cam!

So much to check out today. Thanks Danielle, Mary, Charlie and
Cheryl.

Thanks so much for the Marine Traffic link, Charlie! Didn't know it existed. In addition to the general information you get about a boat when you click on it, the photo galleries for each boat are excellent...many more side views of the vessels, which is the way I see them here from the dune as they come and go from the Muskegon channel. This will be an enormous help for me to identify boats I don't recognize, especially at night.

Alex,

to answer your question....most go up around the keweenaw because either full or empty they are still sitting to high to fit under the lift bridge. the exact reason the algosoo couldn't go back out the south entry, sat too high empty.


and thank everyone. there will be another boat in this week sometime, as soon as i know i will give everyone a heads up. and yes... www.marinetraffic.com/ais/ is also a way to track the boats, that's how i found the algosoo anchored in keweenaw bay!

Yes, they do mix stamp sand with the salt at times. depending on the condition of the roads i would assume.

And it took the Algosoo just over 3 hours to come through the canal from the south entry to the dock in hancock. from there it takes a good hour-2 hours to get to the north entry and back out on the lake.

Wow! That is one of the coolest links I have ever seen. Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks to Charlie's link, it looks like the Algoma Transfer is almost ready to enter the North Entry, so we will not be able to see it on Tech's web cams, probably at all, and it will not be going under the Lift Bridge. I assume that it will also exit the North Entry. I guess I am just happy that we got to see it come in from the South Entry on Saturday. Thank you, again, Danielle. :-)

As I write this, I see the Algoma Transfer is about 15 miles straight out of the North Entry, on her way to Thunder Bay at 12.5 knots. Strangely, there seems to be no record of a stop anywhere in the Portage Canal.