Comments on: Day 3: Brewpub mania!

By: Mary Jo

Mary Jo — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:55:19 +0000

Dad says no they wouldn’t have gotten stuck because that all would have been dredged down to the proper depth so they wouldn’t get stuck–now that they’re not using that anymore they don’t bother with doing that because it was very costly to dredge all that, dump it on a barge, and find someplace else to unload it. He also said that they also used that to load coal at some locations–he knows they did it at Duluth, doesn’t know if they did it at Marquette.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:38:10 +0000

Oh and ps, in case you missed it, Eric left a comment about this on the previous post, and found this site with lots of great photos of the “huge crazy structure”:
http://www.andylphoto.com/trains/trestle/

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:36:19 +0000

Thanks Rick for the bird IDing, and thanks Jack for the info on the “huge crazy structure”! Smartypants Dads! That is what we thought both the bird and the weird big thing were, but in the case of the bird it was just because that’s the only kind of grouse we know. In the case of the big weird thing, what was confusing us was trying to figure out how the freighters could have come in so close to shore – wouldn’t they have ran aground and gotten stuck?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:20:33 +0000

Y’all are just plain awesome. Please keep traveling, and drinking beer, and McGyverin’, for us desk-bound and beerless.

By: JP

JP — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:16:19 +0000

I can enlighten you on that “huge crazy structure” in Marquette harbor: it is the remains of a section of iron ore loading dock. Train track on top and hopper cars were pushed out to the end. Iron ore freighter docked and deck officer indicated to man above which cargo hold to send a carload into. RR cars were unloaded into chutes and they were lowered and ore rushed into the ship. I assisted with tonnage calculations on a loading once. If you put too much ore in the forward or stern holds the ship’s stability could be affected. Your pic is a section of a long loading dock. Better examples exist in Superior and Duluth. This brings back memories of our deck gang shifting lines on the dock to position the ship to accept ore from different chutes. Older ships had steam winches to tension the wire rope lines. Newer vessels all had electric winches. Looks like you’re having a great getaway!

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:37:52 +0000

Ok, you knew I’d have to comment with a bird photo and question! It is almost certainly a ruffed grouse. They are fairly common in the area and although the photo leaves a bit to be desired, the markings look good for a ruffed grouse. Good spotting! As for the odd structure by the harbor – I have no idea! Thanks for the running blog on your trip – it’s fun and vicarious pleasure for the readers. That is once we wipe up the drool from reading all about the luscious beers.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:17:24 +0000

Just read that today was also the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition - I KNEW we were celebrating something!