There are two ore docks remaining in Marquette, upper and lower. The upper harbor ore dock, first built of wood in 1896, was replaced with this concrete and steel dock in 1912. The upper harbor dock remains active today. With four sets of railroad tracks on top of the dock, the iron ore is dumped from train cars into the "pocket" dock to then be loaded into bulk carrier freighters. We had the opportunity to see this process a few times and it was always interesting. As truckers have a route, these freighters came from steel mills to Marquette, filled with taconite (iron ore pellets), and returned to offload the ore at the mills. During our month in Marquette, we saw the same freighters many times.
This was some type of working barge that we saw moving around the ore dock.
The lower ore dock, built in 1931 and closed in 1971, has been called the most photographed sight in Marquette. The first ore dock ever built for the iron industry was built in Marquette in 1857. The ore dock seen below was built in 1931. We always have the idea that it would make great condos. In front of the dock on the left is a working boat that moved around the harbor. On the right, we watched a youth sailing class. The little kids in the little boats were directed by an instructor who cruised around in a power boat.
Near the lower ore dock are the remnants of freight docks.
The harbor is a favorite of fishermen. We saw a number of catches and this one was the best. These are lake trout and sea bass.
There is a long breaker, extended into the lake, with a marker light at the end. We walked the breaker to the rocks.
Rocks are big, in more ways than one, in this area. We visited Ishpeming, just down the road from Marquette. We went to a rock show, with lots of rocks. In the picture on the left, a man is breaking a geode with a tool. It was quite a sight.
Going through Ishpeming, we saw the US National Ski Hall and Snowboard of Hall Fame. They have the most eye-catching building and statue.
The statue of a ski jumper, appearing solid, is made of stacked layers of material.
Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum, also located in Ishpeming, is situated in the former "dry house" of the mine. We had the best docent in the Museum, Al Smith, from Indianola, Oklahoma. Al described the dry house as the place where the miners came in the morning, took off their clean clothes, put on their mining clothes, and returned in the evening. There they would remove their mining clothes, hang them in the rafters, and put on the clothes they wore to work. Returning in the morning, they would put on their "mining" clothing and return to work. My guess is, this was a smelly place.
These are the "upside down" elevators that carried the miners into and the ore out of the mines.
Notice the banners hanging from the ceiling. The Upper Penisula of Michigan became a melting pot of cultures that came to work in the mines. Miners were recruited from across Europe to work the iron, lead, gold, copper, and other metal mines. Al said the area where we stood was undercut with mine shafts.
The Museum had a diorama that showed the mine while it was working.
I would not want to see going to work.
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