Sault Ste. Marie

This is the first of a series of photographs of the Kinsman Independent, taken at Sault Ste. Marie in June of 1992.

Kinsman Independent in the MacArthur Lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in June, 1992. A close-up view of the deck of a Classic Laker. The Independent--originally the Charles L. Hutchinson, and later the Ernest R. Breech--was never a big boat, but she was fairly typical of all lakes boats when she was new. By 1992, she was 40 years old and nearly the last of her breed; she'd been superceded by larger boats, and lived in the niches the big boats couldn't service. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, I know she's technically a ship; she's 642 feet long, 67 feet wide, and can run aground if the water's less than 35 feet deep. For some reason, it's the local fashion to call these large vessels "boats." Not sure why, but the key is that they live on the Lakes. I have always called 'em boats, and likely will continue to do so.

"S" as in Steinbrenner. You may know that the Steinbrenner clan made its fortune in ship building and shipping; Kinsman was their fleet, and this was one of their ships. "Kinsman," by the way, precisely because this was a family enterprise, and independent of the big ore companies who own or control much of Great Lakes shipping. A fundamentally scruffy, and definitely Yankee, enterprise; very different from New York's baseball team. Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie in June of 1992.

One of the best things about watching lakers at Sault Ste. Marie is that you are this close to the crew. I've got several pictures of this gent, who walked the length of the boat while she was approaching the lock, checking over the side to see the ship's condition and that things were going well. Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie, MacArthur Lock, June, 1992. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie, June of 1992. First time we visited the Soo, my sister developed a crush on one of the crewmen on a passing ship. It was from Athens (Greece!), not Cleveland, though. And he was prettier than these guys, and stripped to the waist. Come to think of it, I've probably got a picture, stashed somewhere. Haven't found it yet, though. Give me time.... Camera: Chinon Genesis III

It's not just the folks on the deck watching the crowd as the ship passes by; we were being watched from this hatch, too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When lakes boats pick up supplies, some of the stores come in through this hatch. Others are loaded on pallets, and lifted to the deck by onboard cranes. I'll probably show a picture, sometime.... Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in June, 1992.

The Corps of Engineers maintains a museum by the locks in Sault Ste. Marie. The museum keeps a log of passing ships; they also get reports of upbound ships as they pass Detour Village, and downbound ships as they pass Whitefish Point. So that's my first stop at the Soo: I want to know which ships are in the system. Had a nice chat with the lady at the museum's counter about this old boat while we were waiting for it to arrive. The new boats are large and impressive, but style obviously wasn't a concern to their architects. While the Independent was hardly the oldest boat active on the lakes, it was an attractive relic of another age. We were both old enough to remember when lakes boats were more common and more stylish, and wishing for something we knew wasn't in the cards. Bridge notes: The yellow bridge in the background is the International Bridge, which crosses the Saint Mary's River between the two Saults. The dark bridge with several kinds of draws and lifts which runs beneath it is the old Soo Line railroad bridge, likewise called "International," which also connects Sault, Michigan, with Sault, Ontario. Kinsman Independent at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in June, 1992. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Kinsman Independent leaving MacArthur Lock at Sault Ste. Marie in June, 1992. She lasted another decade after I took these photographs, ending her Kinsman career with one last Duluth/Buffalo voyage in 2002. In the end, technology changes got her, not age. [But see NIN34's comment, below....]

Wisconsin Central 598 and Duluth, Missabe, & Iron Range 170 at Sault Ste. Marie, June, 1992. 170 is a perfectly typical Missabe SD-9, acquired by the railroad in 1959 and sold off-line in 1998. Fallen flag, falling flag. This photo was taken a few hundred yards from the Soo Locks and was the next I took after the Kinsman series; this is at Wisconsin Central's staging yard for building trains to cross the Saint Mary's River on the long railroad bridge. The DMIR's a physically compact system at the distant end of Lake Superior; this loco was a long way from Minnesota's Arrowhead region. At the time, WC was a new railway, and hadn't completed repainting the equipment it had inherited from the Soo Line--thus the box car in the background. A decade later, the Canadian National Railway has absorbed the Wisconsin Central, and is in the process of absorbing the Missabe. A sad time for Missabe's fans--a group which includes me. Sadder still for Missabe's employees in Duluth and Proctor....

Arthur Anderson downbound from Poe Lock at Sault Ste. Marie in the late 1980s. Camera: Minolta Freedom 100

Two bridges named "International"--the high bridge carries the highway across the rapids at Sault Ste. Marie, while the low bridge carries the railroad. (I've mentioned this before .) Taken from the Soo Locks Tour Boat. The weather, as you can see, was terrific.

A classic calendar view of ULS steamship Quebecois, downbound just below the St. Mary's locks on June 21, 2004. Camera: Nikon N90s

A thing about steel mills: Everything's so large that even enormous trucks look small. This is an example. Taken at Algoma Steel, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on June 21, 2004

This ship is Presque Isle heading into Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie in the summer of 1992 (I think). When Presque Isle was under the control of Litton Industries, the hull was black ; since her lease (then sale) to the Steel Fleet, she's been red. This certainly looks like a transition paint job. The odd paint plainly shows why this is no ordinary Laker. The red hull's a very large barge, and the black paint defines the tug which propels the barge. Litton had a notion that they could reduce the operational costs by creating a barge/tug combination which could be staffed according to Coast Guard regulations governing such combination vessels. That didn't work out for Litton--the two are apparently too closely integrated to be a convincing combination--but the model's worked for owners who've converted existing hulls to similar configurations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When we were at the Soo last summer it looked someone seemed to be building condos where I took this picture. Good place to live, but it won't help the view.... Camera: Chinon Genesis III

Portage Avenue at the Soo, on a June day in 2003. The town's surprisingly quiet for a mid-afternoon (about 4:00 pm) photo. The ship in the background is Canadian Transport. She's waiting for Mesabi Miner (not shown here) to finish locking through the Poe Lock. The American locks ( neat MPEG from Corps of Engineers!) are a few yards to the right (north), running parallel to Portage street. Goetz's Lock View Restaurant has a fine view and reliably good food, and I think that's where we were headed when I shot this picture.

In June of every year the Corps of Engineers holds an open house at the Soo Locks, and thousands of fans show up to explore the grounds, view the passing ships from an unusual perspective, and look over the exhibits. Yesterday was that day, and Joan and I were among the crowd. Here we see some of the visitors crossing the massive gate which holds back Lake Superior at the the downriver end of the 105 foot wide Poe Lock. While Sault Ste. Marie is an ancient city by North American standards--the first white settlers arrived in the 1500s, and there's been a city at this location since 1638--the event which defines the modern Sault occurred on June 18, 1855, when a ship named the Illinois traversed the then-new Soo Locks and opened traffic between Lake Superior and the rest of the Great Lakes--thus connecting the Lake Superior iron and copper mines to the eastern United States. The locks have been rebuilt and expanded since then, but the traffic's been constant, and constitute an important part of the American economy. They're celebrating the sesquicentennial this summer, and the celebration began yesterday. We missed the opening ceremony, but had a fine time wandering the grounds and watching as St. Clair and Herbert C. Jackson passed through the locks yesterday.

My favorite of thousand foot Lakers. Since they all look about alike, I get to select on the basis of name. Many Great Lakes freighters honor officers of the mining, shipping, and processing companies, so it's a delight to find a boat named for the folks who do the backbreaking work. Interlake's Mesabi Miner leaves Poe Lock at Sault Ste. Marie. The approach to MacArthur Lock is in the foreground. The original shot was overexposed; I've done some minor color correction but the detail just wasn't there....

Wisconsin Central 582 returns to the United States on the International Rail Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, sometime in August of 1990. The high bridge is the other, now more famous, International Bridge between the Twin Saults. I was disappointed with this photo when I got the print back; it's a little blurry, the angle's odd, and the crewman's not really visible. Like it better, now....