Great Lakes, Highway of Commerce

the Earth's waterways have long been manest and cheapest means of transportation and is made most rapid progress with access to large bodies of water of all the continents North America has the greatest interior system of waterways the most important of these is the Great Lakes reaching over a thousand miles into the heart of the continent all but one are on the boundary between the United States and Canada Lake Superior is the largest and deepest followed in size by Lake hon Michigan Erie and Ontario 17th century English colonists found the Appalachian Mountains a barrier to Westward Expansion whereas the French controlling the St Lawrence River had an easy water route to the interior and its valuable fur trade France established Fort Detroit as a protection against hostile Indians and to block British entry to the upper Lakes Fort Niagara defended the Lower Lakes it was opposite the Mohawk Valley through which the British might cross the mountains the French and English struggle for control of the Midwest centered around such forts as these at Niagara the many types of buildings and guns represent construction by various occupying armies as the fur trade moved Westward the straight of maau became critical a fort was also built here on maau island ever since white men entered North America the Lakes have been of vital importance to the settlement and commerce of the Midwest the flags of three nations have flown over most of the forts which once controlled Lake traffic in 1825 the densely populated East Coast was connected with the Great Lakes by the Erie Canal the Lakes then became even more important in the transportation of people and goods in Winter the icebound lak shores block shipping now the Lakes give no hint of the traffic they will carry in summer in Spring streams feeding the Northern Lakes thaw and the ice flows loosen by early summer millions of people find Recreation on M of excellent bathing beaches yachting is another favorite sport Excursion Steamers carry vacation crowds Mao island is now a popular summer Resort visitors may see the fur trading post built by John Jacob Aster many years ago MAA is no longer a military Outpost the Old Fort is now an historical landmark at Niagara Falls below Lake Area millions of tourists have marveled at the 160t drop some of the Falling Waters power has been harnessed below the falls on the Canadian side is a large powerhouse on the United States side another supplying electricity for home and Industry in one of America's most densely populated areas the Great Lakes region has vast natural resources dense forests were once extensive but today only only the northern portions are wooded won cutting and fire destroyed most of the Timber broken pilings are all that remain of huge peers which loaded valuable Timber over 50 years ago conservation laws now regulate cutting and provide for replanting today Bays of the Northern Lakes are filled with floating logs some will be used in houses or Furniture but the greatest cutting is pul wood used in making paper ship's decks are often piled so high that only the funnel can be seen these ships are unloading at a paper mill a device called an orange peel is specially designed for unloading logs when the ship is almost empty an operator in the cab above is Guided by a deck hand who can see deeper into the hold such machines and conveyors make it possible for few men to do the work of many in the paper mill grinding machines reduce the logs to pulp after being cleaned and mixed with small amounts of sulfite and other materials the pulp is poured on a wide moving screen where it is dried and pressed to make rolls of paper most American News comes from this area your newspaper may have had its beginning in a Great Lakes Forest traffic on the Lakes is heavy conventional ships carry the few package cargos and special types have been designed for carrying liquids and petroleum products but the greatest volume by far is carried in this peculiar type of vessel at the extreme Stern is the engine room and cruise quarters at the borrow is the Pilot House the space between lacks any cargo cranes and instead of only three or four hatches it may have several dozen often over 600 ft long such ships may carry 15,000 tons of Cargo far more than most ocean freighter these ships are designed for handling bulk cargos and are called bulk carriers the earliest such cargo on the Lakes was grain in important grain fields of North America adjoin the Western shores of the Great Lakes from Canada the dtas Minnesota and other North Central States trucks and trains carry grain to the Lakes the world's greatest grain loading ports are the Canadian cities of Port Arthur and Fort William Mammoth storage elevators dwarf leg carriers beside them grain pours from the elevators through tubes and as the ship fills inspectors take samples to check quality the heavily loaded carriers from Canada and duth meet an obstacle at Sue St Marie here the Waters of Lake Superior drop 22 ft in Shallow Rapids which were an effective barrier to shipping until modern locks were built a canal lock is an enclosure with watertight gates at each end to lower a ship past the Rapids the lock chamber fills the upper gates open and the ship enters an operator closes the gates behind the ship and opens valves which drain the water from the lock through underground passages when the water level in the lock equals the Lower Lake the lower gates open and the Ship Sails out the heavy traffic at the Sue requires five locks four are seen here on the American side of the Rapids the fifth is on the Canadian side two of the locks are so large that they easily accommodate two of the 600t carriers at a time grain ships sailing into Lake Huron are joined by others from Chicago and Milwaukee many Lake ports receive grain but most United States shipments go to Buffalo here other elevators unload the carriers a device called a leg extends from the elevator inside the leg is a continuous chain belt carrying hundreds of buckets they scoop up the grain and carry it quickly to the top of the elevator for storage in a few hours the grain is so low in the hold that Scoops must pull it to the leg from corners of the ship scops are powered from the elevator but are controlled by small hand ropes in the hold the hold is cleaned carefully after each trip for This ship's next cargo may not be grained behind the elevators are thousands of box cars to carry grain farther on its Journey again conveyors and gravity carry the immense volume of cargo considerable grain travels from Buffalo by Canal or rail to Major East Coast cities Canadian grain usually Travels by ship through canals and locks around diagra Falls the St Lawrence Rapids to Eastern Canada or Europe coal is one of the most important raw materials of our civilization North America's Main coal producing areas border the Great Lakes train loads of coal reach the Lakes from mines to the east and south the transfer from train to boat is accomplished by special machines loaded coal cars are lifted by a mechanical dumper at the top the car overturns spilling the coal into a chute leading to a lake carrier the empty cars are lowered and Roll Away by gravity Toledo Ohio is the world's greatest coal shipping Port yearly millions of tons are transported from Toledo and other Lake Erie cities to give heat and energy to many parts of the nation Limestone another basic raw material is found in the vicin of the Great Lakes the largest quaries are in northern Michigan limestone is used in making steel cement fertilizer and also has many other important uses Stone near the surface is loosened by blasting and scooped up by enormous power shovels the loaded cars are tilted spilling into Crushers without stopping conveyors carry the stone to Towers where cleaning and screening make it ready for shipment while a tug backs a carrier to the dock the ship pumps out water ballast to lighten it for the heavy load to come the crew hurries ashore with time for only a few hours Recreation before the loaded ship leaves overhead conveyor belts pour crushed Limestone into the hold the structure on the deck can and discharge cargo such ships are called self unloaders this is iron ore another vital resource of the Great Lakes region America has some mines in the southern Appalachian but the world's greatest and most accessible deposits occur in several ranges near Lake Superior the msab range is over 100 Mil long there is some underground mining but the greatest volume comes from open pits like this one in the massabi range or is easily scooped up by power shovels these mines have supplied over a billion tons of ore which is about half iron in content after the ore is crushed and graded special trains pull loaded or cars to the lake where long trestles lead to the tops of huge or docks the car bottoms open and the ore falls through the space between the rails into cylindrical Pockets below the rails each holding four car loads now a lake carrier approaches on the dock an operator lowers a spout to the open hatch of the carrier another man opens the bottom of the pocket cylinder and four carloads of ore pour into the hold in just a few seconds with the help of only a few men these docks load 10,000 tons of ore in only three or four hours the pockets are emptied one or two at a time to avoid straining the ship with sudden weight deeply loaded carriers move into Lake superior's traffic Lanes to produce Steel Man requires iron ore coal and limeston all three are found around the Lakes so it is logical that steel mills should be built amidst these resources Cole reaches the Mills by Rail and Lake carrier Limestone and ore mainly by Lake ATU St Marie or like coal and grain must pass through the Sue Canal grain and coal up about a quarter of the tonnage while or shipments comprise about 3/4 7/8 of the ore used in the United States over 100 million tons of cargo pass through these locks in the eight ice free months more than the Panama and Suez canals combined carry in an entire year in the street of Mao a carrier heavily loaded with coal passes an empty returning to duth for ore The Continuous stream of boats in the Detroit River connecting Lakes hon and irie makes this one of the world's busiest waterways loaded carriers enter the rivers and harbors of the steel producing cities at a steel mill a self unloader has swung its conveyor boom overs side its moving belt pours a stream of limestone ashore across the slip are ore carriers being emptied by a special unloader which moves on Rails beside the dock its bucket drops into the hold of a ship at the end of a vertical arm and picks up 15 Tons of ore the whole machine moves back to dump the ore on the stockpile huge piles of coal must be changed into Coke narrow furnaces are filled with coal and heated the heat drives off the gas impurities and volatile materials from the coal a ram pushing through from the opposite side forces the red hot Coke into a waiting rail car in a quenching Tower a water spray quickly cools the red hot Coke and prevents it from burning itself out from above the mill we see the bins of reddish ore gray Limestone and black Coke all three are carried by traveling buckets to the Towering blast furnaces these furnaces are loaded through the top by small skip cars with a mixture of the three ingredients in the furnace the coke is burned melting the iron from The Ore molten iron is drained from the bottom the Limestone has converted the dirt impurities and Coke Ash into slag which is skimmed off the top of the stream of molten iron and flows into slag cars for discard these special cars carry the molten iron to Open Hearth furnaces here more impurities are burned away and small quantities of other ingredients are added such as scrap iron manganes silicon nickel or other minerals these additions give steel special characteristics such as hardness or flexibility these men are adding a little more Limestone by hand to get the precise mixture required this mixing and heating produces molten steel which pours from The oen Hearth furnace into huge ladles the bottom of the ladle is open to drain molten steel into Ingot molds later when the bottomless mold is removed an Ingot of Steel remains still glowing with heat when cool steel ingots look like this they will be rolled machined or drawn into sheets bars or wire to be manufactured into the many machines that transport you or your needs or into the countless things you use every day at your work or in your home the steel for all these things was once iron ore and was probably carried across the Great Lakes by a ship which was also made of Great Lake Steel as winter approaches a change takes place on the Lakes snow storms blanket the area and rivers become choked with ice Niagara Falls becomes partly frozen over and below the Falls ice clogs the Rapids by November shipping must Force its way through loose ice in the narrow connections Between the Lakes the straight of maau often freezes solidly what appears to be water around this ship actually is solid blue ice the ship is Frozen in waiting for an icebreaker to clear a path at Sue St Marie ice closes the entrance to the locks the gates are frozen tight and the locks drained but though the Lakes will be icebound and quiet for about 4 months many things still remind us of their importance to man Timber growing around the shore will eventually Supply Lumber and paper elevators in ice locked Bays stored enough grain during the summer months to ship food to millions of people through the winter the Detroit River now carries no shipping but smoking chimneys tell that reserved coal supplies will last until spring the or dos are now Frozen in and 400 mil South stock piles of ore and Limestone have a blanket of snow yet they contain enough material to supply the blast furnaces all winter Furnishing Steel in quantities unequaled anywhere in the world now at last the busy Lake carriers May rest Frozen fast their hulls are dented from pressing against peers and locks their fires are out and their funnels capped for the first time in eight busy months America has much for which to thank such ships coupled with marvelous locks canals and rocks they provide the world's most most efficient and lowest cost Transportation their loads of ore coal Limestone grain Timber and package caros have helped make the middle west an industrial area these great cities and many others depend on Great Lakes transportation for their prosperity many of them even though the lake for their existence their Agricultural and Industrial Products are used by the entire United States they are shipped overseas to many foreign countries and so the influence of the Great Lakes is felt throughout the Civilized world the Great Lakes have provided a highway over which man has explored and settled a large part of North America and have also provided efficient transportation for our important basic needs food heat power and steel the Great Lakes are vital to the strength and prosperity of America and to the well-being of the American people