Canal Park...

At Duluth, Minnesota there is a large harbor that is used for shipping out goods. Large boats, and I do mean large, come through the maze of all of the great Lakes, from the east coast of the United States. It is nothing to see these shipping vessels coming in from Yugoslavia and other foreign countries from across the ocean. Wheat and iron ore is shipped out of here most often but I know there must be other things that get shipped. Iron is mined in the area and processed into small pellets, size of large marbles, brought down by train from the north shore and also from a major mine west of Duluth. The harbor is protected from weather and the water there does empty into the Mississippi River. They have tight controls over the water from Superior and it is common for them not to share the water when their is drought to the south. The Mississippi needs a certain amount of water to allow barges to run the length to New Orleans. That is another story.

The large vessels come through a man made channel with concrete walls on both sides. The boats are required to enter the channel at a very slow rate as a ship like that out of control, even if it is empty could destroy the channel walls in an instant.

As the large ship enters the channel the man on a lift bridge gives them a welcome with a loud horn sounding a long sound and two short sounds. The bridge has been in communication with them for quit some time to coordinate the lifting of the bridge, making sure traffic is off of the bridge before it is lifted and making sure the harbor is ready for them to enter to their loading dock. The boat answers back with it's horn to the bridge engineer with one long sound and two short sounds. Again, this vessel is coming in slow enough to not be out of control but with enough power to allow it to be controlled and steered.

This particular ship is 1000 feet long. The height of them is great as when you see the people on board, the people are dwarfed to it's great height.
This is a close-up of the front of this big guy.
Normally there is a painted chart on it's side telling at what depth the boat is in the water. I assume it must be on the other side.


Here at the back end you can see some of the workmen and make a size comparison as to how large this ship is. People actually do travel on these boats and they have visitor hotel like rooms for them to travel along with the shipping boat.

Do you see the men standing in the opening on the side of the ship. People come to see this happening and they are always friendly with the crew, waving back and forth.

When the coast is clear, they lower the deck of the bridge so the cars can again cross over to the point area of Duluth.
In this last photo you can see the crowd that lines the channel. Tourist of course come to see this but locals are always fascinated by it all also and you see them there. Until winter hits and all freezes over this is a daily happening for most of the spring and summer months.

As a non-navy person, you can notice I floated around with boat, ship, and vessel. I hope no one is too concerned if I didn't use the right terminology as I don't know any better. Thanks for reading.....