Superior, Wisconsin recent comments:

No... I was wrong... The coal dock stood where the BNSF Taconite facility is today. I've uploaded a pic of the Cargill Elevator that stood at the end of this pier. Sorry for the pic... Not a very good one. I think it was taken in the 1940's. I'll try to find better information soon.

I'm pretty sure it was a coal dock, but a long time ago...

I remember the trestle, but not the details of what was on the pier. I have asked some old timers from Superior and none of them remember the details either, just that it was abandoned sometime in the 50's or 60's.

The company that runs this facility now officially goes by the name CHS, Inc. This terminal was constructed in a number of sections starting in the early 1940s and finishing in the early 1960s. Originally called the Farmers Union grain terminal, then operated by Grain Traders of America (GTA), then Harvest States, then Cenex Harvest States, now CHS. It can store over 18,000,000 bushels of grain, the largest capacity of any waterside grain terminal in North America. In the 1960s and 70s the Elevator 1 section of this complex was touted as the tallest grain elevator in the world, its headhouse standing somewhere between 250 and 270 feet tall. For the last 15 years it has been the busiest grain terminal in the Twin Ports every shipping season. Starting in 2003 grain exports through the Twin Ports have dropped dramatically. Since then the CHS terminal usually loads far more grain onto ships each year than all other Twin Ports facilities combined. It's one of the few grain terminals in North America that can load two ships simultaneously, one at the primary loading gallery north of Elevator 1 at the outer end of the Tower Ave. slip, and one at Elevator 2 on the east side of the facility along the Hughitt Ave. slip. Primary grains handled here include spring wheat, durum wheat, soybeans, canola, flax, field peas, and dried distillers grain. In the past this terminal has handled substantial quantities of corn, sunflower seeds, and many other grains as well. CHS once held (and may still hold) the honor of loading the largest U.S.-originated grain cargo in Great Lakes history when it put 28,942 metric tons of soybeans aboard the M.V. Paterson (now Pineglen) in May of 1996. Unsure as to whether that record stands today, as there are now several Canadian lake freighters sailing that regularly load 29,000+ metric tons of grain at a time, and a few of them have loaded at Twin Ports elevators in recent years.

CeeJay313: Thank you for that info... I didn't know that about the approach still being there. I'll definitely check that out.

If you look at the bottom of the http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/Duluth-2.jpg photo you can also see the old Chicago and Northwestern dock, which was torn down in the mid 60's if I recall correctly. I don't recall what they loaded there, since I was still quite young when it was demolished.

You can see more information about Fairlawn at http://www.fairlawnmansion.org/Fairlawnmain/FLhome.html.

The last trains I remember on the NP dock ran in 1968. You can still find the start of the approach to the dock directly up 30th Ave E just beyond Tenth Street, directly across from St. Francis Cemetery (although I hear Enbridge has now fenced off that area). I was always in trouble for climbing the ore dock when I was a kid!

Building is still there, but the business is not.

It sadly looks like they are dismantling it, there is now a gap between the remaining wooden structure & the rest of the dock.

Made a short video of our adventures here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjz49xJ_ASE

Not any more. Midwest's website says it has a capacity of 25.5 million tons per year, and in 2007 shipped 21 million tons. Westshore Terminal in Vancouver BC has a similar capacity--24 million metric tonnes--though by 2009 will have a capacity of 29 million tonnes. It is called the "busiest coal export facility in all of North America." But that's only the start. Several terminals claim to be "world's largest coal terminal", here are the REALLY big ones (capacity in metric tonnes): RG Tanna (Port of Gladstone, QLD Australia): 40 million, being expanded to 65 million by 2009. Kooragang terminal (Port of Newcastle, NSW, Australia): 64 million, being expanded to 77 million by 2009. At the same port is Carrington coal terminal, 25 million tonnes. Dalrymple Bay terminal (Port of Hay Point, QLD, Australia): 68 million, being expanded to 85 million by 2009. At the same port is Hay Point Services terminal (34 million tonnes). Richards Bay Coal Terminal (Ricards Bay, South Africa): 72 million, being expanded to 91 million by 2009. And the granddaddy of them all: Port of Qinhuangdao, China: 176 million tonnes shipped in 2006!!

I saw a crane next to the dock today on my home from Superior. It looked like it was removing plating from the edge. I hope they aren't tearing this landmark down. I love that dock!

Please change Roller skating in Suptown..to Roller Skating in Superior, WI. 54880 and change our web-site from www.worldofwheelsskatecenter.com/ to our new web-site at www.wowsk8.us Thank You, Steve Grapentin World of Wheels Skate Center 1218 Oakes Ave. Superior,WI. 54880 (715) 392-1031 steve@wowsk8.us

Please change Roller skating in Suptown..to Roller Skating in Superior, WI. 54880 and change our web-site from www.worldofwheelsskatecenter.com/ to our new web-site at www.wowsk8.us Thank You, Steve Grapentin World of Wheels Skate Center 1218 Oakes Ave. Superior,WI. 54880 (715) 392-1031 steve@wowsk8.us

Please change Roller skating in Suptown..to Roller Skating in Superior, WI. 54880 and change our web-site to our new web-site at www.wowsk8.us Thank You, Steve Grapentin World of Wheels Skate Center 1218 Oakes Ave. Superior,WI. 54880 (715) 392-1031 steve@wowsk8.us

Would anyone on here be interested in writing up a amateur historian style article about the background of these docks, for an urban exploration website? I would credit/link to you of course .... email me actionsquad@yahoo.com

This dock and a yard are together called the BNSF Allouez Taconite Facility, though they're physically separated by the Superior neighborhood of Allouez. The dock is designated as BNSF Dock No. 5, and it is completely devoted to loading bulk freighters, some over 1,000 feet long, with taconite pellets (a low-grade iron-bearing rock processed into higher-grade "marbles") from huge storage silos on the dock. In a 1928 map, this spit of land sticking out into Allouez Bay was designated as the Pittsburgh Coal Dock & Wharf Co. Dock No. 5. Not sure when the railway acquired the property, but the silo structure wasn't built until 1977. Until then the railway and its two main predecessors in Superior, the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway, used the ore docks immediately to the west, on either side of the mouth of the Nemadji River. See comment pages to these nearby WikiMapia sites in this aerial shot; these comment pages mention BNSF Dock No. 5 and have links to great photos etc.: 1. BNSF Allouez Taconite Facility, as marked by the large rectangle to the SW. This is a yard for taconite pellet unloading (by turning railroad cars upside down), storage, and reclaiming (scooping pellets out of storage and sending on a large, powerful conveyor to the dock). This yard and the dock are in fact connected by the 3.5-mile conveyor, which is visible in the aerial shot, especially where thoroughly enclosed as it sails over Allouez. 2. Great Northern Ore Docks No. 1 through 4, immediately to the west of this BNSF Dock No. 5. These docks, owned by BNSF (one of whose predecessor companies was the Great Northern Railway), are no longer in use, since Dock No. 5 has huge capacity and is state of the art. Still, see the comments for the GN docks for history, pics, and so on. 3. Northern Pacific Ore Dock No. 1, just west across the mouth of the Nemadji River from the old GN docks. Also no longer in use. Bonus: Here are a couple interesting pages on the origins of the modern Allouez Taconite Facility. The first link is to a 1975 US Army Corps of Engineers summary of its assessment prior to the (a) construction of the silos on the dock, plus (b) the expansion and (c) updating of the yard and conveyor. (At that time, you might notice on the page, the railroad was known as the Burlington Northern, since it wouldn't be until 1995 that it merged with the Santa Fe.) The second page is from Wilson & Company, Engineers & Architects, which was involved in this mid-'70s upgrade (and perhaps primarily responsible for the planning and design work). http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA120262 http://www.wilsonco.com/projects/allouez.asp

Hi again, Allouez! As at the comment a couple weeks ago re the other dock, thanks for the great details. Last week I had an email exchange with the Douglas County Historical Society, which publishes the Addison book. I asked what became of the bust of James Hill, the man behind the Great Northern Railway. The bust's former site, Central School, was torn down a few years ago, to the chagrin of the society and others who wanted it preserved and adapted for modern usage. Hill's bust now resides, according to the society correspondent, over at the BNSF offices, somewhere off Belknap north of Billings Park. She mentioned that the society is soon publishing a book on Central School--and that I might be interested in another book it published, =Great Northern Railway: Ore Docks of Lake Superior Photo Archive=! I'm going to have to get that, as much as I've been collecting pics of these and other docks off the net.