Superior, Wisconsin recent comments:

Great photo and info, Allouez! I especially love seeing all those dates, filling in details not available in the Great Northern and BNSF histories--print and web--I have read or skimmed through the past few months. I might have to change my little screenname to Happy Ore Dock.

Allouez, thanks for starting up this item. I have some more info on this dock, including first a possible correction: * I haven't seen an absolute dividing line, but I think the old Northern Pacific dock would be considered to be at the southeastern end of Superior Bay. It's not on Allouez Bay, as are the old Great Northern ore docks and the current BNSF taconite silo dock. You could draw a line from the mouth of the Nemadji River out to Superior Entry; Superior Bay lies to the NW, Allouez Bay to the SE. Wisconsin Point, the harbor-guarding peninsula to the SE of Superior Entry, "encloses" Allouez Bay, whereas Minnesota Point, to the NW, encloses Superior Bay; the NP dock is across from the end of Minnesota Point. * This dock was often called the Cuyuna Dock because the Northern Pacific ore trains came from the Cuyuna Iron Range, straight west of the Twin Ports and just north of Brainerd and Mille Lacs. Unfortunately, once the natural high-grade Cuyuna ore got played out, the Cuyuna Range didn't have taconite for pelletizing (a milling process that boosts the iron content to 2/3), so the mines all shut down by 1977. The Soo Line shipped Cuyuna ore from St. Louis Bay until then, but the NP had abandoned its Cuyuna ops--and the dock--long before the 1970 merger into the Burlington Northern, it seems, though I can't find a year. The Mesabi Range, NW of the Twin Ports and north of a line (literally, the Great Northern line) from Grand Rapids to Virginia, was where the GN got its iron and taconite. There's lots of accessible taconite there, which has been keeping the BNSF Allouez facilities humming. * If the East End's SW-NE avenues were to go all the way out to the bay, the Cuyuna Dock would be at the end of 30th Ave. E, called Nelson Avenue in the old days. On old maps you see the Northern Pacific had another dock (not for ore) on Ogdensburg Pier, betw 23 (Thompson) and 24 (Stinson) Aves. (if they had been extended). Furthermore, there was an NP Sand Dock straight out from 23 (Thompson); I suppose this meant it was a transhipment point with a great sandbox (sand yard?), like the taconite piled up in the Allouez Yard and the coal piled up at the Midwest Energy Terminal (up by Connors Point). * The Northern Pacific ran up to the NE from South Superior, ran alongside the old 25th (Newton) Ave E, past Washington Park, and out past E 2nd St. It then fanned out to the NW and SE, running parallel to the bayshore. To stay straight, much of the time the line seems (on maps) to have run right out in the water. I guess this would be on low trestles, which were later replaced by causeways and eventually filled in. On the 1993 USGS topographic map, the line still seems to be on a causeway across from Barkers Island. Now it seems all this has been filled in. The Cuyuna Dock was not serviced by these bayshore tracks, though--at least not at the end of its life. Rather, halfway between South Superior and the East End, back by the Murphy Oil Refinery, an NP line came off that one that was heading NE. This branch went almost straight E until reaching 31 Ave E across from the cemeteries. Then it turned NE to approach the Cuyuna Dock, possibly on a bridge over US 2 (E 2nd St) but directly crossing the bayshore tracks.

Brief Dock Histories Dock No. 1 First constructed in 1892 entirely of timber, most of which came from the West Coast of the U.S. 60 pockets were ready by autumn of that year. This was the first iron ore dock in the Twin Ports, built by the North Star Construction Company under contract with the Duluth and Winnipeg Railroad, in conjunction with the Superior Consolidated Land Company beltway to West Duluth, where it would connect with the Merrit Bros. newly orgainized Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railroad Company for the purpose of moving Missabe Range ore. By April 26th, 1897, James J. Hill acquired all operations serving Allouez, and from that point became the Great Northern Allouez Ore Dock Facility. Rebuilt with timber 1906-07. Rebuilt with concrete and steel inner one-third, 1925-26. Middle on-third, 1927-27. Outer one-third, 1927-28. Gantry crane and floodlights installed 1952-53. Electrical operations came in the mid twenties; it had been entirely manual to that point. Dock No. 2 First constructed in 1899 of timber, it probably resembled the early design qualities of Dock No. 1 of that time. During its final 1922 reconstruction process and consequent conversion to concrete and steel, the dock caught fire during the dismantling process, destroying what remained. By 1923, the new dock was standing and as of 1925, it remained the most modern dock of its kind on the Great Lakes, and the second in size of those owned by GN. It did however, have the greatest capacity per pocket, giving it the greatest total dock capacity of GN’s Allouez Ore Dock complex: 122,500 tons. Original construction in timber, 250 pockets 1899 and 1900. Original construction in timber. 100 pockets 1901-02. 250 pockets rebuilt in timber 1909-1910. 100 pockets rebuilt in timber 1911-1912. Entire dock rebuilt with concrete and steel 1922-23. Floodlights installed 1952-53. Gantry crane installed 1952-53. Dock No. 3 First constructed in 1902 of Washington fir timber, it had 160 pockets. A 1905 timber extension added another 166 pockets*, bringing it to 326 pockets total. 1917 saw the first half of the dock rebuilt and in 1921 the second half, all during which the outer pockets and eventually the maple-timber inner pockets (linings) were replaced by pre-cast concrete slabs. In 1941, the dock was rebuilt on final time of timber, presumably for the heavy war tonnage then being shipped from Allouez Bay. It remained GN’s only timber dock at that sight. Around 1960, the dock was deemed “outmoded” and was phased out as a working dock, being used only for temporary storage during the steel strike of the time, and for ship berthing. Its construction cost approximately $2.25 million (unclear as to which construction, phase, partial or total, ect. to which this number refers), and was sold for $1 to the lowest bidder, that being the United General Constructors, Inc. of Duluth, MIN. Dismantling followed in the fall of 1963. * (NOTE: Not clear as to whether the 1905 extension added 166 pockets, which seems most likely, or only 6 pockets, as Superior’s Daily Telegram wrote on April 2ond, 1963. In a dock removal update by the same paper, it was reported that the dock had been rebuilt in 1915, which is not the case. ) Original construction in timber, 160 pockets 1902-03. Original construction in timber, 166 pockets 1905-06. Inner 160 pockets rebuilt in-kind 1917-18. Outer 166 pockets rebuilt in-kind 1920-21. 60 inner pockets rebuilt in spring 1942. Next 86 pockets rebuilt spring of 1944. 80 pockets rebuilt 1952-53. Dock No. 4 Constructed in 1911 of concrete and steel by the Pittsburgh Construction Co., it was GN’s first permanent ore dock on Allouez Bay. It is of the ‘Toltz’ design, with barrel-shaped steel pocket fronts, crib foundation, reinforced concrete sub-structure and steel super-structure. Its construction was extensively documented, as it utilized the very latest in concrete slab (crib) techniques, and was among the first in U.S. to do so on such a massive scale. Of GN’s Allouez ore dock complex, No. 4 is the smallest, and is the only one to have never undergone reconstruction or extensions; it is the oldest one standing.

I understand that it's the largest coal dock in the world. Superior, and to a slightly lesser degree, Duluth, had among its long list of world records the most coal docks on earth.

This dock had 310 pockets w/a 350 ton capacity each, for a dock total capacity of 108,500 tons. It had a height of 80 ft. above the water line at Allouez Bay and was 1860 ft. in length. I'm unsure of the width... A very modern structure in its time.

Great Northern Ore Dock Numbering All of Great Northern Railway’s Allouez facilities stood to the east of the Nemadji River in Superior’s Allouez annex, and were numbered according to there relative locations to one another. So, ore dock No. 1, being the first dock constructed there, and being the nearest the Nemadji established it as the western most dock, and its identifacation remained Dock No. 1 regardless of how many times it was rebuilt. Dock No. 2 Stands approximately 200 ft. east of No. 1, and so on, until we reach Dock No. 4, GN’s eastern most or dock. (Dock No. 5 is part of the BNSF taconite facillity) This differs from the Agate Bay facilities in Two Harbors, MN in the that they are numbered according to the date at which they were built relative to one another, meaning that no two different docks, even if one stands where the other originally had, can share the same name. I believe that this is also the case with Duluth’s docks, called Dock 5 and Dock 6, even though they are the only 2 remaining.

Northern Pacific Railway built its first and only iron ore dock in Superior during 1913 of concrete and steel on the west bank of the Nemadji River, and at the westernmost end of Allouez Bay. This dock, in order to face Superior Entry, was built facing northeast and at an acute angle to the Great Northern ore docks immediately east of it. 1917 saw its first extension and 1925 its second and final extension, adding to it an additional 648 ft. and giving it an ultimate length of 1860 ft. The dock was never rebuilt.

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Ore Dock One: Original construction of timber in 1892. Rebuilt with timber 1906-07. Rebuilt with concrete and steel inner one-third, 1925-26. Middle on-third, 1927-27. Outer one-third, 1927-28. Gantry crane and floodlights installed 1952-53. Ore Dock Two: Original construction in timber, 250 pockets 1899 and 1900. Original construction in timber. 100 pockets 1901-02. 250 pockets rebuilt in timber 1909-1910. 100 pockets rebuilt in timber 1911-1912. Entire dock rebuilt with concrete and steel 1922-23. Floodlights installed 1952-53. Gantry crane installed 1952-53. Ore Dock Three: Original construction in timber, 160 pockets 1902-03. Origiginal construction in timber, 166 pockets 1905-06. Inner 160 pockets rebuilt in kind 1917-18. Outer 166 pockets rebuilt in kind 1920-21. 60 inner pockets rebuilt in spring 1942. Next 86 pockets rebuilt spring of 1944. 80 pockets rebuilt 1952-53. Ore Dock Four: Constructed with concrete and steel in 1911. From the excellent book: Great Norther Railway: Ore Docks of Lake Superior Photo Archive by Douglass D. Addison, Sr.

Excellent info. I've long been fascinated by the history of these docks. Thank you for your work grumpy ore dock!

Previous series comments continued: * The pellet conveyor still heads right to the old GN docks. Since they are inactive, the conveyor then makes a couple 90-degree turns (E, then N again) to "feed" BNSF Dock No. 5, to the SE. http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/BNSF_Ore_Docks.jpg (Scale again: The series of silos at Dock No. 5 is about 850 feet long, and there is 1,475 feet of berthing room along there.) This zigzagging may seem a bit indirect, but it's easier than redoing the conveyor approach, partly enclosed and elevated over the Allouez community (part of the City of Superior) as it comes straight N from the yard. * On a 1928 map the spit of land that BNSF Dock No. 5 now sits on was called the Pittsburgh Coal Dock & Wharf Co. Dock No. 5. Since (1) there were no Pittsburgh Coal Docks Nos. 1 through 4 around, and (2) Superior and Duluth docks owned by unrelated companies weren’t just numbered down the line (for example, the old Northern Pacific dock was never included in any numbering sequence even after the NP-GN[-CB&Q] merger), I’m guessing this Pittsburgh Coal Dock & Wharf Co. was owned by the Great Northern, which then included the dock in its Allouez dock-numbering sequence. * Another Dock No. 1 digression: BN Dock No. 1 (in 1975 the company was now the Burlington Northern) was where the SS =Edmund Fitzgerald= received its final load, taconite pellets bound for a Detroit-area steel mill. Superior was the last land the 29 lost sailors, RIP, could have set foot on. (Assuming they actually left the ship during the quick berthing and loading, for example, or none taxied over by boat from Duluth before departing.) "About 0830 (all times are Eastern Standard based on the 24-hour clock) on November 9, 1975, the SS EDMUND FITZGERALD began loading 26,116 long tons of taconite pellets at Burlington Northern Railroad Dock No. 1 in Superior, WI. This pier, known as a 'chute pier,' is equipped with built-in storage bins, known as 'pockets,' which are usually filled before a vessel arrives. Chutes are lowered from each 'pocket' to direct the cargo into the hatches of the vessel. "Loading was completed about 1415 on November 9. The chief mate informed dock personnel that the vessel’s final drafts were 27 feet 2 inches forward and 27 feet 6 inches aft. Drafts were taken after receipt of the taconite pellets and 50,013 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil, delivered by a barge which came alongside while the cargo was being loaded. . . . "Upon departure at 1415, the FITZGERALD proceeded at full speed of 99 rpm, approximately 16.3 mph." The ship and all its men were lost about 1840 the next day, November 10, at the other end of Lake Superior. http://www.uscg.mil/history/WEBSHIPWRECKS/EdmundFitzgeraldNTSBReport.html

Here are a few additions to what I wrote 14 days ago. Some quotes are from the library book =Burlington Northern and Its Heritage=, by Steve Glischinski (1996 ed.), esp. p. 125; other quotes and facts are from the net and my gradually putting things together. * The Mesabi Iron Range may be only 60 miles from the Allouez Yard as the crow flies, but it's considerably farther by train. * The Great Northern Railway (major predecessor to BNSF) had long taken ore and pellets by train right onto the docks, where the hopper cars unloaded their cargo into dock "pockets." http://www.gngoat.org/mpc_yard_allouez.jpg (The train in that old postcard seems to be, rather than on "G. N. Ore Dock, No. 4," on Dock No. 2.) http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/01di1439.jpg http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/01di1439.htm http://www.mhsd.org/photogallery/images/arthurb.homer-1997-wesleyr.harkins.jpg * I don't think in the old days many of the cars would have dumped their loads at the Allouez Yard. That would have required later reloading into hopper cars to take them out onto the docks. If the docks weren't ready for them, cars would likely just sit in the yard, a staging area for the last leg to the docks. * "In 1966, GN spent $8 million to construct a pellet-handling facility adjacent to its ore docks {that is, to upgrade the Allouez Yard, a few miles SW of the docks}, which included on-land car dumpers, storage facilities, and conveyor belts to the docks" (Glischinski). With the upgrade, hoppers (and gondolas) would be quickly unloaded at the yard, and the pellets would be moved and sorted as needed, then taken by conveyor up to the docks. A 1969 photo in Glisch., however, shows both the conveyor and an ore train apparently on the approach to the ore docks. * "GN had four conventional-design ore docks at Allouez, which were once the largest of their kind in the world. Dock No. 1, last used in 1988, lasted the longest" (Glisch.). GN Dock No. 1 is the NW-most of the formerly four-"pronged" set of ore docks. At 2,244 feet, it's the longest of the four and, in this pre-1965 view to the NW, farthest from the camera: http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/Duluth-2.jpg To give you more of an idea of the scale of things, those ships seen loading in the GN docks, and the ship near the old Northern Pacific dock NW of them, are probably 600-700 feet long. * A digression: "The growth of the Duluth/Superior area is tied with the introduction of the railroad in 1870; dredging of the harbor, which began in 1873; and shipment of iron ore, which began at Allouez Dock #1 in 1892." http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:TTOuAehItq8J:www.rulmecacorp.com/Bulk%2520Europe%25202006_printa.pdf+BNSF+ore+silo&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=17&gl=us The Duluth and Winnipeg Terminal Company built it, but the Great Northern eventually acquired this and other docks in decades to come and upgraded them again and again. * "Dock 2 was taken out of service in 1980, and Dock 3 was the last timber dock on the Great Lakes when it was dismantled in 1965. Dock 4 was taken out of service in 1974" (Glisch.). Docks No. 1, 2, and 4 have been stripped to an extent, but because of their being made of concrete and steel, rather than all timber like Dock No. 3, they are still standing out there in Allouez Bay.

The huge dock going out into the bay is the old Northern Pacific Railway ore dock. Trains of ore hoppers would run right up on top of the dock and drop their loads of ore down into huge dock "pockets." When a ship pulled up alongside and opened up its cargo hold hatches, chutes would be lowered from the pockets, and gravity would take the ore from the pockets, down the chutes, and into the hold. There were four Great Northern Rwy docks just across the mouth of the Nemadji River to the SE. In 1970 the NP and the GN merged (with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) into the Burlington Northern. I'm not sure, but it seems that the NP dock was inactive by this time. Later in the 1970s the BN built its Dock No. 5, just SE of the old GN docks. Its much larger capacity and greater speed made the old chute-type docks obsolete, and the BN stopped using the old GN docks, too; note that one has been dismantled. For further details and links to pics and more, see the comment page for "BNSF Allouez Taconite Facilty," the large, reddish WikiMapia "place" S and SW of the docks.

The four historic old Great Northern ore docks are no longer used, and one of them has been dismantled. They were made obsolete by the huge Burlington Northern Santa Fe Dock No. 5, built in the 1970s on that spit of land just to their SE (between the WikiMapia rectangles). Please see my long discussion--with many links to pics and more--at the comments page for "BNSF Allouez Taconite Facility" (the WikiMapia "place" of Superior, WI, that is SW of these ore docks).

The red is exaggerated, but that's the path between the Burlington Northern Santa Fe's Allouez Yard, SE Superior, WI, and its ore docks on Allouez Bay. At the yard BNSF trains arrive from the Mesabi Iron Range, 60 miles NW in Minnesota, to unload milled taconite (iron ore) pellets: http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/BNSF_at_Scanlon.jpg http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/BNSF_Allouez_Yd.jpg http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA120262 From the yard the pellets ride a 3.5-mile conveyor, 60 inches wide, to the one active ore dock on Allouez Bay, BNSF Dock No. 5. It's on the spit of land between this map's "Wisconsin Point" and "Ore Docks" inset rectangles. The latter shows the three remaining (of four) old Great Northern Railway docks. To their NW, on the other side of the mouth of the Nemadji River, is the single old Northern Pacific dock. The NP, the GN, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy merged into the Burlington Northern in the 1970 (Santa Fe added in 1995). The following great shot, looking NW from Allouez Bay to Duluth, is from before Dock No. 5 was built and probably from before the 1970 merger: http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/Duluth-2.jpg The active Dock No. 5, built in the '70s, is of a different type and has huge capacity and speed, making the old docks unnecessary. This next pic shows the old NP, old GN, and active BNSF docks, looking SE: http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/BNSF_Ore_Docks.jpg Each of the 18 dockside silos of Dock No. 5 has a 36-inch conveyor. Altogether the facility can load 4200 tons of pellets per hour into a ship: http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/images/Roger_Blough_at_BN_1995.jpg http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newpictures03b/Conveyor-8-9-03-ta.jpg http://www.inlandmariners.com/Mariners_06/im_recent_pioneer.htm That last great series of loading at Dock No. 5 is by Patrick Lapinski, from his site "Inland Mariners." Props to Kent Rengo for most of the other pics. Check out his site's homepage, "Twin Ports Railfan and Railroading Page," then this section, "Twin Ports Yards and Docks": http://duluthsuperior.railfan.net/railroad_yards_of_the_twin_ports.htm

spelling?

Yes, It's the BN Allouez Tac facility. Most of the pellets are reddish on the roads and non-used stock piles. The used stock piles are greyish.

not terribly useful..

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