Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Cleveland Cliffs had a very good relationship with International Harvester
Both The International and The Harvester carried a lot of Cliffs ore down to Chicago to Wisconsin Steel. Cliffs dispatched both vessels when the two of them carried Cliffs ore and generally that was a lot of trips in a season.

During the 1980 shipping season, Cliffs chartered the Maxine.

The International later served Wisconsin Steel as the Maxine. My father was an engineer and uncle was a fireman. It had a dedicated run from Escanaba to Chicago. She would occasionally carry a load of stone 5Gto Chicago. Otherwise, the Maxine was in Escanaba every 3rd or 4th day. I spent a great deal of time there as a kid.

Ok, it was the International I saw, at Wisconsin Steel in South Chicago. What an interesting parallel in history as the news linked stories talk about the growth of steel in South Chicago and then all the mills disappearing. I can't help but think if today's downturn will be more then a temporary adjustment of inventories, or that this is an indication of more blast furnaces disappearing.

If it was the early 1970s then it was definitely The International that you saw as The Harvester was sold to the Gartland fleet in 1965 and renamed Chicago Trader. From what I have read these ships were dedicated to delivering raw materials to the Wisconsin Steel Division of the International Harvester Company, although trips to other destinations may have occurred as the need arose. I don't recall if the fleet was ever covered in Greenwood's Fleet History series.

Maybe some of this will help.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... story.html

https://www.csu.edu/cerc/researchreport ... istory.pdf

In the early 1970s, I saw either the International or the Harvester at a steel mill down below. Did these two steamers carry product regularly to a Steel Mill owned by the International Harvester Company, and if so, where was it located? I should have taken a picture, but it was night.