Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Yeah, I totally agree with the opinion regarding the golden age of media covering Great Lakes activity during those dark days when it seemed like the end of the world as we knew it. (REM circa 1988, about right.)
Can you imagine how much news of port reports, movements, shipbuilding and all else would have been available if all this media was available from the 70's backward? Would have been a lot to read and follow......

The best resources I know of for a listing of these ships would come from some of the annual layup lists published in the marine journals during that period which would include those appearing in the Lake Log Chips, TMHS Scanner, and MHSD Marine Historian publications during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. While the 1980s were some dark days for the shipping industry, it was, in my opinion anyways, perhaps the golden era of the publications put out by various Great Lakes related maritime organizations. These remain valuable resources for anyone interested in Great Lakes shipping and arguably superior to those few that remain in print today. Copies of the TMHS Scanner can be easily viewed online and should assist you greatly in compiling a list of ships in the Duluth/Superior area during the time period you are interested. I have not seen any resources online that contain the Bowling Green Institute for Great Lakes Research's Lake Log Chips but this may be due to that publication being taken over by Harbor House Publishers during its few final years of publication during the early to mid-1990s.

Not aware of any list that exists, but I have a few photos that may help answer the question. One is of the Horace Johnson and John Hulst tied up together at an unknown location in Duluth, taken in 1982 with others in the background at a "grassy area". Another is of the Eugene P. Thomas, Homer D. Williams and what is either the Governor Miller or twin William A. Irvin idle in Duluth in 82, showing the Bong Bridge in the background. I have a photo of the Clemson, but taken at Thunder Bay in 82-3, awaiting the scrapper torch at Shearmet with the Thomas F. Cole and possibly the Lionel Parsons at her stern. Another photo shows the William B. Schiller at Hyman-Michaels taken in mid-84, and lastly, one of the Eugene J. Buffington scrap tow around 1980, but not sure where she was laid up prior. I'll post further info if I locate any other photos. This was indeed a sad time for the lakers and all these mentioned were later scrapped at various locations, except, of course, the Irvin now a museum and the Leon Fraser, mentioned in an earlier post, now the Alpena.

Forgot to mention names: Fairless, Voorhees, Olds and Ferbert at Hallett 5. Fraser was laid up in Lorain.

Well, I can start with the 4 Supers tied up at Hallett 5 early 80's, all except the Fraser.

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of which boats were laid up where in Duluth Superior when US Steel began retiring/storing them around the Twin Ports in the 1970s and 80s? I remember a number of them tied up at the old GN ore docks, circa 1978, only name I remember for certain was the D.M Clemson. I think there may have been a few at the old NP ore docks. Later there were quite a few tied up near the end of Tower Ave in Superior, at least 6 tied up near Grassy Point, upstream from the Bong Bridge (Duluth side), and a number tied up to the west of DM&IR dock 5. There were probably other locations as well where others were also tied up.

Would really be interested in finding a comprehensive list of what boats were tied up where if such a list exists. THANKS!