Cleveland activity

[beecher]

Thanks "guest". There was a strong current that day.

Video here removing the Columbus Bridge Deck:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... vel_1.html
The Old Columbus Road Bridge Deck is disappearing.

The Buffalo was here shuttling from Whiskey Island to the mill for a while. Here she is as dusk settles in.

The algoway called on us too.

Cheers!

[Guest]

Either a stern thruster issue or the river current was too bad... Gets that way after heavy rain. Sometimes they won't even try going up the river if its to bad... I was on the Fred White and we always backed out of the river. The Sam Laud and Buffalo always seemed to turn in the mill and head out. The American Republic did the same when she went up all the time too. My guess would be the river current. If her stern thruster was not working they could have still turned her around and head out with no tug

[beecher]

The AIS was down as reported yesterday. I have become so accustomed to using it. I used an old standby yesterday and spotted the Iowa chugging up the river. I knew then there was a boat up river. I just tried and guessed at which one is was.

Since the Iowa was alone, I ruled out any Algoma boats since they generally use two tugs. I ruled out the river class for obvious reasons and was guessing at the Calumet or Cuyahoga & such. Low and behold:

The Sam Laud either has mechanical problems or is worried about flooding debris in the thrusters & such.

Just to the east of the Laud was a peaceful rally:

Cheers to the boatnerd crew for fixing the Diesel fuel supply. We too have a problem with 'fixing diesel'. Our new Browns owner is also the owner of the truck stop chain, Flying J. His offices were raided by the FBI. The Great Dieselgate Rebate Debate goes on here with headlines every few days. We shall see if the Truck Stop Chain Gang will patrol the football sidelines here along the shores of the Great Lakes this year when we play Great Lakes Teams like Da Bears (2x), The Lions (2x) Vikings, Packers and the Bills! Cheers!

[beecher]

Smaller yet!

[Paul A]

Great research and a very cool story! Your connection to your city fantastic. Thanks Beecher.

[beecher]

Glad you asked that Paul. I spent the last two hours looking into it.

The Chimney is the last physical remnant of The Wood and Perry Lumber Company that started operating there in 1854. The schooners would carry wood and timbers from Michigan and unload it all here to help build Cleveland. There was a great fire in 1884 and I believe the chimney was built with another building after that. It fades away in records in 1909 or so.

Today: There is a very private company [and seemingly old money - Scranton Averill, Inc] that owns the property and many others along the Scranton Peninsula. They also own the "wharf" dock you see but it is listed as not in use by the USACE (?). Their main office is in the Terminal Tower -50 Public Square. They are listed as a Mining and Construction Equipment Co as well. They have been in disagreement in past years over the Scranton Area property values with the old County Government Corruption officials' offices. So that tells me they are not Mafia! lol! Anyway, the buildings were knocked down as a result since 2006 it seems and only the chimney remains. Cool huh! More buildings including the OLD coal depot are coming down now along Carter Rd.

I like looking up the old history along this river. I descended from those that settled here at the time this Lumber Yard started up and before. They operated a ferry to cross the river and a general store. They even traded with the native Indians.

Cheers!

[Paul A]

Hi Beecher!
Great coverage and photos as always. What's the story of that brick chimney that lost it's building? It looks really old.
Cheers. Paul

[beecher]

Lots of boats.

It is getting smaller!

Panoramic view along the Scranton Peninsula.

Cheers!

[Guest]

Great photos in the PD:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... cart_river

One photo they had in there looked like the Bounty.

[beecher]

Great photos in the PD:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... cart_river

[beecher]

Hot, humid and hazy conditions yesterday as Tall Ships' Parade of Sail entered Cleveland Harbor. Algoway waited in the river for them to pass. D/A Pathfinder shadowed them into Cleveland Harbor. The cannons were active! The security zone assets were busy as well. All I had was the I-Phone to take pictures.

[beecher]

The deck was floated a bit down river this week as the calumet sailed in and unloaded stone there. The turned the deck around and floated it back. now I have a different view of it. They are cutting it up.

The river traffic was hampered by flooding debris this week as well.

[beecher]

It does have a shaky look to it. They are cutting it up right on its floats. I will check on the schedule of the project in hopes to get shots of floating the new one in place.

more activity:

The Saginaw sailed up last night. Don't see her too often. Dad was from Saginaw. (He preferred the Bay City girls though)

[MN Boater]

They floated the old deck up river to this location. It is where Cleveland Rocks used to tie up and where the stone gets piled up. There are cranes staged there now. Seems like they will off load it and then scrap it there. The barges will then (I assume) will be used to float the new one in place.

We saw the Buffalo, American courage, Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder, and the Calumet over the weekend. AIS is still down.

olddeckupriver.JPG

That looks like quite the shaky load!

[beecher]

They floated the old deck up river to this location. It is where Cleveland Rocks used to tie up and where the stone gets piled up. There are cranes staged there now. Seems like they will off load it and then scrap it there. The barges will then (I assume) will be used to float the new one in place.

We saw the Buffalo, American courage, Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder, and the Calumet over the weekend. AIS is still down.

[Paul A]

Thanks for catching that Beecher. Now I see that they built it at road deck level with cribbing to keep it accurate elevation on the barge.

[Les Weston]

Great photos, Beecher. Hope you can get some of the float-in

[beecher]

They floated the old bridge deck out from the Columbus Rd Bridge structure yesterday.

I hope to catch them when the float the new one in place!

Article of interest in the PD today:
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index ... cart_river

[Guest]

Unknown cruise ship was the Grande Mariner.

[beecher]

Thanks Paul, I have a few vantage points that are unique.

The bridge float will be interesting. It seems the elevations and angles that they are building it at are the same as to how it will be when installed in the Columbus Rd Bridge structure. These guys are good!

Anyway, The Manistee showed yesterday.

Just after she passed under the Carter Rd Bridge, she stopped in the river current and waited for the Buffalo to pass her just west of collision bend. Here they are together in the photo.

The Buffalo is pictured here over by the Powerhouse/Nautica passing by this (unknown to me) visiting moored passenger vessel. I think it was here last year as well.

They are filming 2 movies in town. One is a Kevin Costner film related to the Cleveland Browns. BTW the Browns just sold the naming rights to the stadium and the letters came down recently:

The other movie is another Captain America film that has shut down a freeway for two weeks! Not to mention the downtown closures. Pictured here is W3rd st and the shoreway freeway bridge. Lake Erie can bee seen in the background.

Cheers!