Great Lakes Shipping Ports & Cargoes (Photo Gallery)

On average, over 163 million net tons of cargo are moved each year on the Great Lakes in the holds of a vast fleet of steel ships. From the western end of Lake Superior, to the shallow, emerald-colored waters of Lake Erie, ships arrive and depart at all hours amid a landscape of dirt-laden mill buildings, smoke streaked skies, and vast fields of coal and iron ore pellets. The photographs in this book will show you a slice of industrial America rarely seen by the general public. These images, contemporary and historic, will take you to all of the primary loading and unloading ports from Lake Superior to Lake Erie. View first-hand how cargoes are loaded at the grain terminals of Thunder Bay, the ore docks of Minnesota’s north shore, or the sprawling Midwest Energy coal dock in Superior. See where these giant ships and cargoes go “down below” on the infamous Cuyahoga River, the Ford Plant on Detroit’s Rouge River, or inside the heart of the famous U.S. Steel Works in Gary, Indiana.