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| Kevin Foley posted F9A 4214 is the lead unit on an Erie Mining Company taconite train unloading it's cargo at Taconite Harbor MN in September 1986. The vessel that is being loaded is the Burns Harbor. Kent Rengo: The water suppression system for the dust seems a bit inadequate. Eric Beck: Kent Rengo It worked well but was no match for the LTV red ore. Eric Beck: Once was the fastest loading dock known. I worked here in the 90s until it shut down. Loved this job loading boats and working as a dock rat. David Schauer Oh baby - that's a good fugitive dust plume. Wasn't as much of an issue when the wind was coming off land (away from the PCA monitor stations) but when it blew back toward land they would sometimes stop unloading and use the deluge, unless it was too cold. https://flic.kr/p/FbuNGa |
In 1957, trucks loaded with prefabricated homes rolled along Highway 61 toward a new building site just south of Schroeder. By 1990, the homes were leaving the same way they arrived. In the 1950s, business at the Erie Mining Company was booming. Taconite pellets harvested from mines in Hoyt Lakes were sent by train to the company's loading docks--designed to be the fastest loading in the world--on the shore of Lake Superior. From there, the taconite was sent by ship to Detroit to make automobiles, or to steel mills further east. Each year, an average of 10 to 11 million tons of taconite pellets were sent out of this facility. [ForgottenMinnesota]
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| Mark Andersen posted Erie Mining 4211 leads a farewell to Erie Mining excursion train at Taconite Harbor on 9-21-02. Roman Stelter: What is the farewell for? The excursion train or the railroad? John M. Chomos: Roman Stelter The railroad. Erie Mining and the mines it served no longer exist. |
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| Frank Keller Photography posted Erie Mining 4212 patiently dumps its loads into a waiting ship at Taconite Harbor 5.92 |
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| David Schauer posted An aerial view of Taconite Harbor (Erie Mining Company) as a laker from the Bethlehem fleet loads taconite pellets. This dock facility still stands, but is no longer active and likely will never be. May 25, 1966 - Basgen Photography John Travers: The closure of Taconite Harbor in late 2001 was because of the final demise of LTV Steel who owned the Erie Mining Company which supplied ore to the loading dock. Andrew Koetz: The LTV operation shut down due to they have played out all of the taconite ore in the seam they were in. They did not shut down for no reason. They shut down to the fact of the next good seam of taconite ore on the property has over 200 feet of useless "overburden" on top of it; aka dirt & rock. The other sad thing is Cliffs built this operation only back in the mid-1950's. There are plenty of articles in the MRHS Ore Extra and other publications over the years. |
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| David Schauer posted Crane boat Venus unloading supplies at Taconite Harbor during construction of Erie Mining's ore dock there. This dock is shuttered today, likely to never operate again, but you never know. Taconite Harbor, MN - 1956 - Doug Buell Collection Karl Zwaschka: Fastest ship loading on the great lakes, Andy Brunfelt: I like the truck dumping rock at the end of the breakwater. Pierre Lacoste: Andy Brunfelt Zoomed in, the truck is a Euclid FFD, 15-ton. |
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| PulitzerCenter Minnesota Power's Taconite Harbor Energy Center, a coal-fired power plant along Lake Superior's North Shore. One unit of the plant was shut down in 2015, and the two remaining units were idled in 2016. Image by Paul Walsh. United States, undated. |
Families started leaving in the 1970s because of the dust and noise pollution. When LTV bought the Erie Mining Co. in 1986, LTV informed the remaining families that they would have to move off the company's land. A family could buy their home for $1 if they moved it off the LTV property. In 1988, the final resident left. By 1990 the remaining homes and buildings were packed up and sent out on trucks. [ExploringNorthShore]
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| David Schauer posted A 1963 view of Taconite Harbor. I can't read the name on the laker but its length and hatch openings suggest the John Sherwin before lengthening. Basgen Photography |
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| David Schauer posted The John Sherwin (Interlake) loads ore at Taconite Harbor on October 3, 1963. Basgen Photography |
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| David Schauer posted Loading pellets at Taconite Harbor in 1965. Can anyone identify the Bethlehem Steel laker? Basgen Photography UPDATE: Jim identified the boat as the Sparrows Point. James Torgeson posted Bethlehem Steel’s 683' Sparrows Point (1952) loads ore pellets at the Erie Mining Company dock at Taconite Harbor. She's likely bound for Lackawanna. |
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| ZenithCity "Taconite mining began in the wake of World War II to forge new steel after the Ally war machine had nearly exhausted the Range’s supply of hematite, a high-grade form of iron ore. Taconite is a low-grade ore that forms nearer to the surface than hematite. In the 1910s, a process was invented at the University of Minnesota to create hard pellets, resembling rusty marbles, from concentrated taconite powder. The process of mining, concentrating, and pelletizing taconite is extremely expensive, and only economical on a massive scale. It was not until the effort of extracting iron ore from underground reserves was totally cost restrictive that two companies were organized to produce taconite pellets on a full scale: Erie Mining by Pickands Mather & Company and Reserve Mining by Armco Steel and Republic Steel." Silver Bay is also a company town. It was built by Reserve Mining and it survived. |
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| David Schauer posted A nice aerial image of Taconite Harbor on June 30, 1975, as the Stewart J. Cort departs after loading ore. Note the train arriving with two F9s, an RS11 and C420. Basgen Photography Jordan Stricker: First 1000ft ship of the great lakes?! David Schauer: Jordan Stricker Yes. |
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| CookCountyNews-Herald The 1,000-foot James R. Barker delivered its last load of coal to the docks of the Taconite Harbor Energy Center in Schroeder and headed down the shore on Friday, August 5[, 2016]. [Taconite production and the ore dock closed in 2002, and the power plant was idled in 2016.] |
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The power plant was expected to close in 2020. [ExploringNorthShore]
The town also had a wood products industry. [fox21online]
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| ForgottenMinnesota This web site contains several black & white photos of some ruins of the town. [Note the dust plume above the dock.] |
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| David Schauer posted The first thousand footer, m/v Stewart J. Cort, departs Taconite Harbor on June 30, 1975. The Cort was a frequent caller here in its early years (Bethlehem Steel was a part owner of Erie Mining). Note the since-abandoned company townsite of Taconite Harbor on the hillside. Basgen Photography. James Torgeson shared Back when she was a toddler, Bethlehem Steel's 1000' Stewart J. Cort (1972) departs Taconite Harbor with a load of Erie Mining Company pellets that are destined for Burns Harbor. The Cort will soon enter her 50th year of service although she now sails for Interlake Steamship and is owned by MassMutual. Randy McDowell: Looking at photos such as this, I wander how in the hell could an integrated mill in Ashland, Kentucky, in the middle of our country compete with this for well over a hundred years. Guess we could not, since they are tearing it down as of this writing. |
This is the mine of Erie Mining that shipped ore from this town.
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| David Schauer posted A aerial image from 1963 at one of Erie Mining's pits near Hoyt Lakes. Note the RS11 still in its original paint (but chopped) as well as an American crane moving track panels. A pair of what look like jet piercing drills are at work for the next blast. Basgen Photography Eric Nohr: Interesting they used shovels to load the train cars. David Schauer: Common back then up until they stopped mining in 2001. Was the same at Minntac with their mine railroad. Jay Lukkarila: Mmm. The old jet pierce drill rigs - melting rock at high temperatures. Expensive way to make a blast hole. Electric shovel loading directly onto a train - this is the way the Chinese were mining coal using the last fleet of working steam locomotives until just a few years ago. James Torgeson: Jay Lukkarila Linde - Union Carbide developed that as a solution for difficult blast hole drilling situations... |
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| David Schauer posted A Friday Flashback to 1969 as a pair of Interlake boats are at Taconite Harbor. The one on the right looks like the Mauthe? Hard to tell on the scan. Gus noticed yesterday on his way to a Lutsen ski meet that MN Power had some dozers working the remnants of the power plant coal pile, possibly trucking that coal to Boswell. Basgen Photography John Bright: Yes coal is going to Boswell, trucks coming through Hibbing daily since mid last summer when I started noticing them. |
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| Mike Brady posted This is in a binder that’s has several pictures of steel mill related items. An eBay find. James Torgeson shared A page from a McDowell Wellman project portfolio. Jody Aho: The boat is the J. A. Campbell, later the Buckeye Monitor. Douglass Buell: J A Campbell, September 26, 1957. The first boat to load at Taconite Harbor. At that time the boats came in from the south and left through the north entrance. James Torgeson: I know the shuttle conveyors are Link-Belt, but I take it McDowell Wellman did the rest of the machinery for the ore dock? |
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| David Schauer posted Bethlehem's Arthur B. Homer loading ore at Taconite Harbor as an Interlake boat delivers coal in the distance. That laker looks a bit like the Elton Hoyt 2nd - now sailing as the Michipicoten and presently anchored off Duluth to load at CN. Erie Mining Company, Doug Buell Collection John Putnam: I wonder how many tons per hour they could load with that many conveyors running? David Schauer: John Putnam Each shuttle conveyor was rated at 1,500 tons per hour, dependent on how fast a ship could pump water. James Torgeson: John Putnam The fastest dock there was, particularly when loading the Cort! James Torgeson shared The then-new Bethlehem Steel fleet flagship, the 730' Arthur B. Homer (1960), loads ore pellets at the Erie Mining Company dock at Taconite Harbor on Lake Superior. Behind her, unloading coal, is the 626' Elton Hoyt 2nd (1952), which was built at the Bethlehem Steel Sparrows Point Yard during the Korean War. |
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| Jim Salus posted, cropped Here's the beauty I worked on for four summers getting taconite pellets at Taconite Harbor in Northern Minnesota, the SS Johnstown, Sister ship to the Sparrows Point. We carried about 23000 ton. Barry Stone Wayne Niebroski: Great picture of Taconite Harbor...a little different view than is usually shown! Also gives perspective to how long the loading dock was! Brian Ferguson: I heard a lot of stories about the Johnstown and Sparrows Point when I was on the Burns Harbor. I guess people weren't crazy about how "The Point" acted after she got her boom. |
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| David Schauer posted The m/v James R. Barker spins at Taconite Harbor on August 10, 1976. Based on the date this is likely her maiden voyage - that would explain the hiring of Basgen for images. I'm not sure where the yellow deck wash streaks came from. Maybe they added anti-stick sand to the yellow lines around the hatches and washed away the excess or possibly remnants from what they tested the unloading system with? The port side looks better. Basgen Photography [Note the propwash of the bow thruster on the port side of the ship. The propwash and the black smoke coming out of the smokestack indicates the Captain is pushing the ship hard to turn the ship around. Comments confirm that what looks like fuel spills is bottom sediment stirred up the the propellers.] Jessica Scott Burns: I think you’re correct on it being residual dust from testing the self unloading system. Like something was loaded up forward, then the same marks are near where the boom would've been deployed. Pretty cool picture. |
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| David Schauer posted A continuation of yesterday's post showing the James R. Barker on its first revenue trip approaching Taconite Harbor (Erie Mining Company) on August 10, 1976. Basgen Photography |
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| David Schauer posted Bethlehem Steel's Johnstown loading pellets at Taconite Harbor in 1965. Basgen Photography |
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| David Schauer posted A flashback to 2000 as an LTVSMC train unloads at Taconite Harbor with the laker Courtney Burton at the dock. F9A 4214 "Frosty" leads three Bs and an original EMCO GP38 and one of the wreck replacement GP38QES units. Taconite Harbor, MN - circa 2000. |
David Schauer posted three photos with the comment: "It looks like tug Helen H found a nice quiet campground for the evening while it takes a break from heading toward Thunder Bay to assist the Michipicoten to Superior tomorrow. Taconite Harbor, MN - June 19, 2024"
Linda Deanna Terentiak: What year did it stop operating?
David Schauer: Linda Deanna Terentiak Last ore shipped October 2004 (pellet chips and fines), last coal delivery 2016. Both the power plant and ore dock are now shuttered.
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| David Schauer commented on his post Taconite Harbor in better days. |
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