Description: This photograph shows the cargo ships used to transport primarily iron ore and coal across Lake Erie, to the port of Cleveland. The ship further back is having its cargo unloaded by a specialized unloader developed for unloading ores at docks (the Hulett iron-ore unloader). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F11_41_01
Subjects: Ores--Transportation; Cargo ships; Industries--Ohio; Cargo Ships; Cleveland (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: A photograph of a modern day Lake Steamer and the Byrd Sailing Ship (City of New York) at the 9th Street docks in Cleveland, Ohio. The City of New York was the ship Admiral Richard E Byrd outfitted for his famous polar exploration. The City of New York later became a museum of polar exploration, touring the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes. She ended up in Cleveland, where she was trapped by a newly constructed bridge. She remained there until World War II. To help meet the great need for additional shipping during the was, her masts were taken down and she left the Great Lakes for service on the east coast. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F11_19_01
Subjects: Ships--Design; Ships; Cargo ships; Lake steamers--Great Lakes (North America)--History; Docks--Ohio--Cleveland; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated 1939, this photograph shows a boat named The Craftsman under construction at the American Ship Building Company. The American Ship Building Company was originally based in Cleveland, Ohio, as Cleveland Shipbuilding in 1888, and became the American Ship Building Company in 1900. There were also ship yards in Toledo and Loraine, Ohio, and the company expanded to other nearby states including New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin at the start of World War I. The American Ship Building Company was the most prominent ship yard for constructing American ships for World War II. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B12F01_004_001
Subjects: American Ship Building Company; Cargo ships; Transportation--Ohio--History.; Shipping industry; World War I; Military Ohio
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Cleveland Cliff Iron Co. dock, Lake Erie, west of the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, near Edgewater Park." The ship in the photograph is the "Fred G. Hartwell", an ore carrier built in 1922, being unloaded by a Hulett, a specialized unloading machine. This group of four Huletts can be found on Whiskey Island, between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Edgewater Park, in Cleveland, Ohio. The Hulett Automatic Ore Unloader was invented by George H. Hulett, a native of Ohio, in the late 1800's. The unloader became an essential element in the development of the iron ore industry in Ohio, allowing rapid unloading of cargo and increasing the volume and efficiency of ore docks at Ohio ports. The machines remained in use, with few changes, until the early 1990s. Cliffs Natural Resources, formerly Cleveland-Cliffs, is a Cleveland, Ohio business firm that specializes in the mining and beneficiation of iron ore and the mining of coal. The firm's earliest predecessor was the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, founded in 1847. Samuel Mather and six associates had learned of rich iron-ore deposits recently discovered in the highlands of the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan. The final decades of the 1800s were a period of business consolidation from the partnership-sized businesses of an earlier generation to a new type of business firm, the stock-market-traded corporation intent on maximizing market share. The former Cleveland Iron Mining Co. was a survivor of this shakeout, purchasing many of its competitors. One key merger in 1890, with Jeptha Wade's Cliffs Iron Company led the combined firm to change its name to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. William G. Mather, the son of Samuel, guided Cleveland-Cliffs as president and later as chairman of the board during the period of 1890-1947. Under Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs was a leader in the development of the classic-type lake freighter, a bulk-cargo vessel especially designed to carry Great Lakes commodities. The 618-foot (188 m)-long William G. Mather, launched in 1925, is a surviving example of this ship type. For almost a century, the black-hulled Cleveland-Cliffs ships were familiar sights on the upper Lakes. In 1933, Edward Greene (the son-in-law of Jeptha Homer Wade II) replaced William G. Mather as the head of the company. Demand for American iron ore hit peaks during World War I, World War II, and the post-WWII consumer boom, and the company enjoyed success for many decades. The periods following the recessions of 1974-75 and 1981-83 were harsh ones for the iron ore industry. Cleveland-Cliffs shrank its operations, closing many of their plants and began turning the associated tailings ponds into compensatory wetlands for its other properties. In 1984, Cliffs withdrew from the Great Lakes shipping industry. In June 2007, Cleveland-Cliffs purchased its first domestic coal property. In line with its venture into coal, the company changed its name from Cleveland-Cliffs to Cliffs Natural Resources in October 2008. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F11_31_01
Subjects: Lake Erie; Shipping industry; Docks--Ohio--Cleveland; Lake steamers--Great Lakes (North America)--History; Shipping--Erie, Lake; Cargo ships; Ores--Transportation; Hulett iron-ore unloaders; National Register of Historic Places; Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company; Mather, Samuel, 1851-1931; Mather, Willi
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows bulk cargo barges being unloaded at docks. The large machine in the background appears to be the ore unloader in Cleveland. The lake freighter on the right probably the William G. Mather, launched in 1925. It was owned by the Cleveland Cliffs Company. The Whiskey Island Hulett Ore Unloaders were built in 1912 for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) by Wellman – Seaver – Morgan Company of Cleveland. The dock is located in on Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio on the coast of Lake Erie, between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Edgewater Park. The Hulett automatic ore unloader was invented by George Hulett of Cleveland, Ohio and patented in 1898. The first working machine was built the following year at Conneaut Harbor in Conneaut, Ohio. It was successful, and many more were built along the Great Lakes, especially the southern shore of Lake Erie to unload steamers full of taconite from the iron mines near Lake Superior. Until 1903 they were built by Webster, Camp & Lane Company of Akron, Ohio. Substantial improvements were later made on the design by Samuel T. Wellman. It is these second-generation Huletts which continue to stand to this day. The electrically operated Hulett unloader runs on two sets of parallel tracks along the face of the docks, one near the edge and one further back, with normally enough distance for four sets of railroad tracks in between. Steel towers, riding on wheeled trucks, support girders that run from front to back, perpendicular to the dock face. Along these girders runs a carriage which can move toward or away from the dock face. This in turn carries a large walking beam which can be raised or lowered; at the dock-end is a vertical column with a large scoop bucket on the end. A parallel beam is mounted half-way down this column to keep the column vertical as it is raised or lowered. The machine's operator, stationed in the vertical beam above the bucket for maximum cargo visibility, could spin the beam at any angle. The scoop bucket is thus lowered into the ship's hold, closed to capture about 10 tons of ore, then raised and moved back toward the dock. The Cleveland Huletts were used until 1992, when Conrail, who had inherited them from PRR, decided to abandon them because self-unloading boats were standard on the American side of the lake, rending them obsolete. Most, if not all, have since been scrapped. In 1999, only six remained, the group of four at Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio the oldest. In spite of the Cleveland machines being on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, they were demolished in 2000 by the Cleveland Port Authority to enable development of the land they were located on. The Port Authority disassembled and retained two Huletts, to enable their reconstruction at another site, which is pending. Cliffs Natural Resources, formerly Cleveland-Cliffs, is a Cleveland, Ohio business firm that specializes in the mining and beneficiation of iron ore and the mining of coal. The firm's earliest predecessor was the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, founded in 1847. Samuel Mather and six associates had learned of rich iron-ore deposits recently discovered in the highlands of the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan. The final decades of the 1800s were a period of business consolidation from the partnership-sized businesses of an earlier generation to a new type of business firm, the stock-market-traded corporation intent on maximizing market share. The former Cleveland Iron Mining Co. was a survivor of this shakeout, purchasing many of its competitors. One key merger in 1890, with Jeptha Wade's Cliffs Iron Company led the combined firm to change its name to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. William G. Mather, the son of Samuel, guided Cleveland-Cliffs as president and later as chairman of the board during the period of 1890-1947. Under Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs was a leader in the development of the classic-type lake freighter, a bulk-cargo vessel especially designed to carry Great Lakes commodities. The 618-foot (188 m)-long William G. Mather, launched in 1925, is a surviving example of this ship type. For almost a century, the black-hulled Cleveland-Cliffs ships were familiar sights on the upper Lakes. In 1933, Edward Greene (the son-in-law of Jeptha Homer Wade II) replaced William G. Mather as the head of the company. Demand for American iron ore hit peaks during World War I, World War II, and the post-WWII consumer boom, and the company enjoyed success for many decades. The periods following the recessions of 1974-75 and 1981-83 were harsh ones for the iron ore industry. Cleveland-Cliffs shrank its operations, closing many of their plants and began turning the associated tailings ponds into compensatory wetlands for its other properties. In 1984, Cliffs withdrew from the Great Lakes shipping industry. In June 2007, Cleveland-Cliffs purchased its first domestic coal property. In line with its venture into coal, the company changed its name from Cleveland-Cliffs to Cliffs Natural Resources in October 2008. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F09_030_1
Subjects: Lake Erie; Shipping industry; Docks--Ohio--Cleveland; Lake steamers--Great Lakes (North America)--History; Shipping--Erie, Lake; Cargo ships; Ores--Transportation; Hulett iron-ore unloaders; National Register of Historic Places; Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company; Mather, Samuel, 1851-1931; Mather, Willi
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Cuyahoga river traffic from foot of St. Clair Avenue. This is an oil burning diesel freighter. Not many of these are seen in Cleveland and then usually at the package freight dock at 9 street. Most ships coming into Cleveland port are the traditional coal burning freighters. Bridge in photo is Main Avenue bridge." The Main Ave. (Harold H. Burton Memorial) Bridge, in its current state, opened October 6, 1939. The 6 lane bridge is Ohio's longest elevated structure at 8,000ft. Earlier bridges of varying sophistication have connected the East and West shores of the Cuyahoga River in this location since the mid-1800s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F11_33_01
Subjects: Cargo ships; Cuyahoga River (Ohio)
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "River Traffic. View from Superior Ave. Bridge looking north." Tugboat pulling another ship along the Cuyahoga River. The bridge pictured in the photograph is the Main Avenue Bridge. The Main Ave. (Harold H. Burton Memorial) Bridge, in its current state, opened October 6, 1939. The 6 lane bridge is Ohio's longest elevated structure at 8,000ft. Earlier bridges of varying sophistication have connected the East and West shores of the Cuyahoga in this location since the mid-1800s. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F11_38_01
Subjects: Ships--Cuyahoga River (Ohio); Cuyahoga River (Ohio); Cargo Ships; Cleveland (Ohio)--Pictorial works; Bridges--Ohio--Cleveland; Bridges--Ohio; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Cleveland Cliff Iron Co. docks, Lake Erie, west of the mouth of the Cuyahoga." The ship in the photograph is the "Carle C. Conway", an ore carrier, being unloaded by a Hulett, specialized unloading machine. The 'R. L. Agassiz', originally the 'William A. Hawgood' of 1907, became the 'Carle C. Conway' in 1934 and was broken up at Port Arthur in 1963. The words "National Steel Corporation" appears along the sides of the steamship. The Whiskey Island Hulett Ore Unloaders were built in 1912 for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) by Wellman – Seaver – Morgan Company of Cleveland. The dock is located in on Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio on the coast of Lake Erie, between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Edgewater Park. The Hulett automatic ore unloader was invented by George Hulett of Cleveland, Ohio and patented in 1898. The first working machine was built the following year at Conneaut Harbor in Conneaut, Ohio. It was successful, and many more were built along the Great Lakes, especially the southern shore of Lake Erie to unload steamers full of taconite from the iron mines near Lake Superior. Until 1903 they were built by Webster, Camp & Lane Company of Akron, Ohio. Substantial improvements were later made on the design by Samuel T. Wellman. It is these second-generation Huletts which continue to stand to this day. The electrically operated Hulett unloader runs on two sets of parallel tracks along the face of the docks, one near the edge and one further back, with normally enough distance for four sets of railroad tracks in between. Steel towers, riding on wheeled trucks, support girders that run from front to back, perpendicular to the dock face. Along these girders runs a carriage which can move toward or away from the dock face. This in turn carries a large walking beam which can be raised or lowered; at the dock-end is a vertical column with a large scoop bucket on the end. A parallel beam is mounted half-way down this column to keep the column vertical as it is raised or lowered. The machine's operator, stationed in the vertical beam above the bucket for maximum cargo visibility, could spin the beam at any angle. The scoop bucket is thus lowered into the ship's hold, closed to capture about 10 tons of ore, then raised and moved back toward the dock. The Cleveland Huletts were used until 1992, when Conrail, who had inherited them from PRR, decided to abandon them because self-unloading boats were standard on the American side of the lake, rending them obsolete. Most, if not all, have since been scrapped. In 1999, only six remained, the group of four at Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio the oldest. In spite of the Cleveland machines being on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, they were demolished in 2000 by the Cleveland Port Authority to enable development of the land they were located on. The Port Authority disassembled and retained two Huletts, to enable their reconstruction at another site, which is pending. Cliffs Natural Resources, formerly Cleveland-Cliffs, is a Cleveland, Ohio business firm that specializes in the mining and beneficiation of iron ore and the mining of coal. The firm's earliest predecessor was the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, founded in 1847. Samuel Mather and six associates had learned of rich iron-ore deposits recently discovered in the highlands of the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan. The final decades of the 1800s were a period of business consolidation from the partnership-sized businesses of an earlier generation to a new type of business firm, the stock-market-traded corporation intent on maximizing market share. The former Cleveland Iron Mining Co. was a survivor of this shakeout, purchasing many of its competitors. One key merger in 1890, with Jeptha Wade's Cliffs Iron Company led the combined firm to change its name to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. William G. Mather, the son of Samuel, guided Cleveland-Cliffs as president and later as chairman of the board during the period of 1890-1947. Under Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs was a leader in the development of the classic-type lake freighter, a bulk-cargo vessel especially designed to carry Great Lakes commodities. The 618-foot (188 m)-long William G. Mather, launched in 1925, is a surviving example of this ship type. For almost a century, the black-hulled Cleveland-Cliffs ships were familiar sights on the upper Lakes. In 1933, Edward Greene (the son-in-law of Jeptha Homer Wade II) replaced William G. Mather as the head of the company. Demand for American iron ore hit peaks during World War I, World War II, and the post-WWII consumer boom, and the company enjoyed success for many decades. The periods following the recessions of 1974-75 and 1981-83 were harsh ones for the iron ore industry. Cleveland-Cliffs shrank its operations, closing many of their plants and began turning the associated tailings ponds into compensatory wetlands for its other properties. In 1984, Cliffs withdrew from the Great Lakes shipping industry. In June 2007, Cleveland-Cliffs purchased its first domestic coal property. In line with its venture into coal, the company changed its name from Cleveland-Cliffs to Cliffs Natural Resources in October 2008. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F09_19_01
Subjects: Lake Erie; Shipping industry; Docks--Ohio--Cleveland; Lake steamers--Great Lakes (North America)--History; Shipping--Erie, Lake; Cargo ships; Ores--Transportation; Hulett iron-ore unloaders; National Register of Historic Places; Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company; Mather, Samuel, 1851-1931; Mather, Willi
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph of downtown Toledo, Ohio taken on a barge from the Maumee River. The boat is about to go under one of the many bridges located in the downtown core of Toledo. The skyline of the city can be seen in the distance, as well as, some factory pipes, boat docks and other ships. Toledo is the fourth largest city in Ohio and is home to the University of Toledo. It is also known as the "Glass City" due to its long history of innovation in all aspects of the glass industry. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B13F11_010_001
Subjects: Maumee River (Ind. and Ohio); Cargo Ships; Bridges Ohio; Cityscape photography; Toledo (Ohio)--History--Pictorial works; Central business districts--Ohio--Toledo; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project.
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Cleveland Cliff Iron Co. dock, Lake Erie, west of the mouth of the Cuyahoga." The ship in the photograph is the "Carle C. Conway", an ore carrier, being unloaded by a Hulett, specialized unloading machine. This group of four Huletts can be found on Whiskey Island, between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Edgewater Park, in Cleveland, Ohio. The 'R. L. Agassiz', originally the 'William A. Hawgood' of 1907, became the 'Carle C. Conway' in 1934 and was broken up at Port Arthur in 1963. The words "National Steel Corporation" appears along the sides of the steamship. The Hulett Automatic Ore Unloader was invented by George H. Hulett, a native of Ohio, in the late 1800's. The unloader became an essential element in the development of the iron ore industry in Ohio, allowing rapid unloading of cargo and increasing the volume and efficiency of ore docks at Ohio ports. The machines remained in use, with few changes, until the early 1990s. Cliffs Natural Resources, formerly Cleveland-Cliffs, is a Cleveland, Ohio business firm that specializes in the mining and beneficiation of iron ore and the mining of coal. The firm's earliest predecessor was the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, founded in 1847. Samuel Mather and six associates had learned of rich iron-ore deposits recently discovered in the highlands of the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan. The final decades of the 1800s were a period of business consolidation from the partnership-sized businesses of an earlier generation to a new type of business firm, the stock-market-traded corporation intent on maximizing market share. The former Cleveland Iron Mining Co. was a survivor of this shakeout, purchasing many of its competitors. One key merger in 1890, with Jeptha Wade's Cliffs Iron Company led the combined firm to change its name to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. William G. Mather, the son of Samuel, guided Cleveland-Cliffs as president and later as chairman of the board during the period of 1890-1947. Under Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs was a leader in the development of the classic-type lake freighter, a bulk-cargo vessel especially designed to carry Great Lakes commodities. The 618-foot (188 m)-long William G. Mather, launched in 1925, is a surviving example of this ship type. For almost a century, the black-hulled Cleveland-Cliffs ships were familiar sights on the upper Lakes. In 1933, Edward Greene (the son-in-law of Jeptha Homer Wade II) replaced William G. Mather as the head of the company. Demand for American iron ore hit peaks during World War I, World War II, and the post-WWII consumer boom, and the company enjoyed success for many decades. The periods following the recessions of 1974-75 and 1981-83 were harsh ones for the iron ore industry. Cleveland-Cliffs shrank its operations, closing many of their plants and began turning the associated tailings ponds into compensatory wetlands for its other properties. In 1984, Cliffs withdrew from the Great Lakes shipping industry. In June 2007, Cleveland-Cliffs purchased its first domestic coal property. In line with its venture into coal, the company changed its name from Cleveland-Cliffs to Cliffs Natural Resources in October 2008. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F11_42_01
Subjects: Lake Erie; Shipping industry; Docks--Ohio--Cleveland; Lake steamers--Great Lakes (North America)--History; Shipping--Erie, Lake; Cargo ships; Ores--Transportation; Hulett iron-ore unloaders; National Register of Historic Places; Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company; Mather, Samuel, 1851-1931; Mather, Willi
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Identification - Ore Docks; Location - Cleveland; Credit Line - Ohio State Dept. of Visual Education." This photograph shows the steamer ships "Pontiac" and "Hennepin" (not to be confused with the wooden steamer which sunk in Lake Erie in 1927). Behind the ore carriers can be seen the Whiskey Island Huletts, located between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Edgewater Park. The Whiskey Island Hulett Ore Unloaders were built in 1912 for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) by Wellman – Seaver – Morgan Company of Cleveland. The dock is located in on Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio on the coast of Lake Erie, between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Edgewater Park. The Hulett automatic ore unloader was invented by George Hulett of Cleveland, Ohio and patented in 1898. The first working machine was built the following year at Conneaut Harbor in Conneaut, Ohio. It was successful, and many more were built along the Great Lakes, especially the southern shore of Lake Erie to unload steamers full of taconite from the iron mines near Lake Superior. Until 1903 they were built by Webster, Camp & Lane Company of Akron, Ohio. Substantial improvements were later made on the design by Samuel T. Wellman. It is these second-generation Huletts which continue to stand to this day. The electrically operated Hulett unloader runs on two sets of parallel tracks along the face of the docks, one near the edge and one further back, with normally enough distance for four sets of railroad tracks in between. Steel towers, riding on wheeled trucks, support girders that run from front to back, perpendicular to the dock face. Along these girders runs a carriage which can move toward or away from the dock face. This in turn carries a large walking beam which can be raised or lowered; at the dock-end is a vertical column with a large scoop bucket on the end. A parallel beam is mounted half-way down this column to keep the column vertical as it is raised or lowered. The machine's operator, stationed in the vertical beam above the bucket for maximum cargo visibility, could spin the beam at any angle. The scoop bucket is thus lowered into the ship's hold, closed to capture about 10 tons of ore, then raised and moved back toward the dock. The Cleveland Huletts were used until 1992, when Conrail, who had inherited them from PRR, decided to abandon them because self-unloading boats were standard on the American side of the lake, rending them obsolete. Most, if not all, have since been scrapped. In 1999, only six remained, the group of four at Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio the oldest. In spite of the Cleveland machines being on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, they were demolished in 2000 by the Cleveland Port Authority to enable development of the land they were located on. The Port Authority disassembled and retained two Huletts, to enable their reconstruction at another site, which is pending View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F09_046_1
Subjects: Lake Erie; Shipping industry; Docks--Ohio--Cleveland; Lake steamers--Great Lakes (North America)--History; Shipping--Erie, Lake; Cargo ships; Ores--Transportation; Hulett iron-ore unloaders; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: Original description reads: "Cleveland Cliff Iron Co. docks, Lake Erie, west of the mouth of the Cuyahoga." The ship in the photograph is the "Carle C. Conway", and ore carrier, being unloaded by a Hulett, specialized unloading machine. The 'R. L. Agassiz', originally the 'William A. Hawgood' of 1907, became the 'Carle C. Conway' in 1934 and was broken up at Port Arthur in 1963. The words "National Steel Corporation" appears along the sides of the steamship. The Whiskey Island Hulett Ore Unloaders were built in 1912 for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) by Wellman – Seaver – Morgan Company of Cleveland. The dock is located in on Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio on the coast of Lake Erie, between the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and Edgewater Park. The Hulett automatic ore unloader was invented by George Hulett of Cleveland, Ohio and patented in 1898. The first working machine was built the following year at Conneaut Harbor in Conneaut, Ohio. It was successful, and many more were built along the Great Lakes, especially the southern shore of Lake Erie to unload steamers full of taconite from the iron mines near Lake Superior. Until 1903 they were built by Webster, Camp & Lane Company of Akron, Ohio. Substantial improvements were later made on the design by Samuel T. Wellman. It is these second-generation Huletts which continue to stand to this day. The electrically operated Hulett unloader runs on two sets of parallel tracks along the face of the docks, one near the edge and one further back, with normally enough distance for four sets of railroad tracks in between. Steel towers, riding on wheeled trucks, support girders that run from front to back, perpendicular to the dock face. Along these girders runs a carriage which can move toward or away from the dock face. This in turn carries a large walking beam which can be raised or lowered; at the dock-end is a vertical column with a large scoop bucket on the end. A parallel beam is mounted half-way down this column to keep the column vertical as it is raised or lowered. The machine's operator, stationed in the vertical beam above the bucket for maximum cargo visibility, could spin the beam at any angle. The scoop bucket is thus lowered into the ship's hold, closed to capture about 10 tons of ore, then raised and moved back toward the dock. The Cleveland Huletts were used until 1992, when Conrail, who had inherited them from PRR, decided to abandon them because self-unloading boats were standard on the American side of the lake, rending them obsolete. Most, if not all, have since been scrapped. In 1999, only six remained, the group of four at Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio the oldest. In spite of the Cleveland machines being on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, they were demolished in 2000 by the Cleveland Port Authority to enable development of the land they were located on. The Port Authority disassembled and retained two Huletts, to enable their reconstruction at another site, which is pending. Cliffs Natural Resources, formerly Cleveland-Cliffs, is a Cleveland, Ohio business firm that specializes in the mining and beneficiation of iron ore and the mining of coal. The firm's earliest predecessor was the Cleveland Iron Mining Company, founded in 1847. Samuel Mather and six associates had learned of rich iron-ore deposits recently discovered in the highlands of the Upper Peninsula region of Michigan. The final decades of the 1800s were a period of business consolidation from the partnership-sized businesses of an earlier generation to a new type of business firm, the stock-market-traded corporation intent on maximizing market share. The former Cleveland Iron Mining Co. was a survivor of this shakeout, purchasing many of its competitors. One key merger in 1890, with Jeptha Wade's Cliffs Iron Company led the combined firm to change its name to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company. William G. Mather, the son of Samuel, guided Cleveland-Cliffs as president and later as chairman of the board during the period of 1890-1947. Under Mather, Cleveland-Cliffs was a leader in the development of the classic-type lake freighter, a bulk-cargo vessel especially designed to carry Great Lakes commodities. The 618-foot (188 m)-long William G. Mather, launched in 1925, is a surviving example of this ship type. For almost a century, the black-hulled Cleveland-Cliffs ships were familiar sights on the upper Lakes. In 1933, Edward Greene (the son-in-law of Jeptha Homer Wade II) replaced William G. Mather as the head of the company. Demand for American iron ore hit peaks during World War I, World War II, and the post-WWII consumer boom, and the company enjoyed success for many decades. The periods following the recessions of 1974-75 and 1981-83 were harsh ones for the iron ore industry. Cleveland-Cliffs shrank its operations, closing many of their plants and began turning the associated tailings ponds into compensatory wetlands for its other properties. In 1984, Cliffs withdrew from the Great Lakes shipping industry. In June 2007, Cleveland-Cliffs purchased its first domestic coal property. In line with its venture into coal, the company changed its name from Cleveland-Cliffs to Cliffs Natural Resources in October 2008. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F09_20_01
Subjects: Lake Erie; Shipping industry; Docks--Ohio--Cleveland; Lake steamers--Great Lakes (North America)--History; Shipping--Erie, Lake; Cargo ships; Ores--Transportation; Hulett iron-ore unloaders; National Register of Historic Places; Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company; Mather, Samuel, 1851-1931; Mather, Willi
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)