The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 59 THE CONSUMERS POWER A GREAT LAKES ANACHRONISM by PAUL G. WIENING Time was when ships built for Great Lakes service could be expected to perform their duties for fifty, sixty years or more. In the not-too-distant past, steamers built around the turn of the century, the heyday for shipping and shipbuilding on the Lakes, lasted for six or seven decades. This was, of course, when iron ore and coal shipments ruled supreme. It was an era when iron ships and iron men were building gigantic, modern steel complexes that were the envy of the world. It was also a time when smokestack industry dominated all shipping requirements of the Lakes, a time when it seemed that there were "never enough" ship bottoms available to haul the ore, stone and coal. A time when ships, had to be kept in service, regardless of the upkeep, repairs or cost and new ships seemed to always be "on order". Times have changed of course. No longer is there a shortage of ships, quite the contrary in fact. No longer is iron ore, coal and stone so desperately in need. No longer are the American and Canadian steelmaking complexes the envy of the world. We've come to a time when smokestack industry has given way to high-technology as the mainstay of American industry. Steel mills, strapped by lower priced imported steel competition, Upbound in the Amherstburg Channel, the CONSUMERS POWER steamed past Bob-Lo Island in August, 1986. Author's Photo