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Page 91 THE LOSS OF THE CLAYTON BELLE by PAUL J. SCHMITT The endless parade of downbound vessels on Lake Huron, their bellies full of iron ore, has been a common sight throughout the 20th century. Iron ore, more recently taconite pellets, makes its way from mines in Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula down the Lakes to the blast furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania. There raw material is converted into iron and steel. Though this process for steelmaking has endured throughout this Century, it was not always so. When iron ore was discovered in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the late 1840's, a different processing method at first evolved. The ore was smelted at or near the mine, being converted to a crude form of iron. This molten iron was then poured into a series of long troughs where it cooled. Once hardened, the iron was broken into pieces (pigs) and loaded aboard vessels. Pig iron was thus shipped down the Lakes from places like Fayette, Neguanee, Chocolay and Munising. Upon its arrival at Lake Erie ports, it was re-smelted and further processed into high quality iron and steel. This method of processing iron ore lasted through the 19th Century, being gradually replaced by the current processing system. It was while employed in this trade that the Clayton Belle ended her days. The two-masted schooner Clayton Belle was built in Clayton, New York in 1863 by J. Oades. She Schooner CLAYTON BELLE by marine artist Laara Collins.