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Michipicoten arrives at Marquette for her first cargo, May 2003. (Lee Rowe) Sparrows Point in January 1952, and the other two were completed over the next five months. By mid-November 1952, all three were active on the Great Lakes. Bethlehem kept two for its own needs, naming them Johnstown and Sparrows Point, after two cities where the company had a major presence. Interlake took delivery of the third, and christened it Elton Hoyt 2nd. After final assembly and sea trials at the American Shipbuilding Co. yard in Chicago, she sailed on her maiden voyage to load iron ore in Superior, Wis. The vessel was fitted with a Bethlehem Steel-built steam turbine plant producing 7,000 horsepower, the benchmark for new ship construction in the early 1950s. Steam was produced by two Foster-Wheeler, oil-fired, water-tube boilers, again commonplace among ships of the time. The Hoyt became Interlake’s flagship, a distinction she would hold until the new John Sherwin came out in May 1958. Like the other new, large carriers of the 1950s, the Hoyt fell into a regular trade route carrying iron ore between Lake Superior and lower-lakes ports. The Great Northern (now Burlington Northern Santa Fe) ore docks in Superior was a common destination for this ship over the years. The ship remains the last to load at the older-style chute docks in Superior, taking the final cargo from Dock No.1 before it was shut down in 1988. The Hoyt’s shorter length at construction, which helped permit the vessel to enter the lakes, became a liability not long into her career. During the winter of 1956-'57, the Hoyt returned to Chicago to receive a 72’ midsection, increasing her capacity from 18,800 tons to 22,300 tons. Now 698.6’-long, the lengthening allowed her to carry the equivalent of several more loads of cargo each year. As the 1970s drew to a close, the Hoyt needed additional modifications to 6 KYS ‘04