Pockets of iron ore (160 tons each) on long dock ready for shipment, Escanaba, Mich.

Description

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Stereographs

Description

Stereoview of the iron ore dock at Escanaba, MI, with workers shoveling loose ore into the pockets. A hopper car is in the background.

Inscriptions

"7958(b) Pockets of iron ore (160 tons each), on long dock ready for shipment, Escanaba, Mich. Coprtight by Underwood & Underwood, &-84550"
"S203"
"Underwood & Underwood Publishers
New York, London, Toronto Canada, Ottawa-Kansas"
Works and Studios
Arlington, N.J. Westwood, N. J."
Reverse"
1798. Geography. -- Escanaba is situated on the souther shore of that part of northern Michigan which forms the peninsula separating Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. It is at the mouth of the Rapid River on the Bay de Noquette.
Products and Industries.--Iron is the most widely distributed and useful of metals. The United States produces about one-third of the world's supply. While twenthy-four states contribute to the iron-ore output, the five iron-ore districts of Lake Superior supply about two-thirds of the American output. Since the improvement in mining machinery, the cost of transportation and handling has been much reduced. Much of the Lake Superior ore is shoveled from open pits by steam shovels, which dump the ore into railroad cars.
The output of each shovel per day is 1,500 to 2,000 tons, To mine a ton costs from 10 to 50 cents. The ore in the cars is then carried to the neighboring shipping ports, like Escanaba. Then it is dumped into bunkers here at the docks and when the doors are opened slides down chutes into the hatches of the ore ships. Cars like the one we see ahead, run down these parallel tracks and when they are over an empty pocket they are stopped. The bottom is then mechanically withdrawn and the ore -- several tons of it -- falls into place. These men are shoveling the loose ore, which fell around the sides and edges, down into the proper pit, so that the entire amount can be loaded on to the ships quickly. Over three thousand tons can be loaded in fifty-five minutes. (See S234).

Publisher