Port Washington, WI

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Jon Paul
Posts: 888
Joined: December 14, 2017, 8:37 pm

Re: Port Washington, WI

Unread post by Jon Paul »

Guest wrote:Growing up I always enjoyed seeing Paul Wiening's pictures of ships at Port Washington. My favorite was of the Cleveland Cliffs C4 freighter Thomas F. Patton unloading at Port Washington in August 1979 just before sunrise that appears on the cover of the May/June 1982 edition of GLMI's Telescope journal. For some reason, that picture has always reminded me of how fortunate I was to have been around to witness Great Lakes shipping during the 1970s. Within a few years of this photograph being taken, many of the fine ships that entered service after the war would be gone.
All 3 of the C4's with Cliffs hauled coal to Port Washington in the mid to late 70's. The days of the strait decker on the American side was for all intents and purposes coming to a close.
Guest

Re: Port Washington, WI

Unread post by Guest »

guest wrote:correction on the Jackson being last coal delivery. She did not bring in the last load, she came in light and was there only as the last boat open ship for tours complements of Wisc Power.

I thought the Fred R. White Jr. brought in the last load of coal to Port Washington.
Guest

Re: Port Washington, WI

Unread post by Guest »

Growing up I always enjoyed seeing Paul Wiening's pictures of ships at Port Washington. My favorite was of the Cleveland Cliffs C4 freighter Thomas F. Patton unloading at Port Washington in August 1979 just before sunrise that appears on the cover of the May/June 1982 edition of GLMI's Telescope journal. For some reason, that picture has always reminded me of how fortunate I was to have been around to witness Great Lakes shipping during the 1970s. Within a few years of this photograph being taken, many of the fine ships that entered service after the war would be gone.
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guest

Re: Port Washington, WI

Unread post by guest »

correction on the Jackson being last coal delivery. She did not bring in the last load, she came in light and was there only as the last boat open ship for tours complements of Wisc Power.
dfasules

Re: Port Washington, WI

Unread post by dfasules »

Thank you Mr Lafferty for the fascinating insight and details on this. Much appreciated!

David
Milwaukee, WI
William Lafferty
Posts: 1491
Joined: March 13, 2010, 10:51 am

Re: Port Washington, WI

Unread post by William Lafferty »

That is correct. Construction of the "traveling crane" at Port Washington was begun in November 1931, a Mead-Morrison coal bridge using a ten-ton clamshell capable of unloading 400 tons per hour. The first vessel to use the new dock and bridge was the O. S. McFarland on 1 August 1932. The coal was assigned to the local coal distributor, Ubbink Fuel & Dock Company, for sale in the local region before the plant opened. Ubbink afterwards, as before, used self-unloaders at its own dock on the north side of the west slip for deliveries. As an aside, up to that point the largest vessel to call at Port Washington was the S. B. Way on 22 June 1931, a special voyage (the vessel was light) bringing a party to honor the vessel's namesake, the president of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company that was in the midst of constructing the plant.
Jon Paul
Posts: 888
Joined: December 14, 2017, 8:37 pm

Re: Port Washington, WI

Unread post by Jon Paul »

I loved Port Washington. We hauled coal there and it was always a beautiful clean quiet town. With just the one unloader it took 36-40 hours to unload and we made the most of it.
dfasules

Port Washington, WI

Unread post by dfasules »

The last coal boat to deliver to the power plant at Port Washington, WI was the Herbert C Jackson on 06/26/2004. The following day the Jackson was open for tours.

This got me wondering when the first boat delivered coal to the plant. An American Society of Mechanical Engineers booklet on the Port Washington power plant (available online as a PDF file) shows a picture of an unidentified boat, with the caption, "First delivery of coal to Port Washington—Aug. 1, 1932."

However, the plant did not go into operation until Fall, 1935. Is it feasible that coal began to be stockpiled a full three years before the plant went into operation? Or might this be a typographical error?

Would anyone be able to confirm the date the first boat delivered coal to Port Washington? Or further, which boat it would have been? Thanks for any help with these questions.

David
Milwaukee, WI
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