Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Discussion board focusing on Great Lakes Shipping Question & Answer. From beginner to expert all posts are welcome.
statmk

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by statmk »

There is also the book"Ninety Years Crossing Lake Michigan: The History of the Ann Arbor Car Ferries."
GuestfromEU
Posts: 359
Joined: December 7, 2014, 10:33 am

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by GuestfromEU »

Thank you all for the information! I do have the book Taconite - A New Life For Minnesota's Iron Range, bought last year from the St. Louis County Historical Society. I have not read all sections yet but it is a wealth of detail on the mines and Taconite Harbor.

I am now searching Abebooks for other titles mentioned. Thank you again very much to everyone who contributed. I was hesitant to post, but I have seen some railway related posts in the past, and I thought there are some people also interested in this as well. So much of Great Lakes history related to the ships is closely tied to rail transportation. I would like to someday read a book on any of the various Québéc iron ore railways.
Mr Link
Posts: 1198
Joined: December 6, 2014, 3:43 pm

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by Mr Link »

Raildudes dad guest wrote:I'm pretty sure the LS&I hauls taconite pellets in Marquette from the Tilden Mine to the docks. I took a tour thru Tilden some years ago which included a look thru the fire proof glass on the end of the rotary kiln used to produce te pelmets.I was surmised they took us right up close to the workings of the mine and plant.

Google taconite - pellets produced on the Minnisota and Marquette Iron Ranges
Yea, I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that earlier comment. Taconite is a sedimentary rock (or ore) with a low iron content, while magnetite and hematite are minerals. As such magnetite and hematite have pure chemical compositions and therefore can be precisely defined. Rocks on the other hand are made up of an ever-changing variety of minerals and are formed by different means. Therefore they are much more difficult to define precisely and often have regional or local names which sometimes change over time. The term taconite (originally taconyte) originated in Minnesota and originally just referred to the rock. However it has evolved over the years to include the processing and pelletizing processes as well. I met several old time geologists over the years that resisted the use of taconite to describe rock formations in Michigan, since there were older local names already in use. I suspect that memory is what spurred my initial comment. But you are correct. Taconite is a commonly used name for both the ore and the pellets from Michigan, as well as Minnesota mines.
Raildudes dad guest

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by Raildudes dad guest »

I'm pretty sure the LS&I hauls taconite pellets in Marquette from the Tilden Mine to the docks. I took a tour thru Tilden some years ago which included a look thru the fire proof glass on the end of the rotary kiln used to produce te pelmets.I was surmised they took us right up close to the workings of the mine and plant.

Google taconite - pellets produced on the Minnisota and Marquette Iron Ranges
FWE
Posts: 76
Joined: November 7, 2019, 7:14 am

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by FWE »

Additional read would be Taconite - A New Life for Minnesota’s Iron Range and the History of Erie Mining Company. Copyright 2019 by St. Louis County Historical Society, publisher is The Danning Company.

An extensive full history on Taconite Harbor dock facility and their own Railroad that serviced that dock. Loaded with historical and late photos of building it and those that worked and operated the dock.

( 351 pages)
MilwBob
Posts: 379
Joined: May 9, 2010, 7:20 pm

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by MilwBob »

George Hilton's "Great Lakes Car Ferries"

Ted Rafuse has published three car-ferry route related books, on the ferries at Colbourg, Prescott and across the Strait of Canso. https://www.steampowerpublishing.org/

Byron Babbish has self-published a ton of books on his railfan experiences around the Great Lakes, mostly in the 1970's and 1980's. The books have limited text, but there are a lot of photos of long gone equipment. The one that deals the most with Great Lakes shipping is probably "Taconite, Calcite, Dolomite: Michigan's Mineral Railroads" (kind of a interesting choice for a title considering Michigan railroads don't actually haul taconite. Its all pelletized hemitite or magnetite). He also published several volumes on Great Lakes and Detroit River car ferries. Again, mostly photo books, with the Great Lakes car ferries books using much older historical photos. http://byronbabbish.com/


The Hilton & Rafuse books are excellent books on the Great Lake ferries. I was disappointed with Babbishes books on the ferries. I found many inaccuracies in them. And overpriced for what you get.
Mr Link
Posts: 1198
Joined: December 6, 2014, 3:43 pm

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by Mr Link »

I retired fairly recently so between the free time that provides,and the restrictions from covid, I've spent a lot of time reading lately. So its hard to even know where to start.

"The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway" by John Gaertner. - While this book doesn't devote much attention to shipping, and a limited amount to docks, it is a great history of the DSS&A. Which includes a lot of history of the early railroad development in the Marquette to Negaunee and Ishpeming areas.

Numerous Patrick Dorin books.

George Hilton's "Great Lakes Car Ferries"

Ted Rafuse has published three car-ferry route related books, on the ferries at Colbourg, Prescott and across the Strait of Canso. https://www.steampowerpublishing.org/

Byron Babbish has self-published a ton of books on his railfan experiences around the Great Lakes, mostly in the 1970's and 1980's. The books have limited text, but there are a lot of photos of long gone equipment. The one that deals the most with Great Lakes shipping is probably "Taconite, Calcite, Dolomite: Michigan's Mineral Railroads" (̶k̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶e̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶c̶h̶o̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶i̶t̶l̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶M̶i̶c̶h̶i̶g̶a̶n̶ ̶r̶a̶i̶l̶r̶o̶a̶d̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶u̶l̶ ̶t̶a̶c̶o̶n̶i̶t̶e̶.̶ ̶I̶t̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶e̶l̶l̶e̶t̶i̶z̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶m̶a̶t̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶g̶n̶e̶t̶i̶t̶e̶)̶. He also published several volumes on Great Lakes and Detroit River car ferries. Again, mostly photo books, with the Great Lakes car ferries books using much older historical photos. http://byronbabbish.com/

Here are three books that deal more with mining, than railroading, although all three discuss company railroads:

"Iron Will: Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847-2006" by Terry S Reynolds and Virginia P Dawson

"Taconite: New Life for Minnesota's Iron Range:The History of Erie Mining"

"Pioneering with Taconite" by E.W. Davis

While not books, the old magazine CTC Board (Later CTC Board Railroads Illustrated) devoted a lot of space to iron ore railroads over the years. These are the ones I'm aware of. They all give a good overview of contemporary operations and most had some historical info was well. All included lots of photos:

CTC 162 (Jan 1990) Iron Ore Haulers (1 of 8 in a series) this one covered the Lake Superior and Ishpeming

CTC 170 (Dec 1990) #2 LTV Mining railroad

CTC 180 (Jan 92) #3 Cyprus Northshore

CTC 182 (Aug 92) #4 Missabi Part 1

CTC 183 (Sept 92) #4 Missabi part 2

CTC 189 (Sept 93) #5 US Steel near Atlantic City, Wyoming

CTC 191 (Nov 93) #6 Cartier

CTC 195 (Jan 95) #7 Burlington Northern in Minnesota/Wisconsin

CTC 207 (Jan 96) Missabi update-all roads

CTC 208 (Feb 96) Bethlehem's last blast furnace

CTC 211 (May 96) #8 Union Pacific in Michigan (former C&NW)

CTC 219 (Jan 97) short two page illustrated article on Incan Superior

CTC 266 (Nov 2000) Cartier Alco/MLW Curtain Call

CTC 275 (Sep 2001) LTV last runs (F units)

Finally, James S Hannum has published a wonderful series of three atlases of Michigan logging railroads. They are called "In the Pines: An Atlas of Michigan Logging Railroads, Part I, Part II and Part III" Part III (which covers the Upper Peninsula as well as updating many previous lower peninsula maps) is currently available through Amazon. Parts I and Parts II rapidly sold out, but Dr. Hannum is offering digital PDF versions to download. (See his recent post at the MichiganRailroads.com history discussion board https://members4.boardhost.com/RRHXHistory/.) The books hardly mention Great Lakes shipping but many of the lines ended at their own waterfront docks or sawmills, and used water transport from there to market. And it is truly amazing how many logging spurs there were in Michigan.
Prescotont

Re: Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by Prescotont »

"Railway Steamships of Ontario" by Dana Ashdown and published by Boston Mills Press in 1988 examines railway shipping activities in the Province of Ontario. It includes a review of railway ferries, passenger ships and the ports where marine and rail operations interconnected.
GuestfromEU
Posts: 359
Joined: December 7, 2014, 10:33 am

Railroad Books About Great Lakes Ports

Unread post by GuestfromEU »

I did not want to hijack the thread about BN Ore Docks, so here is a new post about which books are recommended for railroads around the Great Lakes area which have connections to the ports. Patrick Dorin and Douglas Addison mentioned already, David Schauer also comes to mind. Whether it is DM&IR, BN, CNW, or PR, C&O, Conrail, and B&LE, It would be nice to have a list of books with authors documented here for future reference, plus advice to expand my collection.

What would you consider valuable and/or essential to any Great Lakes historian with an interest in railroads?
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