Consort Barges

[wlbblw]

Douglas Houghton making up the tow with the "137" off Buffalo:


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

[BigRiver]

John Ericsson of the Upper Lakes fleet towing the consort barge Alexander Holley. Date and photographer unknown.

[Jay Bascom]

Yes, Upper Lakes did. They regularly used James B. Eads, Maunaloa II, Douglass Houghton and John Ericsson to tow barges - usually to Goderich, Sarnia and Port Colborne. The Paterson and Hutchinson fleets used them into the mid-1950s. Q&O and Hindman also used former consort barges in the pulpwood trade but used tugs to tow them rather than powered freighters.

[Guest]

I read that consort barges were used to increase the amount cargo transported on each voyage. Didn't Upper Lakes Shipping continue using consort barges into the 1960s?