Old Marquette dock

[ed chaput]

This is the beautiful Mattson Park in downtown Marquette, formally a coal unloading dock right next to the old ore loading dock. click on the Mattson park name on google images and many modern day pics come up including the new homes and condos that line the banks.

[Tom Hynes]

Found these photos on line of Marquette's coal dock. Looks like the bridge crane could travel the length of the dock. http://www.viewsofthepast.com/photos/to ... qt-084.jpg http://www.viewsofthepast.com/photos/to ... qt-085.jpg http://www.viewsofthepast.com/photos/to ... QT-412.jpg http://www.viewsofthepast.com/photos/to ... QT-414.jpg

[Tom Hynes]

Ore has been loaded into boats by gravity in Marquette ever since the first pocket ore dock on the Lakes was built there in 1857, so its doubtful they were loading ore, unless it was a special shipment of some sort. Looking at older nautical charts, it looks like there were two low level docks with a rail spur along the face in the 1960's. First was the LS&I Merchandise Dock in the upper harbor, north of the LS&I ore dock. The second was the Marquette Dock Company's coal dock at the north end of the lower harbor. They still list an overhead crane in the 1962 Shipmaster's directory. Perhaps the Mather was unloading coal there and the railroad was using ore jennies to back haul the coal to power plants at the mines.

[Steve B]

I am looking at a picture of the William G. Mather in Marquette, taken in 1964, at the "old" ore dock I am guessing. There is an LS&I RS1 and some ore jennies right next to the boat with an overhead crane in the background. Was the ore at this dock loaded right out of the jennies into the boat by crane, or was the crane loading an inbound shipment of something (stone?) into the ore cars? Or did both types of moves take place at this old dock? Thanks.