Iron ore is being taken from a mine in the Mesaba country in northeastern Minnesota to the mills at the head of Lake Superior.

---

This early 1900s photo the transportation of iron ore from a mine in the Mesaba country in northeastern Minnesota to the mills at the head of Lake Superior, 65 miles away. Here, a pull of a lever opens the hopper gates of each car, and the entire train can be unloaded in two minutes. The ore is run through the "pockets" of the ore dock into the hold of a great ore steamship, 5000 tons of ore being loaded in 30 minutes. The vessel carries the ore to the ore docks of the great steel mills to which it is consigned. The picture shows a great steel steamer as long as a city block unloading at the docks of the Inland Steel Company at Indiana Harbor, near Chicago. Here, machinery "grab buckets" are lowered into the hold of the ship. Instantly, each bucket grabs about seven tons of ore and is whirled upward to the bridge above. Thus 10,000 tons of ore are unloaded at this dock in a single day.

---

Size: 4199px × 2667px
Location: East Chicago, Indiana
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1900s, casting, company, country, early, furnace, harbor, hearth, history, indiana, industrial, industrialization, inland, iron, lake, machine, making, mesaba, michigan, open, ore, plant, revolution, steel, superior, transporting, working