Wandering Around the Soo

Normally when I do a post like this, I would break it down into several posts featuring each of the different ships.  But I didn't take enough pictures of each ship to warrant a separate post for each ship.  So here they are lumped together.

 Here we have the Stewart J. Cort heading past the Buffalo.  The Stewart J. Cort is unique amongst the thousand footers in that she has the standard laker configuration with the pilothouse in the front.  The Buffalo is a ship that is owned by the American Steamship Company and was built in the 1980's.

 Here we have the Birchglen heading upbound.

 A better shot of the Cort.  It almost gives you a sense of her size.

 Some people call her stubby because of this angle.

 She is being supplied by the Ojibway.  This is the first time that I've seen this ship.  I thought at first that she was a tug of some sort but she's just supplying her.

 The #1 on the deckhouse signifies her place as the first 1000 footer on the lakes.

 The Birchglen is not a thousand footer but she is still pretty neat.

 Another shot of the Buffalo after the Cort had passed her.

 A better shot to give you an idea of the size of the Cort.

 And a shot of her pilot house.

 The Ojibway again.

 A shot of the two ships as the pass each other.

 A picture to give an idea of the side of the Cort versus the Birchglen.  The Birchglen would almost fit between the two houses of the Cort.

 The Birchglen almost passes the Cort.

 As I was at the locks, I heard the Mesabi Miner calling in.  I had to get a shot of her too.  Unfortunately, many of the parks around the Soo were still closed, so I caught this shot at the park by the Power plant.

 She is also a thousand footer but has the pilothouse mounted on the back.  She was the ship I saw for the opening of the locks last year.

 A shot of her bow.

 She was also getting resupplied by the Ojibway.

 The Buffalo as she passes my favorite rear mounted pilothouse ship, the Kaministiqua.

 I had to get a few pictures of a ship in the locks.  I was actually surprised at how busy the locks were on Saturday.  It gave me a few opportunities.  Here the Birchglen is entered the Poe Lock.

 She passes the Administration Building.

 Normally, a ship like the Birchglen would be going through this lock but as you can see that would prove difficult with no water.  They are still doing maintenance on the MacArthur Lock.

 Another shot of that lock.

 The Birchglen's stack.  I love the Canada Steamship colors.

 And her pilothouse.

 The Mesabi Miner as she approaches the Poe Lock.  Unless they finish the third lock, this is the only lock that ships like the Miner can use.

 One more shot of her as she starts to enter the lock.

 The sign out in front of the park.

 The Kaministiqua waiting patiently for her turn.  It seemed like they were taking care of all the upbound ships first.  I'm guessing they didn't want to pass all this ice through.

 Another shot of the Birchglen's pilothouse.

 And she proudly flies the Maple Leaf.

 A shot of her rear.

 And she slowly leaves the lock and approaches Kaministiqua.

 And she obscures the Kaministiqua.

 And she makes her way past.

And one more shot before we left.  It was starting to rain and I didn't want to get stuck if that became freezing rain, so we left.