If you visit Marquette’s Lower Harbor Ore Dock at sunrise, you’ll see massive freighters loading iron ore just like they have for 150 years. Shipping built the communities in harbor towns like Marquette, Escanaba, and Keweenaw, and today, the work is modernized but still difficult and risky. We explore how sailors, miners, fishermen, and harbor workers changed the history of the Upper Peninsula.
Harbor Towns in the Upper Peninsula
Marquette, Escanaba, Sault St. Marie, and St. Ignace are some of the most amazing places shaped by lake-focused industries.
Marquette started as a wilderness outpost and became the largest city in the area thanks to its deep-water harbor and iron ore. Its growth was made possible by generations of shipping workers.
Houghton has been a copper mining center for thousands of years, with abandoned Native American pits showing settler miners where to look for copper. A part of the Houghton/Hancock twin town, the area now lets you explore old mines, enjoy winter sports, and camp.
Another important town, Escanaba, boasts taconite (low-grade iron ore) docks that have been working since the 1860s, with the Sand Point Lighthouse as an especially interesting point. The lighthouse worked between 1869 and 1939 and it was restored in the 1990s. It’s open to the public from Memorial Day to October 1. The coastline of the world’s largest saltwater lakes is also lined with small fishing villages such as Ontonagon.
Museums such as the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum show the dangers of that sailors and workers faced on the Great Lakes, with accidents like the Edmund Fitzgerald still vivid in people’s memories. In Sault Ste. Marie, the Valley Camp museum ship gives you a real sense of what life aboard a freighter is like.
What The Work Is Like Today
The freighters are still more than active, loading 9 million tons of iron ore pellets each year, along with limestone, grain, and copper. The fishing industry lives off of whitefish and lake trout, while tourist boats also hire sailors to show off the area on cruises and ferries. Most tourists come in the summer, with experienced sailors making sure they’re traveling safely.
This is all difficult work, known for icy decks, heavy machinery, long hours, and treacherous Lake Superior weather. Many of the workers risk their lives and health to keep these industries running. In some of the most dangerous waters in the world, workers head out for weeks at a time and sufferr long hours, tight spaces, cold exposure, and, sometimes, injuries. Over time, laws have been introduced to protect maritime workers, such as the Jones Act injury rights.
The shipping season lasts from March to early January, and Great Lakes maritime workers often work for 60 days in a row followed by a 30-day break. During the winter, the sailors are on vacation, or they find other work to supplement their income until the next season. The median pay for deep sea, coastal, and Great Lakes water transportation workers is $77,000, but the work includes weeks over 40 hours, while some may work every day in a week on board for weeks or months.
The work culture is still strong, with pride coming from knowing how to efficiently load a freighter, navigate tricky waters, and interpret the moods of the lake. So if you plan to visit for a more authentic experience, try to come during the shipping season, with the busiest season being the fall.
If you’re interested in ice-breaking, you may catch the operations in early spring, and you will miss the summer crowds. In winter, you may get to see the famous ice crystals that fascinate travelers and locals.
Whichever season you choose, you’ll understand why people stay here, and why families keep coming back to this work, generation after generation.
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