By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — Boat watchers were in for a treat Friday as the historic tug Olive L. Moore and its paired barge, Menominee visited the Port of Ludington to deliver road aggregate to the Rieth-Riley Construction dock.
The Olive L. Moore was built as the John F. Cushing in 1928 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. in Manitowoc, Wis. for the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Chicago. In 1965, the tug was sold to Chicago Marine Fueling Service, Chicago, and renamed James E. Skelly. In 1968, it was purchased by Socony Mobil Oil Co. of New York, NY and renamed Olive L. Moore. The tug was grounded on Lake Michigan on May 5, 1966 while en route to Rockland, Maine and was laid up. U.S. Marshals sold her in 1968 to South Range Aggregate Co. of South Range, Mich.
The Moore was then rebuilt and re-powered with new Fairbanks-Morse engines. In 1969 it was acquired by Escanaba Towing Co. of Escanaba. It was frequently used to move the barges Wiltranco, A.E. Nettleton, and O.S. McFarland on the Great Lakes until the company’s operations ended in 1972.
Arlene Stopich of Escanaba then owned the Moore from 1974 to 1977. Clyde VanEnkevort owned it from 1977 to 1980.
In 1980, it was transferred to the newly-formed Upper Lakes Towing Company of Escanaba and was rebuilt and re-powered, with two Alco engines. For the next decade it was used to push and tow the self-unloading crane barge Buckeye.
In 1991, when the Buckeye was retired, the Moore was converted to an articulated tug with a Hydraconn coupler system. It was mated with the self-unloading barge McKee Sons, based out of Muskegon. The McKee Sons, owned by Lake Service Shipping (Sand Products Corp.) is laid up at the West Michigan Dock & Market Corp. (Mart Dock) in Muskegon.
The tug Invincible began pushing the McKee Sons in 2000, and the Moore was removed from regular service. It was laid up in Escanaba, where its Hydraconn system was removed.
From 2000 to 2005, the Moore saw very limited service. In 2006, it was sold to KK Integrated Logistics of Menominee, and converted back into an articulated tug with a new Hydraconn coupler system. Its cabins were rebuilt again, and a new raised pilothouse was added. The Moore re-entered service later that year, paired with the self-unloading barge Lewis J. Kuber.
In 2011, the pair was purchased by Grand River Navigation of Traverse City, a subsidiary of Grand River Navigation – Rand Logistics of New York. In 2017, the barge was renamed Menominee. The pair are registered out of Cleveland.
The Menominee was originally built as a straight deck bulker at Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s Bethlehem-Sparrows Shipyard in Sparrows Point, Md. in 1952. In 1980, it became a self-unloading vessel. In 2006, it was converted to an articulated self-unloading notched barge.
The Olive L. Moore is 125-feet long with a breadth of 39-feet and a depth of 13-feet. The Menominee is 628-feet long with a breadth of 70 feet and a depth of 37 feet. Combined, the tug/barge is 728-feet long.
This was the first time this shipping season that the tug/barge has visited Ludington.
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