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MV John J. Boland passes Sherman Park in Sault Ste. Marie while a couple of boys swim and wave.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
This is the second part of a three-part series about my recent research trip across northern Michigan. You can read Part 1 here.
SAULT STE. MARIE — My first afternoon in Sault Ste. Marie centered on the primary purpose of the trip: visiting the grave of Capt. John W. Duddleson (1846-1927) at Riverside Cemetery.
Duddleson is one of more than 70 captains I have spent the better part of the past year researching for a book about Ludington’s cross-lake railroad transportation service and for a new interactive exhibit planned at the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum. His career spanned the evolution of the service from the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad’s early cross-lake steamships to the era of the railroad car ferries. As I have pieced together his life through newspapers, government records, company documents and photographs, he has emerged as one of the operation’s most capable and respected captains.
Gravesite of Capt. John Duddleson and his wife, Eva, along with some of their family members, Riverside Cemetery, Sault Ste. Marie.
His name is forever linked to the Great Lakes Storm of 1913. During that legendary November gale, Duddleson commanded the steamer Waldo through some of the worst weather ever recorded on the Great Lakes, bringing his crew and vessel safely through a storm that claimed more than 250 lives and dozens of ships. The Waldo also happened to be one of the vessels featured during my visit the previous day to the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum in Rogers City, a reminder of how connected the stories of Great Lakes mariners remain more than a century later.
Standing beside Duddleson’s grave after spending months researching his life was one of those moments that reinforces why I enjoy historical research. It isn’t simply about assembling dates, names and documents. It’s about reconnecting with the people behind those records and gaining a deeper appreciation for the lives they lived.
After leaving Riverside Cemetery, I checked into the Lockview Hotel, conveniently located in downtown Sault Ste. Marie overlooking the Soo Locks. It proved to be the perfect base for the remainder of my stay. From there, I walked to Soo Locks Park, where visitors can watch commercial vessels transit one of the busiest lock systems in North America. While there wasn’t any lock activity when I first arrived, my MarineTraffic AIS app showed several freighters approaching, making it clear the evening would soon become much more interesting.
“Know Your Ships” is available locally at the Book Mark in downtown Ludington.
Before settling in for an evening of ship watching, I met Roger LeLievre for dinner.
To anyone who follows Great Lakes shipping, Roger needs little introduction. He is editor and publisher of “Know Your Ships,” the annual field guide that has become the standard reference for commercial vessels operating on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Originally published in 1959 by Thomas Manse in Sault Ste. Marie, the book has evolved into an indispensable resource featuring vessel specifications, fleet updates, historical features and hundreds of photographs. Whether identifying a ship on the horizon or researching its history, “Know Your Ships” is almost always the first book I reach for.
Roger’s connection to Great Lakes shipping began during his childhood, growing up only a few blocks from the Soo Locks. Summers spent along the St. Marys River sparked a fascination with freighters that eventually became a lifelong passion. While attending high school, he worked as a tour guide aboard the museum ship Valley Camp before later sailing aboard Ford Motor Co.’s ore carrier Ernest R. Breech. Although journalism ultimately became his profession, shipping remained central to his life. Following graduation from Central Michigan University, Roger spent more than three decades in the newspaper industry, much of that time with The Ann Arbor News. After Thomas Manse died in 1994, Roger assumed responsibility for “Know Your Ships” and has continued expanding it into the premier annual publication devoted to Great Lakes commercial shipping.
This summer’s edition of “Know Your Ships EXTRA” includes a feature I wrote about the Norwegian-flagged chemical tanker Prime, which has become a regular visitor to Ludington’s OxyChem dock this shipping season. Sharing dinner with Roger wasn’t simply an opportunity to catch up with another journalist. It was an evening spent with someone who has devoted much of his career to documenting the same maritime industry I enjoy covering.
Following dinner, it was time to do what draws thousands of visitors to Sault Ste. Marie each year: watch ships.
MV American Century passing Rotary Island Park in the St. Mary’s River, Sault Ste. Marie.
My first stop was Rotary Island Park, where I photographed the 1,000-foot self-unloading freighter American Century as she steamed upbound toward the Soo Locks. From there, I returned downtown to watch the veteran self-unloader John J. Boland transit the locks before ending the evening at Sherman Park, where the fading twilight created an ideal backdrop as the vessel continued her voyage toward Marquette. Few places on the Great Lakes offer photographers the opportunity to experience so much commercial shipping activity in such a compact area.
The Soo Locks are the reason Sault Ste. Marie has remained one of the most important maritime communities on the Great Lakes for more than 170 years. The original American lock opened in 1855, allowing vessels to bypass the 21-foot drop of the St. Marys Rapids and creating an uninterrupted commercial water route between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. Before the lock was constructed, cargoes had to be unloaded above the rapids and transported overland before being reloaded onto another vessel—a costly and time-consuming process that limited development of the Lake Superior region.
John J. Boland going through the locks.
Today’s Soo Locks are operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and include the Poe Lock, completed in 1968, and the MacArthur Lock, which opened in 1943. The Poe Lock is currently the only lock capable of handling the largest Great Lakes freighters, including the 1,000-foot vessels that carry iron ore from Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to steel mills throughout the lower Great Lakes. Those ships transport tens of millions of tons of cargo each year, making the Soo Locks one of the most economically significant pieces of infrastructure in North America. Without them, the Great Lakes steel industry—and much of the region’s manufacturing economy—would face enormous disruption.
Recognizing the importance of the system, construction is well underway on the long-awaited New Soo Lock, a second lock sized to accommodate the largest Great Lakes freighters. The project, located adjacent to the Poe Lock, will provide critical redundancy for the nation’s iron ore supply chain and is expected to serve Great Lakes commerce for generations to come.
In my next column, I’ll remain in Sault Ste. Marie as I visit the museum ship Valley Camp, one of the Great Lakes’ premier maritime museums. Home to an impressive collection of shipwreck artifacts, historic exhibits and one of the region’s best collections interpreting Great Lakes shipping, the museum provided an ideal way to conclude my first full day in the Soo. I’ll share some of the museum’s highlights and why it remains a must-see destination for anyone interested in Great Lakes maritime history.
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