Venture aboard the Great Lakes Time Machine and feel like a ghost yourself, history, adventure.

Описание: It was time to take the first trip on my Great Lakes time machine. This time we zoom back to August 1941 and see some amazing images of lakeboats in action.

I was browsing the Library of Congress and came across these amazing images of grain loading at Superior, Wisconsin. I had to download the entire set. Of course presenting it to you took two days of research as well. The original files are denoted simply as "August 1941 Duluth," but that is NOT good enough. First I had to find out the exact date. That was done by combing the vessel passages in assorted newspapers. I got the names of both boats from the photos- they were the SULTANA and the VENUS. In the passages I spotted them both passing Detroit in lake July, upbound, then locking through the Soo two days later and arriving at Duluth. late on August 8th. The SULTANA had to load on the 9th because the grain trimmers did not work nights in Superior. Thus the two boats were in the slip at the same time. How do I know it wasn't another day in August of 41? They ran totally different cargoes to different ports- the odds of them coming to the head of the lakes together again in one month are astronomical. How do I know which elevator they were at? Easy... I went on a couple of Lakeboat sites on facebook and showed a photo of the elevator and asked which one is it? A good historian knows how to ask. I.D.ing the steamer in the first photo was another matter. Taking the LOC Tiff and zooming in on it I saw that the boat only had 8 hatches, making it likely a late 1890s build. Looking at the departures for that period I saw that the MARIPOSA was the only one that fit the bill.

I love my job.

This video, like always is marked "Not for kids" in order to allow comments. Watch it and see that there is nothing here that kids cannot see.