The ''Calumet'' was the second

lake freighter Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. Since the late 19th century, lakers have carried bulk cargoes of m ...

of that name. The vessel was built in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, in 1929, by the

Great Lakes Engineering Works The Great Lakes Engineering Works (GLEW) was a leading shipbuilding company with a shipyard in Ecorse, Michigan, that operated between 1902 and 1960. Within three years of its formation, it was building fifty percent of the tonnage of all ships ...

. For her first 71 years she was operated by two subsidiaries of

US Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

, the Pittsburgh Steamship Company, and the

Bradley Transportation Company The Bradley Transportation Company, was an American shipping company that was a subsidiary of the Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company and handled its shipment of limestone to its parent company U.S. Steel. It boasted a large fleet of self- ...

. She was christened the ''Myron C. Taylor'' after one of the directors of US Steel,

Myron Charles Taylor Myron Charles Taylor (January 18, 1874 – May 5, 1959) was an American business magnate, industrialist, and later a diplomat involved in many of the most important geopolitics, geopolitical events during and after World War II. In addition h ...

. She was originally powered by a

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

. During her eighty years in service she was upgraded with a self-unloading boom and conveyor belts, a bow thruster, and her steam engine was replaced with a more powerful diesel. According to George wharton, of the

boatnerd The boatnerd corporation, a registered not for profit corporation, circulates information about vessels that ply the North American Great Lakes. When Acheson Ventures provided space for a headquarters for the organization in their Maritime Center o ...

site, she was the largest vessel in the US Steel's fleets, when built, but by 1981, she had become one of the smallest. In 1956 US Steel shifted her to the fleet of the Bradley Transportation Company, due to an increased need to transport

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, one of the materials needed in the manufacture of

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

. At that time the vessel was retrofitted with a large self-unloading boom and the accompanying change in her holds and the addition of conveyor belts below her holds. Her original steam engine produced , and over the winter of 1967/1968 her steam engine was replaced with a diesel producing . Her bow thruster was retrofitted in 1988. She experienced a number of groundings, collisions and other incidents, none of which caused loss of life or serious damage. When she was damaged in 2007, she was not repaired because she was scheduled to be retired later that year. She was scrapped in

Port Colborne, Ontario Port Colborne is a city in Ontario, Canada that is located on Lake Erie, at the southern end of the Welland Canal, in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. The original settlement, known as Gravelly Bay, dates from 1832 and was renamed after S ...

in 2008. {{cite news , url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/nerds-ahoy/article1350013/ , title = Nerds ahoy , work =

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

, author = Patrick White , date = 2008-09-26 , location =

, archivedate = 2013-11-21 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20131121030156/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/nerds-ahoy/article1350013/ , url-status = live , quote = All over the windswept scrapyard, flash bulbs blaze, especially at the yardworker guiding his cutting torch along the hull of the Calumet, a classic straight-decker laid up after 80 year on the Great Lakes.

References

Great Lakes freighters 1929 ships Ships built in Detroit