''Edna G'' is a
tugboat which worked the
Great Lakes and is now preserved as a museum ship. ''Edna G'' was built by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company in 1896 for the
Duluth and Iron Range Railroad The Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Railway Equipment and Publication CompanyThe Official Railway Equipment Register June 1917, p. 582 was founded in 1874.
In 1884, it ran the first main line train between Two Harbors and Soudan, Minnesota, a tot ...
at a cost $35,397.50. She was named for the daughter of
J. L. Greatsinger, president of the railroad.
She has a length of , a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of , a depth of , a
gross register tonnage of 154 tons, and a
net register tonnage
Net register tonnage (NRT, nrt, n.r.t.) is a ship's cargo volume capacity expressed in "register tons", one of which equals to a volume of . It is calculated by subtracting non-revenue-earning spaces i.e. spaces not available for carrying cargo, ...
of 67 tons.
Home-ported at
Two Harbors,
Minnesota, ''Edna G'' moved ships and barges carrying
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
and
taconite
Taconite () is a variety of iron formation, an iron-bearing (over 15% iron) sedimentary rock, in which the iron minerals are interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate. The name "taconyte" was coined by Horace Vaughn Winchell (1865–1923) †...
from the
Mesabi Range and other smaller sites in the
Iron Range region of northeast Minnesota. She spent her entire working career at Two Harbors with the exception of
World War I (1917–1919) when she served on the eastern seaboard. She was out of service from 1931 to 1933 due to the depression.
Over the years ''Edna G'' was involved in several shipwreck rescues including the surviving crew of the
''Madeira''. Her last tow was the ''Cason J. Calloway'' on December 30, 1980. She was the last coal-fired, steam-engine tug in service on the lakes when she was retired in 1981.
''Edna G.'' is one of the attractions of the Lake County Historical Society in Two Harbors. Following reports of continued weakening of the hull though corrosion and exposure to ice, in January 2017 Two Harbors City Council initiated further studies of the viability of continuing her preservation ashore.
References
External links
*
Lake County Historical Society - Edna G. Tugboat*
{{Oldest surviving ships (pre-1919)
Museums in Lake County, Minnesota
Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
Museum ships in Minnesota
Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway
Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota
National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Minnesota
Tugboats of the United States
1896 ships
Tugboats on the Great Lakes
Ships built in Cleveland