''Edna G'' is a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

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 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 of , a depth of , a gross register tonnage of 154 tons, and a net register tonnage of 67 tons. Home-ported at Two Harbors,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, ''Edna G'' moved ships and barges carrying iron ore and taconite from the

Mesabi Range The Mesabi Iron Range is a mining district in northeastern Minnesota following an elongate trend containing large deposits of iron ore. It is the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota ...

and other smaller sites in the

Iron Range The term Iron Range refers collectively or individually to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by ...

region of northeast Minnesota. She spent her entire working career at Two Harbors with the exception of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(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