Cleveland
The
Great Lakes transportation industry has had a major impact on Cleveland,
and conversely, the city has played a significant role in its development
over the years. The south shore of Lake Erie provides the outlet for
many rivers, a town developed at the mouth of most of them. But only
three - Toledo, Cleveland, and Buffalo - emerged as major cities, with
water transportation as the focus. For all three, the catalyst was canal
construction, with each serving as a terminal point.
The city's strategic location led to the development of a thriving shipbuilding
industry. With the advent of large-scale steel manufacturing and its
accompanying demand for large capital investment, lake transportation
became more specialized. Dockside equipment and specially designed ships
capable of handling heavy bulk commodities such as iron ore and coal
were introduced.
The
first four decades of lake transportation in Cleveland (ca. 1800-40)
were typical of the lake trade generally. Although, the first steamboat
made its appearance in 1818, Cleveland remained largely a port for the
sidewheel steamers running between Buffalo and Detroit. The town basically
was serviced by small two-masted schooners, some of them locally built.
Their trade was
locally oriented; they brought manufactured products
to the community and took on locally grown produce for their outbound
cargo.
In
1841 the Ericsson screw propeller Vandalia revolutionized lake steam
navigation; the propeller wheel, located at the stern, pushed the ship
through the water. The steam propeller, relatively cheap to build and
to operate, had several advantages. It carried an increased payload,
was more maneuverable, and was of a shallow draft, satisfying the physical
limitations imposed by Cleveland's undeveloped river and lakefront harbor
conditions. All of these characteristics tied in nicely with the warehouses,
grain elevators, and other docks built along the banks of the Cuyahoga
and the Old River Bed to accommodate the prosperous canal years. The
screw propeller also made the steam tug feasible, which meant schooners
could be towed through the narrow river entrance, along the winding
river, past other vessels lying at docks, to their destination.
With
local stands of white oak Cleveland became one of the leading wooden-shipbuilding
centers on the Great Lakes, rivaling even Buffalo. The emergence of
Cleveland as a shipbuilding center, along with its advantage as a canal
terminus and, ultimately, the north-south railroad connection to southern
Ohio coal fields, ushered in the prosperous lake-shipping period that
followed the end of the Civil War.
The
exploitation of the iron-mining districts of Michigan, Wisconsin, and
Minnesota in the 1860s through the 1880s made Cleveland the "hub"
of the Great Lakes maritime industry, previously dominated by Buffalo
and Chicago with their extensive grain interests.
During
the late 1840s and 1850s, four Cleveland firms and their predecessors
were pioneers in this development.
The
CLEVELAND-CLIFFS INC.,
The company's origin dates to 9 Nov. 1847, when 15 Cleveland
men interested in exploring the vast iron ore deposits on the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan formed the Cleveland Iron Mining Co. It was incorporated
in Michigan in 1850 and reorganized in Ohio 3 years later. Samuel Livingston
Mather (b. 1817) was the leading force for the business in its first
50 years. The company sent the first cargo of ore through the Sault
Ste. Marie canal in 1855. It built railroads and docks in that area
and, in 1869, started its own fleet of ore carriers, which were shipping
200,000 tons of ore annually by 1880. A merger between Cleveland Iron
with its prime competitor, the Iron Cliffs Co. was completed in 1891.
Cleveland-Cliffs expanded its iron ore business by acquiring
several smaller iron companies in the Marquette Range and eventually
moving into Minnesota's Mesabi Range during World War I, giving it a
total of 29 mines and 23 freighters. In 1985, the company reorganized
by forming Cleveland-Cliffs Inc as the parent company and the following
year, Cleveland-Cliffs acquired Pickands, Mather, & Co, then one
of its chief competitors
PICKANDS
MATHER & CO.,
A chief supplier of raw materials to the steel industry
and one of 4 major ore houses in the U.S. at one time, had its headquarters
in Cleveland. The company started in 1883 when SAMUEL MATHER†
joined Jay Morse and Col. JAMES PICKANDS† in a partnership to
deal in pig iron and coal, with initial interests in 2 small mines in
upper Michigan and a wooden steamer
M. A. HANNA CO.,
Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. (later American Steel & Wire)
They collectively brought the steel-manufacturing industry to Cleveland.
This developed the regional bulk transportation industry, included loading
and unloading docks, river and harbor improvements, shipyards, fleets
of specially designed bulk freighters, and RAILROADS required huge capital
expenditures. All were necessary to transport iron ore, coal, and limestone
from the mines to the steel plants in the most cost-efficient manner
possible.
In
1869 the Cleveland shipbuilding firm of Peck & Masters built the
first ship designed specifically for the iron-ore trade, the 211-ft.
wooden-propeller R. J. Hackett, with the pilothouse at the bow, followed
a year later by a schooner barge, the Forest City.
During the same period, Clevelander Robert Wallace, of Wallace, Pankhurst
& Co., built a portable steam engine to assist in unloading iron
ore along the docks lining the Old River Bed, replacing horses and cutting
the time in half. A 400-ton cargo now could be unloaded in one day.
By 1880 harbor improvements dramatically extended Cleveland's facilities,
as a west breakwall was built into the lake to protect the river entrance
from prevailing northwesterly winds and waves. In that same year, Cleveland
docks received over 750,000 tons of iron ore. Clevelander Alexander
E. Brown devised an improved hoisting machine that enabled the heavy
ore to be unloaded directly from ship to railroad cars or to dock storage
areas.
By
the late 1890s, the Hulett ore unloader had been introduced. With each
innovation, the turnaround time was significantly reduced for ships,
enabling them to head back up the chain of lakes for more cargo.
Cleveland subsequently added a central breakwall and an east leg to
provide protection for the growing maritime trade of the city.
By 1890 Cleveland also was well established as a principal builder of
steel-hulled ships. Robert Wallace and his associates, owners of the
Globe Iron Works, formed Globe Shipbuilding in 1880. In 1882 the Globe
Works launched the iron-hulled Onoko, the prototype for the Great Lakes
ore fleet, and four years later they built the first steel-hulled bulk
carrier on the lakes, the Spokane. That same year, 1886, Cleveland ore
receipts exceeded 1 million tons. The closest rival in the ore trade
was Ashtabula, whose rail connections fed the steel centers of the Mahoning
Valley. Between 1886-90 the number of steel-hulled ships jumped from
6 to 68, most were owned by Cleveland-based shipping companies.
Very
early in this movement MARCUS A. HANNA began the Cleveland Transportation
Co., and Hanna Co. owned or operated vessels in the ore and coal trades
up to the 1980s.
As
a sign of the times, the Vermilion, OH, trio of shipbuilders/vessel
owners Philip Minch, Isaac Nicholas, and Alva Bradley moved their operations
to Cleveland during the early 1880s, investing in steel-shipbuilding
companies and steel-hulled ships. From that evolved the Kinsman Marine
Transit Co. Other prominent independent vessel owners and operators,
each of which controlled several ships by 1900, were the WILSON TRANSIT
CO., Gilchrist Transportation Co., Hawgood Transit, the Corrigan interests,
Bessemer Steamship Co., Pittsburgh Steamship Co., Bradley Transit Co.,
and HUTCHINSON AND CO. Thus the pattern was established that lasted
until after World War II.
Steel-hulled
ships replaced wooden ones, and sailing ships disappeared. Corporate
mergers occurred, names changed, and new companies appeared. But Cleveland
remained the center of the Great Lakes bulk transportation industry.
At
the same time as the ore trade increased in Cleveland, so too did the
shipping of bituminous coal. Coal often meant a return cargo for vessels
heading back up the lakes, especially to Milwaukee and Lake Superior
ports. From 1890-1945 Cleveland averaged annual shipments of over 1
million tons of coal, most of it transported in Cleveland-owned hulls.
Until shortly after the turn of the century, another important commodity
to Cleveland marine operations was the receipt of lumber from the upper
lakes. Although Cleveland could not compete with Tonawanda, NY, as a
lumber port, it reached its zenith in 1892 by receiving over 7 million
board feet. After that, the trade dropped off rapidly as the timber
resources disappeared.
The Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Co. inaugurated regular
overnight passenger service between Detroit and Cleveland in 1869. It
lasted until 1951. The huge sidewheel steamers were a familiar and popular
sight, first as they docked near the old Main St. bridge over the Cuyahoga
River, and later at the elaborate terminal constructed on the lakefront
at E. 9th St. The CLEVELAND & BUFFALO TRANSIT CO., incorporated
in 1892, also operated sidewheelers--to Buffalo, Toledo, the Lake Erie
islands, and Cedar Point until it ceased operations in 1939, the victim
of the automobile.
As the Great Lakes shipping industry became more organized and centralized
in Cleveland, the city also became the regional headquarters of various
support organizations. In 1880 the Cleveland Vessel Owners Assn. was
formed to protect and to promote the interests of the shipping companies,
evolving into the LAKE CARRIERS ASSN. in 1892. The U.S. Coast Guard
9th District, covering all of the Great Lakes, has its headquarters
in Cleveland, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also maintains a
depot at the foot of E. 9th St.
The period following World War II has seen many changes in the Great
Lakes shipping business. The St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, and
many agents maintained offices in Cleveland. The appearance of the lakefront
docks changed as warehouses and coal docks were dismantled to make way
for other dock facilities to better serve the ocean-going vessels. The
lake's transportation industry underwent dramatic changes because of
restructuring in the steel industry. Iron ore shipments dropped dramatically
in the 1970s. Several fleets disappeared, including those operated by
M. A. Hanna and Cleveland-Cliffs. The last of Cliffs' vessels is now
a museum ship docked at the E. 9th St. Pier (see STEAMSHIP WILLIAM G.
MATHER MUSEUM). Others in the 1980s reduced the number of vessels in
operation. The increase in size of lake vessels offset some of the reduction
in numbers of ships. Diesel-powered 1000-footers were built at nearby
Lorain shipyards and elsewhere. These vessels were much too long and
wide (105') to navigate the Cuyahoga River. Smaller vessels of 600-700'
now carry iron ore to the modernized LTV Steel mills. Economic recovery
by 1994 resulted in the movement of 115 million tons of cargo on the
Great Lakes by the 58 U.S. flagged ships--the highest total since 1988.
Stone, cement, coal, and iron ore remain mainstays of waterborne transportation
in Cleveland. The GREAT LAKES TOWING CO., incorporated in 1899, once
held a near monopoly on lake towing. The company operates a repair yard
on WHISKEY ISLAND. Four Hulett unloaders stand at the adjacent Cleveland
and Pittsburgh ore dock, no longer in operation because self-unloading
vessels replaced the older, "straight deckers." Revival of
the traffic in bulk cargo, primarily iron ore, has kept Cleveland at
the heart of the transportation industry on the Great Lakes.
Richard J. Wright (dec.)
Timothy J. Runyan
Cleveland State Univ.
Cuyahoga River
