Every
ship has a story. Men wrap their lives about it, and women their loves,
and in so doing it makes fiction appear dull in comparison.
---Dana Thomas Bowen,
Lore of the Lakes, 1940
Shipping
on the Great Lakes began in 1679 when the first ship to sail the upper
lakes, the Griffon, was launched. By the mid-19th century, the bulk
shipping industry had begun on the Great Lakes with the transport of
iron ore, wheat and coal. The late 19th century was the Golden Age of
Great Lakes shipping when the lines of ships moving up and down the
lakes were similar to the bumper-to-bumper traffic of today's urban
roadways. Since then, the number of ships on the Great Lakes has declined,
but U.S. and Canadian ships as well as dozens of international vessels
still regularly travel through the lakes during the typical 10-month
shipping season
