Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: dss&a

The long-abandoned Soo Line dock, built for the (original) Wisconsin Central, at Ashland, Wisconsin. Ashland was the nearest port to the Gogebic (or Penokee; what you call it depends more on where you live than any objective reality) Range in Wisconsin and Michigan so the Gogebic iron mines generally shipped through this town. The last mine closed in 1965, and the last shipment occurred at that time; since then, this dock's been just sitting there. The wooden trestle approach still stands but is obviously unsafe. I was expecting they'd have torn it down by now. For the first half of the twentieth century, this town generally had three ore docks; this is the only survivor because the others were built of wood.

I'm reasonably sure Debbie-- Preacher Debra --took this photo. Marquette, Michigan's, Soo Line (DSS&A) dock , in 1977 (or perhaps 1978). The wooden trestle which connected the dock with the approaching tracks was removed a few years back; it was a glorious structure. And a fire hazard, and an obstruction to Marquette getting on with it's life. Nonetheless, I miss it. The dock itself remains; let's hope they find something to do with it. Reasonably sure, Jowo? Yup. This is from the same set as the Chief Wawatam photograph. As I said with that picture, the box is labelled Richard, but some pictures appear to be Debbie's.

By 1990 it was really quite clear that the Soo Line Ore Dock would never be used again. But some of us were probably hopeful. Taken from the downtown park (properly, Ellwood A. Mattson Lower Harbor Park), which was a couple weeks old when this photo was shot.... Camera: Minolta Freedom 100. I took a similar photo with a panoramic camera at the same time, then lost the camera. Would have been interesting to have that roll of film....