Sault Ste. Marie

Our tour boat reflected in the windows of the new viewing platform at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. The big tug in the center is Wilfred M. Cohen; the even bigger tug peeking over the structure, to the right, is Reliance, and the crane ship beyond everything is Yankcanuck (which I still think of as Algoma's, but that's just me, as PML's owned her for a couple decades). And a dozen or so smaller tugs. And a couple barges--one of them, PML Ironmaster, is enormous. Something for every conceivable task, obviously. Impressive array of equipment.

At Essar Steel Algoma, in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. There's just an amazing array of tugs scattered around the Soo canal....

Tour boat at Sault Ste Marie. Later in the day we'd take her through the locks.

And a barge named Harvey. Army Corps of Engineers at Sault Ste. Marie.

At Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.

And another, very small, tug. At Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Between Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, from cruise ship Nokomis.

She's just left the lock at Sault Ste. Marie.

Overlooking the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.A pretty building on a pretty day. This Catholic congregation was founded in 1668 . Just barely outside the frame is the Tower of History, which was originally built by this congregation but is now owned by the local historical society.

This was the only ship we saw in Sault Ste. Marie. Since no other ships were nearby in the queue, we wandered around downtown and read a few dozen historic markers, then headed back to St. Ignace and watched the terns. I still don't much like the Soo lock's new, view-obstructing, fence. On the other hand, they've opened several gates in the perimeter fence, and the only security guy we saw was obviously friendly and helpful. Win some, lose some.

Another photo from our pretty day in Sault Ste. Marie.

This was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's home in Sault Ste. Marie from 1826 to 1833. From here he ran the Indian agency for much of the Northwest Territory. It was moved to its current location in 1979, which is roughly when I first saw the building. The Wikipedia link, above, is worth reading; the building's had quite a history....

And the International Bridge between the Twin Saults, against the sunset. Joan's version of this photo is better....

At the Soo Locks.

At Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (MCM Marine, I think). The smaller tugs are Peach State & Beaver State.