Thunder Bay Harbour Cruise - Part 2 of 2

August 9, 2024

The historic iron ore dock, built in 1944, loaded crushed rock into cargo ships. The ore was mined in Atikokan, some 200 kilometres to the west.

As we sailed toward the waterfront, I noted the prow swinging several degrees left and right, maybe due to the angle we were meeting the waves.

Our guides, Joshua, captain, and Nikko, captain-in-training, were aiming to meet the breakwater at a steep angle. And, the lone freighter anchored in the bay came closer and closer. Soon we could make out details.

Beyond the freighter is the south shore of the bay. It became apparent that a tug was tied up to the ship.

We passed quite a distance from the freighter and, using the zoom function, I snapped this unsatisfactory image of it. My daughter, Laura, could make out its name, and shouted it to me.

This is an image of the Federal Barents, *n.s., n.d.*

4. Federal Barents. This bulk carrier was built in 2015 and sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands. According to VesselFinder.com, its length is 220 m, beam 24 m, and draught 6.5 m. According to MyShipTracking.com, after loading potash, it sailed on August 12, calling in at Sault Ste. Marie, Port Weller, Montreal, and Saint John, New Brunswick. It had sailed at that point some 4300 km (Canpotex.com). On August 23, having spent a day at St. John, it headed south into the Atlantic Ocean. It had another 5100 km to reach its destination. It was expected to arrive on September 6 at the port of Aratu, Brazil. Potash, mined in Saskatchewan, is an agricultural fertilizer.

The decision was made to bypass the middle gap in the breakwater and aim for the south gap. Slowly the infrastructure of the coast materialized.

As we approached the breakwater, a manhattan-esque skyline emerged.

We scooted through the south gap; this is the automated lighthouse on the right. Quite unlike the historic lighthouse at the north gap.

Once in the inner harbour, the wind and waves decreased, but now it threatened to rain. Captivated by the cruise, I delayed donning protective gear against the scattered raindrops, and soon the threat dissipated. We were now treated to a full view of the Keefer Terminal (which had, presumably, loaded the potash) and the Intercity grain elevators (so called by Friends of Grain Elevators).

The Keefer Terminal of the Port of Thunder Bay. Not much to see from the level of the bay. The port has docks, warehouses, and a marshalling yard (railway network). In 2022, the terminal handled 1,204,876 metric tons of potash, a 30-year high.

Keefer Terminal on the left, the Intercity elevators, and on the far right, the ore dock, now idled. A couple of the elevators look dilapidated and may no longer be operating. (Check my recent research below for an update.)

Map of Intercity elevators, annotated. *Credit Friends of Grain Elevators.*

View of the Intercity elevators looking E. *Credit supplied image for Northern Ontario Business, July 6, 2023, annotated.*

5. Intercity Elevators. I was very surprised to learn that five of the eight elevators have now been abandoned, but they are still standing. Here’s the tally, including the years of opening and closing:

Parrish & Heimbecker (1922), closed 2013

Agricore United (1914), closed now

UGG M (1913), closed now

Thunder Bay (1909), closed now

Viterra A (1928), still operating

Viterra B (1923), still operating

Canada Malting (1923), storing barley, still operating

Manitoba Pool 3 (1924), closed 1996

6. CNR Ore Dock (aka Port Arthur Ore Dock). Loaded railway cars mounted an incline on a trestle and discharged the ore into “pockets” above the water. Each of the 100 pockets (50 on either side) held 300 tons of ore. The ore descended by gravity via chutes into the hulls of ships. When Steep Rock mine closed in 1979, the dock fell into disuse, and the trestle was dismantled in 1993.

The Frodo turned north, paralleling the shore perhaps two or three hundred metres offshore. I recognized Pool 6 dock by the icebreaker moored there. The Alexander Henry is now a museum ship, catering to tourists. The location, Pool 6, was the site of the Canadian Northern Railway elevator, built in 1902 when the CNoR reached Port Arthur from Winnipeg.

The Alexander Henry moored at Pool 6. When in port, the Viking passenger cruisers moor behind it.

I strained to locate the site of the new Thunder Bay Art Gallery now under construction. Joshua pointed it out between Pool 6 and the marina. It is scheduled to open in 2025. It is likely to be the city’s premier cultural facility, aptly supplementing the Community Auditorium. (Now we need is a grand central library, but not, God forbid, an annex to a shopping mall.)

The new art gallery and Waverley Park Towers. To the extreme right is Marina Park.

Behind the site, on the city’s highest hill, is the city’s highest structure, Waverley Park Towers. Built in 1970, the building has 16 storeys and 151 units.

Soon we were gliding into the marina, the sail furled, the outboard put-putting. The Frodo was tied up to a huge chock (or whatever you call it) and we each stepped gingerly onto the dock, gaining our land legs.

Some of the passengers scurried to other appointments, while I, Grace, and John (and Susanne, my sister, not a seasoned sailor like us, joined us) examined the tower-like sculpture. It had a weird name, and was intended to commemorate the port as a shipbuilding centre.

We wandered down the walkway on the north side, identifying the plants and wildflowers and checking out the other craft in the marina.

Laura joined us, and we sat down to a delightful lunch at the Bight (not a computer term: you could look it up).

[The End. That’s all, folks!]

E.J. Lavoie's Blog 4

Thunder Bay Harbour Cruise – Part 2 of 2

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