Michipicoten - Running With the Smelt

She's back again! Here is the Michipicoten returning to Duluth, Minnesota around 3:30am on May 12, 2023. She was back for her usual run of taconite pellets between the Canadian National dock in West Duluth and the Algoma Steel mill in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. For this arrival, a light fog had started to build up, no doubt caused by the temperature gradient between the warmer air and cooler water. It added a little bit of atmosphere to this arrival, causing the air to glow whenever the lighthouse blinked on.

If you look closely at the end of the south pier (near the lighthouse with the green light), you'll spot some smelt fishermen dipping their nets in the water. Smelt are a small fish that "run" every spring along the shoreline of the Great Lakes, returning to streams to spawn. Smelt are a popular fish to fry and can be quite tasty. The smelt run typically occurs around mid-April in the Duluth-Superior area but can last until mid-May in some years. On this date, the smelt run was nearly over... with only a few diehards still out in early morning hours.

The 698-foot Michipicoten was launched in 1952, originally named the Elton Hoyt 2nd. She sailed for Interlake Steamship Company until she was laid up in 2001 due to lack of demand. She was then purchased by Lower Lakes Towing in 2003 and renamed the Michipicoten before starting work with her new owners. All of the Lower Lakes Towing ship are named after rivers. (Her fleet-mates include the Mississagi, Cuyahoga, and Saginaw... though the Mississagi was retired at the conclusion of the 2020 season and was scrapped.) In 2010, her steam turbine was replaced with a 6-cylinder 8,200 horsepower diesel engine. Her current cargo capacity is 22,000 tons.

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