Whats New Page

There are currently over 10,000 photos of over 400 different vessels, waterfalls, wildlife, scenery and more on this site:

Added on July 6, 2009 - Almost 400 photos from a trip to the Soo locks in June 2009. Included in the gallery are photos of all of the ships seen on this trip, photos from "Engineer's Day" festivities, photos of an historic day at the Soo Locks - the Groundbreaking Ceremony for a NEW Soo Lock!, and 92 photos from a trip aboard the Soo locks Tour Boat, Nokomis, taking in all of the sights seen on a two hour trip through the Soo Locks and river-side views of the American and Canadian Soo. Click Here to go to the new page.

Added on April 27, 2009 - (By popular request) - A photo gallery of the grounds, beaches, memorials and buildings at Red Arrow Park in Marinette, WI, Stephenson Island in Marinette, WI, and memorials along Riverside Drive in Marinette, WI. MAY UPDATE: Menominee additions include Henes Park, River Park Campground (including Mystery Ship Marina and Boat Launch), Memorial Park, and more! Click Here to go to these photos. I will be adding more photos from other parks and areas of interest in Menominee, MI and more from Marinette, WI in the future. Keep an eye on this page for new content!

Corrected on Feb. 3, 2009 - When I added the Minnesota Waterfalls page (see Oct. 13, 2008 below), I inadvertently placed the photos of the Beaver River Falls under the heading "Temperance River Falls" ... I have added the correct photos for the Temperance River Falls. Sorry for the mix-up!

Added on Jan. 6, 2009 - A new "2009 Menominee & Marinette Ships" page. Click Here to go to the new page. As of Jan. 12, 2009, two ships have already visited our port; photos are on the new page.

Added on January 5 through July 12, 2009 - Photo slideshows from 7 trips to Sturgeon Bay, WI to photograph the ships in Winter Lay-Up at Bay Shipbuilding. Click Here to go to those slideshows.

Added on Oct. 13, 2008 - A new "Minnesota Waterfalls" page with photos of waterfalls (and scenic views of Duluth, MN and Superior, WI) in Minnesota from Carlton (southwest of Duluth), throughout Duluth (there are many waterfalls within Duluth city limits), and up the north shore of Lake Superior as far as Schroeder.

Also, there is an updated "Wisconsin Waterfalls" page with new photos of waterfalls across northern Wisconsin from Hurley to Superior (via a southern route through Gurney, Upson, Mellen and back up to Superior).

There are also a few updated photos on my "Michigan's Upper Peninsula Waterfalls" page for Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties.

Click Here To go to the main waterfalls page: "Waterfalls Page (new)" and click on the links for one of the three states to see the new photos.

Added on Sept. 13, 2008 - A new "Wisconsin Waterfalls" page with photos of waterfalls in Marinette County (more in October). Click Here to go to the new page. Also, the main "Waterfalls Page" (Click Here) is new and takes you to both the new "Wisconsin Waterfalls" page and the "Michigan's Upper Peninsula Waterfalls" pages.

Added on July 28, 2008 - Photos of the Sea Trials of the U.S. Navy's newest Marinette Marine-built ship, the USS Freedom (LCS-1). Click Here to go to those photos.

Added on July 3, 2008 - 296 photos from a trip to the Soo locks from June 26 - July 1, 2008. The gallery includes photos from Engineer's Day 2008. Click here to go to the new photo gallery.

Added on May 31, 2008 - A slideshow of Postal Covers depicting special events in the histories of some of the ships built by Marinette Marine. These envelopes contain special artwork and a special postmark with the date of the event (Keel Laying, Launch, Commissioning, etc.). Click Here to go that page.

Added on Feb. 5, 2008 - 34 photos of a Railfan train in Hermansville, MI on Aug. 7, 1999 on the Odds 'n' Ends page. The Steam Excursion was powered by Soo Line #1003, a 2-8-2 light Mikado steam engine, pulling 17 assorted passenger cars. The trip originated in Michigan's Upper Peninsula at Trout Lake and ended at Hermansville. The steam engine then uncoupled from the train and went further up the line to turn around before returning to pick up the train and making the return trip to Trout Lake. The photos show close-ups of most of the 17 cars and quite a few of the steam engine. (These photos were taken with an ancient Largan digital camera; but the photo quality isn't too bad)

Added on Jan. 24, 2008 - An update to the Sturgeon Bay Lay-Ups page. There are 26 new photos of the twelve ships currently in winter lay-up at Bay Shipbuilding; two more ships are expected in the next few weeks.

Added in late December 2007 and early January 2008 - Two new slide-shows on the General Photo Gallery page. One slide-show deals with misc. photos from around Menominee and Marinette. The other slide-show contains photos of trees in Marinette after a heavy snowfall. The two slide-shows are at the top of the page, and are not like the regular slide-shows found elsewhere on the site - these are built using a software program that generates slide-shows. I like the format. Plese drop me an e-mail if you would like to see more of these slide-shows.

Added on Jan. 1, 2008 - A new 2008 Menominee & Marinette Ships page. This page will be updated throughout the year as ships arrive in our ports.

Added on Dec. 28, 2007 - A new-format Slideshow of 61 photos of scenery from Menominee, MI and Marinette, WI on the General Photo Gallery page. Check it (below the page header and banner ad) out and please let me know if you would like to see more photo galleries using that format. Enjoy!

Added on Nov. 19, 2007 - A new The Ships Of Marinette Marine page. Here are photographs of ships either built by Marinette Marine, or serviced by Marinette Marine from 2000 - Present. There are U.S. Coast Guard ships, U.S. Navy ships & craft, commercial tugs, Staten Island Ferries and more; HOWEVER, this is not a complete compilation of every ship built at Marinette Marine during those years - just the ones I photographed over the years.

Added on Nov. 11 & 12, 2007 - A new 2002 Menominee & Marinette Ships page with over 160 photos (mostly new) of ships that visited Menominee and Marinette in 2002. PLUS a new 2001 Menominee & Marinette Ships page with 140 photos (mostly new) of ships that visited Menominee and Marinette in 2001. PLUS a new 2000 Menominee & Marinette Ships page with over 50 photos (many new) of ships that visited our twin ports in 2000.

Added on Sept. 5, 2007 - A new Reserve Conversion page. On Aug. 1, 2007, the ex-Oglebay Norton steamship, Reserve, was brought to Menominee and laid-up for conversion to a barge. I have been asked by the owner to take weekly photos of the progress as they remove the stern of the ship and its engines and miscellaneous equipment; AND, he has graciously allowed me to now begin posting those photos to share with you. So, each Thursday night, I will post weekly updated photos of the progress. Now, these photos are primarily for his archives; so, the quality is not always going to be the best as certain photos may be over-exposed to show detail. Click here to see the photos of the Reserve as she entered port on her final trip as a steamer AND for each weekly progress update photos.

Added on July 3, 2007 (modified on July 5 with 6 more Edward L. Ryerson Engineer's Day photos added) - A new "Soo Trip Summer 2007" (Includes photos from the 2007 Engineer's Day) with 114 photos from a trip to the Soo locks including one photo from Escanaba from June 28 through July 2, 2007.

Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (18 Different)" link to the left and then choose either the "Soo Trip Summer 2007" from the menu for the entire gallery - OR - Click on the "Engineer's Day 2007" link to go directly to the photos from the Open House.

Added on March 19, 2007 - A new "Soo Trip June 1995" page (located on the "Soo Locks Galleries (17 Different)" LINK on the left side of each page on the site) with 25 (scanned) photos that I found in a box while doing some spring cleaning. Even though the photo quality is not great, the photos take you through the Soo Locks aboard one of the Soo Locks Tour Boats. Also included are a few photos from Mackinac Island and Kitchitikipi, also known as "Big Spring", which is Michigan's largest spring. A viewing raft allows you to go out into the spring hole where the bottom (and large Brown Trout) are clearly visible over 40-FEET below the raft!!

Added on Jan. 3, 2007 - A new "2007 Menominee & Marinette Ships" page that will be updated as ships arrive throughout the year. ALSO - The first 2006-2007 Lay-Up photos from Sturgeon Bay, WI on the "Sturgeon Bay Lay-Ups" page (more of these to come in another month, or so).

Added on Oct. 12, 2006 - A new "Soo Trip Oct. 2006" page with 92 photos from a trip to the Soo Locks (plus 2 photos from Escanaba, MI of 1000-footers loading also from this trip - one heading to the Soo and the other on the way home from the Soo) from Oct. 7 through Oct. 10, 2006. Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (17 Different)" link and choose "Soo Trip Oct. 2006" to see the photos.

Added on Oct. 12, 2006 - A new "Michigan's Upper Peninsula Waterfalls" page with 153 photos of 63 different waterfalls from a trip across the U.P. covering over 3,600 miles from Sept. 13 to Oct. 11. ALSO - a section of 60 photos of scenery taken during that trip - everything from old buildings in Calumet, MI to beautiful fall colors throughout the U.P. (This section was added on Oct. 13).

Small revision on Aug. 24, 2006 - The "1000-Footers" page was updated to reflect the new names for the 2 ex-Oglebay Norton Marine Services 1000-footers: Oglebay Norton became American Integrity and Columbia Star became American Century in mid-summer 2006 (with updated photos of each)

Revised on August 13, 2006 - The "Ships Featured On This Site" page was changed so that you can click on the name of a ship and see a photo of that ship. The photo chosen is not always my best (or my favorite) of that ship. You can then decide if you would like to look in the gallery(s) listed for more photos of that ship. I just wanted to give the casual visitor a chance to see each ship without having to look through the different galleries to see it. Please let me know what you think of this new feature.

Click here to send me an e-mail

Added on July 22, 2006 - The Edward L. Ryerson had her career resurrected on July 22, 2006 when she arrived at Escanaba, MI to take on a load of taconite pellets. 23 New photos, this time of the ship "in action", were added to the "Edward L Ryerson" page. ALSO, I upgraded the sound byte of the Ryerson Salute (near the bottom of that page) to an MP3 file to cut down the file size AND added an MP3 file of a "Formal Salute" (3 Long and 2 Short). I hope the smaller file sizes will allow everyone to enjoy her melodious horn! My favorite ship IS BACK!! (See photo at bottom of page)

- FINALLY!! - I was able to get up to the Soo Locks for "Engineer's Day" for the first time since 2002. I added a photo gallery with 264 photos from a 7-day trip (June 29 - July 5, 2006), which includes the photos from the Engineer's Day Open House.

Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (17 Different)" link to the left and then choose either the "Soo Trip Summer 2006" from the menu for the entire gallery - OR - Click on the "Engineer's Day 2006" link to go directly to the photos from the Open House.

On May 9, 2006 I added a new logo to my Home Page and updated the page as well.

Added on March 19, 2006 - A new "2006 Menominee & Marinette Ships" page. This page will be updated throughout the year as ships arrive.

ALSO: I have consolidated my older "Menominee & Marinette Ships" pages into one page (much as I did with my "Soo Locks Galleries (?? Different)" page. Click on the "Older Menominee & Marinette Ships 2000 - 2005" link to see ALL of my older Menominee & Marinette Ship galleries from those times. Then click on a year-link to see the ship photos from that year.

Added Jan. 18, 2006 - The "Sturgeon Bay Lay-Ups" page has been updated with 35 photos of the 2005-2006 Lay-up "fleet". There are currently 8 ships in lay-up in Sturgeon Bay (including the Edward L. Ryerson) PLUS the new LaFarge barge "Innovation" and its tug. There are more ships due; so this is just the first installment of lay-up photos. Stay Tuned ... More To Come!!! - WELL! It came sooner, rather than later! I went back to Sturgeon Bay on Jan. 23 and caught 5 more ships there that weren't there 5 days ago. 17 more photos were added to the "Sturgeon Bay Lay-Ups" page including more close-ups of the the new LaFarg barge and especially the tug, Samuel de Champlain. Click on the "2005-2006" link near the top of that page to go directly to the new photos.

ALSO, on Jan. 22, 2006 there were three ships loading ore at Escanaba, MI. Photos are on the "Escanaba Ore & More" page - click on the "2006 Photos" link on that page to see the new photos of the Burns Harbor, Mesabi Miner and Great Lakes Trader.

Added on Dec. 8, 2005 - Up-date to my "2005 Menominee & Marinette Ships" page - Photos of onboard tours of both the "old" USCG Mackinaw (WAGB-83) and the "new" USCG Mackinaw (WLBB-30); plus photos of the "new Mac" leaving Menominee to begin "active duty" on the Great Lakes. Both icebreakers were in Menominee, MI on Dec. 7, 2005.

Added on Nov. 4, 2005 - A series of albums and single photos of Image-captures from the Soo Locks Live Cameras from 2000 - 2005. These are posted in an album at www.boatnerd.com and used with permission of ERDC/CRREL and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Sorry, these albums are currently unavailable - Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (15 Different)" link to the left and then choose the link in between the lines at the bottom of the photos. from the menu.

Added Oct. 6, 2005 - A new "Soo Trip Oct. 2005" album with 109 new photos from a trip to the Soo from Sept. 30 - Oct. 4, 2005. John B. Aird, Algosar (ex-Gemini), Peter R. Cresswell, USCG Katmai Bay, Wolverine plus a few "salties" are new to this page. - Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (17 Different)" link to the left and then choose "Soo Trip Oct. 2005" from the menu.

Added on April 3, 2005 - Up-date to my "2005 Menominee & Marinette Ships" page - Photos of the launch of the new USCG Mackinaw (with a little help from some friends). I got caught out of position at the moment of the launch and missed the splashdown :O(. Fortunately, some wonderful people offered photos of the launch and gave me permission to use them here. A BIG Thank You to them!!!

Added on March 18, 2005 - A new "2005 Menominee & Marinette Ships" page with the first photos of the new icebreaker Mackinaw (2)

Updated Feb. 4, 2005 - The "Sturgeon Bay Lay-Ups" page has been updated with 27 photos of the 2004-2005 Lay-up "fleet". There are currently 15 ships in lay-up in Sturgeon Bay with one more (Joseph L. Block) yet to arrive. Click on the "2004-2005" link near the top of that page to go directly to the new photos.
Further Update - I went back to Sturgeon Bay on Feb 26 and got 27 more photos of the lay-up fleet. It was a beautiful "blue sky" day and I think you will like the new photos (the other 27 photos were taken on a hazy day and weren't too clear).

Added on Nov. 3, 2004 - A New "Interstate Bridge Project" page: The Highway US-41 Interstate Bridge which spans the Menominee River connecting Menominee, MI with Marinette, WI is scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt beginning in Nov. 2004. The project is scheduled to take (approx.) 13 months. I will be posting photos of the Bridge Project as work progresses.
Nov. 19, 2004 UPDATE!!! - I have posted the specs for the new Interstate Bridge. Enjoy!!!

Updated Nov. 2, 2004 - The "1000-Footers" page now has photos of EACH of the 1000-footers in the order in which they were launched.

A small group of 14 photos scanned from some old 35mm photos was added to the "Odds 'n' Ends" page on Sept. 26, 2004. The quality of these photos is not up to my normal standards, but the ships are (mostly) new to this site.

Added on Aug. 29, 2004 - Here is a fun little Shockwave Movie File of the Calcite II turning (morphing) into the Maumee! (The Maumee was originally named Calcite II before Lower Lakes Towing bought her from the U.S. Steel Great Lakes Fleet). The file is on the "Marinette-Menominee Ships" page (about the middle of the page). Warning ... This is about a 1.5 MB file and you will need Macromedia Shockwave Player to play the file (there is a link on the page to download the FREE PLAYER if you do not already have it) Enjoy!!

Added July 29, 2004 - A new "Soo Trip July 2004" album with 91 new photos from a trip to the Soo from July 23 - 27. Joseph H. Frantz, Algoisle and Quebecois plus a few "salties" are new to this page. - Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (15 Different)" link to the left and then choose "Soo Trip July 2004" from the menu.

Up-graded on June 10, 2004 - The "Wagenborg Ships" page. Almost all of the photos of Wagenborg ships on this site have been added to this page. They will also remain on the various Menominee/Marinette pages, Soo Locks pages and Green Bay page, and will be up-graded as new Wagenborg photos become available..

Added on April 15, 2004 - The new "2004 Menominee & Marinette Ships" photo gallery page. This page will be up-dated throughout the 2004 shipping season as ships arrive in Menominee and Marinette.

Added on March 10, 2004 - 38 Photos from the 2003-2004 Winter Lay-Up fleet at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, WI. - Click on the "Sturgeon Bay Lay-Ups" link at left and then click the "2003-2004" link on that page.

Added on Oct. 13, 2003 - A new "Soo Trip Oct. 2003" album with 159 new photos, including Fall Color Photos and photos of the Point Iroquois Lighthouse (near Brimley, MI) - Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (15 Different)" link to the left and then choose "Soo Trip Oct. 2003".

Added on Oct. 3, 2003 - Two new (older) Soo Trip galleries: "Soo Trip May 2000" and "Soo Trip September 2000". Some of the photos in these two galleries were on one of my alternate sites, but I recently doubled the allotment size for this site, so I decided to bring these galleries here. In looking through the photos in those galleries, I realized that I had some photos of some ships that are no longer with us or have undergone a name change. The ships are: Canadian Venture (sold for scrap), Canadian Voyager (sold for scrap), Louis R. Desmarais (new forebody added & now sails as the CSL Laurentien), Elton Hoyt 2nd (now sails as the Michipicoten), and the elegant Oakglen (sold for scrap). - Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (15 Different)" link to the left and then choose either of those two galleries to view them.

Added on Sept. 16, 2003 - A new "Ship Photos From Green Bay" gallery was added. Most of my previous photos from Green Bay have been placed on this page, plus about 50 new photos.

Sept. 2003 - I made a minor revision of the site layout. I have 10 different galleries of photos from different trips to Sault Ste. Marie and the Soo Locks. I have placed all 10 galleries on one page (instead of individual pages as before) with a separate link to each of those 10 galleries on that page. I also re-arranged the galleries to group them a little better (all Menominee galleries follow each other, etc.)

August 2003 - It came to my attention that some of the photos on the site would not load properly. A screen with a box listing a TCP Error would show up instead. This problem is currently being worked out. Should you experience this trouble, feel free to e-mail me with the photo and page name. Thank you. NOTE: Finished late August - all photos on the site should now work properly.

Added on Aug. 17, 2003 - A new gallery "Soo Trip Aug. 2003" was added. Included on this page are 155 photos from a trip to the Soo from Aug. 8 through Aug. 13, 2003. Also, there are 2 photos from Escanaba, MI taken on the trip back home. - Click on the "Soo Locks Galleries (15 Different)" link to the left and then choose "Soo Trip Oct. 2003".

Added on May 21, 2003 - A new "2003 Menominee & Marinette Ships" page - Photos of ships in Menominee and Marinette during the 2003 Shipping Season. This page will be up-dated throughout the year as ships arrive in Port.

March 2003 - A fairly major upgrade to the site was made. All of the pages that were previously only able to be viewed as a "Slide Show" can now be viewed one photo at a time via a linked description of the photo OR as a "Slide Show" I was told by some viewers that the "Slide Shows" sometimes take a long time to load. I hope this upgrade helps.

* Added on March 3, 2003 - Two new galleries -

1 - "Engineer's Day 2000" - photos from my first Engineer's Day at the Soo Locks with the new digital camera.

2 - "A Tour Of Sturgeon Bay" - Take a leisurely boat tour of Sturgeon Bay aboard the tour boat, Fred A. Busse.

* Added on February 22, 2003 - A new "Sturgeon Bay Lay-Ups" gallery featuring ships in winter lay-up in Sturgeon Bay, WI starting with the 1999-2000 season through 2002-2003.

* Added on January 13, 2003 - over 40 new photos of the ships that came into Menominee, MI and Marinette, WI during the 2002 shipping season. Check them out on the "Marinette-Menominee Ships" page. The new photos are linked with a description of the photo.

* Added on October 14, 2002 - Over 60 new photos from a 4-day trip to the Soo from Oct. 9 - 12, 2002.

* New on Sept. 26, 2002...A new "Odds 'n' Ends" page with over 200 ship photos, including a special section on "Deckhouse/Pilothouse" close-ups of many Lakers that I have gathered since Jan. 2000, plus some "Places & Things" photos of interesting stuff from around the Upper Great Lakes region. This page is in a different format: all pictures are "Linked" (with descriptions) instead of in my traditional "Slide shows" format.

* Up-dated on July 21, 2002 - Edward L. Ryerson - A tour of the Edward L. Ryerson in Sturgeon Bay, WI

* Added on July 1, 2002 - Engineers Day 2002 - Photos from a trip to Sault Ste. Marie from June 27 - 29, 2002

* Added in June 2002 - Two galleries: Soo Trip May 2002 and Soo Tower of History - photos from a trip to the Soo from May 27 - 30, 2002

* Added in June 2002 - Ships Featured On This Site page - A list of all the ships whose pictures appear on this site along with which pages feature them - this page will be up-dated as new ship photos appear on the pages of this site

...and be sure to check out the Edward L. Ryerson Page to hear a "Master Salute" from the actual horn of the Ryerson! (Compliments of Andy LaBorde)

The Edward L. Ryerson came out of retirement in July 2006 after being laid-up in Sturgeon Bay, WI since 1998. Shown here loading ore at Escanaba, MI on July 22, 2006. Welcome back old friend!! (below):

Hope you enjoy your stay here!

Thanks for visiting :o)