The growth of Escanaba from a small town into a growing city in such a brief time can be traced directly to the expansion of lake shipping in this port. Over the years, Escanaba harbor has seen times of boom and bust in the fishing, lumber and iron industries. While lumber and fish are no longer shipped from this port, the Chicago & Northwestern railway and iron dock still thriving on the Escanaba harbor. During the 1980's and into the 1990's, the Chicago & Northwestern has shipped 5-6 million tons of iron ore annually.

Looking out into the bay, first you will see the Escanaba coal dock and beyond the Chicago & Northwestern ore dock. The Chicago & Northwestern dock was completed in 1969 after the last of the old wooden pocket docks were removed and a new conveyor type dock was erected. What you see are large piles of ore pellets in a 60 acre dock storage yard. This storage area can store 2 1/2 million tons of iron ore pellets ready for shipment.

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The Port - Early Years
Little Bay de Noc
Fishing the Bays de Noc
The Ore Pellet
Before the Settlers
The Peninsula Railroad
Iron Ore Centennial
Escanaba's Docks
Escanaba
Ludington Hotel

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