8 Sep - The Bayfield Loop and Allouez Taconite Facility

8 Sep
This morning we headed east around the southern shore of Lake Superior ultimately to Bayfield WI and then returned, making a loop:

Our first stop was the Davidson Windmill , built in 1904.  It was built by a Finnish immigrant, Jacob Davidson, to grind flour and animal feed for farmers in the area.  In 1926 the windmill ceased operation because of competition from mills in Superior, and the death of the builder.  In 2000 it was given a partial face lift and eventually turned over to the Old-Brule Heritage Society.

Along with the windmill there is the old Eskolin log home and also an old bridge

Much of the first part of the drive was inland and we could not see the lake.  Our next stop was at the Herbster WI Post Office to mail some post cards to Jennifer.  I never knew there was a Herbster, bet you didn't either!

Next stop was the Meyer's Beach Kayak launch.  Doreen spoke with a couple of the park rangers and got some information on the area.  Unfortunately the Apostle Islands lighthouses are not accessible or visible from shore.  We checked into a boat ride out there and they are available but they are very long and they do not allow dogs, so we could not leave Liberty in the RV and we could not take her with us.  I tried to talk Doreen into going solo and I would stay on shore with the dog, but she would not have it.

Then we proceeded to the Visitor Center at Bayfield.  

The visitor center.  Looks like it used to be an old schoolhouse.

They directed us to the Keeper of the Light store where Doreen was able to get her lighthouse passport stamped with nine different stamps.  She also bought some other nautical souvenirs.

 Some carvings out front:

While Doreen was getting her passport stamped, I walked Liberty around the harbor area.  It was very scenic.

Very scenic harbor area.

 

The Pickled Herring Inn!  My kind of place!

Again, unfortunately we could not get Doreen connected with her lighthouses, but at least she got her book stamped. 

So we headed south and back west towards Superior and our campground.  We stopped part way back for lunch at an A&W.  At the campground we took a short break and then headed into Superior to Walmart to reload a few supplies.  

On out way we stopped at the Allouez Taconite Facility.  This is an interesting place.  

Taconite is used to create steel.  The Edmund Fitzgerald was full of 21,116 tons of taconite pellets.  To process taconite, the ore is ground into a fine powder, the magnetite is separated from the gangue by strong magnets, and the powdered iron concentrate is combined with a binder such as bentonite clay and limestone as a flux and they are packed into small pellets:

These are taconite pellets.  The ink pen shows the relative size of the pellets.  They are about as big around as a nickel.

These processed taconite-ore pellets are also referred to as "taconite".  The Allouez processing facility here at Superior WI is located quite far away from the shore and it is connected to the dock with a huge conveyor system.  It was explained to us as the taconite pellets are moved across the conveyor from where they are processed to where they are loaded onto the freighters, they give off red dust.  So they were forced to enclose the whole conveyor system to contain the dust from the surrounding neighborhood.  This is shown in these pictures:

The open conveyor enters the enclosed tunnel

The tunnel continues across the ground and then is raised above and over the roadway

This is where it starts to angle up

Here it goes over the road and heads for the dock

These dock facilities hold the taconite and then it travels down the chutes to the freighters.

So that was about it for today.  We grilled supper and then watched the Brewers beat the Cubs.  Tomorrow is our last full day here and we have a lengthy list to chores to get accomplished before we leave.