Roger Blough for my Birthday (another photo thread)

[mikoyan29]

Sunday was my birthday so I spent the weekend up in Sault Ste Marie. For a special treat, I got the Blough on my birthday.

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.co...-birthday.html

[sms001]

Wow! That's a lot of ship. Nice shots again, and Happy Birthday.

[mikoyan29]

Wow! That's a lot of ship. Nice shots again, and Happy Birthday.

At 858 feet, she's a smaller ship. She is as wide as some of her larger cousins though....

[wolfie]

At 858 feet, she's a smaller ship. She is as wide as some of her larger cousins though....

Instead of the bolded part, I'd say some of her larger cousins are as narrow as she is. Took a quick look at the photo page, and some were of the ship using a lock. For technical reasons, when expanding a canal/series of locks to accommodate larger ships, it's easier to make locks longer than it is to make them wider. Since lakes freighters are limited by the size of the locks, it's not unusual for smaller (and probably older) ones to be the same width as larger (and probably newer) ones.

[mikoyan29]

The 1000 footers that ply the lakes are 105 feet wide. This is wider than the Welland Canal, so they go between the ports of Minnesota and Wisconsin to Ohio and Indiana. The Blough is also 105 feet wide.

At some point, they are supposed to build another 105 wide lock at the Soo but that is being held up in Congress somewhere. I just hope that all those folks that don't think it's important take a look at the events of last week and how many ships were affected by a ship running aground in the St. Mary's Channel.