Perhaps you remember the Hulett Ore Unloaders, the massive machines designed by Clevelander George Hulett that revolutionized the process of removing ore from freighters? They sat, rusting away, on Whiskey Island until 2000, when they were demolished. The four here in Cleveland were the first four built, and the last four remaining.
This set of fifteen 4x5 transparencies was created by Jack Delano in May of 1943. It is part of the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection in the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress. There, you can download massive 140 meg tiffs of these transparencies. There does not seem to be a way to link to them as a set, but they can be linked to individually. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Above, we see the scoop of the Hulett open as it descends down into the freighter.
The arm of the unloader has descended all the way into the ship to scoop out the iron ore.
With the scoop full, it lifts up out of the freighter.
The iron ore is then deposited and weighed.
Finally, the ore is dropped into hopper cars waiting below, to go off to the steel mills.
We all should have done more to prevent the demolition of these rust belt icons. A major landmark was lost when the Huletts were dismantled. Our past is that of industry and manufacturing. We ought to embrace it.
