“It’s as big as the ocean,” Sandy said in amazement.
“You can’t even see the sides, let alone the other end,” Jerry said. “It sure is different seeing a thing than reading about it in school.”
But they really boggled when they saw the enormous ore docks built out into the water, with the famous “long boats” of the Great Lakes nestled beneath them. The size of the equipment for loading the boats with precious ore was truly unbelievable.
“They’re like skyscrapers lying on their sides,” Sandy said. “Look, look, Jerry! See all those railroad cars up on top of the docks. There must be hundreds of them.”
“Railroad cars! Is that what they are? They look like Tootsie Toys from here.”
“Yes, but how about those ore boats? I never saw ships so long. Look at that big one over there, will you, Jerry? It must be twice as long as a football field.”
Although Sandy was not aware of it, he had come pretty close to hitting a bull’s-eye. Some of the ships, or boats as they call the Great Lakes vessels, actually were 600 feet and more in length, and a football field, as Sandy well knew, is only 300 feet long. Just then, the boys heard a terrific clanking and clanging above them. Looking up, they saw a gigantic crane seize a railroad car as though it truly were a toy, turn it over in the air and let the ore run out of it—like a boy shaking sand from his shoes. The ore dropped down through chutes into the holds of the freighters below.
For a full minute, neither youth could speak. They were too filled with admiration for the vast industry their country had created on the shores of the inland seas, and too full of pride in the achievement.
Then Sandy said, “We’d better go find my father before it gets too dark.”
Jerry nodded and they climbed back into Old Faithful and drove on. At last, when they came to what appeared to be a series of hills filled with puffing and panting steam shovels occupied in slicing deep cuts into the hillside, Jerry stopped the car in front of a sign that said: