Saturday, December 31, 2005




Standing just barely on the pier, I waited 6 minutes for this exposure of the conveyor house, tipple, and storage tanks. Security? Three concrete barriers surrounded by weeds, a bent but open gate, and a covered no trespassing sign on it . The two conveyor belts on the left took ore, unloaded from ships from Venezuela (supposedly), up too that tall, top-heavy building, where it was either dumped into waiting railcars, or conveyed further to one of four storage tanks. A railroad boxcar in front of those huge domes serves as a maintenence shed.





Farther out on the dock, the first, lone, ore unloader towers up, with an awkward pose of one arm up and the other extended.





Around this massive steel construct is a continous walway, defined here by its handrails. An enourmous steel bucket, with a central hinge and two peices (essentially, a steel mouth) could extend the legth of this arm, lower to scoop ore out of the hold of a ship, and then deposit it into a bucket that funneled it onto the conveyor belts. Walking out on the arm is interesting, as you look down only upon the murky, greenish, turbulent waters of the River.





Turned around 180' from the last picture.

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