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CLEVELAND – Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes increased 11.4 percent from last year to a total of 4.9 million tons.  Shipments were 1.5 percent above the month’s 5-year average. Year-to-date, the iron ore trade stands at 37.1 million tons, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to October 2025. Through October, iron ore loadings are 5.2 percent below their 5-year average.

Lake Carriers’ Association

CLEVELAND — U.S. shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes decreased 7.8 percent from 2025 to 2.95 million tons.  Limestone cargos were below the month’s 5-year average by 17.3 percent. Year-to-date, the limestone trade stands at 18.8 million tons, a decrease of 17.7 percent compared to last year and 22.4 percent below the month’s 5-year average.

Lake Carriers’ Association

TWO HARBORS, MN – An investigation is underway after a detached building that’s used as a gift shop for the Two Harbors Lighthouse went up in flames Monday evening. As of Tuesday morning, local authorities have yet to release information on the blaze, which likely broke out around 5:30 p.m. Officials with the Lake County Historical Society, which controls the lakeside property, told Northern News Now that no one was injured, but the damage to the building is significant.

“We were literally watching a piece of Lake County’s history go up in those flames,” Lake County Historical Society Vice President David Johnson said in an interview with the station.

It’s believed that the fire started in the breezeway between the gift shop and a connected structure, both of which are separate from the historic lighthouse. The Lake County Historical Society shared this statement: “We are incredibly grateful to the firefighters and first responders who have responded and are working to address the situation. Their time, dedication, and efforts are greatly appreciated.”

Bring Me The News

Gift shop fire at Two Harbors Lighthouse.

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – Nearly 196,000 people visited the Soo Locks Visitor Center the six months it was open from May 1 to Oct. 31. The center is located inside the Soo Locks Canal Park off Portage Avenue. While this number is down about 39,000 from last year, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief Park Ranger Michelle Briggs says the six-month season was still a success. Brigg’s staff of five park rangers were kept busy providing many services.

“Rangers administered the water safety pledge to 1,735 people as of Sept. 30. People who took the pledge, who promised to be safe around the water, received water safety goody bags. Rangers also provided more than twenty talks for scheduled tour groups and for all visitors during lulls between ships.

Soo Locks Visitor Center has closed for the season. [Roger LeLievre]

Through September, Briggs also stated volunteers at the Visitor Center contributed more than 700 hours of their time helping with special events, working on the flower beds and answering visitor questions in the observation platform. Many took advantage of the remarkable mild autumn weather Saturday and witnessed several freighters pass through the Soo Locks, but also had the opportunity one last time to experience the extensive amount of information inside the Visitor Center.

Park Rangers made themselves available to answer questions throughout the day with visitors able to check out many exhibits. Ed Cook, who is in his third year as a park ranger, was working the final day Saturday. Cook is a life-long Sault Ste. Marie resident and has always loved the freighters.

Before this current park ranger position, he owned a grocery store/meat market. While at that profession, he talked to a lot of people which prepared him to converse with the tens of thousands of visitors each year.

“I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew when I got a job here because there’s so much more to the Soo Locks than I ever realized. It’s amazing how often people tell me they came here with no expectations, it was just something to knock off their bucket list and when they come here and experience it, how it excited they are to learn about it and how amazed they are about how important the Soo Locks are,” Cook said.

While the Soo Locks Visitor Center is closed until May 1, 2027, Soo Locks Canal Park remains open all year round.

SooLeader – Jim Lehocky

MUSKEGON, MI – After more than three months away from its home port, one of the most decorated American submarines of World War II has made its way back across Lake Michigan.

A crowd watches as the SIlversides returned to Muskeson Saturday morning. [Brian Caswell]

The journey marks the completion of the submarine’s first comprehensive dry dock preservation project since July 1954, a span of more than 72 years.

Unlike the wartime patrols that made it famous, Silversides is no longer capable of operating under its own power. The submarine was towed across Lake Michigan, much as it was when it departed Muskegon on July 13.

That departure was a memorable event for the hundreds of people who gathered along the Muskegon waterfront to watch the historic vessel leave its longtime berth.

A flotilla of recreational boats gathered along the Muskegon Channel as the submarine began its journey. The Muskegon County Sheriff’s Office provided an escort, complete with a ceremonial water salute, while boat horns sounded as Silversides slowly made its way into Lake Michigan.

The excursion vessel Aquastar, carrying more than 100 passengers, followed the convoy about two miles offshore, giving passengers an opportunity to watch as the submarine and its accompanying tugboats headed west toward Wisconsin.

It was an unusual sight on Lake Michigan: a World War II submarine underway more than eight decades after entering service.

The July voyage was handled by two tugboats operated by Basic Towing, Inc. of Escanaba: Nickelena and Erika Kobasic. The two tugs are handling its return as well.

By Rob Alway, Mason County Press

Silversides tow. [North Shore Marine Terminal]

Rosann Hollinger

View a Facebook video here.

Silversides in drydock.

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LUDINGTON, MI – This unique opportunity for lighthouse lovers takes volunteers to premiere Lake Michigan destinations where they receive a free seven-night stay in exchange for sharing their love of the lights with visitors.

The nonprofit Lakeshore Keepers manages five lighthouses from Whitehall to Manistee, and they all need volunteer keepers from May to October.

An aerial image of White River Light Station built in 1875 along the White Lake Channel in Muskegon County, Mich. [Joel Bissell | MLive.com]

“Whether you’re a longtime lighthouse visitor or looking for a fun way to give back, we’d love to have you join us,” Lakeshore Keepers said in a recent newsletter. “Our volunteers welcome visitors, share lighthouse stories, support events, assist in gift shops, and more.”

Applicants can pick their preferred lighthouse and available weeks.

At Big Sable Point Lighthouse, volunteers stay onsite in the keepers’ dwelling at Ludington State Park; the iconic light with its 112-foot black-and-white tower stands on a sandy beach. Volunteers at the Ludington North Breakwater Light, at Stearns Park Beach in Ludington, also receive lodging at the state park. The White River Light Station in Whitehall is the other spot where volunteers stay in the lighthouse. For the Little Sable Point Lighthouse at Silver Lake State Park and Manistee North Pierhead Light at Fifth Avenue Beach, volunteers are stay at nearby homes. Photos and descriptions are provided in the video above.

Volunteers are scheduled to work six days a week for about eight hours per day and are responsible for welcoming guests, providing historical interpretation, selling tower climb tickets and gift shop merchandise, stocking merchandise, performing general household cleaning, and light grounds maintenance. Every volunteer receives video training prior to arrival and an on-site orientation.

In exchange, resident keepers receive a week or more of free lodging, free tower climbs at all Lakeshore Keepers’ lights during that season, and a discount on merchandise.

One caveat to becoming a volunteer resident keeper is that you must be a member. The membership tier that opens eligibility for the program costs $60 per year for one person or $100 for a couple. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and able to climb multiple stairs and walk a mile or more daily.

Read the story and view images here.
Complete information about the volunteer program is available

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The R/V Neil Armstrong departed its home port of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, October 28. It will travel from Cape Cod down the St. Lawrence Seaway, through the locks, and across the Great Lakes. The 238-foot vessel is expected to arrive in Duluth on November 9.

R/V Neil Armstrong is Great Lakes-bound.

As of Thursday morning, the Neil Armstrong was traveling up the Atlantic Coast around Nova Scotia.

The University of Minnesota Duluth is working with the research vessel to detect and observe neutrino interactions in Lake Superior. Neutrinos are the most abundant particles that have mass in the universe, and they pass through everything. They are very difficult to detect, so studying them requires special instruments.

A beam of neutrinos is already positioned by Fermilab that runs through Lake Vermilion and Lake Superior. The Neil Armstrong will deploy sensor frames on the lakebed of Lake Superior several miles offshore near Two Harbors. These frames are 30 feet tall and weigh 8,000 pounds each. When it’s dark at night, they will be able to detect neutrino particle beams underwater. They anticipate detecting several NuMI beam neutrinos per day during the experiments.

The neutrino detectors will be removed as lake conditions allow in the spring or early summer of 2027. You can read more about the project in depth from the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Six years ago, the U.S. Navy announced plans to construct two ships in a new Ocean Class of research vessels and in 2010, awarded WHOI the no-cost lease to operate the first of the ships. Two years later, the Navy announced the first ship would be named Neil Armstrong and its sister ship, to be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, would be named Sally Ride. The 238-ft. Neil Armstrong is the newest ship in the U.S. academic fleet, and one of just seven in that fleet capable of accessing all but ice-covered areas of the global ocean.

The R/V Neil Armstrong is the most technologically advanced ship in the U.S. academic fleet. The ship contains two multi-beam echo sounders designed to operate at different depths, making Neil Armstrong and, when completed, Sally Ride, the only ships in the UNOLS fleet equipped to conduct high-resolution seafloor surveys almost anywhere the ship can sail.

The ship’s three acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) can scan the water column at different frequencies to reveal the invisible structure of water at varying depths and resolutions, and a multi-beam, multi-frequency echosounder, the EK-80, can not only detect the presence and abundance of marine life beneath the ship, but also offers the potential to differentiate among species of fish and other marine life hidden beneath the surface.

From an engineering standpoint, as well, the ship is state-of-the-art. In addition to clean-burning diesel-electric generators, variable-frequency DC propulsion means less wear-and-tear on critical components and higher efficiency. The new ship’s integrated controls provide access to virtually every critical system, from propulsion and navigation to electrical load to heating and air conditioning to ballast, on touch screens in the engine room and bridge. The navigation system can be monitored and diagnosed from shore.

KDHL

Read more here.