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6 | NORTH STAR PORT | FALL 2024 work. Nearly 900 of them had launched on the Great Lakes since 1890 alone, which boosted the fleet's carrying power to almost 3 million tons in 1895, more than double its total from just 10 years earlier. More of those ships arrived at the Port of Duluth-Superior in 1895 than in any pre- vious year, with the colossal count of 5,448 marking a 67 percent increase over 1894. The Duluth Evening Herald kept a run- ning register of the traffic, circulated in a press run of 17,148 every night but Sunday. A one-year daily subscription arrived sec- ond-class for $7. Without a subscription, it cost three cents, and arrived courtesy of a newsboy — except on the evening of Nov. 27, 1895, when there was nary a newsie working on the streets of Duluth. SEASONS OF YORE usty red hematite, and rail connections to convey it from the Iron Range, transformed Duluth's working waterfront in the 1890s. What began as a jerkwater hillside harbor quickly morphed into a critical link in the nation's supply chain, with skyrocketing iron ore tonnage and true prominence among Great Lakes ports. In an era before electronic media, four daily newspapers told the story of this rapid rise — and it was quite a story to tell. Total maritime tonnage through the Port of Duluth-Superior jumped 49 per- cent over a four-season span, from 4.2 million in 1892 to 6.3 million in 1895. Iron ore led the increase, climbing from 4,500 short tons to 1.7 million short tons. For 1895, the U.S. Geological Survey reported a 34 percent year-over-year increase in Minnesota's iron ore production. Evolving at the same swift pace, the increasingly steam-powered Great Lakes fleet of cargo vessels hauled that burgeoning load more efficiently than ever before. By 1895, there were approximately 1,730 steamers in the lake fleet, compared to 1,100 wind-powered vessels, and the steamship could do roughly double the 1895 R | By Jayson Hron A Cornucopia of Ore and Ink PHOTOS / University of Minnesota Duluth, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections; Duluth and Environs (1895)