PORT AND HARBOR FACILITIES PIERS, WHARVES, AND DOCKS The facilities for handling water-borne commerce at the port of Huron comprise eight terminals which have depths of water alongside ranging from 8 to 24 feet at low water datum. Five of these facilities are owned by the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Co. and operated by the Cleveland Stevedore Co. These docks are located on the east bank of the Huron River. One dock is used for handling iron ore, one for coal, and one for stone, while the other two are used for berthing vessels. The iron ore dock is located on the east side of slip No. 2 and is of concrete construction with earth fill. It is 1,400 feet long and has a depth of 24 feet of water alongside at low water datum. It is equipped with four steam-operated ore unloaders, two with 5-ton and two with 15-ton buckets, which have a total capacity for handling 15,000 tons of ore in 10 hours. There is also a steam-operated bridge crane equipped with a 10-ton clamshell bucket located in the rear of the unloaders, and a steam locomotive crane with a 12-ton bucket having a capacity of 100 tons per hour. The ore dock is served by four tracks along the face of the dock under the ore unloaders and one track in the rear of the unloaders, which together have a length of 7,000 feet. On the west side of slip No. 2 is a dock of timber and bulkhead construction which has 750 feet of berthing space for the accommodation of ore vessels. The coal dock is on the east side of slip No. 1 and is constructed of steel sheet piling, with a concrete cap and solid fill. It is 1,100 feet long and is equipped with an electrically operated car dumper by means of which sixty 70-ton cars can be handled per hour. There is one track on the face of the dock and there are five tracks in the rear of the car dumper for empty cars. The dock on the west side of slip No. 1 is constructed of steel sheet piling and is 1,000 feet long. It has no equipment for handling cargo and is used only for the berthing of coal vessels. The stone dock is located on the main channel at the mouth of the Huron River. It is of steel sheet piling bulkhead construction and has 650 feet of berthing space. There is no mechanical handling equipment on this dock but it is served by one 300-foot track, which may be shifted to meet the needs of loading cars. 154191-39-6 On the west bank of the river there are two wharves of pile and timber construction which are used for the receipt of fish. Each has a depth of 8 feet of water alongside at low water datum. One of the wharves is equipped with a fish elevator for unloading cargoes of fish brought into the port by small fishing vessels. There is also a small bulkhead wharf at the foot of South Street, which is owned and operated by the village of Huron mainly as a base for towboats. Fire hydrants are maintained by the village at the ends of the several streets on the west side of the river. On the east side of the river the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Co. maintains fire hydrants on the docks. While there is no floating fire-fighting equipment at the port, local tugs, fishing boats, and the volunteer fire department at the village would render assistance in any emergency. Details of the piers, wharves, and docks at the port are shown in the following table. All depths quoted and the height of decks are referred to the low water datum for Lake Erie, which is 570.5 feet above mean tide at New York. |