Great Lakes Patrol assigned to operate against criminals who were ravaging the logging industry. These so called timber pirates conducted illegal cutting of timber on federal land and then smuggled the valuable commodity out of the area in order to sell it. The areas most affected were in the western Great Lakes region, along the coasts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. Much of these forested areas controlled by the government were reserved for the building of new warships. The illegal timber trade centered on Chicago and Milwaukee. It was nearly as violent as the alcohol trade, which was carried out over the
The Great Lakes Group towing of vessels and barges, icebreaking, as well as rescue and assistance to grounded or damaged ships with a fleet of nearly forty tugboats stationed throughout U.S. Great Lakes ports. Throughout its corporate history, The Great Lakes Towing Company has always operated a Cleveland Shipyard. Originally located on jefferson Road in the Flats until the Great Cuyahoga River fire in 1952 when it moved to the present site in the Old River Bed, the Shipyard constructed many of its tugs and repaired all of the Towing Company's tugs and barges throughout its history. Great Lakes Shipyard is located in the