Duluth, Minnesota at the western end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the Duluth–Superior seaport is the largest and farthest-inland freshwater seaport in North America. By far the largest and busiest on the Great Lakes, the port handles an average of 46 million short tons of cargo and over 1,100 visits each year from domestic and international vessels. With of waterfront, it is one of the leading bulk cargo ports in North America and ranks among the top 20 ports in the United States. Duluth is a major shipping port for taconite pellets, made from concentrated low-grade iron ore and destined for midwestern
Lake Duluth Marquette County, Michigan. Once the ice receded to the east of the mountains, new outlets opened across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, carrying the melt water into the Lake Michigan basin. Lake Duluth was lowered as lower lines drainage along the ice front. Eventually the water level reached that of Lake Algonquin. The body of water occupied the western part of the Lake Superior basin as well as the basins of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and finally the eastern part of the Lake Superior basin. The eastern limits of Lake Duluth on the north coast of Lake Superior have