Great Lakes Waterway River between Huron and Erie. Usually, one or more U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers help keep the water passage open for part of the fall and early winter, although shipping usually ceases for two to three months thereafter. The Great Lakes Waterway is co-administered by the governments of Canada and the United States of America. The waterway allows passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the inland port of Duluth on Lake Superior, a distance of and to Chicago, on Lake Michigan, at . Together with the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the Waterway allows both ocean-going vessels and the ore, grain and coal-bearing
St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System partnership between the Benedictine Health System and SMDC. In 2010, Essentia Health integrated the resources of all of its various member organizations and united them under the one name, Essentia Health, and SMDC Health System ceased to exist. St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System SMDC Health System (St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System) was a former hospital network with hospitals and clinics in northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin and also serving parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The four hospitals were St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota, SMDC Medical Center in Duluth, St. Mary’s Hospital of Superior, Wisconsin and Pine Medical Center