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 Superior during the 17th century referred to their discovery as "le lac supérieur". Properly translated, the expression means "Upper Lake," that is, the lake above Lake Huron. The lake was also called "Lac Tracy" (named for Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy) by 17th century Jesuit missionaries. The British, upon taking control of the region from the French in the 1760s following the French and Indian War, anglicized the lake's name to "Superior", "on account of its being superior in magnitude to any of the lakes on that vast continent." Lake Superior empties into Lake Huron via the St. Marys River and