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
Great Lakes Storm of 1913 entire lake basin. The weather forecast of the "Port Huron Times-Herald" stated that southerly winds had remained "moderate to brisk". Northwesterly winds had reached gale strength on northern Lake Michigan and western Lake Superior, with winds of up to 60 mph (97 km/h) at Duluth, Minnesota. A false lull in the storm (a "sucker hole") allowed traffic to begin flowing again, both down the St. Marys River and up Lake Erie, and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, into Lake Huron. Gale wind flags were raised at more than a hundred ports, but were ignored by many ship captains. Long