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
Mataafa Storm 36 seamen, and causing shipping losses of $3.567 million (1905 dollars) on Lake Superior. A storm system moving through the Great Basin on November 26 and 27 was forecast to bring "fresh easterly winds" to the Great Lakes during the afternoon and evening on November 27 by the United States Weather Bureau. At 6 p.m., winds at Duluth, Minnesota, had reached . Storm warning flags were flying by the morning of November 28 as the cyclone moved into southern Minnesota. At this time, easterly gales and heavy snows had spread across Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie. Five-minute winds