Aboard the Irvin - the big machines

Follow Bobby down the steep steps to the engine room of the William A. Irvin, the oreship museum in Duluth.



Here are the big steam engines that made the whole behemoth go, turning...



...this propeller shaft (the big rusty-looking pipe thing with the yellow collar). With a giant coal furnace making the whole thing go, it routinely got to 130 degrees (f) in here. Work was tougher in Dad's day. I'm glad I have a nice desk job. Air conditioning? I'll show you how they did it...



...like this. Holes in a high ceiling.



Here the tour guide explains what everything is. All of the old U.S. Steel stuff makes me think of old Uncle Ed, who worked at the U.S. Steel "wire mill," where they made "Cyclone Fence," until they closed the plant and he took early retirement.



I didn't know that "Cyclone Fence" wasn't the only kind of "chain link fence" until I was in my teens.



Now it's off to work in an air-conditioned office. Even modern oreships don't have the 130-degree coal-fired engine rooms, but I have to appreciate the work my parents did that lets me slack off at a desk.