edit: picture link and subtitle died, picture is from sleddingrox at flickr
This is a photo of the ore dock at Ashland, WI. It’s an excellent photo, but I was more interested with the dock. I visited Ashland a few weeks ago, and saw the dock myself. It’s no longer in use, and a previously 1000-foot wooden truss that connected it to the rail line abruptly is broken off before it crosses a highway.
This dock is a remnant from another era. It’s likely that the dock was an anchor and source of jobs for the small town when it first began. It’s hard to imagine the ships that once must have docked here, when the largest ship in the area today was only 3 columns long. The dock is easily the largest structure in town.
Unfortunately, the Canadian-Pacific railway, which owns the dock, has decided to destroy it after discovering the extent of its deterioration. The destruction of the dock is also a loss of history, but only so much can be done with the resources of a small town.
