Cleveland's Forgotten Hulett Unloaders

Hulett Unloaders since their creation in 1898 revolutionized the handling of iron ore by reducing labor costs and unloading times of lake boats. Their unique look and awkward movements were described as a "grasshopper leg" or "dinosaur" eating. By the early 1990s Huletts were rendered obsolete due to technological advancements in the processing, shipping, and offloading of iron ore. All have been scrapped except for two dismantled ones on Cleveland's Whiskey Island. They are slowly rusting away while buried in foliage and are nearly forgotten.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
00:36 Iron Ore
02:15 Early Methods of Unloading Ore
07:09 Huletts

Sources used in this video:

Cleveland Public Library/Photograph Collection

Cleveland State University Special Collections

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#hulettunloader #clevelandhuletts #hulettoreunloader

[RailroadStreet]

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[dewu]

In 1965, when I was 5 years old, my dad used to take us for a night drive, and drive us under the Huletts down by the lake. It scared the hell out of me because they were humongous and looked like alien monsters to me. I love this video!

[osagejon]

My dad worked for Conrail and was never shy about trying to get me into places. I got to visit the dock twice and ride in the leg where I was told to push or pull a particular lever by the operator. 47 years old now and good memories... thanks dad and Joe Ried who was the division superintendent at the time who gave the ok, I still have the white hard hat you gave me.

[michaelbrand]

I lived in Cleveland when the last of the Huletts ceased operation. Always thought preserving and displaying parts of those machines was a suboptimal solution. As a symbol of the rise of the USA as an industrial power, preserving a Hulett only works if you display the entire machine and give future generations an appreciation of the massive scale. Anything less would be like displaying one engine from a Saturn V while trying to explain what it took to get to the moon.

[buildthings]

I was the demolition contractor hired to cut the rails off the dock for the Bethlehem steel plant in Baltimore for their ore unloaders. There were I believe 3 that were a bit larger then these but different in function. They employed a similar clamshell bucket that was suspended from a horizontal boom arm that had a track on it. The 25 ton load would come out of the ships hold then taxi back to the center of the unloader opening over a large funnel. ( about the size of a house) this would then dump onto a conveyor belt system that ran under the 3 unloaders all the way back to ore furnaces a couple miles away. I ended up using an Oxygen lance to cut the clips off the track and cut the track into truckable sections. These track sections had a profile unlike any train track I ever seen. The web was 3 times thicker and the top rail was twice as thick as any full size track. Apparently they had been made at Bethlehem steel just for that purpose to hold the enormous weight of these towers. Standing under them it was a good 100ft to underside. I would say 4 good size 2 story homes could fit under one of these unloaders.
We ended up cutting 1700 ft of track off the concrete pier they were supported on just so the port could use it for self unloding ships and use wheel loaders and trucks to go to each customer bulk storage. It was one of the most memorable jobs I've ever done.

[bettyhart]

My grandfather was a Hulett operator for 46 years in Cleveland at the Ore docks. He only missed 2 days of work in 46 years! He was a great guy. My grandparents raised their family of 4 kids on his income while my grandmother was a homemaker. He usually worked the night shift when I was a kid. He was an extremely hard worker with an uncompromising work ethic. We lived in the west suburbs of Cleveland then after high school I visited Huron near Cedar Point, and saw that they had huletts as well. Huron’s were eventually dismantled and taken away. This video was very interesting! Thank you.

[SMGJohn]

The fact this design was in operation for 100 years, goes to show a machine can be built well to stand the test of time.

[OCPyrit]

As a former Hulett unloading operator it breaks my heart to see them rotting in the yard.

[abbrad]

This video's production quality is very high. I'm amazed at how well you were able to match video to the narrative in a way that makes the viewer forget that this type of historical footage doesn't grow on trees. Very well done.

[lancebedour]

As a youngster growing up in Toledo Ohio I can still remember laying in bed at night listening to the distinctive sound of the Huletts across the river unloading ships. Great memories and a great video !

[robertweldon]

Having grown up in Cleveland, I remember these unloaders quite well, I'm 75.
I would. guess that close to 90% of the ore unloaded by those machines never traveled very far from the dock because of the 3 steel mills, yes there were 3 mills, Cleveland was a steel town and a huge portion of the men who worked in Cleveland worked for one of those mills, in some capacity.
Thanks for the real nice history lesson about my old home town, one that most folks never knew, except for the big dinosaurs on the lake side. ;-)

[gilzor]

Since I can remember, I have always been fascinated by our country's Auto and Steel Industries and all the innovation associated with them through the years. One of the biggest let downs was the lack of interest in preserving live examples of our growth through the years. The unloaders/blast furnaces at the Rouge Plant being an example. The impact of seeing things like this for the younger, learning and growing generations is huge. To see such accomplishments done without the aide of technology, will no doubt inspire greater feats of engineering. For a school age child to walk aboard on ocean liner, steam powered locomotive, crane, etc., could prove to motivate our next Thomas Edison.
Great job collecting and presenting this information. Thank you for the upload. I have searched and looked for info on the fate of the Hulett Unloaders over the years. Thinking that the pile of pieces will waste away before any single, complete Hulett ever gets reconstructed out of it . . . . . . . sad sight.

[marcomcdowell]

I remember watching these as a kid. Much like everything that has been replaced or an industry that has gone away, I didn't think much of it because they were just a part of the city. I haven't thought about these in 30 years. Thanks for the memories.

[robinmartz]

This is very interesting! I've been watching a lot of history lately. My Mom is 94 and she tells me stuff that gets me wanting to know more. These men worked harder than we can imagine, shoveling all that ore!

[jonnykerley]

Amazing pieces of revolutionary engineering, unfair to call them ugly.

[localcrew]

I currently own two of the “Payloaders” mentioned in this video. They are 1960 Clark/Michigan loaders that were sold off after the loaders were shut down or they got too old to use daily. I have found traces of the reddish iron ore when removing parts that have been in place since then. Great video. Just subscribed!

[veramae]

For those who don't know --
Lake Superior iron ore was extraordinary. It needed only a small amount of treatment, then melted and used to make iron. During WW II it was almost all used up.

To stay in business and with help from Michigan university researchers, a method was created to process the rest of the iron ore to be almost as good as original "Lake Superior ore". This industry continues to thrive.

In the same region there are also extensive copper mines, which might be reopened if the price of copper continues to rise.

Copper and iron both the gift of a volcano, 90 million years ago.

[bobkoski]

I was born and raised at Ashtabula Harbor, and I remember the sound of the Hulets very well. Along with the tugboats moving ore boats in and out, Ashtabula was a very busy place at one time. Not so much any more.

[thomasculkin]

Very thorough! I lived on W 28th St. within direct view of those Huletts in the Fifties. We could hear the noise when the ore was dropped into the train cars. It was so loud (although those who lived there soon were used to it) that my visiting relatives could not stand it and soon departed. Thanks for reminding me of a time from my past.

[jakespeed]

Truly amazing collection of information and video. My dad worked at the Erie Ore Dock from the early 60's, until he was finally laid off at it's closing, in the mid 70's. Fond memories, as a child, of going to visit this place either dropping Dad off or picking him up. RJT started out in the ship's hold shoveling ore and graduated up the ladder, finally running a pusher car. Most men nowadays, including myself, have no clue how hard these guys worked. Especially in the cold weather. Obviously, the ships didn't run, when the lake was frozen, but there was still lots of maintenance to do.
We have countless pictures my dad took, while working there and I have his logbook of all the boats he unloaded and the tonnage. Would love to share them.