Harbor entrance, South Chicago

Mouth of the Calumet River where it meets Lake Michigan. The ship docked at left is a rail car ferry barge built for the Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin and Michigan Railway. The ship was capable of carrying 30 rail cars on the four sets of tracks on its open deck. Next to the barge is the U. S. Life Saving Service, predecessor of the U. S. Coast Guard next to the south slip of the South Works of the Illinois Steel Plant, later U. S. Steel. The industrial buildings at the top left are part of the steel mill, which opened in the 1880s and closed in 1992. It was the largest steel mill in the area. The sail boat in the scene is on the Calumet River with Lake Michigan in view. The wooden structure in the foreground is part of the swing bridge across the Calumet River, built in 1896, it carried the Chicago and Blue Island Railroad into South Works property. Later, after U. S. Steel was formed the EJ&E (Elgin, Eastern, and Joliet) railroad used the bridge. A new vertical lift bridge replaced the old swing bridge in the early 70’s. The area to the right was later filled in and became the new site of the Iroquois Iron Company, later Youngstown Steel.