All aboard! Keewatin opens to the public at Kingston
KINGSTON, ON – All aboard! The S.S. Keewatin officially opened to the public on Saturday, May 25, with a launch party and ribbon cutting.
Ahead of the launch party, the Great Lakes Museum – current steward and owner of the Keewatin – opened ticket sales for tours. Tour experiences, including visits to both the Great Lakes Museum and Keewatin, can be booked online on the Great Lakes Museum website. Students receive discounted rates, and children under five are admitted free.
“We are delighted to finally unveil this beautiful and historic ship to visitors and the community and to celebrate the hard work of our volunteers, staff, and board members,” said Chris West, Board Chair for the Great Lakes Museum.
“We’re excited to embark on the next phase of this important vessel’s life in Kingston and integrate its story into our collection covering the last 200 years of Great Lakes history.”
The Keewatin, built in Scotland in 1907, was formerly owned by Canadian Pacific Railway. CP Rail steamships such as the Keewatin transported tourists, settlers, and cargo throughout the Great Lakes and across the world from the late 19th century until their retirement in the 1960s. Of the approximately 3,800 similar passenger steamships built between 1900 and 1920, the Keewatin is one of only three to survive. It is the last remaining Edwardian-era passenger steamship liner in the world.
The ship was donated to the Great Lakes Museum in 2023 by its previous owner, Skyline Investments, to capitalize on Kingston’s strong tourism draws and ensure the Keewatin was housed with an organization which could adequately provide for its upkeep.
Keewatin underwent partial restoration work at Heddle Shipyards (now Ontario Shipyards) in Hamilton in the summer of 2023 before arriving in Kingston in the fall. Restoration work will continue on the ship in the years ahead as the Great Lakes Museum works to open additional areas of the boat for visitors.
This spring’s opening for tours was made possible in part due to the support of the Friends of Keewatin, a dedicated community group that previously operated tours aboard the ship in Port McNicoll, Ontario. The Great Lakes Museum even invited the Friends to visit Kingston and show the staff the ropes as they prepared the ship for public tours. Several Friends of Keewatin members visited in April to work alongside Kingston volunteers to stage the ship’s interior for public visits.
“It is an astonishingly long and detailed process. We are overwhelmed by the generous time commitment from Kingston and Port McNicoll volunteers. We are two teams working on one mission: to preserve and celebrate the Keewatin,” said Kelly Pope-Wiley, Board Vice-Chair for the Great Lakes Museum.
Programs And Communications Manager Michelle Clarabut said she was also grateful for the help, as she led a sneak peek tour of the ship in late April.
“We’re taking our cues from Port McNicoll… They are training us on how to stage her, and then as we go forward, we’ll start to figure out how we want to do it. We’ll make modifications, but this is a starting point. It’s part of the learning process,” explained Clarabut.
Connie Cochrane, the staging lead from Port McNicoll, travelled to Kingston to help the new crew navigate their mission. She said the Port McNicoll group hoped the Friends of Keewatin might get an invitation, so when they received it, they were “absolutely thrilled.”
“Our main purpose was to make sure the ship survived,” Cochrane shared as she demonstrated to a Kingston volunteer how to stack the set of antique travel trunks in the ship’s hold.
“This is a better place for her. You’ll have more tours and a little more money to take care of it.”
Tour options include guided tours of the passenger areas and tours of the engine room. In addition to the tour, the museum will offer an S.S. Keewatin exhibit to showcase artifacts and historical displays relating to the Keewatin and its connections to Great Lakes commerce, people and personal stories, and Canada’s westward expansion. This exhibit will open in June.
Donations to support the ongoing historical preservation and restoration work are appreciated and eligible for a tax receipt, as the Great Lakes Museum is a registered charity. Visit the Great Lakes Museum website to learn more about supporting or visiting the Museum and S.S. Keewatin.
Yahoo News
New, Greener Pellet Plant Opens In Keewatin
KEEWATIN, MN. – There’s a new $150-million pellet production plant In Keewatin. The new pellets contain less silica and more iron ore than traditional iron-ore pellets. Work began on the new U.S. Steel plant in 2022 and was completed last month on time and within budget.
During its construction phase, 250 construction jobs were created. Now in its operational phase, there are a total of 33 full-time positions to operate the plant. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was on hand for the official unveiling of the plant Thursday. He’s pleased that the new facility was built and that it’s already a benefit to the Iron Range and Minnesota.
“There’s a foundational piece of this, these are good-paying union jobs. These are jobs that built the middle class. These are the jobs that allow the people in this room to live the lives they choose to live, in the communities they choose to live,” said Governor Tim Walz.
The President and CEO of U.S. Steel spoke highly about the importance of this new pellet plant for all involved. “This facility is critical to the success of not just U.S. Steel but also Nippon. It all begins here. When we talk about mine melted in the U-S-A this is clearly a competitive advantage, this is the best mine site, Keetac and Minntac in all of Minnesota and nobody’s close to us,” said David B. Burritt.
The new pellets are greener and give the company a broader footprint in the industry while also better meeting it customers’ needs. The plant will produce up to 4 million tons of pellets each year.
Make Your Plans Now for Soo
Boatnerd Picnic, Freighter-Chasing Cruise
Join us for the Annual Boatnerd Picnic and Freighter-Chasing Cruise on the St. Marys River during the annual Engineers Day weekend at Sault Ste. Marie June 27-38. Find details on both events here: https://boatnerd3.jasonbowlerdesign.com/boatnerd-soo-gathering-june-27-28-2024/
