Azcon Corp. Scrapyard (Duluth, Minnesota)
USA /
Minnesota /
Duluth /
Duluth, Minnesota
World
/ USA
/ Minnesota
/ Duluth
World / United States / Minnesota
region, junkyard / scrapyard
Site is man-made fill, was originally a coal receiving pier. Later during the mid-20th Century it served as a receiving terminal for new automobiles, brought up from factories on the lower lakes strapped to the decks of lake-going bulk frieghters or racked up in specialized auto carriers. In the mid 1960s a local scrapyard relocated to this pier to make room for the construction of the DECC Arena and Auditorium on the bayfront near Canal Park. Has been an operational scrapyard ever since. Currently focuses on scrapping rail cars, industrial machinery, and other large metal items (presumably mainly steel).
From the '60s through the '90s dozens of lake freighters were dismantled here for scrap once they became too worn out, obsolete, or superfluous to operate any longer. Ship scrapping peaked from the late 1970s through the late 1980s when a constant parade of retired ore carriers from the U.S. Steel Company fleet met their end here. The last of them was dismantled by the end of the '80s, and after a brief lull one more vessel, the Irvin L. Clymer, was cut up from 1993 - 1994. She was one of U.S. Steel's old limestone/coal carriers from the Bradley Fleet, and the top two levels of her triple-decked forward cabins still rest at the outer end of the old Northern Pacific freight shed pier a mile or so to the north. In 2015, the J.B. Ford was towed to the Azcon scrapyard where she will eventually be dismantled and recycled.
Vessel scrapping took place at the end of the slip just to the south of the pier. Here the vessels were slowly winched ashore and cut into pieces as they came out of the water. It was common during the '70s and '80s to see a vessel being cut up at the head of the slip and a few more berthed further out in the slip or against the outside face of the pier, waiting their turns to be demolished.
From the '60s through the '90s dozens of lake freighters were dismantled here for scrap once they became too worn out, obsolete, or superfluous to operate any longer. Ship scrapping peaked from the late 1970s through the late 1980s when a constant parade of retired ore carriers from the U.S. Steel Company fleet met their end here. The last of them was dismantled by the end of the '80s, and after a brief lull one more vessel, the Irvin L. Clymer, was cut up from 1993 - 1994. She was one of U.S. Steel's old limestone/coal carriers from the Bradley Fleet, and the top two levels of her triple-decked forward cabins still rest at the outer end of the old Northern Pacific freight shed pier a mile or so to the north. In 2015, the J.B. Ford was towed to the Azcon scrapyard where she will eventually be dismantled and recycled.
Vessel scrapping took place at the end of the slip just to the south of the pier. Here the vessels were slowly winched ashore and cut into pieces as they came out of the water. It was common during the '70s and '80s to see a vessel being cut up at the head of the slip and a few more berthed further out in the slip or against the outside face of the pier, waiting their turns to be demolished.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 46°45'43"N 92°6'12"W
- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore 87 km
- Minnesota Valley State Park / Recreation Area 254 km
- Northwest Angle 370 km
- Lansing Township, Allamakee County 376 km
- Lafayette Township, Allamakee County 387 km
- Taylor Township, Allamakee County 396 km
- Great Divide Basin 1416 km
- Grand Teton National Park 1498 km
- Huckleberry Ridge Tuff Caldera 1516 km
- Henry's Fork Caldera 1532 km
- BNSF Railway Rice's Point Yard 0.8 km
- Arthur M Clure Public Marine Terminal 0.8 km
- Duluth Harbor Basin 0.8 km
- Conner's Point 2.2 km
- Canal Park 2.5 km
- North End 3.3 km
- Park Point Beach 3.9 km
- St Louis Bay 4.5 km
- Superior Bay 5.1 km
- Duluth Heights 5.3 km