Getting iron ore from the mines to the furnace has always been a huge job. As the furnaces grew, so too did their appetites, requiring loading facilities that were up to the task. Many steel companies and railroads erected these big loading docks at Great Lakes ports to keep the iron ore (and later taconite) moving down to the steel centers. Often stretching for hundreds of feet, these engineering masterpieces were first made of wood and later of concrete and steel. Through a series of pockets lining the sides, iron ore could be loaded by gravity into the waiting holds of the big ore boats.