He chose the design for Great Lakes ore carriers in 1905 that became the standard for the next 65 years, and was elected to the National Maritime Hall of Fame in 1984.

[24] In 1889, Pickands Mather partner and iron mine owner Jay C. Morse, and others, organized the Minnesota Steamship Company to meet their joint shipping needs.

[25] In 1892, Pickands Mather purchased the Huron Barge Company,[26] and the following year established a steamship coal fueling business.

[36] He was also a member of the Dock Managers Association, the employer organization which engaged in collective bargaining with labor unions (such as longshoremen and other workers who loaded and unloaded ship).

[37] In early 1903, Coulby assumed the duties of President and Treasurer of Great Lakes Towing Company in addition to his work as managing partner of the Marine Department at Pickands Mather.

[38] But on December 29, 1903, he resigned this position to become President and General Manager of the Pittsburgh Steamship Company, the Great Lakes shipping division of U.S.

Yet, he also loved to tell stories about his life on the farm and his early weeks in America, aggressively demanded to know how much money his subordinates were making, and liked to walk the wharves to learn about his ships, weather, and navigational hazards.

[42] He ordered the significant redesign of Great Lakes carriers as well, eliminating the curved deck of the whalebacks which allowed for greater access to the hold.

[41] With unionization growing among steamship workers,[46] the Lake Carriers' Association (LCA) proved critical to Coulby in implementing his employment policies.

[50] In the early months of 1904, Coulby led the LCA in bargaining with the many small unions fighting for membership among ship and dock workers.

He convinced the Marine Firemen, Oilers and Water Tenders' Union to accept a small wage cut, agree to the elimination of engineers on barges, and to permit captains to lay off workers if a ship was more than three days in port.

Then the LCA forced the International Seamen's Union to agree to drop overtime pay and accept a similar layoff provision.

The union was unable to win a strike vote, and its members went back to work without a contract (accepting a sharp reduction in pay to just $70 a month).

Just weeks before the shipping season began in April, Coulby fired all captains in the Pittsburgh Steamship Company fleet, and forced them to reapply for their jobs (blackballing those who had joined a union).

The American Association of Masters and Pilots resisted, demanding a captain' right to join a union and a 13.6 percent wage increase (to $2,250 for a full nine months).

[52] In late November 1905, the Pittsburgh Steamship Company lost 10 vessels (but, amazingly, only 12 crew members) when the Mataafa Storm struck the Great Lakes.

[44][54] During the 1906 and 1907 shipping seasons, Coulby quietly allowed the LCA to sign one-year contracts with a wide range of labor unions.

Coulby helped design the LCA "welfare plan", which required all crew members to participate in a pension scheme that effectively weeded out union supporters.

[59][60] Although some wage increases and improvements in working conditions occurred over the next half century, these were implemented at the discretion of employers because they were seen to be good business practices and not because of worker demands.

He began holding meetings with the captains and managers of the Pittsburg and Pickands Mather fleets, coordinating their efforts and discussing schedules, loading problems, routes, navigational issues, and much more.

[67] Beginning in 1912, Henry Dalton, the president of Pickands Mather, held a meeting of all department heads to discuss the company's business.

He had several brothers and sisters living there, and as his income rose he began to make significant donations to local schools, churches, and social institutions there.

The well-known local architect Frederic William Striebinger designed the Renaissance Revival structure, which sat on 54 acres (220,000 m2) of land and was built by Wm.

The $1 million, 16-room, two-story mansion had seven fireplaces (with mantels carved from Italian marble), and a skylight over the entrance designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Coulby kept the trees on the north side of his property trimmed down so he could see ships sailing on Lake Erie from the master bedroom on the second floor.

Finished in 1912, the mansion, called Coulallenby (a portmanteau of "Coulby" and "Allen"), is considered a superb example of early 20th century Renaissance Revival architecture,[79][80] and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

[94] The following year, Pickands Mather began operating the Newport iron mine in Minnesota's Mesabi Range on behalf of Youngstown Sheet and Tube.

One-quarter of the estate went to establish a trust, which gave annual awards to Pickands Mather employees who made significant contributions to the business.

[101] Another 13 individuals, workers on Colby's Wickliffe property, also sued the estate claiming that, as household servants, they were due a year's wages under the terms of the will.

In addition, the Lake Carriers' Association would set up assembly rooms in major ports where plan members could safely read, sleep, or study for advancement while waiting to be called for a job.