Editor's note:
This article on Rogers Terminal and Shipping Corp. is the second of two stories on the grain stevedore companies of Duluth-Superior.

Typical is not a word that leaps to mind in trying to describe George Foutch's work.

Tomorrow's work day might be entirely unlike yesterday's. The next shipping season might be entirely unlike last one.

But all will be, somehow, typical.

George Foutch — Rogers Terminal and Shipping Corp. assistant vice president.

Mr. Foutch is the assistant vice president of Rogers Terminal and Shipping Corp., which is owned by Cargill. Mr. Foutch also is responsible for Cargill work in Albany, N.Y.; Chesapeake, Va.; Toledo, Ohio; Burns Harbor, Ind.; Milwaukee and Chicago. In a typical week, Mr. Foutch will be on the job at any of those locations. In a typical season, he will appear at all of them.

The job of Rogers Terminal, in essence, is getting vessels in and out of port smoothly, efficiently and economically.

"There's a routine to the work," says Mr. Foutch. "But each ship and each day brings on a different set of circumstances that have to be dealt with.

"You've got the weather, different types of ships, different cargoes, and within those cargoes you've got different lots of grains.

"The job includes a lot of coordinating. You work with labor, and vessel agents. You contact mates and captains. You're something of a go-between. You keep the information flow going. You also supervise the loading.

"I have all these locations that have the same problems we're working with here in Duluth-Superior, but it's basically the same deal."

Rogers is a model of efficiency. Its Duluth-Superior office handles all billings and other administrative tasks with just Mr. Foutch, Superintendent Pete Weisse and one other part-time employee. Work in the other Rogers locations is handled by just one employee per site.

Mr. Foutch makes it clear that Mr. Weisse is a key person in the operation. "He does basically the same work I do, and sometimes more of it," says Mr. Foutch. "He's a very talented person."

In a typical season — there's that word again — Rogers will be responsible for about 40 vessels in and out of Duluth-Superior, though a busy season could bring as many as 60 to 70. In all its ports, Rogers will be responsible for 120 vessels in a season. About 80 percent of them will be lakers.

• • •

Anyone who knows George W. Foutch Jr. knows that any discussion about him has to include more than just his work; we also have to talk about rodeo.

Mr. Foutch grew up in Oklahoma. And from the sounds of him, he grew up on a horse.

In his younger years he competed in steer wrestling, calf roping and team roping. He still competes in the roping events but leaves the steer wrestling to others.

He and his family live on a small farm a few miles away from the Twin Ports, in the Minnesota community of Carlton. He and his wife still have their youngest child, a 17-year-old son, at home. Three others are grown and gone. The youngest son has a bead on a rodeo college scholarship, and their son who now lives in Iowa also is still involved in rodeo.

"I've rodeoed all my life," says Mr. Foutch, "and I still ride every day."

• • •

Before finding his way into a successful stevedoring career, Mr. Foutch worked as a linesman and had done some inspection diving.

He first hooked up with Cargill in 1966 in Virginia and at one time was a licensed barge operator, working on western rivers.

He came to Duluth-Superior in the spring of 1980 and was happy to prove that life, and rodeo, can go on here. "The winters are just what they are," he says, "and it has been a great place to raise a family."

At this time of year, Mr. Foutch and others in the Twin Ports are getting things lined up for the next season. And what will that bring?

"I'm always optimistic," says Mr. Foutch. "I've been around long enough to have seen the ebbs and flows of this business. I'm not going to get real excited one way or the other.

"A whole lot of factors are going to be involved." He cites some: The relative strength of the U.S. dollar, freight rates, the markets, the weather. "I don't get excited about business forecasts," he says. "I'm just expecting another good season."