Nace Hagemann / Courtesy Gunflint Mail Run
Gunflint Mail Run
The Gunflint Mail Run Sled Dog Race utilizes trails throughout Minnesota's Cook County.
Gunflint Mail Run goes down to the wire
One of the season’s early dog sled races, the Gunflint Mail Run in Cook County, Minnesota, ended with two tightly contested finishes last weekend. Ward Wallin won the 12-dog race by an 82-second margin over Matt Schmidt, while Dusty Klaven bested Chad Schouweiler in the 8-dog race by a mere 28 seconds.
+ The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon has moved its start from Duluth to Two Harbors, due to poor snow conditions. The 395-mile race on Minnesota’s North Shore begins January 31.
Nipigon River Bridge breaks in the cold
Just 42 days after it opened, the new Nipigon River Bridge split on Sunday, January 10, halting traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway for 17 hours and severing the road route between eastern and western Canada.
No one was injured when “bolts holding the girder to the bearing on an expansion joint broke on the bridge's north side,” reports Jon Thompson of TBNewsWatch.com. “The split caused the eastern half of the bridge to rise about two feet.”
Engineers used more than 100 massive concrete blocks to weigh down the bridge, which allowed officials to reopen a single lane of traffic.
The newly constructed cable-stayed bridge had opened in late November 2015 after three years of construction. The eastbound half of the divided four-lane bridge will be completed in 2017, providing redundancy to keep traffic flowing.
Transportation officials don’t yet know what caused the bolts to break. Engineers are currently testing them for defects and design problems, according to CBC Thunder Bay.
Soo Locks close tonight
Another Great Lakes shipping season – this one a mix of good news and bad – will conclude late tonight when the Soo Locks close for winter maintenance.
Seven lakers will spend the winter in the port of Duluth-Superior. The Indiana Harbor called it a season back in November, followed by the Herbert C. Jackson in December. The Edwin H. Gott and American Century went into winter layup on Thursday. The Kaye E. Barker and Philip R. Clarke will follow over the next few days. The seventh vessel, the Paul R. Tregurtha, should arrive next week after “one or two late season, intra-lake deliveries of iron ore,” reports the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, which adds:
While ships’ crews will take the next few, well-deserved weeks off, there is no real ‘down time’ on the waterfront. Hundreds of workers – engineers, welders, pipefitters, mechanics, electricians and others –will spend the next eight weeks doing heavy-duty maintenance and repair work so these vessels are ready to sail when the Soo Locks reopen on March 25 and the 2016 Great Lakes-Seaway shipping season gets underway.
Meet Surfer Dan: The Marquette native surfs Lake Superior even in the winter. Here’s video from WLUC-TV.
Ice at dusk and dawn: Regular Lake Superior Magazine writer Molly Hoeg with the story of a winter excursion up Minnesota’s North Shore.
Bayfield students track critters in the region: Rick Erickson teaches his alternative education students with hands-on lessons outdoors, reports Hope McLeod in the Bayfield County Journal.
The future of a North Shore town: Minnesota Public Radio’s Dan Kraker asks, “Can Silver Bay survive latest round of mining layoffs?”
Duluth’s Tweed Museum closed until May: The art museum, a past Best of the Lake winner, is getting an upgrade to its HVAC system.
Remembering Alan Rickman’s Lake Superior visit: The actor, of “Die Hard” and “Harry Potter” fame, died this week at the age of 69. He spent several weeks in Wawa, Ontario, in April 2005 to film “Snow Cake” with Sigourney Weaver. “Alan Rickman was all over. He went shopping at our grocery store. He was always available, always curious,” recalled then-mayor Rod Morrison.