On Minnesota’s section of the north shore, about 50 miles northeast of Duluth, a much needed small boat harbor is almost complete, built in phases first by Marine Tech of Duluth Inc. and then Northland Constructors Inc. of Duluth. A joint effort of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, this premium facility will provide both safe access and greatly needed marine services. Of even greater importance, the new Silver Bay Harbor of Refuge will add to boating safety all along Minnesota’s north shore.

The new facility, an investment of more than $8 million, will provide both diesel and gasoline, good drinking water and will offer sanitary disposal services to vessels in need. Plan on this new facility being available by August 1, 1999. It will have a wide trailer launching and recovery ramp, with a good adjacent dock and adequate parking space. A full-service administration building was let to Oxford Construction and will be constructed this summer, and the site will be managed by the town of Silver Bay.

While lots of words will soon be describing this fine addition to the north shore, SAFETY had better be one often used. This is a development well worth being thankful for.

For me, the addition evokes memories of my first trip up this shore from Duluth as skipper of the KDAL radio yacht Judy L III many years ago. I had planned the trip carefully, noting that Two Harbors would be the first shelter (should we need it) after some 25 miles of open water, very long miles in a Lake Superior blow. In those 1951 days, Knife River Marina was not in place at the mouth of that river, making for a long refuge-less haul north of Duluth.

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PHOTO BY TIM LUSTIG, GME CONSULTANTS, COURTESY U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Huge rocks, some from nearby highway tunneling at Lafayette Bluff and Silver Creek Cliff, guard the 
Silver Bay breakwall from Lake Superior’s waves.

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Continuing northeast along the shore, the next dubious shelter - depending on the wind - was tiny Encampment Island, seven miles from Two Harbors. No harbor, just possible shelter.

The best legitimate first shelter was Little Two Harbors, just west of the towering Split Rock Lighthouse. This tiny pocket has sheltered countless explorers, fishermen and boaters over many years. Contemplating that site, I remembered several early diaries that describe the safety found there. This also was the harbor where the initial investors in a little Two Harbors company were hosted with quite a picnic. 

That group had come to see the incredible ore body that their fledgling company had staked out and was to yield the abrasive component of sandpaper, corundum. The well-dressed folks came in the shiny new steamer, America, operated by Booth Fisheries, a Chicago firm that provided the first real transportation along this shore. The site of these investors’ new mining operation was Crystal Bay, several miles up the shore, but Little Two Harbors was the sheltered picnic site.

Smiles faded quickly, no doubt, when a geologist later advised that their mineral was not what they thought and was of limited value. By that time, they had built a mine, crusher and a dock; the money had been expended. The company, named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, faced an uncertain future. It’s still hard to believe that it became the giant 3M Company we know today!

But back to my first trip: A few miles farther up the shore, Beaver Bay offered some degree of shelter, but at that time, there was no Reserve Mining Company and thus no harbor there, either. The first real shelter as you moved north in those days was Grand Marais, some 55 miles farther ahead. 

I recalled the abundant stories of past adventures as the flow of immigrants from Norway and Sweden landed in Duluth and soon sought homesites along the oddly familiar lakeshore. In many ways, this shore, described as “rugged” and “bold” in the early maritime publications, did resemble the homelands they had left.

My goodness, what they would have given all those many years ago for the beautiful new harbor in the Silver Bay area. How many pounding hearts would have pressed on, knowing safety was not far ahead? 

South of this new refuge, at the Split Rock Light headlands that includes the now mostly open Little Two Harbors, was a tragic human adventure that reminds us how dangerous Lake Superior can be.

There, in the legendary storm of 1905, the 436-foot barge Madeira broke loose from her towing vessel, the 478-foot William Edenborn. Looking at Gold Rock, the tapered cliff just to the northeast of the light, I imagine the giant waves, driven by winds that stopped ships under full power from moving ahead, controlling western Lake Superior.

About three o’clock in the morning, the tow line failed and repair was not possible. 

Drifting through the darkness for at least two hours, the vessel impacted on a rugged cliff, signaling the end of her journey and perhaps the end of the lives of her crew. As earliest daylight appeared, seaman Fred Benson leaped to the cliff face as the vessel surged against it. Grasping a protruding rock, he made his way to safety, where he used the coil of line he had carried on his belt to rescue three of his fellow crewmen. 

Moving along the cliff to the stern of the heaving boat, he pulled a heavier line to the top of the cliff, and five more seamen made it to safety. They watched helplessly as one of the crew went overboard and drowned. 

They found a fisherman’s cabin and a logging camp. Rescue came two days later at the mouth of the Split Rock River. 

Coming around Gold Point and approaching Split Rock Lighthouse, one can see a diver’s marker buoy floating above the tortured remains of the Madeira. It is a popular scuba diving site, and a sobering reminder of how important refuge is along Lake Superior’s shores.

I’m pleased to report that work will start on a smaller harbor of refuge near Taconite Harbor this summer, and small boat improvements for Two Harbors are under study. So much to be thankful for!

Feedback: jrm@lakesuperior.com