More Water Worries: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers put out a news release this morning warning of “Great Lakes water levels higher than last year at this time.” It noted that all five Great Lakes started 2020 higher than 2019, “a year where many record high-water levels were set across the lakes.” In the release, the Corps warns those impacted by 2019 high waters can expect more of the same this year. “The most recent six-month forecast of Great Lakes water levels shows water levels continuing to be well above average over this period. Unlike last year, lakes Michigan and Huron are forecasted to reach record high levels this year.” The forecast shows those two lakes seeing new monthly mean high record levels in the next couple of months. Lake Superior did reach new high-water records several times during 2019. “This sets the stage for coastal impacts and damages in 2020 similar to, or worse than, what was experienced last year,” John Allis, chief of the Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office, Detroit District, said in the release. “Several natural factors contribute to the record lake levels,” according to the release. “Persistent wet conditions across the Great Lakes basin continue to drive high water levels. Many cities across the basin set records in 2019 for the wettest period on record. The warmer than average temperatures in December led to greater runoff due to snow pack melting, especially on lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron, leading to more water supply. The warm air also caused less evaporation off the lakes’ surface, which leads to more water in the system. … The water levels of each lake peaked during this past summer or fall and since then have been in a seasonal decline, however, significant erosion continues in many locations as water levels remain extremely high. Strong storm systems and resulting large waves have led to substantial erosion along much of the Great Lakes coastline.” The Corps has created a high water webpage with information about the high waters and about permitting for shoreline projects. (This "wavy" Split Rock Lighthouse photo, showing the power of a recent Lake Superior blow, is by photographer Roxanne Distad.)
Wawa Gold: A story in Northern Ontario Business reported increased investments in the search for gold around Wawa by Alamos Gold Inc."Toronto’s Red Pine Exploration announced it has raised more than $3.7 million in exploration dollars through the issuance of flow-through shares purchased by Alamos, operators of the Island Gold Mine," the business publication reports. Red Pine’s Wawa Gold Project is 2 kilometres (1.25 miles) south Wawa and Alamos’ Island Gold Mine is 83 kilometres (51.5 miles) northeast of the town, the publication notes. On its website, Red Pine posts about the Wawa exploration: "The property has hosted numerous gold mines with historic production of over 120,000 ounces (7,500 lbs). To date, the largest gold deposit on the property is the Surluga Deposit. Historically, more than 87,000 metres (285,433 ft.) have been drilled on the property."
Choosing Our Big Lake Neighborhood: Wisconsin's Sawyer County just posted a grand promotional video called “Choose Sawyer County” on YouTube that actually reflects our entire Big Lake neighborhood. Many of the professionals in the video point out a close-knit community and outdoor recreation among their reasons for either moving here, or for locals, staying here. “I’d kind of been thinking it would be a great spot to retire,” says attorney Desmonde Bennett, “and then I realized, I didn’t have to wait to retire to move up here.” Resort owners Nathan Reynolds and Amanda Wilson connected to the region through a real estate listing. “We kept kicking around the idea of owning and operating a lake resort,” says Amanda. Desmonde wraps up with a sentiment we strongly endorse, or as she concludes about her location choice, “It’s honestly my definition of success.”
Reclaiming the Shore Is Super: Danielle Kaeding of Wisconsin Public Radiorecently reported on completion of the final phase of the Excel Superfund Cleanup site in Ashland, a decades long project to remediate pollutants and wood waste on the shore and into Chequamegon Bay from former industrial operations. The site includes areas once occupied by a Northern State Power operation (a subsidiary of Excel), a manufactured gas plant owned by the city and a Wisconsin Central Ltd. railroad right of way. “Over the last several years, we’ve had numerous crews and equipment and materials in that Kreher Park area, and this year involved kind of restoring that area," Brian Elwood, spokesperson with Xcel Energy, told Danielle. The 2019 work concentrated on the shore, but the Superfund site, listed in 2002, covers 25 acres of shore and 16 acres in the water. In 2018, a mechanical dredge (top right in photo) and hydraulic dredge (lower right) removed contaminated sediment, photo information notes on the EPA’s page for the Superfund site. That wet dredge cleanup was completed in 2018 and tested. The next EPA test of the site will be in 2024. Brian says he hopes the EPA and the Wisconsin DNR will be able to evaluate the 2019 work and approve it for completion. The city already has plans for public use of the area. The city plans installation of a two-bay boat launch, designed by Superior-based AMI Consulting Engineers, Sara Hudson, director of parks and recreation told Danielle. The $1.7 million project will be put out for bids this year, Sara says.
We're All History Detectives: Michigan Technological University researchers are on a mission to uncover and make accessible a rare collection of 40,000 employee records of the Calumet & Hecla Copper Mining Company. The project was recently awarded $240,000 by the Council on Library and Information Resources. The research team of Sarah Scarlett, assistant professor of history, along with university archivist Lindsay Hiltunen and David Holden, manager of technology and innovation for Michigan Tech's Van Pelt and Opie Library, will digitize and generate descriptions for the collection. The project combines the crews of the Michigan Tech Archives and Geospatial Research Facility. Sarah explains what the records show: “The employee records we are working with are the physical cards that the company used to keep track of employees’ work and pay histories. If a person came to seek employment, a Calumet & Hecla clerk would fill out this card with information including name, birth date and place, parents’ names, spouse and children’s names and previous employment. If hired, the company used these cards to keep a tally of which jobs the person held, the dates of that job, the wages paid, and reason for leaving. For many employees, these cards give historians an idea of how the employees moved up the ranks and gained skills, or how they would work seasonally, leaving the mines in the summer to farm. If the employees worked into the 1920s and ’30s, we can also see how the company began to offer workers’ compensation and other social safety net benefits. And since the cards have addresses, we will be able to link all this information to city directory and census info already mapped to historical maps in the Keweenaw Time Traveler Explore app." The Time Traveler website is an intriguing one, allowing anyone to help with research of local Keweenaw history. This video explains more. The site works with maps from different years, starting in 1888, of various towns that can be overlaid or interchanged with today’s aerial photos of the locations. The public – what the site calls “Citizen Historians” – helps to identify buildings from the different eras and activities and people connected to them (like this 1898 Copper Country Evening News ad for a piano teacher at 617 Oak St. in Calumet). The Time Traveler and other projects are part of the joint efforts of the Historical Environments Spatial Analytics Lab and the Michigan Tech Social Sciences. You can view its projects online.
Worthy Railroading: Since our region seems to be blessed with an abundance of boatnerds and railfans, we wanted to let you know about a recent book by one of our favorite illustrators, Jeff Hagen. Jeff is the fellow who did the smiling sun over Lake Superior graphic for one of our now retired T-shirts and has done an illustrated story in the magazine. Jeff published Hiawatha Passing, a children's book with his watercolor illustrations about the magical arrival of the Hiawatha train, a true rail service. "I rode on the Hiawatha as a child from Minnesota to Chicago," Jeff tells us. "It was a legendary train adventure. We live in a saltbox farmhouse in Minnesota and far below the valley from our house was a set of train tracks that ran far away towards the west." Jeff adds it enveloped his imagination about his own life journey. "What was my destiny far, far down the railroad of life. … Trains are such a wonderful adventure. I read recently that … the rhythm of the train and the subject of the train (Orange Blossom Special, City of New Orleans, Folsom City Blues, etc.) are considered to be the birth of R n B and Rock n Roll music." Hiawatha has been the subject of a book for Jeff before, but this time he used his own paintings. "The challenge of painting my words was much harder then you would imagine because of the inner critic, requiring perfection in imagery to stand up to the words (two different, creative worlds). It took two years to paint 16 paintings of expressive quality to match the story. I wanted the paintings to show the beauty of cold nights in Minnesota, the magic of a midnight train and the hopes and dreams of a young child." Mission accomplished, we think. Check out the book.
Photo & graphic credits: Roxanne Distad; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Red Pine Exploration; Sawyer County; EPA; Michigan Tech; Jeff Hagen