Closed for the Season: At 6:44 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Burns Harbor (in photo) locked through the Soo Locks, upbound for winter layup in Superior. Since it was the only vessel within traveling distance of the locks either up- or downbound for the day, its morning arrival allowed the locks to close early on Jan. 15, a welcome circumstance to start immediate prepping for "dewatering" the locks and for the intense work for this winter, says Kevin Sprague, chief Soo area engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. With news of potential strong winds on Thursday, the locks crew wanted to get to work as soon as possible to place the bulkheads that help with removing water from the Pock Lock. The 50-ton bulkheads, about 120 feet long and 5 high, make imposing “sails” and cannot be placed with a crane during high winds, Kevin explains. The winter layup season will be a busy one because the Poe, the hardest working of the two locks remaining, must undergo major repairs and maintenance. The Poe has redundant sets of downstream gates, but the concrete sill on one set failed this summer and the lock had to be shut down twice for repairs, once for seven hours in late August and again a couple weeks later for about five hours. The intermediate gates were used, which required gate heaters to be installed, so it was good the final weeks of the season have been warm, Kevin says. Repairing those sills, along with reviewing deteriorating concrete on the single upstream set of gates, will be part of the work for winter. “That’s our most critical gate,” Kevin says of the upstream set, “because we don’t have a redundant gate.” Summer work on the locks means using divers, but in winter, when the locks can essentially be put into their own “dry dock,” work can be handled above the water. This winter there will also be welding, painting, girder flange repairs, addition of stiffeners and other tasks. Kevin expects the crews to continue work close to the March 24-25 midnight deadline for reopening. “We like to be done a week earlier so the Coast Guard can lock up to Duluth,” he says. The 1,200-foot-long, 110-foot-wide and 32-foot-deep Poe Lock handles about 90 percent of all cargo that passes through the locks. The smaller MacArthur Lock, considered “seaway sized” at 800 feet long, 80 feet side and 31 feet deep, can accommodate the ocean-going salties, but cannot handle the larger lakers, especially the 1,000-footers. The Davis and Sabin locks are not operational and will be replaced by a new lock of the Poe’s size. Initial funding of $191.6 million is in place to start that $922.4 million project, but Kevin points out that lock will be at least a decade in the making. So this winter, the Poe Lock gates will be a priority, Kevin says, calling their repair “a multi-year project … to buy 10 years time.” On Thursday, in case we were missing those icy boats, the Corps posted the 2017 image seen here of the Soo-based tug Owen M. Frederick breaking ice to the upper approach of the Poe while the 1,000-foot Walter J. MC Carthy Jr. waited to lock downbound.
The Vikings Are Coming (Again, Sort of): We've had Viking ships arrive to Lake Superior before … perhaps even when there were actual Vikings, so the speculation goes. But the latest invasion of Vikings will be warmly welcomed if the cruise company by that name makes it all the way to Houghton, Bayfield, Duluth and Thunder Bay for its 2022 Great Lakes cruises. Viking cruises launches its Viking Expeditions that year with the yet-to-be built Viking Octantis, a 665-foot-long, 77-foot-wide Polar Class 6 boutique cruise ship able to accommodate 378 guests with 189 staterooms. The ship is scheduled to be launched by 2022. "Viking’s arrival to the Great Lakes will bring the newest and most modern vessels ever to explore this region of North America and will mark a major commitment to local tourism and economic development for the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as the Canadian province of Ontario," the company promises in its press release. This is long-awaited good news for our Big Lake ports, which have been wooing, with more – or more often with less – success several cruise lines to actually traverse Lake Superior instead of just hull-dipping into the Lake after locking through at the Soo. This special class of ship Viking has commissioned will be built to handle icy conditions in the Antarctic, which is where Octantis will spend its time when not on the Great Lakes. Viking Expedition cruises partner with various scientific and research groups, offering presentations on topics from birding to history to climate change. In touting the new focus, Viking also announced two explorers – Norwegian Liv Arnesen, the first woman to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole in 1994, and Minnesotan Ann Bancroft, the first woman to successfully ski to both poles – as ceremonial "godmothers" (respectively) to the Viking Octantis and its sister ship Viking Polaris. Already online, Viking is booking the Milwaukee-Thunder Bay cruises, 14 eight-day adventures with seven Great Lakes Explorer trips between May 21 and Sept. 10 (starting at $6,495) that on Lake Superior skip directly from the Sault to T-Bay and seven Undiscovered Great Lakes tours between May 28 and Sept. 17 (starting at $6,695) that boast stops in Houghton, Bayfield and Duluth before arriving in Thunder Bay. Both tour options stop at Mackinac Island. If you book before Feb. 21, by the by, Viking throws in the $500 roundtrip airfare free. The online pages also outline the amenities and what the rooms will look like. We liked that this Nordic Junior Suite photographic illustration (the ship isn't built yet, remember) snuck Minnesota's Shovel Point in the background.
By Golly, There Is an App for That: The Michigan DNR has released an interactive map app to teach more about shipwrecks near its shores. According to the website, you can "Use this map to: Find shipwrecks, lighthouses, boating access sites and download data; search for a shipwreck by ship name or location; customize background to navigational charts, imagery or street view; print a PDF map designed by you. It also links through to information about things like local water trails. The main Michigan Shipwrecks site also boasts some strong underwater photography and notes that Michigan, touching four of the five Great Lakes, covers more than 1,500 wrecks inside its watery jurisdiction. You can also see the locations of the state's 13 areas of underwater preserves, four of those within Lake Superior's water.
Why Wait Until Spring: Missing the Northland's "other" season, that of Construction? Miss it no longer; we've got a closure that will carry you through until April. The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced the closure of the 5th Avenue Ramp southbound off I-35 into Duluth. As of Monday, the ramp is closed to do "utility work serving the City of Duluth steam plant." The detour will be marked. The highlighted portion of the street in this image shows the closed area.
Oh-Oh: With weather services warning about a snow-dropping storm to sweep across Minnesota today, the ongoing plow drivers strike in St. Louis County could cause pause before attempting some travel this evening into Saturday. Forecasts call for 5-10 inches of snow in Minnesota. As it moves east, this same storm is predicted to dump 7-10 inches of snow for Wisconsin's shore, 7-18 inches in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and 2-6 inches along the Ontario shore. Teamsters Local 320 within the county represents 168 employees including equipment operators, heavy equipment mechanics, bridge workers, sign technicians, storekeepers and other positions in the Public Works Department, according to the county. The sticking point for negotiations seems to be accrued sick leave time. Teamsters make their points here; the county addresses its view of the issues here. Whatever the specifics of the negotiations, county leaders say they have contingency plans to cover plowing. Plow drivers in Duluth, Cook and Lake counties on the North Shore, and those with the Minnesota DOT are not involved in this strike.
Thanks, Jessica: "It’s the one place that has remained constant in my life, and after living all over the world and traveling everywhere I want to go, I keep coming back here." That's what Cloquet, Minnesota, native and award-winning actress Jessica Lange said about the Duluth area to reporter Anthony Mason during a recent CBS Morning interview about her photography and her love of the Big Lake. Jessica's latest book of photography, Highway 61, published by Penguin Random House, chronicles her images from New Orleans to Grand Marais along the familiar-numbered byway. The 8-minute video also shows the opening of her photo exhibit in the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York. After the interview aired, Jeff Glor and Anthony chitchatted about Duluth, which Jeff also recently visited to do an interview with local author Leif Enger. “Duluth can be a beautiful and brutal place … in January,” Jeff mused. “Perfectly said," Anthony replied. "I had both feelings when I was up there." To which we say, "Hey, come back in the summer, too!"
Goodbye, Good Friend: It is with deeply heavy hearts we learned this week of the passing of Don Hermanson, a dear friend and supporter of Lake Superior Magazine (and our product-sales point man in the Upper Peninsula). Don's jovial humor and video and book productions about the U.P. (especially maritime and ghostly tales) live on. Don talked about his battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in a story we did on treating cancer locally. As maritime historian Fred Stonehouse of Marquette noted, "Don was a great friend and a most extraordinary man. His work documenting the history of the Keweenaw and Great Lakes is certainly part of his legacy. It is a powerful reminder of what one man can accomplish. He will be greatly missed." We share Don's obituary:
"Donald Oskar Hermanson, 78, of Oskar Bay, died Jan. 7, 2020, at the Omega House of Houghton. He was born in Hancock as the son of the late Harold and Martha (Ruohonen) Hermanson. Don will be remembered as an avid storyteller, videographer, outdoorsman, musician and friend. Don’s love of music and entertaining others served him well throughout his life. It allowed him to hold a variety of jobs outside the “norm.” In his younger years, after attending art school, he worked as a roadie to famous rock stars – he was even presented with a platinum record for his contributions to their success. Touring allowed Don to travel extensively, but his love of the Keweenaw always called him home. Because he liked to share a good story with anyone and everyone, Don carved out a specialized niche for himself in the entertainment industry, creating numerous award-winning videos. These mainly focused on lighthouses of the Great Lakes and the history and legends surrounding them. However, he eventually branched out to include videos about the supernatural, including ghosts and aliens. In more recent years, he authored a book on the Edmund Fitzgerald, compiling interview materials to capture the memories and stories surrounding its fateful last days. Don leaves behind his Aunt Aili Dunstan; nephews Jeffery, Matthew, Timothy and Joshua Morley; numerous cousins; and many great-nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sister, Linda Jo (Fred) Morley. Funeral and burial services will be held in the spring."
Photo & graphic credits: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District; Viking; MNDOT; Teamsters Local 320; CBS Morning; UP Health System