Be the Big Lake's BFF: Get friendly with Lake Superior this weekend at a variety of Lake Superior Day/s events around the shores of the Big Lake. Lake Superior Day is the third Sunday in July, started in the 1990s in Thunder Bay and revived a little over a decade later by the late Bob Browne, who was on the Lake Superior Binational Forum. This Sunday, July 21, is Lake Superior Day and we have a listing of activities on our website. We especially hope that people will come down to the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center by the foot of the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge today and Saturday (10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.) to chat with Editor Konnie LeMay and the good folks from Minnesota Sea Grant, Jay Cooke State Park, the St. Louis River Alliance, Minnesota DNR’s Lake Superior Coastal Program, the Duluth Experience, the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association and Save Lake Superior Alliance. On Sunday, check out the party atmosphere at Barker's Island in Superior (in photo above) starting in the morning with a friendly paddleboard race and into the afternoon with vendors, activities and live music. Then at 4 p.m. head to Duluth and the Large Lakes Observatory's Old Main building (in photo here) at 2205 E. 5th St. to celebrate the LLO's 25th anniversary for a barbecue with the researchers, tours of their labs and projects plus documentary films linked to their studies.
Another "Big" weekender: It's the Big Boy 4014's Midwest summer tour and the Union Pacific steam locomotive is rocking its way to Duluth this weekend to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the U.S. transcontinental railroad. The locomotive will come to a stop at The Depot thanks to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, which is hosting a Festival of Steam starting with the arrival of the Big Boy at 5 p.m. today and running through Sunday. You can't ride behind the Big Boy, but the North Shore Scenic Railroad will have tours with its own steam engine. On Saturday night there will be a Lake Superior Railroad Museum gala fundraiser at 6 p.m. On exhibit along with the Big Boy will be the Experience the Union Pacific Rail Car, a multimedia walk-through exhibition that provides a glimpse at the past while telling the story of modern-day railroading. Big Boy is one of 25 of the massive steam-powered locomotives, each 132 feet long and weighing in at 1.2 million pounds (truly big boys) and reaching 41 mph with its 6,290 HP steam engine. CBS Sunday Morning did a story on the Transcontinental Railroad and the Big Boy. Mainly used on western railways between Utah and Wyoming, they had a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement – four "pilot" wheels which guided the engine, eight drivers, another set of eight drivers and four wheels supporting the rear of the locomotive. Seven Big Boys are on display in St. Louis, Missouri; Dallas, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Denver, Colorado; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Cheyenne, Wyoming. No. 4014, delivered to Union Pacific in 1941 and retired in 1961, traveled 1,031,205 miles in its 20 years in service. A video talks about its restoration.
Michipicoten to the Rescue: A Canadian freighter made a detour last week to save a man trying to drive his personal watercraft from Grand Portage, Minnesota, to Isle Royale, reports Garrett Neese for the Mining Gazette. A man from Alexandria, Virginia, had only a "fume" of gas remaining in his Kawasaki Jet Ski when he called a friend in Florida on July 8 to say he'd hit a fog bank and was lost. That friend called the Cook County Sheriff's office, which set into motion an attempt to locate the Jet Skier, who finally was able to text an image of his compass, which was relayed to a U.S. Coast Guard dispatch and his location determined about 25 miles southwest of Isle Royale, halfway between the island and Ontonagon, writes Garrett. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter joined the search and located him while alerting all vessels in the area. The Michipicoten (which we must note has the name of another Lake Superior island) managed to pick him up before the Coast Guard rescue vessels arrived. "The crew did a fantastic job in preparing the deck to retrieve him, of course, not knowing the condition of the Jet Skier if found," Michipicoten's Captain Jonathan Barnes said in a press release from Rand Logistics Inc., owner of the freighter. "The weather was fair, but moderately chilly. And, after some time, the Jet Skier was found in good health! Immediately USCG was informed, and it was discussed that the best course of action was to take him on the vessel to Sault Ste. Marie. At that time, we decided to retrieve his Jet Ski as well. This would prevent a future safety marine broadcast of an unmanned vessel if found. Once again, the crew did an amazing job retrieving the craft.” The Jet Skier was brought safely all the way to the other side of Lake Superior. Turns out it was a good thing he never made it to Isle Royale anyway: personal watercraft are not allowed in the national park there.
Space Cadets: As we approach July 24, the 50th anniversary of humans' first landing on the moon, there's lots of buzz about Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and many other astronauts. Lake Superior grew its own native daughters and sons with views to space, which we spoke about in part of our State of the Lake special report on aviation (scroll toward the bottom or search "astronaut"). Dr. Roberta Bondar of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, was the first Canadian woman astronaut, riding on the Discovery space shuttle in 1992. The stars over our Big Lake attracted Roberta's attention since she was a child. “To be able to go out to the shores of Lake Superior and look up, and to see all these stars, it’s the wonder of the child who looks up and says, ‘What is that?’ and ‘Why is that?’ I must say, I can’t remember a time when I did not want to go into space.” On the U.S. side near small Winter, Wisconsin, Jeffrey Williams (center in photo) grew up with the work ethic generated on his family's farm and a fascination with rockets. “I made my own gunpowder and made rockets,” the retired Army colonel and astronaut recalls, then admits with amusement to a few “failures on the launch pad.” He's made it to space three times on shuttles – on Atlantis in 2000 and on Russian Soyuz vessels in 2006 and 2010.
At the University of Wisconsin-Superior tomorrow (Saturday), they'll be grooming new little astronauts from the Lake Superior region with a free event to celebrate the Apollo 11 moon landing. From 1-3 p.m. in theYellowjacket Union Great Room on the UWS campus, children and their accompanying grown-ups can tour the UWS Observatory, see rocket and drone demonstrations, enter a coloring contest (with a $50 prize), tackle space-themed arts and crafts activities and take a "walk on the moon" in the bouncy "moonscape" house.
Kitty Krisis Averted: Station 7 of the Duluth Fire Department responded to an unusual rescue Wednesday. 7 Engine arrived on the scene, where three young girls walking with their dad heard kitten cries from a storm drain near Miller Hill Mall. "We removed the top grate and sent firefighter Jeremy Helm down inside the drain, but the kitten wouldn’t come to him," the department reports. "Next, we used our thermal-imaging camera to see the kitten inside a small pipe, but it still wouldn’t come out. Firefighter Andy Beck then took an SCBA bottle [firefighter breathing air tank] and went down the line to the next grate. By opening the air tank, our intent was to use the loud air escaping from the bottle to scare the kitten back towards the drain opening. The plan worked! The noise made the little guy run right into Firefighter Helm's arms! A neighbor arrived, brought over a small cage and told us she would take it to the vet for shots and a checkup. She would then try to adopt it out."
More than a Great Cup of Joe: Duluth Coffee Company at 105 E. Superior St. is more than just a place to get a great cup of Joe. The shop offers locally roasted coffee to buy by the cup or the bag and international coffee products. With an ever-changing menu of beverage choices, customers are guaranteed some exciting new coffee flavor on their visit. Just two doors down from the coffee spot at its roasting site, Duluth Coffee offers a cocktail bar focused on locally distilled spirits and brewed craft beers. Nik Wilson visits with owner Eric Faust for this week’s installment on businesses within the Superior Street construction zone.
Photo & graphic credits: Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve; Large Lakes Observatory; Marc Dease/courtesy Rand Logistics Inc.; NASA; Duluth Fire Department; Nik Wilson