On the Levels: Lake Superior set a new high-water monthly mean record in May, logging 602.92 feet or 1 inch above the previous record, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced this week. The Corps is forecasting that high-water mean records will also be broken for the next four months. "It's high everywhere, on all of the (Great) Lakes," says Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of Watershed Hydrology for the Corps' Detroit District. The National Weather Service in Marquette tweeted: "During the month of May, the water level of Lake Superior rose 5 inches, and the water level of Lakes Michigan-Huron rose 9 inches. The water levels on these Great Lakes are around 1 foot higher than one year ago." Overall, according to NWS in Marquette, the Lake was 18 inches above its long-term May average. Residents are on alert for erosion issues this summer and are advised to take care with storms that may kick up larger than usual waves. As we see from this photo by Christian Dalbec on his Lake Superior Waves page, when the Lake waves, it can also be lovely.
Boat Watch: Fans of the William A. Irvin must wait until 2020 before visiting the Great Lakes freighter turned museum. And when it returns, the public probably won’t notice much of the $504,000 worth of critical work being done at Fraser Shipyards. “The plan at this time is for Fraser Shipyards to examine the vessel once it is moved into dry dock to begin repairs,” DECC Executive Director Chelly Townsend announced in a press conference Thursday. “The work will be focusing on blasting and coating the area below the waterline of the vessel.” The nearly 611-foot vessel has not been pulled out of the water for below-water-level painting in 30 years, she said, and it is important for protection of the hull, BusinessNorth reported. The Irvin was shut down last year and moved to Fraser Shipyards in Superior in September to facilitate work on its berth, the Minnesota Slip, which is undergoing repairs to the seawall and capping of contaminated sediment. (The move is seen in this photo and in a video by Dennis O'Hara.) On Monday, the Duluth City Council will be asked to approve an additional $700,000 to complete work on the Minnesota Slip project, which now is expected to total about $7.2 million, according to Jim Filby Williams, head of the city's Public Administration Department. Chelly says the DECC, which operates the Irvin, has been pleasantly surprised by the number of public inquiries about its well being. The former flagship for U.S. Steel’s Great Lakes Fleet has been a mainstay waterfront attraction in Duluth after its decommissioning in 1978 and may return to its berth by this fall, but won't be ready for visitation until 2020. “We really appreciate the public interest about the Irvin," Chelly says. "We never thought it would open us up to so many questions; it shows us that people miss the Irvin.”
Hope It's Got Its Passport: A moose swam from the Canadian Lock to U.S. shore this week between the two Sault Ste. Maries (Ontario & Michigan), just in time for Libby LaJoie of Soo Locks Boat Tours to snap a couple of photos. "I've never seen a moose, but I've only lived here 25 years," Libby says. The border-hopping moose had a little trouble finding a good path out of the water, but the inclined area near the tour operation allowed it to exit the water, trot up the street and cross the Portage Avenue Bridge, where, Libby says, she lost sight of it. We wish it well in its new home. "Thank you, moose, for giving us an extra treat seeing you on our boat tour," posted Dianne Sander and Davis Kelton. "Thank you tour group for getting the picture with our boat on the picture, too!!!!" (You can see the moose mug next to the boat here.) Other posts remembered another Sault moose at Washington Elementary School. "Quite a few years ago, a big moose ran across the Washington grade school playground right when my kids were pulling up on their bikes before school started," Adrianne and Dave Beckham note. "They were in the picture with the moose and shocked to see it run by." It can be shocking and, as Libby saw, thrilling.
Another Moose Sighting: A moose showed up in the Pocket Park on Washington Street in Marquette, thanks to the work of local artist Earl Senchuk, reports Brian Cabell of Word on the Street. Earl told Brian that he made the moose statue in 2006, “but it just sat, tucked away in my yard, for all these years. Nobody ever got to see it.” The new moose is not to be confused with that other moose on Washington Street – The Flying Moose where folks can gather for "organic food, gear and beer."
Remembering: A memorial was unveiled this week to honor the children who died at a residential school operating from 1870 to 1966 in Thunder Bay. The stone memorial sits on the grounds of Pope John Paul II Senior Elementary School, the site of the former residential school. The memorial plaque reads: "This memorial is placed here to Honour all the children that attended St. Joseph's Indian Residential School. As a Nation, we must not forget the children who attended the school but never made it home. Let us honour the stories of the Survivors who are still with us and listen to their stories to be sure this does not happen again." At the unveiling, from left in this photo posted on the city of Thunder Bay Facebook page, are Philip Pelletier, Fort William First Nation; Ann Magiskan, Aboriginal liaison, city of Thunder Bay; Pino Tassone, director of education, Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board; Deacon Armand Danis; Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro; and Delores Wawia, a former student of St. Joseph's School who was a professor at Lakehead University. In a TBNewswatch story, Michael Charlebois writes of the 20-minute speech given by Delores Wawia, saying that she moved those in attendance to tears with her stories about the abuses at the school and also with laughter about her exploits there. “It’s a little heavy sometimes, the topic. For a lot of us it can swing both ways; it depends how you look at it,” she is quoted. “All my life… I’ve learned laughter is good.” The story noted that six children died at the school and 16 are unaccounted for, according to Seven Fallen Feathers, a book by Tanya Talaga detailing the recent deaths of Native youths who came to Thunder Bay for school from remote northern communities.
Electric Is the New Blue: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, announced its new blue electrical outlets on the boardwalk and other city-owned venues that can be used by those with mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs to power back up while enjoying the viewscapes, reports David Helwig for SooToday. Blue-and-white signs announce the plug-ins, 10 of which are indoors at city sites. Others will be installed at the boardwalk and places like the Roberta Bondar tent pavilion.
Harbor in Waiting: The Saxon Harbor Marina & Campground in Wisconsin was destroyed by flooding caused by a torrential rainstorm on July 11, 2016. And although the facilities are still not fully operational three years later, hopes are that some of the operations, including the marina, will be available by late summer. "All boat landings and the entire facility, including access to the east side and breakwall, will remain closed until mid-July, or early August," according to the Iron County website. The campground will remain closed until 2020. When the flood raged in 2016, one person was killed and an estimated 85 boats were destroyed in the area, according to a story by John Lundy of the Duluth News Tribune. This photo shows work being done in mid-May.
Uff Da Oops: The standard procedure here is to use "XX" if there is a number you need to find before something gets posted or goes to press. When you ignore that, as this newsletter editor did last week, you can make a spectacular oops. In this case, the story about the new Marine 19 rescue boat obtained by the Duluth Fire Department, the mistake was the boat size, listed as 180 feet. Why 180? Because I was working on a story about the Sundew, which is 180 feet. I unintentionally used that size as a place keeper, intending to have our hardworking intern, who wrote about the boat unveiling, look up the new rescue boat's size. Obviously that second part did not happen. Not long after the newsletter went out, we got some gentle nudges, one pointing out that there was no way a 180-foot boat got easily "trailered," as the story said. You can see from the photos here – Marine 19 on the left and the Sundew on the right, both in the Pier B slip – that it would indeed be hard to trailer that decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard cutter. We caught up with a Duluth Fire Department crew hoisting the Marine 19 from the water, as is done every night to avoid the wear and tear of it getting knocked against the wall by the waves and fluctuating seiches. So here's the stats on Marine 19 – it is a 32-foot boat with twin Mercury V-8 four-stroke, 300 hp outboard engines controlled by a joy stick and operating independently so the boat can actually be directed sideways, one of its cool-factor features, according to the firefighting crew. As to the stats about the Sundew, you'll have to catch the August/September issue of Lake Superior Magazine.
Photo & graphic credits: Christian Dalbec; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Dennis O'Hara; Libby LaJoie; City of Thunder Bay; Saxon Harbor Marina; Konnie LeMay