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Duluth Cargo Connect
Operations at the CN Duluth Intermodal Terminal feature cranes and lifts capable of handling the international containers (40- and 20-foot ones) as well as the domestic 53-foot containers.
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Dennis O'Hara
Going intermodal: Duluth Cargo Connect hosted a celebration of Duluth’s 6-month-old intermodal terminal this Wednesday and drew an official ribbon cutting, local and international transportation business leaders, politicians and some enthusiastic praise from those who helped to make it happen. “It brings traffic opportunities to the region that literally have been passing us by!” Vanta Coda, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, told Lake Superior Magazine. Read more about this new international transportation link in our full story online.
Calling in the National Guard: The 1437th Engineer Company of the Michigan National Guard helped to make shorter work of a long project on Voyageur Island in the St. Marys River, reports the Soo Evening News. "Denny Dougherty of the Voyageur Island Trail Committee called the cleanup effort 99.9 percent complete. … 'The island looks great,' said Dougherty, 'and it’s safer.' The volunteer committee and others are working to clean up debris and to make the island more useable and accessible. It has a boardwalk, toilets and dockage.
Texas holding bids on KML: A Texas-based holding company interested in acquiring business opportunities in the Upper Peninsula has sent a letter of intent to show its interest in purchasing the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge from Keweenaw County. The county board accepted the letter and spoke to a partner in Anthony Lane Partners at its meeting this week, reported the Mining Gazette. The county has been searching for a private buyer for the struggling lodge, which has mostly been under county ownership since it and the adjoining golf course were built in 1933 as part of a work project during the Depression.
A healthy harvest: Timber sales have increased for the fifth year in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin, bringing in money to help maintain a healthy forest,WPR radio quotes Forest Supervisor Paul Strong. Among the partners helping with the sales is The Nature Conservancy, which signed an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to conduct timber sales and use the money for conservation.
Unsettling unmooring: Vandals apparently intentionally unmoored and set adrift two Vista Fleet tour boats in the Duluth-Superior Harbor in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Both were recovered unharmed, but there were tense moments as a freighter came in while the boats were being recovered. The U.S. Coast Guard vessel hurried to maneuver between one adrift tour boat and an incoming freighter, as shown in this harbor cam video. The untying of the tour boats is under investigation, with nearby security cameras being reviewed, reports Brady Slater for the Duluth News Tribune. Police arrested a 47-year-old suspect from Excelsior, Minnesota, on Friday, according to the Star Tribune.
Fishy activity: This week the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced the totals from its spring and summer fish stocking program. Included are 18.9 million walleye spring fingerlings and fry, raised in ponds by the DNR and tribal partners with extensive support by local sporting organizations. These fish were stocked at 140 inland lakes and rivers and 20 Great Lakes sites. Among the hatcheries: Marquette State Fish Hatchery near Marquette stocked 629,361 yearling lake trout, brook trout and splake (lake trout and brook trout hybrid). The hatchery stocked a total of 113 inland and Great Lakes sites. And the cooperative teaching hatchery at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie stocked 28,482 Atlantic salmon into the St. Marys River. The public is welcome at any of Michigan’s state fish hatcheries.
After the mines have closed : CBC Thunder Bay interviews one of the people in charge of reclaiming and making safe lands once occupied by three major gold mines near White River. A fourth mine - Williams Mine - continues operation.
The Minnesota film connection: Debut director Remy Auberjonois, who has worked with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and lead actress Kate Nowlin, who grew up in the Twin Cities, visit Zinema 2 tonight at 7 p.m. for Duluth's first showing of "Blood Stripe," shot in northern Minnesota (on Lake Vermilion) and focused on a young soldier returning home with PTSD. Kate and Remy, who co-produced and wrote the film, answer a few questions from Lake Superior Magazine editor Konnie LeMay - including what question they wished they would be asked about being "Minnesotan" - posted online.
Photo credits: Dennis O'Hara; Duluth Cargo Connect; Bob Berg/Lake Superior Magazine; Michigan DNR; Blood Stripe