1 of 3
Tom Mackay
The Barrel
How, Captain Tom Mackay wondered, did a concrete-filled barrel end up on a Duluth beach?
2 of 3
Tom Mackay
The Barrel
3 of 3
Courtesy Tom Mackay
Captain's Cove
The barrel was found at the end of Duluth's Park Point.
Captain Tom Mackay spotted something rather unusual on the beach last weekend in Duluth:
Yesterday I took a lot of my family by boat down to the area between the Park Point Superior Entry Breakwall and Pier, known as Captain's Cove. Right near our picnic spot I spied this former barrel. I don't quite understand how this could have washed up on the beach, but there it sits? Any ideas? All I can come up with is Jimmy Hoffa?
We here at the magazine were as curious as Tom. Could we be watching a real-life episode of "CSI" or "The Twilight Zone" unfold?
There's nothing grisly about the answer, it turns out. Says Jim Sharrow, facilities manager for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority:
I saw the barrel earlier this summer, when it was still imbedded upright in the dune but partially exposed by wave action. It’s an old Corps of Engineers survey marker. Look carefully at the end in the attached photo. You can see the brass survey marker. The barrel must have been placed in the sand decades ago, filled with concrete and the survey marker placed on the top. The high water has been eating away at the dune behind the beach this summer. I imagine this marker was no longer in use for any surveys, as I think there is a marker on the pier.