Across the UP

June 25, 2019 Tuesday Day 37

We woke early and hastened to breakfast in the hotel. A long day ahead. Breakfast was pretty mediocre, but it filled us up. The weather was great, sunny not too warm and not humid. Set off with 50 miles of electricity.

If one looks at a map the question occurs, why is the Upper Peninsula part of Michigan? It does not share a land border with the main body of Michigan and until 1957 it was not even connected by a bridge. In contrast it shares a large land border with Wisconsin. This geographic quirk resulted from what was then a highly unpopular compromise in Michigan that won Michigan its statehood. The crucial issue at stake at the time was ownership of a strip of territory along the Ohio-Michigan border that included the city of Toledo. The bitterly fought Toledo War, a war fought in Congress with words and not with bullets in Toledo, resulted in Michigan ceding the disputed land to Ohio as the price for statehood. As a consolation prize Michigan grudgingly accepted the Upper Peninsula, then considered a land of waste and ice. Michigan got the last laugh since the UP has provided untold riches in natural resources and now recreational opportunities and Toledo has provided, the Mud Hens? Wisconsin had no voice in the decision since it was not even a territory.

We drove around Ishpeming for a bit. Not much there in the old town. This is a Marquette iron range city and it has stagnated as the mining industry has declined. The name means heaven in Indian language and the city has sort of reinvented itself as a ski center. Three Norwegian immigrants formed a ski club in 1887 that has developed into a national ski association. Cross country and snow mobile trails are abundant and rentals are available. The population looked very white.

We then drove east less than a mile to the National Ski Museum. $5 entrance fee. Interesting, but not a spectacular place. A very heavy emphasis on ski jumping and cross country skiing, particularly by locals, many of whom were immigrants from Scandinavia, with little discussion of downhill or freestyle skiing or the ski areas on the east coast or in the Rockies. There was a large display of how equipment has evolved over the years and plaques on walls that honored the Hall of Fame inductees. Many were immigrants who developed the cross country ski industry, others were members of the 10th mountain brigade who after WWII developed many of the modern downhill ski resorts and finally there were exhibits of the US winter Olympic ski teams.

Outside ski Museum

Inside Ski Museum

After 2 hours in the ski museum we continued driving east for about 6 miles to Negaunee. This town lies on the eastern shore of Lake Teal and was established in 1844 as the first mining town on the Marquette Range (there are three iron ore ranges in the UP) and was quickly populated by immigrants. It now has about 4200 people, about half of its population 100 years ago. As we drove around the town we learned that in the 1920s half of it was abandoned due to the risk of cave ins from the mines that snaked under most of the town. Mining within the city limits ended in 1940. Surprisingly, to me, the town used to have an extensive trolley system, evidence of which is still found in the rails in the streets, but it was abandoned in 1927. The town also houses the only full length natural luge track in the US. It is 1/2 mile long, has 29 curves and drops 289 ft. Rides are offered on it, but only in the winter when the town gets over 200 inches of snow. It also has the Suicide Hill Ski Jump on which ski jumpers train.

I recalled a story on This American Life (an NPR radio show) many years ago about a young girl from this town who became a pen pal with General Noriega and then visited him in Panama twice before he was overthrown in a US backed coup. Discussions with locals confirmed those events and recalled that the girl's visits, her name is Sarah York and she was 10 when these events occurred, generated a lot of controversy. Virtually all the few locals we spoke with were fervent Trump supporters cited his job creation, I did not see any evidence of that in town, and his opposition to immigrants, none of whom I saw in town.

Our primary reason for coming to this town was the Michigan Iron Industry Museum. We found it a few miles out of town well hidden in a forested ravine. It is a terrific exhibit on the site of the first iron mine and forge in the Lake Superior region which was developed by the Jackson Mining Co. It told the story of iron mining in the area and the lives of the people who started the business, worked in the mines and the business titans who followed them, many based in Cleveland who came to dominate the businesses of mining the ore, shipping it, smelting it and ultimately turning it into iron and then steel

The Jackson Mining Company was founded in 1844 by three businessmen in Jackson MI.  Their plan was to locate and mine copper ore in the Upper Peninsula. The company sent a prospecting party lead by Philio Everett to the UP to find copper. Instead, aided by a French Canadian fur trader and a local Indain Chief he found rich iron ore deposits on the banks of the Carp River. So the company switched goal from copper to iron. By 1847 they were hauling iron ore out of the mine and the next year they established the forge. The first iron from the forge was used to build a lake steamer. A lot of ore was mined and a lot of iron forged, but except for the period during the Civil War the operations either made little money or lost a lot. The facility went through many management and ownership changes until in 1905 it was sold to the Cleveland Cliffs Mining Company which was in the process of vertically ologopolizing the steel industry from mining to smelting. The mine was closed in 1924, but in 1971 it was put on the National Register of Historic Places.

The mining companies ultimately shut down virtually all the mines in the Upper Peninsula. The museum also had several very pretty trails through the woods from which we could see the overgrown ruins of the Jackson Mine.

After several hours in the museum and on its trails we then returned to route 41 and continued east until we got to Marquette. This city, at the mouth of the Carp River, on the shores of Lake Superior and surrounded on the south by the Laurentian Uplands is the commercial center of the UP, although its population is less than 22,000, down about 3% from its height in 1980. The town was founded in 1849 as New Worcester by three men who started the second UP iron mining concern, Marquette Iron Company. The town's name was changed a year later to Marquette to honor the French Jesuit missionary who explored the region in 1668. The company went bankrupt several years later and like many of the mines in the area, it was purchased by the Cleveland Iron Mining Company which eventually became the behemoth of the upper Midwest mining and shipping business. With the opening of the Soo Locks in 1855 and the construction of the Lake Superior and Ishepming Railroad Marquette became a major port. The railroad brought iron ore from many of the mines on the UP and it was shipped out of Marquette. Huge iron ore docks were constructed on to which trains drove on to the top, dropped the ore by gravity into the dock and the lake freighters would receive the ore when then were positioned under the dock.

Defunct ore dock in Marquette's Lower Harbor

Marquette Business District

The town seemed to be pretty prosperous. Walking around the town and speaking to some locals they attributed the prosperity to the presence of Northern Michigan University which has over 10,000 students, the large medical industry, several local breweries, a local prison and the port. We parked by the waterfront  and walked around the lower harbor area, had dinner at the Iron Bay restaurant and then walked uptown where we had some ice cream in a wonderful soda fountain and candy shop, Donckers.

A local real estate office advertised that several years ago CBS Money Watch selected Marquette as one of the top 10 places to retire. I am not sure why. Real estate prices did not appear to be low, and although the city has a four season climate, moderated by Lake Superior (less cold in the winter and cooler in the summer), winters are long and cold. On average there are 12 days when the temperature is below zero, most days in winter the temperature remains below freezing and it receives almost 150 inches of snow, most of which sticks around until spring.  It is cool in the summer with the average temperate being 66. Maybe they were anticipating climate change.

Leaving Marquette continuing our drive to the east we took route 28. Even though we left after 7:00 pm it was till light as we drove along the southern shore of Lake Superior and stopped at a beach.

Lake Superior Beach

 After passing through some rain showers we arrived at US Sault Ste Marie about 9:30 pm and began the almost 2 mile passage over the Soo Locks and the St Marys River on the International Bridge. I unintentionally selected a place in Canada when making the reservation. Lower price, but we had to cross the bridge 3 times. The bridge had a $4 toll and was a two lane roadway with a 30 mph speed limit. At Canadian immigration they wanted to know if we had any guns, alcohol or cigarettes.  After we said we were from Utah they wanted to know if we had any concealed weapons.

We were able to find our Airbnb on the Canadian side without trouble. It is a single family house in a working class residential neighborhood. A lot of space, with a kitchen, dining room and living room shared with the host, but we never saw him. Just as we arrived a deluge broke out and the extension cord that the host provided was insufficient to provide a charge to the car.

The UP, Upper Penisula

June 24, 2019 Monday Day 36

I woke up early in an effort to work on the computer, including this Blog, but at best had intermittent internet service. We had a breakfast of smoked whitefish, and leftovers including finishing off the ice cream.

Living room and kitchen in AirBnB

We left the cottage at about 10:30 with 48 electric miles on the car. It was gray, overcast and intermittently raining. We drove east along route 2 into Ashland. This is a port city on Lake Superior at the head of Chequamegon Bay. At times the area has been part of the Indiana, Illinois and Michigan territories before being included in Wisconsin. The first Europeans, French fur traders arrived in 1659, but the first permeant settlers were Whittlesay and Kilborn families in 1854.

We drove and walked around the downtown for a short time. This is the county seat, even though it is in the extreme northwest corner of the county. Some of the city extends into Bayfield county, but that land is unpopulated. A very large courthouse and a large City Hall, both constructed with large brownstone blocks quarried from the Apostle Islands, dominate an otherwise nondescript commercial block. The Historic District looks more old than historic. There were some prosperous looking hotels along the lake front, but otherwise the city appears to have seen better times. The city was a prosperous port in the early 20th century shipping out primarily copper ore and timber and had a population of over 11,000. The Soo Line had a large depot and there was a very large ore dock, mainly for copper, but also some iron ore. The latter ceased operations in 1965 and was demolished in 2009 and the former is now office space. There is no longer train service into the town and the population is down to about 8,200. An interesting piece of history is that during WWI there were 6 tar and featherings of people in the city for alleged pro-German sympathies .Despite an inquiry directed by the governor, no one was convicted for these actions.

As we proceeded south toward Mellen on route 13, the residential areas in Ashland looked well maintained and there were many medium sized houses. As we drove out of the city we passed Northland College. It had a nice looking campus and with 600 students I imagine is a big economic engine for the city 

On our drive south to Copper Falls State Park we passed through several small, and very small villages which was a common theme during the day. They all seemed to be shrunken, dying towns. Probably were creations of the many mines that formerly dotted the western UP and northern Wisconsin, but all but two of the mines are now closed. Indeed in one town we saw signs on the homes that identified them as Miners' cottage # etc. They appeared in stark contrast to the small villages that we recently saw in France, most of which while small, seemed vibrant. However they all seemed to have public libraries, usually large stone buildings which I suspect dated back to the Carnige era.

Copper Falls Park is on the site of two Civil War era copper mines. Following extensive logging in the 19th century and failed farming in the early 20th century, it was made into a park in 1929 and developed by workers from the CCC and WPA. It is an incredibly green, scenic park of 3400 acres with lave flow residues, gorges, waterfalls and 14 miles of trails that also serve as cross country ski trails in the winter. It had a playground and a concessions stand. We had to pay to get in as they would not accept the Senior National Park Pass as did the prior Wisconsin state parks we visited. We hiked the Doughboy Nature Trail which followed the Bad and Tyler Forks rivers past waterfalls and rapids. Very nice hike around the park viewing lots of water falls and rapids.

Before leaving the park we had a picnic lunch and conversed with some visitors from the local area.. After we left the Park we drove east toward Ishpeming MI into the Michgan Upper Peninsula. We were told that residents of the UP are called yuppors, and that residents of the lower peninsula in Michigan, and for that matter the rest of the US are called trolls because they live below the 5 mile [Mackinac] bridge. The drive on routes 28 and 41 was both scenic and depressing. Very green with rolling, forested countryside and signs for a few downhill ski areas, but we passed through lots of towns which clearly have seen better days, although virtually all of them have small, but impressive looking public libraries. Most built with the same rubiginous sandstone we saw elsewhere from the Apostle Islands. They were mining towns with company provided housing. Virtually all the mines have closed and except for tourism, recreation and local retail there seems to be very little economic activity. Conversations with a few of the locals revealed this to be Trump country.

We experienced several torrential downpours during the drive. It was raining pretty hard when we arrived in Ishpeming and we drove past our hotel several times. We stayed the night at the Magnuson Country Hotel and Inn in Ishpeming. We unloaded the car in the rain and luckily, we were able to get access to an outdoor electrical plug when  a truck pulled out. The hotel was pretty nice and populated by people who seemingly were there for hunting or fishing. Lots of male groups. I was too tired to take advantage of the pool or the hot tub. Dinner was leftovers out of the food cooler.

Bayfield, Cornucopia and Chequamegon

Sunday, June 23, Day 35

An overcast and gloomy day that later included intermittent rain. We ate breakfast in the cabin, fruit and yogert.

We got out about 9:30 with almost a full battery of electricity and drove into Bayfield. From the car we viewed well tended mansions on the side streets that ran up the hills from the harbor. Bayfield was once the main shipping port for the regionally produced lumber, sandstone and agricultural produce, mainly apples and berries, and I imagine that produced a lot of wealth. Now only the last one is produced and the main source of wealth here is tourism.

We stopped to go into the National Lakeshore Visitor Center which is housed in a former bank building built with local sandstone. As usual friendly and informative park rangers and lots of information about the area's geology, history, economy and agriculture. Madeline Island, the largest in the Apostle chain and the only one that is not in the Lakeshore was known to the Indians as Moningwunakauning, "The Home of the Breasted Woodpecker". It became France's principal fur trading post early in the 18th century and was first permanently settled in 1793 by Michel Cadotte. When he married Equasayway, the daughter of the local Chief and a member of the local aristocracy she was given the Christian name of "Madeleine". Her pleased father named the island after her.

We emerged from the Center into the rain and drove north. We passed the Indian casino at Red Cliff we saw from the boat, but did not stop. Basswood Island which we cruised by yesterday was visible on our right. We the followed route 13 west into a heavily forested area. Very green and very wet. 

After driving about 15 miles through the forest we turned off to Meyers Beach. A $5 parking fee. The main feature of this park is that it provides access, by land and water to the Bayfield Peninsula Sea Caves. There are kayak outfitters who will guide you there on water and there is a hiking trail that takes about an hour to get there. It also has a small beach. We were told that the caves are a must see, but unfortunately it was raining so we neither took the kayak tour, nor completed the hike. Notwithstanding the fact that we saw people emerging from the trail into the parking lot pretty drenched, we still went into the forest on the boardwalk trail. However the rainfall steadily increased and we turned around before the end of the boardwalk. 

Back in the parking lot we talked with a ranger who was sitting in a small shack near the beach and went out onto the beach where we watched some kayak launches. The sea caves have been created by wave action and icing and thawing. They become ice caves in the winter. I was told that the best view is from the water so all recommended the kayak tour if you are up for paddling.

We then drove a few miles down the road to Cornucopia, so named by two land speculators from Iowa in 1903 for its abundance of natural resources in 1903. They established a post office and set about logging. The first farmers in the area were "Russians" from the Austrian empire by way of Chicago. This claims to be the most northern town in Wisconsin. It is an unincorporated area within the town of Bell that has a population of 98, yet we saw three churches there. It lies on Lake Superior and has a large harbor with two marinas where the Siskiwit River flows into the Lake. It was raining intermittently, but we walked down to the Lake and the Harbor nevertheless and looked at the boats. Impressive, but not as stunning as in St. Tropez harbor.

We then walked over to the Historical Museum, a one story building staffed by a volunteer who was over 70 years old and had lived in the area all his life. The museum displayed photographs, historical artifacts and family histories from the area. The host offered up stories about the area, the most striking was about the Cornucopia Yacht Club. This was an imaginary yacht club that was founded solely for the purpose of affording its members access to yacht club marinas in other cities, which usually afforded reciprocity rights. The club had a $5 membership fee and although it did not require its members to own a boat, it asked on the application, one of which was in the museum,  what the member would name his boat if he owned one. The club also printed membership cards and made its own jackets. It listed its address as Pier 99, which was the address of the local post office. At one time it had over 700 members including former President Ford and his wife.  

We then walked over to a fish market. The clerk told us that the fish had been unloaded that day. She said that there used to be as many as 14 commercial fishing companies operating out of the harbor, but they were the only one left due to fishing rights granted to the Native American tribes in the area, along with recreational fishing. We sampled some herring and purchased smoked whitefish and lake fish trout for dinner.

After driving through Bell, we entered the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. This comprises over 1.5 million acres in four separate regions. There is boating, hunting and fishing and lots of trails, snowmobiling in the winter, in the forest. We briefly walked a bit on a portion of the Ice Age Trail in-between the rain drops.  The same trail we walked on in St. Croix Falls.

After driving through the Forest we emerged into Washburn. We shopped there for dinner and then returned to our BnB.

   

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

June 22,  2019 Saturday Day 34

We ate breakfast in the cabin brought by the host. $5 per person. It was pretty good and filling. The car was charged to 42 miles and we got out on the road about 10.

We drove into and around Washburn and finally parked in a residential neighborhood a block off the main street. This is a Norman Rockwell type village, clean, solid, middle America small town. The buildings are old, very rubiginous looking with lots of local stone, but well maintained. There is a multi-block business district, lots of hiking and a beautiful Lakeshore Parkway that is adjacent to white sand beaches and fronts on Chequmegon Bay, which branches off Lake Superior.
The water was very cold. No one was swimming.

We initially walked around the DuPont Historic District This had a concentration of homes built between 1880s and 1920s, many of which were built by DuPont for its workers. Initially we passed very large houses, presumably previously executive row. Then we entered a larger area where many of the homes were medium to large and most were well maintained and had pretty landscaping. We then walked to the main business district and toured the Bayfield County Courthouse, built 1896, the DuPont YMCA, built 1918, seemingly the newest building in the area, the Meehan Mercantile Company, built 1888 and now a book and coffee shop, the Bayfield County Bank and Racket Shop. We had an extended visit to the Washburn Historical Museum and Cultural Center. All of these buildings were built using brownstone quarried from the nearby Apostle Islands.

A docent, who had lived there a long time and was a retired schoolteacher walked us around the museum and gave us alecture on the area's history. The city's economy was initially primarily based on logging, sawmills which once lined the lakefront, and an active port, now all gone. In 1905 DuPont built a dynamite factory in nearby Barksdale which was the largest in the US and during WWI employed 6,000 people. It has been all downhill since then, the plant closed in 1971 and the economy now is based primarily on tourism and its position as the county seat. The population is down to about 2300, but she said that recently there had been a small influx of young families into the area seeking cheaper housing.

Historical Society

The Washburn Free Public Library was built in 1904, also a brownstone, was one of the many libraries we saw in this area that was built with funding from Andrew Carnegie, a philanthropist who as a self made man arising from poverty, also brutally crushed the union movement at his Homestead Iron Works and later sold out to J P Morgan.


We then drove up to Bayfield, which lies at the end of the peninsula. This is a very pretty, water side village with no chain stores and lots of stately homes. Formerly the county seat, a lumbering and commercial fishing town, it is now primarily a tourist and resort town with many restaurants, BnBs and hotels, but it also has lots of berry farms and apple orchards. We were too early for picking. The rich agriculture is made possible by Lake Superior which not only provides abundant fresh water, but also mitigates the harsh weather of northern Wisconsin's winters. Its population has dropped steadily from a high of about 2400 at the turn of the 20th century to less than 500 now, although the summer population is much higher. The town was named for Henry Wolsey Bayfield, a British Admiralty surveyor who arrived in the area in 1823. A major flood in 1942 killed off most of the commercial businesses in the town.

After walking around the town, visiting the Maritime Museum and getting some ice cream, we purchased tickets for a sightseeing tour of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The French Jesuits named the islands. The Lakeshore consists of 21 islands (There is a 22d island in the archipelago, Madeline Island. It is the biggest island, but the Park Service did not have enough money to purchase it so it is not in the lakeshore. There are about 250 permanent residents, but many more in the summer. There is ferry service in the summer, but in most winters the North Channel freezes and you can drive to the island. We were told that a developer attempted to drive a house over one winter and it fell through the ice. The island experienced a summer "cottage" building boom in the 1920s, but that ended with the Depression.) and 12 miles of shoreline on the mainland including the Meyer's Beach Sea Caves. From the heights in the town the islands stretch out into the lake like green jewels set out in a cobalt blue sea. It was President Nixon who signed the legislation establishing the lakshore, but it was pushed by Senator Nelson.

We choose the 3 hour wrecks, rocks and Lighthouse tour. Pricey at $45 per person, but it turned out to be a good tour. Like much of this area, its first European explorers were French, then came the British and finally the Americans. All set up trading posts for furs. Later the loggers came and even logged the islands. There is now second growth forest that covers much of the islands and is host to many animals including bears. The quarries on the islands provided the brownstone that was used in Chicago and many other mid-western cities.  

The weather was pleasant, but on the boat, particularly when it was moving between islands, it was pretty cool, air cooled by the cold water. Fortunately we had extra clothing. We cruised past and around most of the bigger islands, Stockton, Michigan, Manitou, Oak, Outer, Hermit and Basswood. There is camping, fishing and hunting on the islands, but no commercial activity. There is camping and hiking on most of them. A millionaire married a young woman and built her a mansion on Oak Island. She took one look at it and never returned. Hermit Island was occupied by a refugee from Madeline Island who allegedly engaged in criminal activity. We saw a lot of coves, sea caves, which become ice caves in winter cliffs and two lighthouses that guided the Lake freighters in these channels to keep them in waters protected from Lake Superior storms. The Lakeshore is home to the largest collection of historic lighthouses in the nation, but now they are just a reminder of a bygone era. We also passed the Legendary Waters Resort & Casino. Lots of Indians in this area. Nevertheless there were many wrecks and we got to observe a few of them that sank in shallow waters.

Ship Wreak

After the cruise we ate dinner at the Deck at Bayfield Inn just off the dock overlooking the harbor. I enjoyed a lake whitefish dinner. After dinner we walked around the town a bit and then drove back to our BnB.

To Wisconsen

June 21 2019 Day 33

We left the Depot Museum about 2:30. It was easy to get out of the city via I-535, then I-35 which took us over the long suspension bridge which spans the harbor out of Duluth, Minnesota and into Superior Wisconsin. Superior looks very little like Duluth. It appears to have no commercial downtown nor seemingly any concentration of high rise buildings. It has the natural harbor, but was long ago surpassed by Duluth's harbor which was enhanced by digging a canal (which is spanned by the Aerial Lift Bridge), much dredging and a more vigorous civic leadership. It also might have helped Duluth's harbor to become dominant because most of the traffic leaving the area originated in or passed through Minnesota.

As we were heading east the GPS Navigation on the phone and the car provided different directions to our next residence. I stopped and consulted the map and set my own directions.

We drove for about 70 minutes through a forested region and passed through a few very small towns until we were outside Ashland WI when we saw a large NPS Visitors Center for the Northern Great Lakes. I turned around to go in. It had a large welcoming staff. They showered us with information about the area and directed us to a third floor viewing area. We climbed up there and it offered a 360 degree view of that region. We spent about an hour at the center looking at the exhibits and talking with the staff.

We resumed our drive and quickly passed through Washburn before arriving at our Airbnb, the Garden Cottage at about 5. It is just off the banks of Cheququamegon Bay, which connects to Lake Superior. Our host was preparing to leave because she had not received our texts as apparently the communications through Airbnb were not getting through. We have a large cottage which has a functioning, but limited equipped, kitchen. It is very 1950s in furnishings and style.  After showing us around our host departed for a Chamber of Commerce meeting. She had graciously connected an extension cord to facilitate the car charging.

About 7 we departed for the Big Top Chautaugua for a concert. The sign for it was very small, so we missed the turnoff for the venue and drove all the way into Bayfield, a local vacation village. We turned around and got to the music venue under a big blue stripped canvuas tent at the base of Mt. Ashwabay Ski Hill. $54 entrance fee, but no charge for parking. No senior price, but after viewing the audience, we probably brought the average age down,  I could see why they do not offer a senior discount. We arrived a little late and missed most of the opening musical prayer by a local Indian. There are a lot of reservations in northern WI. 

This was the opening performance for the season. A State Senator introduced the performance. She emphasized inclusion in her talk and the fact that she had performed on the same stage 34 years ago when the performances started.  The Opening Act was a local house band, The Blue Canvas Orchestra, an 8 piece band whose members were largely old white males. A few of them had appeared 34 years ago too. They were pretty good. Bill Miller was the Special Guest performer. He is an American Indian who between songs told his extended tales of woe from his life. Alcoholic and abusive dad, divorce, estranged from his children, one dead child, but he was a wonderful musician and he claims to have performed with many musical giants, including Richie Havens and Arlo Guthrie. He performed for almost 2 hours until 11.

The big tent seats 900, although it was not filled that night, and they claimed that on summer nights they roll up the sides of the tent and the audience sits outside and spills up the ski slope where one, if lucky, can see the Northern Lights. It attracts some headline talent, this year Judy Collins, Lyle Lovett and Rosanna Cash will appear. 

The ski area is a non-profit largely run by volunteers. It has two lifts and appeared to have about 150 ft. in vertical elevation. The season runs from late November until early April.

One of the ski lifts

It was very dark as we returned back to the Airbnb and I missed the turn. Charged up the car.

Duluth

June 21, 2019 Friday Day 33

We got up fairly early and went to the hotel breakfast. The Point Marina Inn provided a very good breakfast. Hot items, lots of fruit and chocolate muffins, but a bit crowded.  It was peaceful looking out to the bay and  watching the early sailboats and the slow moving freighters. A very nice hotel that was not cheap, but was a good value, except that they was no ability to charge the electric car. After breakfast we took a walk around Canal park, but by 10:00 we drove into and around downtown.

Much of the downtown rests on a hill that slopes down to the lake. At the top, on Skyline Parkway is Enger Tower which at five stories high is the tallest structure in Duluth, not very impressive for a boy from NYC, but  it offered impressive, panoramic views of Duluth Harbor and St. Louis Bay. It was dedicated in 1939 by Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Martha of Norway, something I doubt any NYC skyscraper can claim.

The part of the downtown that we saw, while well maintained, seemed old and almost tired. The only modern building we saw was a very interesting large public library. In fairness we did not see all of the downtown and were not able to visit most of the town's attractions.

For our main event we went to the St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center, The Depot. We parked on the parking deck in a commercial lot next to the Depot. It afforded a great view of the legacy trains and train station. It had an electric charging station which if used , waived the parking fee. It was a Chargepoint station, but I could not get it to work. I called customer service and after several attempts they got it working. That company has great customer service, it has never let me down when I needed a charge.

This facility was built in 1892 as Duluth's Union Depot. It contains four museums, a living history exhibit, and Depot Square, a recreation of Duluth as it existed during the second decade of the 20th century, when the city was at its apogee. The volunteer staff at the museums was vey engaged and informative. The Art Institute had some attractive works,

the Veterans Hall had interesting histories of Duluth service men and women, and Immigration Waiting Room which recreated the facility as it existed in the first part of the 20th century and had a wonderful narrative of the waves of and diverse sources of immigration that populated Duluth and northern Minnesota. However to me the most interesting were the exhibits showcasing the natural resources of the area and how they were exploited to help build the US and to a lesser extent Europe. Timber that was "limitless" was logged out in two generations. There are no old growth forests in this region. Iron and copper ore, and to a lesser extent coal, were extracted from the ground in record quantities and that became the foundation of the growth of the US into an industrial power when steel was king. Agriculture followed the clear cutting of the forests. And all of this product was shipped out of the ports on Lake Superior, primarily Duluth/Superior.  

The Railroad Museum was fun. Duluth formerly was a major rail hub and the museum displayed lots of vintage cars and locomotives. There is no longer rail passenger service from Duluth (although there is an effort to restore rail service to Minneapolis) and we  did not have time to take the trip on the North Shore Senic Railroad.

Duluth's early history was as a trading outpost, the most lucrative of which was fur trading on which John Jacob Astor built his fortune. He sold his business before changing fashions in Europe away from fur hats crashed that business. After the fur trade declined copper and then timber drove the economy. In the mid 19th century with the opening of the Sault Ste Marie canal and the completion of the rail line to the Pacific, Duluth became the only port with access to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. With the opening of the Mesabi Range in northern Minnesota shipments of iron ore to steel mills in Chicago and Cleveland made Duluth one of the fastest growing cities in the US. The panic of 1873 crashed the economy. However the timber and mining industries rebounded and around the turn of the century Duluth was the busiest port by tonnage in the US and had the most millionaires per capita. In the second half of the 20th century and long economic decline set in with the decline of high grade iron ore in the Mesabi range and then the decline of the US steel industry. Even with all its economic ups and downs, Duluth, combined with Superior remains the busiest port in the Great Lakes. It is also the largest US (Thunder Bay in Canada is larger) city on Lake Superior.

We left the museum about 2:30 with 38 electric miles over the bridge spanning the harbor on our way to Wisconsin. 

Wisconsen Cheese and To Duluth

June 20, 2019 Thursday Day 32

We got up early enough to observe the sunrise from our BnB and ate our fruit, nuts and yogurt breakfast.

Then packed up, unplugged the car (we got 42 electric miles) and headed off for the Franconia Sculpture Park. Immediately took a wrong turn, but quickly righted myself and retraced our steps through Taylor Falls and south, not far, toward Minneapolis. This is an amazing and cool place. 43 acres of outdoor sculptures, wildflowers and a small forest, plus the opportunity to watch and speak with sculptors in action. It is a non-profit that provides workshops for artists and has an artist in residence program. It was hot, but there is a self service refrigerator with cold water and frezzie pops that operates on the honor system. There were lots of sculptures to view as we meandered through the Park on graveled paths. A beautiful and engaging place.

Those are only a small sample of the sculptures. The only downside was that there were some mosquitos that really bothered my spouse, so while I ate lunch at the picnic table in the Park, she ate in the car.

After spending a few hours at the Sculpture Park we headed north through Taylor and Souix Falls one last time and headed north on state route 87. We  took a gasoline pit stop at Bass Lake near Cushing and then continued north on state route 48 and then east on route 70 through lots of flat agricultural land to the Burnett Dairy Co-op in Alpha. This appeared to be a large dairy operation, lots of large milk tanks, and a large retail store that sold all things dairy, plus wine and related items, e.g. bread. They had free, cold milk, regular and chocolate and lots of bread and cheese samples. One could make a meal out of it. We ate some ice cream and purchased some real Wisconsen wine and cheese.

Then we drove to Siren. There was a charging station there behind the police station. I just intended to walk around the town and stretch our legs while we got a little electric charge for the car, but we found a going out of business sale at Peggy's Fashion Rack and Gifts. Under Peggy the store had been open for 30 years, but she said that she was getting tired and wanted to retire. She had the store up for sale for 2 years, but had not attracted any buyers so she was just closing it down. It was sort of a little department store with a lot of cold weather items. We purchased some gloves, hats, scarves, pants and suspenders, walked back to the car and resumed our trip north on state route 35.

We passed more flat agricultural land that gave way to forests as we passed over the St. Croix River again and then into Douglas County, the most northwestern county in the state. Stopping at a state park we learned that the county was named for Stephen Douglas, the famed Little Giant whose debates with Abraham Lincoln primarily about the future of slavery in the US in 1858 in the Illinois Senate race. Douglas won the election, but the texts of the debates were publicized throughout the nation and helped to launch Lincoln to the presidency. I do not know why the county was named after Douglas, but I was told by a park user that in 1952 in the republican senate primary Douglas was one of only 2 counties that voted against Senator Joseph McCarthy. He also said that the last republican presidential candidate to win the county before Trump was Herbert Hoover.

The Ojibwa Indians, who themselves were transplants from the east, were present when a French voyager showed up sailing around the south shore of Lake Superior in 1618. He was followed by fur traders from French, English and lastly American fur trading companies who established trading posts. In the mid 19th century immigrants, primarily from Northern Europe flowed into the territory to farm, work in the mines and cut down trees, which they and their employers were incredibly efficient.

We coasted into and through Superior, the county seat. It seemed kind of worn out and tired. We traversed a large bridge spanning the Duluth Superior harbor into Duluth MN. Then we drove along the shoreline and skirted Duluth's downtown, over the Aerial Lift Bridge and onto Minnesota Point, which along with Wisconsen Point make up the largest freshwater sand bar in the world. That is the location of our hotel, the Park Point Marine Inn  which lies right on the bay. A nice, relatively new place and a spacious room with a view of the marina.

We walked back up Minnesota Point to Canal Park near the aerial bridge. From here you got a view of some of the 49 miles of the harbor shoreline and the scores of elevators and docks that surrounded the harbor. Millions of tons of grain, ore, coal and lumber annually pass through one of the world's largest inland seaports. It was sunny, but cool and there were wind driven white caps on the lake that ran up to a narrow beach. The piers that lined the shipping canal into the Duluth harbor each had a lighthouse on the lake end.

The aerial lift Bridge was built in 1905 and continues to lift to permit passage of over 1000 boats, ranging in size from sailboats to 1000 ft freighters into the harbor. We watched it lift a few times. We walked over the bridge and encountered many runners. Turns out this is the weekend of Grandma's Marathon, along with several shorter races, one of the largest marathons in the Midwest. We stopped to speak with several groups of runners who were either out jogging or picking up their race packets. One was a group of young public school teachers from the area. They were from the Duluth area and although they had gone away to college, they had returned. They characterized Duluth as the air conditioned city since it was never hot. The always cool to cold waters of Lake Superior cooled the lake in the summer and surprisingly moderated the cold in the winter. They claimed that it usually did not go below zero in the city in the winter due to the lake effect, but areas just outside the city frequently experienced below zero temperatures. They were intrigued by our trip and California and  we talked about running training regimes. They were entered in the half and full marathons.

Wishing them good luck we walked into the commercial and entertainment district. We stopped by a whiskey distillery and sampled some product. The museums were closed and after inspecting several potential eateries, we settled for Grandmas Salon and Grill, the sponsor of the races. It was a large place that is decorated with an eclectic assortment of signs and objects. I had a very good Walleye fish dinner. After dinner we walked back  over the Aerial Lift Bridge and back to the hotel.

St. Croix Falls

June 19, 2019 Wednesday Day 31

We ate our breakfast of fruit and yogurt in the apartment and then headed off for the Ice Age Trail with 35 miles of electricity. As we drove through Taylors Falls we noticed a very small public library in a wood frame building. Almost every small town has a public library. We were unable to visit the historic Folsom House since it was closed during our visit. We also passed the oldest public school building in Minnesota, built in 1852.

We crossed the St. Croix River on the two lane, very high bridge and almost immediately took a left turn into historic St. Croix. For a small town, population 2133, which is more than twice that of Taylors Falls, St Croix Falls has a pretty long and prosperous looking main street. It is at the center of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and is the western  terminus for the 50 mile Gandy Dancer state trail and the state spanning Ice Age Trail .

The Riverway, I did not know that we had National Scenic riverways, stretches from the highlands of northern Wisconsin and central Minnesota to the river's junction with the Mississippi River, a 235 mile river reserve. It was one of the original rivers designated as a wild river in 1968. It was long used by the Ojibwe tribe as a water link between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes and during the 17th and 18th centuries used by the French voyageurs who explored the region and traded for beaver furs. In the 19th century the river served as a passageway for logs from the logging camps in the North Woods to the mills downstream.

Traveling to the River Visitor Center we passed through an area of well maintained, large homes with lots of mature leafy trees on the outside of town. The Visitor Center overlooked the river and offered a movie about the river. All the Rangers were in a staff meeting so we helped ourselves to some materials and drove further north to the beginning of the Ice Age Trail. The last Ice Age glaciers about 10.000 years ago had their southern edges across Wisconsin. The advancing ice was split into six major lobes by the topography. Beginning in 1958 efforts began to establish a park/trail that preserved the remains of Wisconsin's glacial history.  By 1980 the state and federal governments established a National scenic Trail that meandered 1200 miles across Wisconsin stretching from
Green Bay to St. Croix Falls which roughly outlined the southern most progress of the last glaciers.

We enjoyed a very pleasant, shaded 1.2 mile walk on a trail that was either soft or planked. We encountered very few people among the trail's greenery and river overlooks. When the trail crossed the road to begin its eastward journey we turned around and drove back into town. We stopped off at the modern library, seemingly the only structure in town built in this century. It was well stocked and had a lot of people in it.

Driving east out of downtown we ate lunch at Wayne's Cafe in the new, strip mall part of town on highway 8. We missed the all you can eat fish fry on Friday and could not take advantage of the Wednesday post 5:00 $3 burgers. We ate big plates of various comfort foods. The milkshake was very good. It almost seemed as if this was a community center with lots of people conversing and discussing business.

We then went to the Wisconsin part of the Interstate Sate Park on the east side of the river. Walked and hiked around on the rocks and bluffs above the river and the Dallas and took a hike around a lake which had a small beach.

The Interstate Park had its origins in a 1860s proposal by a businessman to mine the basalt that comprised the Dalles to make gravel. That galvanized protectionists to lobby the Minnesota and Wisconsin legislatures to create a park. Minnesota acted first in 1895 and Wisconsin followed in 1900 creating its first state park. That marked the end of the logging era, but the park is now covered with second growth forest.

The Wisconsin Park visitor center had a 24 minute film that traced the Ice Age trail and explained the geographic formations created by the glaciers: striations resulting from boulders scraping bedrock, drumlins are elongated hills  resulting from materials deposited by the glaciers in the direction that the glacier was moving, moraines are deposited materials at the front edge of the glacier (Long Island where I grew up is a  terminal moraine), and kettles and eskers are geographic formations formed by streams flowing over or under the glaciers. They created a diverse landscape with many lakes (more than Minnesota) and rolling land. The park has rocks from three geological eras about 500 million years ago. The infrastructure in the Park was largely created by the CCC during the depression.

After our hikes we returned to the food market to pick up some lunch, dinner and electric charging. We drove back to the BnB with just enough electricity to avoid gasoline and cooked a chicken and veggie dinner. Watched a colorful sunset.