Paul Lundgren
Fifteen-year journey on the Superior Hiking Trail complete
The champagne bottle popped shortly after noon today. In what must rank among the laziest accomplishments in endurance sports history, I completed the final stretch of my quest to hike the entire Superior Hiking Trail … 15 years after I started.
The 296-mile journey was tackled in about 45 different hikes spread out between Sept. 24, 2000, and Oct. 11, 2015. The longest single hike was about 15 miles. The shortest was today’s hike, which was less than a mile. Perhaps some day I’ll gather stories from the journey into some sort of narrative, but for today I’ll just present a simple breakdown of the mileage per year. (more…)
John Vachon’s Duluth Milk Company Photos
MPR News did a series of stories on John Vachon earlier this year, which was noted at the time on PDD along with a Duluth Milk Company photo. Today we present the rest of the Duluth Milk Company photos and a link to the lot of 61 Duluth images Vachon shot in August of 1941, from the collection of 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. (more…)
Duluth Population: 1860 to 2010
Update: A more recent version of this chart with the 2020 figure is now available.
Below are the U.S. Census figures from the graphic, along with some additional population numbers put together by Tony Dierckins of Zenith City Online fame: (more…)
Visit Uptown Superior … or Downtown Superior or the North End
This past summer a new marketing effort was launched in Superior to attract people back to the downtown area, which struggled through a long Tower Avenue reconstruction project in 2013. The strip has seen a number of new businesses spring up on the fancy new avenue, but also still has numerous vacant buildings. It’s a work in progress. The joint effort of “collected businesses promoting each other” to “highlight the diamonds in the proverbial rough” is called Visit Uptown Superior.
Why is the downtown now the uptown? Isn’t “uptown” a word to describe a residential area? Well, this part of Superior is the North End, and people tend to think of north as up … and maybe these businesses intend to “Uptown funk you up.” Let’s not overthink it. Below is the back of a promotional postcard highlighting the collective businesses in said Uptown.
Postcards from Chester Park
“Chester Park is popular both in summer and winter,” according to old postcard propaganda. “In it is located one of America’s highest ski jumps and also Chester Creek, one of several flowing thru the city in which trout may be caught. Duluth is the only city in the United States where trout fishing is possible within city limits.”
Well, we know the famous ski jumps came down in 2014, but there seems to be another fact in there worth examining. Was Duluth at one time really the only city with trout fishing? Prove it or debunk it, dear reader.
In the meantime, here are more snappy postcards … (more…)
Glensheen: the Musical
Glensheen, a musical based on the book by Jeffrey Hatcher and music and lyrics by Chan Poling, opens at the History Theatre in St. Paul on Oct. 3 and runs through Oct. 25.
Good lord. (more…)
Video Archive: 1995 TV Mashup
In the fall of 1995 I tossed a tape in the VCR and somewhat indiscriminately recorded while I flipped channels over a few different nights. The above video is the result. Most of it is not locally relevant, but there are a few clips from Duluth Public Access Community Television, including two excerpts from Colleen Shannon’s In My Room.
Some of the transitions are edits I made in 2015 for the purpose of cutting this down to under a half hour, but many of them are just what naturally happened in 1995 when I paused the tape, changed channels and resumed recording.
Yes, I know how geeky this is. Yes, I’m proud of myself.
Where in Duluth? #132
Time for another installment of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation. Where in Duluth was this shot taken?
Fall Reading List: A Hillsider and a Buried Man
Two books lead the list of recommended local reads this fall: One is a new book by Duluth’s outgoing mayor, which will no doubt generate tons of attention before anyone fully reads it. The other is an impressive memoir published back in March by a humble Lakesider, which deserves to be held up next to Duluth’s highest ranking literary office. (more…)
Carrying Root From the Cab at Skunk Lake
This 1909 drawing by Jay Hambridge depicts a train that attempted to outrun the Great Hinckley Fire of 1894. Engineer James Root chugged his St. Paul and Duluth Railroad locomotive into the burning city, where it was quickly stampeded by people trying to board and escape the disaster. The fire raged forward and the train ignited.
Root reversed the engine and raced six miles north to Skunk Lake. Within minutes of its arrival the train was engulfed as passengers dove into the mud and water. Root was pulled from the train and counted among the lucky survivors. Over 400 people died that day.
“Duluth is a good town”
This little gem is postmarked Sept. 18, 1905. Hopefully Ermina B. Smith of Menominee, Mich., believed it. It’s still true more than a century later. (more…)
Shrine Game of 1965
Fifty-year-old UMD Bulldogs football road-game poster.
Putting Duluth on the map
Posting the Duluth Fire button to the Duluth Button Collection recently made me think of the Duluth Experience logo, which reminded me that Perfect Duluth Day briefly had an on-the-map logo at the end of 2003, before the official and current logo was developed in 2004.
Are there other logos putting Duluth on the map? And yes, I did notice the mark on the Duluth Fire map seems to be placed over Floodwood. I also think the old PDD logo artist intentionally made it look like the tip of Lake of the Woods was broken off.
What was that thing by the old Arrowhead Bridge?
Shortly after the “Postcards from the Arrowhead Bridge” post went up, my distant cousin started calling and emailing with the question, “What was that little thing in St. Louis Bay, on the Superior side of the Arrowhead Bridge, looking north?” So let’s finally get to the bottom of that. (more…)
Duluth 2015 Primary Election Results
With 41 out of 41 precincts reporting, Emily Larson and Chuck Horton are the winning candidates in the mayoral race, advancing to the General Election in November. Jay Fosle and Janet Kennedy advance in the Fifth District City Council race.
Duluth Mayor
(Top two candidates advance to General Election)
Emily Larson – 5,456 | 67.32%
Chuck Horton – 1,505 | 18.57%
Howie Hanson – 732 | 9.03%
James Mattson – 177 | 2.18%
John Socha – 111 | 1.37%
John Howard Evans – 51 | 0.63%
Thomas Cooper – 45 | 0.56%
Robert D. Schieve – 27 | 0.33%
Fifth District Duluth City Councilor
(Top two candidates advance to General Election)
Jay Fosle – 945 | 56.08%
Janet Kennedy – 671 | 39.82%
Allan Beaulier – 44 | 2.61%
Derrick Ellis – 25 | 1.48%
At-large Duluth School Board Member
(Top two candidates advance to General Election)
Renee K. VanNett – 3,351 | 44.70%
Alanna Oswald – 2,437 | 32.51%
Jim H. Unden – 1,708 | 22.79%
District Two Duluth School Board Member
(Top two candidates advance to General Election)
David Kirby – 1,044 | 58.65%
Charles Obije – 461 | 25.9%
Jane Hammerstrom Hoffman – 275 | 15.45%
R.I.P. Norm’s Beer & Brats, Cedar Lounge as it once was and the Loading Zone in all it’s glory
A few notes on Superior bars:
Norm’s Beer & Brats held a “Final Bash” over the weekend. According to its Facebook page, the bar will be moving early next week. “The old building will still be open for business tomorrow for tacos (since last week got all kinds of messed up with the power outage), and all week including Friday and Saturday,” reads a post published today. “Our new home is currently known as the Cedar Lounge. Be sure to check it out!”
Update: It seems the Norm’s / Cedar Lounge deal fell through. (more…)
You can’t put a campaign sign there
One of the more clever Facebook pages of recent times has to be “You can’t put a campaign sign there,” which launched on Sept. 9. The candidates probably didn’t place the signs themselves, of course, but it’s still amusing.
After three days, Chuck Horton leads the race with seven allegedly illegal sign placements, followed by Howie Hanson and Karl Spring, who each have just one. (That’s just counting the gallery images; it looks like there are also a few “visitor posts” that aren’t in the gallery.)
That’s quite a lead for Horton, but at this stage Perfect Duluth Day’s prognosticators still think it’s too close to call.
Missing Person: Sheila Lou St. Clair
The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing person — Sheila Lou St. Clair. She is a 48-year-old Native American female, 5’5″ tall, 125 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes. St. Clair has not been seen since sometime before Sept. 1 in the area of the 100 block of West Third Street. If you know St. Clair’s whereabouts call 911.
Google Fiber Update
USA Today reports Google Fiber is considering three new cities for its high-speed Internet service: San Diego, Irvine and Louisville.
Don’t worry, Duluth is in line for a new project: Google Chopped Liver.
Duluth 2015 Primary Election Sample Ballot
Keep in mind:
District candidates will appear on the ballot only in the specified districts. Duluth City Council District 5 represents West Duluth and neighborhoods farther west. Duluth School Board District 2 represents the Endion, Congdon, Chester Park and Kenwood areas.
Pride.
Sharon Needles at Bayfront Park during the Duluth Superior Pride Festival.
Iron Range restaurant reviewed in New York Times
Mr. Roberts Restaurant and Resort in Pengilly will be featured in this Sunday’s edition of the New York Times. Duluth-based writer Robert Lillegard reviews the “surprising new flavors” chef Sarah Master has brought to the lakeside eatery. The article was published online today:
In Minnesota’s Iron Range, Midwestern with a modern twist
Master is a Pengilly native who left her position as executive chef at Minneapolis’ Café Barbette to form a business partnership with Dan Beckwith, opening their restaurant and resort in early June.
First Listen: Low’s Ones and Sixes
The new album by Duluth band Low is available to stream above, via NPR’s First Listen. CDs, LPs and mp3s will be in stores on Sept. 11.