There isn’t a lot of information online about the Barney B. Barstow of Duluth, featured in this undated postcard published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. But there are a few tidbits that suggest the vessel gets its name from a Superior attorney who, according to the June 1969 issue of Maritime Reporter Magazine, was one of eight directors at Fraser Shipyards, serving as secretary.
This undated postcard, published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography circa the 1960s, shows the Duluth Harbor from Observation Hill.
The caption on the back reads:
Duluth, Minn.
Vessels from all the world’s ports arrive here after transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes.
The caption for this graphic from the Feb. 11, 1925 Duluth Herald reads: “Map showing extent of Duluth’s heritage at Jay Cooke park; road which has been completed so far in the district connection with the Duluth park system, and the 1.6 miles of road which it is hoped to complete this year if the state legislature appropriates $40,000 for that purpose. Completion of the road will give Duluthians a direct route to the park.”
Before Highway 210 connected Jay Cooke State Park to Highway 23, Duluthians had to travel a long, “dusty and sometimes tiresome road,” to get to the “picturesque and pleasing stopping place,” according to an article in the Feb. 11, 1925 issue of the Duluth Herald.
This postcard shows the Riverview Motel in West Duluth, which was replaced in the early 2000s by Westgate Townhomes.
This undated postcard shows the DM&IR ore docks, which mark the border between Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, then known as the West End, and West Duluth.
The text below is reproduced from a handwritten document that slipped out of a book of maps at the Minnesota Historical Society. Its authentication remains in progress.
I die happy seeing the completion of the Minnesota land survey, and the dissolution of the Office of the Surveyor General. He surveyed himself out of a job. We all did, the great work of our lives. It took five decades. But holes were chopped through the state that cannot be filled. I discovered a flaw in the measurements in the summer of 1855 when we were still just a territory. And I have knowledge of the disappearance of my hated competitor as he fell between the parallels, in the woods of what is now northeast Duluth.
Many surveying companies were employed by the Surveyor General. Mine was one and I was sworn in as a deputy surveyor. Rough work. We camped away from home for months, in 10-man teams: axe-men, chainmen, cooks, and muleskinners. Our families didn’t know if we were alive or dead until we returned (or failed to) for the winter break.
Great Lakes Now interviews artist/historian Carl Gawboy about his book Fur Trade Nation: An Ojibwe’s Graphic History.
One hundred years ago plans were emerging to build what would later be called the Arrowhead Bridge, which spanned the St. Louis River from Grassy Point in West Duluth to Billings Park in Superior. Construction of the bridge was completed in 1927. It was dismantled in 1985 after the opening of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.
Duluth was in the path of totality for a solar eclipse 100 years ago. Unfortunately, it was cloudy in the city on Jan. 24, 1925.
This undated postcard, circa 1903 to 1913, shows a tugboat next to the Steamer R. L. Ireland, which the caption indicates is “going to winter quarters, Duluth, Minn.” The Great Lakes bulk freighter was built and launched in 1903. According to the website Great Lakes Vessel History, it was twice renamed — Sirius in 1913 and Ontadoc in 1926 — and sold for scrap in 1970.
A small feature in the Jan. 10, 1925 Duluth Herald mentions the opening of the “new” Salvation Army at 118 N. Third Ave. W. The building still stands, now serving as an annex to Hostel du Nord.
The Vintage Duluth Blog at the Duluth Public Library is back.
Carl Holmstrom had the longest ski-jump at Chester Park during the opening event of the 1925 season, held on Jan. 4, 100 years ago today. The newspaper clip above is from the previous day’s edition of the Duluth Herald. Below is the report of the race from the Jan. 5 Herald.
Duluthian Feodor von Luerzer presumably painted this image 125 years ago; an auction listing on invaluable.com notes it is “signed and dated 1900.” The listing, however, renders the name as “Frederick von Luerzer” and lists the artist’s year of death as 1917. Feodor von Luerzer died in 1913. The landscape painter lived in Duluth from 1889 to 1909.
For more on Von Luerzer visit the zenithcity.com archive on archive.org.
This installment of the WCCO radio program A Closer Look with Laura Oakes delves into Bob Dylan’s Minnesota roots. It aired Dec. 19. Duluth comes up.
