St. Louis River Archives - Perfect Duluth Day

Selective Focus: Seeking River Stories

Feb 04, 2022 No Comments

The St. Louis River Alliance typically organizes an annual Winter Walk event in February, but the rise in COVID-19 cases led the organization to cancel it for the second year in a row. Instead, stories, photos and videos are being collected throughout the month to to be shared on the alliance’s social media accounts to encourage people to get outside and enjoy winter.

Featured in this post as examples are photos by the alliance’s development director, Alyssa Johnson.

It Takes a (Shipping) Village: Duluth’s Harbor springs to life

Dec 28, 2021 No Comments

Since 1871, when the Duluth shipping canal first opened, the St. Louis River has seen many changes. This video from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency briefly outlines a century of river use by many industries, and how cleanup and restoration of the estuary began. For St. Louis River Area of Concern resources visit pca.state.mn.us.

Videos St. Louis River

On the Water Trail

Dec 27, 2021 No Comments

On the Water Trail is a six-part series that explores the science of the St. Louis River Watershed. Host Emily Lockling, student researcher from Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, introduces the people who are working to improve the waterway after decades of dumping sewage and other legacy contamination.

Videos St. Louis River, WDSE-TV

Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point restoration completed

Oct 29, 2021 No Comments

The Bong Bridge spans the background in this view of Grassy Point wetlands.

A three-year habitat-restoration project on the St. Louis River in West Duluth was completed this month. Sediment contaminants at Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point have been remediated and heavy equipment has been removed.

Oliver Bridge and St. Louis River at Sunset

Sep 30, 2021 No Comments

Videographer Adam Jagunich flies his Yuneec Typhoon H Plus hexacopter over the St. Louis River just before sunset, capturing scenes of the double-decker Oliver Bridge with trains passing over auto traffic.

Videos Adam Jagunich, Drone Videos, Oliver Bridge, St. Louis River

Aerial Video: St. Louis River in Spring at Sunset

Apr 10, 2021 No Comments

Adam Jagunich takes his Yuneec Typhoon H Plus on it’s maiden flight over the St. Louis River as the sun sets in western Duluth.

Outdoors, Videos Adam Jagunich, Drone Videos, St. Louis River

Video: Bobcats on the St. Louis River

Dec 17, 2020 3 Comments

Duluth’s Mike Mayou captured video of three bobcats on the ice along the St. Louis River on Wednesday. “I happened to spot them from afar,” he wrote on the YouTube description. “After flying a drone over to investigate, I discovered that the three cats were very comfortable being up close and personal with the camera, thus this footage. Enjoy!”

Videos Bobcats, St. Louis River

Postcard from Fond du Lac Boat Docks and Steamboat Landing

Nov 11, 2020 No Comments

This undated postcard (probably circa 1905) shows the excursion steamer Newsboy docked on the St. Louis River in Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood. The card was published by the Hugh C. Leighton Company of Portland, Maine, and is brought to you compliments of Clow-Nicholson Transportation Company, with its main office at the foot of Fifth Avenue West.

Postcard from Jay Cooke State Park

Aug 26, 2020 No Comments

This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows a waterfall and the famous swinging bridge on the St. Louis River at Jay Cooke State Park.

Wild rice on the St. Louis River, piping plover habitat on Wisconsin Point, beach restoration at Barker’s Island — three videos from the Wisconsin DNR

Aug 02, 2020 No Comments

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has released three new videos about the St. Louis River Area of Concern, including project highlights for wild rice restoration, piping plover habitat restoration and Barker’s Island swimming beach restoration.

The St. Louis River Estuary, Our Home

Jun 10, 2020 1 Comment

This short video from the St. Louis River Alliance tells the story of the river’s transformation and is an invitation to help protect, restore and enhance the waterway.

Videos St. Louis River, St. Louis River Alliance

Found your mini-guitar smashed on the railroad tracks

May 27, 2020 2 Comments

I found your mini-guitar smashed on the railroad tracks along the St. Louis River at Mud Lake. It had a Perfect Duluth Day sticker on it. Bent Paddle Brewing Company, Earth Rider Beer and the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra were also decorating your little green guitar, along with smiley faces, hearts and what appear to be a set of puckered lips.

Was this a triumphant smashing after a performance for the geese and red-winged blackbirds? Or was the destruction out of frustration or sadness? Did hooligans steal your guitar and leave you wondering until now what became of it?

As a fan of PDD, you are sure to see this post. Or do you just like free stickers?

Random Lost and Found, St. Louis River

Soaring with Pelicans on the St. Louis River

Apr 24, 2020 No Comments

Adam Jagunich’s drone soars with the pelicans in this video shot in the Chamber’s Grove Park area of Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood.

Wooing Antics on the St. Louis River

Apr 09, 2020 1 Comment

“April is a great time to sit and watch the incredible courtship displays of ducks,” writes Sparky Stensaas on the YouTube description for this recently posted video with footage shot in 2011. The segments show the wooing antics of common mergansers, common goldeneyes, bufflehead and hooded mergansers.

“Here in northern Minnesota, the ice is just going out on the lakes and early returning male ducks are trying to impress the ladies,” notes Stensaas.

Outdoors, Videos Ducks, Mark "Sparky" Stensaas, St. Louis River

Postcard from Astor Trading Post

Mar 13, 2020 No Comments

This undated postcard depicts a replica of the American Fur Company trading post at Fond du Lac, which opened in 1935 at Chambers Grove Park in Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood and was demolished in the late 1960s.

The original fur post operated from 1817 to 1847 at the present-day site of Historical Park, just a bit downstream from Chambers Grove Park along the St. Louis River.

St. Louis River Posts