Days 16 – 17: Hibbing, MN

Hibbing’s history is tied to iron mining, and the Hull Rust Mahoning Iron Mine here is the largest open pit iron ore mine in the world.  During peak production in the 1940’s, as much as one quarter of  the ore mined in the U.S. came from the Hull Rust pit.  The village of Hibbing was so close to the mine pit that all of the buildings in the north part of town were moved south  in 1918 in order to mine that area.  At present, the workers are laid off and there is no work going on at the mine pit. We visited the observation area overlooking the idle mine and the displays there.  There’s a monster truck with tires 10 1/2 feet in diameter, and it’s smaller than the currently used equipment.  Part of the pit is filled with water (spring-fed) that looks very green. 

We also visited the Greyhound Bus Museum. The story of the origin of the bus industry was especially interesting.  A man bought a Hupmobile dealership but could not sell a single car.  People wanted to ride in the Hupmobile but nobody bought one.  So he  offered rides from Hibbing to an adjacent town for 15 cents.  It was so successful that a larger vehicle was needed, and the first bus company which eventually became Greyhound was born.  George remembered Grandma Harper traveling on the Greyhound Scenic Cruiser to visit family members in Tampa.

 After a few days of chilly rainy weather, we really enjoyed the sunny pleasant weather here.  It was perfect for bicycling on the Mesabi Trail  from Hibbing to Chisholm and back.  Much  of the trail was bordered with wild flowers, a real contrast to the rust colored rock that was frequently visible.  We were surprised that we encountered so few people on the paved, well-maintained trail. After bicycling, we returned to our “campground” at Wal-Mart where we stayed because we couldn’t find a good RV park in Hibbing.  We’ve enjoyed our “paved site” here and the convenience for shopping.

 

Day 15: Exploring Two Harbors

 

Our rainy weather continued today – but lighter than yesterday – so instead of bicycling to explore Two Harbors, we drove.  Our first stop was  the tugboat Edna G. which was the last coal-fired, steam-powered tugboat in operation on the Great Lakes.  The Edna G. is a very old lady having been built in 1896 and retired in 1982.  It has a large 2-stage reciprocating steam engine similar to one we saw in a static display at the Maritime Museum in Duluth. 

The Depot Museum houses exhibits of Lake County’s pioneer days including logging, mining, railroad, commercial fishing and war memorabilia.  There was also a train video of the Duluth, Mesabi, & Iron Range RR hauling iron ore and two very old locomotives parked outside.  We planned to visit the 3M Museum but it was closed.  It is located in the original 1902 office building.

The guide on the Edna G. told us a a freighter was due into the dock in Two Harbors tonight, but after lunch,  George was looking out the coach window at the lake and said, “There’s the freighter!  Let’s go!”  So we took off to the breakwater at the lighthouse to watch the 1004 ft. Indiana Harbor come into the dock to take on a load of iron ore.  Coincidentally, we saw this same freighter leaving port in Duluth.  While we were there, we toured Two Harbors Lighthouse which was built in 1892.

So much of the history in this area  revolves around iron ore and transporting the ore by train and  freighter, but it’s also an area of much natural beauty.  While I was photographing the ship today, the plentiful wildflowers along the lakeshore and ducks in the water caught my eye as well.  So I’ll end today’s blog entry with yellow wildflowers that we’ve seen everywhere since we’ve been in Minnesota.

 

Day 14: Gooseberry Falls

 

We visited Gooseberry Falls State Park this morning and enjoyed walking on the trails through mixed evergreen, aspen, and birch forests to see the falls  of the Gooseberry River.  The most visited state park in Minnesota, much of it was originally built by the CCC during the Depression including the 300-foot long “Castle in the Park” stone retaining wall.   Trails go along each side of the river and loop to all the falls.  Near the steel arch bridge over Highway 61, the 30 foot Upper Falls can be viewed, and a short ways beyond are the Middle and Lower Falls.  The Visitor Center had interesting displays and 2 videos:  The North Shore State Parks and Lake Superior. 

After a very pleasant morning at Gooseberry Falls SP,  we returned to the coach for lunch with plans to bike to the light house, 3M Museum,  and other places in Two Harbors in the afternoon.  However, it began raining almost immediately and continued throughout the afternoon, sometimes quite hard.  Since we have another day here, we decided to stay dry.  Irene read and napped, and George spent the afternoon on the computer placing campgrounds on the map for  GPS upload.

Days 11 – 13: Duluth/Two Harbors

 

Sunday was a very rainy day in Duluth, but it cleared off by the middle of the afternoon.  We did housecleaning in the motor home and some laundry and made a quick trip for some groceries.  We saw another 1000’ freighter pass under the lift bridge as it was leaving the port of Duluth. 

Monday we drove up the North Shore Scenic Drive to Two Harbors where we are staying at Burlington Bay Campground.  We explored Two Harbors and bicycled some.  The Depot, now a history museum, has two very old locomotives.  The harbor has 2 working ore loading docks.  

Today was chilly – not cool, chilly.  It was gray and overcast and windy until late afternoon.  But we took our jackets and headed to Split Rock State Park to visit the lighthouse there.  We saw the video and exhibits in the visitors center and then went on the lighthouse tour.  The lighthouse was built after a storm in 1905 wrecked 6 ships within a dozen miles of the Split Rock River.  It’s on a tall rock base and all materials were brought there for construction by boat and hoisted up the rock wall. 

We drove north past Silver Bay to Palisade Head which has incredible views of Lake Superior, Shovel Point, and 200-foot cliffs. Palisade Head was formed by molten lava billions of years ago and is part of Tettegouche State Park.  There were rock climbers preparing to go down the cliff when we were there.  It was a very pleasant day, and by the end of the afternoon, the sun was shining and it was almost warm.

Day 10: Duluth

 

We cleaned the bugs off the front of the coach this morning which had accumulated on the  upper cap since we left Rome. Then we went to Glensheen, a 39 room mansion built between 1905 and 1908 along the shore of Lake Superior.  It’s a lovely home and very  cutting edge for it's time:  early electric lights, all indoor plumbing bathrooms, even a shower with 8 shower heads. Even the servants quarters had full indoor bathrooms at a time when most middle class families did not.  There was a multilevel terrace with flowers and a fountain at the back of the house and lovely vegetable and flower gardens.  The annual arts and crafts festival was being held today – an added  bonus to our visit. The source of the wealth? Iron ore from the iron range.

Our next destination was the North Shore Scenic Railroad at the  historic Depot where we boarded the Lester River excursion train which runs along the shore of Lake Superior.  George enjoyed talking with our conductor who is a retired Delta 747 pilot who became certified as a train engineer after he retired from Delta, though today he wasn’t the engineer.  He took his training to be an engineer at Peachtree City (near Atlanta). 

 

Day 9 – Duluth

 

We shouldn’t have been surprised to wake up to a heavy fog this morning since we are on the shore of Lake Superior.  The fog cleared off by mid-morning, and it has been a pleasant sunny day with cooler air coming off the lake.  We actually needed jackets this evening.  Today’s “tour focus” has been the lake and boats on the lake.  We bicycled to the Lake Superior Maritime Museum where we joined an Army Corp of Engineers talk about the history of the area, construction and maintenance of the canal and the lift bridge across it, and its lighthouses.  Then we toured the maritime museum. 

When we left the museum, the 1000 foot “Indiana Harbor” freighter was exiting the Duluth harbor after taking on a load of coal.  It was exciting to see a boat this large go under the lift bridge out to Lake Superior.  Then we continued on our bikes to the S.S. William A. Irving Ore Boat Museum which was the pride of the U.S. Steel fleet when it was launched in 1935 because of its adva in propulsion – steam turbines. We also went to the Omnimax Theatre to see “Mysteries of the Great Lakes.”  We’ve never seen an IMax quite like it. It had a circular screen that came over the audience like a planetarium.

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Day 8 - Duluth

 

Our day got off to a great start with an exhilarating bicycle ride on the Willard Munger Trail from Carlton to West Duluth, a 15 mile ride with lots of downhill over rivers and through rock cuts and hemlock and aspen forests.  Then we were ready for a good lunch in Duluth and went to Sir Benedicts as recommended by our RV buddy George Sanders, a former Duluth resident

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The Railroad Museum at the Depot was our next stop.  It includes local history as well as an excellent collection of rail cars and history.  Irene especially enjoyed the china display from the area’s trains of a bygone era, and George said the Depot was the best railroad museum he’s seen. 

Duluth has a lovely Rose Garden located in Leif Erickson Park, and we ended our day’s  excursions there.  Overlooking Lake Superior, the garden is well laid out and is immaculately kept.  The amazing thing is that in the winter, they prune the roses to 18 - 24 inches and tie the limbs together, loosen the roots, dig a trough beside the bush, and lay the rose bush over.  Then it's covered with about 3 inches of soil, and bags of leaves donated by the community are placed over them for the winter.  The tree roses are kept in greenhouses thru the winter.  And that’s how the rose garden survives winter in Duluth.