New Lift Bridge Lights! - by Paul Scinocca

Paul - Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge giving their new LED lighting a tryout this Friday evening. Good night Duluth!

View more of Paul's wonderful harbor images on his Facebook Page.

Moonbeams, Boats and Bridges -- It doesn't get any better then this

As the Full Moon tracked across the sky towards an eclipse, it's reflective beam highlighted another "Superior" evening  in Duluth.

Paul R Tregurtha

Paul R Tregurtha

Federal Mattawa

Lunar Eclipse

Whitefish Bay arrived Duluth

The Whitefish Bay arrived this evening under the Teal colored Lift Bridge.
The bridge was lit teal in honor of Ovarian Cancer Awareness.
http://www.charleneslight.org/

Duluth -- Emerald City of the North

Mid-summer photography in Duluth is great and even better from an airplane.

Aerial Lift Bridge Control Room

While the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge is photographed from nearly every angle, not many folks know what it looks like inside the control room that sits midway in the center of the lift span.

From this control room, Bridge Operators monitor weather, boat traffic, road traffic, people on the ground and the instrumentation to operator the bridge.  It's and interesting job, and certainly the best office view in town.

Click HERE or on the image to step in and take a 360 view of the control room where the Bridge Operators work.

East View

West View

February 23, 1905: First ever crossing of the gondola car

February 23, 1905: First ever crossing of the gondola car
By Tony Dierckins zenithcity.com

 Duluth’s Aerial Transfer Bridge, predecessor to the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge. (Image: Duluth Public Library.) On this day in Duluth in 1905, the Aerial Transfer Bridge made its first crossing with, as the Duluth News Tribune put it, a “load of human freight.” City Engineer Thomas McGilvray invited two hundred people to witness the ferry car’s first crossing. He included local dignitaries such as Mayor Cullum, Common Council President Roland D. Haven, Colonel Hubert Eva, Chief of Police Chauncy H. Troyer; Chief DM&IR Engineer Herman L. Dresser as well as members of his own staff and the team from the Modern Steel Structural Company, who built the bridge. At 4:30 in the afternoon of February 23, 1905, these men entered the car at the south tower and prepared to cross. The bridge was not yet fully complete—some of the false wooden work still stood against the south tower. McGilvray himself controlled the car, which began rolling without so much as a hiccup. One of the workmen posted atop the bridge as a safety measure decided to have a little fun with the crowd, striking at the false staging work with a wooden plank and shouting to cut the power. Afraid that “heavy objects were about to crash to the deck,” many sought protection under the car’s awnings. After a good laugh—and reassurance that a joke had been played, nothing more—the ferry car moved ahead. Riders felt “only a slight vibration” while the car moved northward. As it reached the north end of the canal with “a gentle motion, an almost imperceptible contact against the air cushion in the approach, it stopped and locked automatically.” The entire trip lasted one minute and fifteen seconds, but it had been over fifteen years in the making. TBridge_2.24.1905_DNT. Discover the entire history of the Duluth Aerial Bridge here.

Duluth Canal and Lift Bridge History

I took some time during the past few weeks to put together this video on the history of the Lift Bridge and Canal.  We have such a rich nautical history around the "Head of the Lakes" that I thought a video would be worthwhile.  Sorry that it so long (53 minutes), but, there is a lot to tell.