February 8, 1910 Beer wagon goes through Ice on St. Louis River

February 8, 1910 Beer wagon goes through Ice on St. Louis River
By Tony Dierckins Zenith City Online

On this day in Duluth in 1910, former Third Ward alderman Maurice McGinnis was driving a rig for Superior’s Northern Brewery over the frozen St. Louis River when the ice gave way. Horses, wagon, driver, and beer all plunged into the river. McGinniss manager to pull himself out of the frigid waters and “suffered no ill effects from his icy bath.” The horses did not fair as well—all drowned. McGinnis was on his way to deliver beer to Henry Ward’s saloon “near the steel plant,” which was under construction next to what would become Morgan Park. The beer got away as well. Despite the deaths of the “valuable team,” the Duluth News Tribune seemed more concerned with the loss of beer. Two days after the accident the newspaper printed a story under the bold headline “NO EFFORT TO RECOVER BEER KEGS FROM RIVER.” The paper reported that there was little chance of finding the kegs under the ice, and that they were likely already carried away downstream by the river’s current. It then pondered the upcoming thaw: “In the spring, the time the poet says a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love, there are expected to be a large number of lovers of the amber fluid scattered along the St. Louis searching for the missing kegs.

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Harbor History - Nov 19th 1886: Sinking of the Wallace

The Robert Wallace, which sank in Lake Superior in both 1886 and 1902. (Image: Great Lakes Vessel Index.)

Sinking of the Wallace 

by Tony Dierckins - Zenith City Online
On this day on Lake Superior in 1886, the steam barge Robert Wallace—as well as her consort, the schooner barge David Wallace—sunk after over a day of being pounded by waves and running ashore at Chocolay, four miles east of Marquette on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, on November 18. They had been taking a combined 104,000 bushels of wheat downlake from Duluth when they encountered the storm. Initially all hands on both vessels were thought loss, and efforts to save them were hampered by the storm. U. S. Life-Savers stationed at Michigan’s Portage Ship Canal, 110 miles away, took a train through the storm—a blizzard on land—in order to reach the crews. Both vessels sank, their loads of grain said to have “fed the wildlife of the Michigan Coast.” All were saved, but elsewhere the storm cost forty lives and financial losses of over $620,000, $300,000 for the two Wallace vessels and their cargo alone Twenty-eight vessels were damaged and most, including the Wallace and the Wallace, were rebuilt and returned to work on the lakes. On November 17, 1902, the Robert Wallace sunk once again, just southeast of Two Harbors with a load of iron ore, but her consort, the Ashland, did not sink—and the Wallace was not raised. Read newspaper coverage here (wallace_11.19.1886_DWT, wallace_11.26.1886_DWT, wallace_12.3.1886_DWT) and read about the unlikely rescue here.

Harbor History: November 10, 1975: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

 A postcard of the Edmund Fitzgerald. (Image: X-Comm.)

This day on Lake Superior in 1975, as most readers are aware, the ore boat Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior, taking all twenty-nine hands down with her. The previous day she had loaded 26,000 tons of taconite pellets at the Burlington Northern dock in Superior, Wisconsin, and left port at  2 p.m. that day, taking its cargo to Zug Island on the Detroit River. Just 39 minutes later, the gale warnings came in. It took the Fitzgerald until 1 a.m. to get 20 miles south of Isle Royale, battling 52-knot winds and ten-foot waves. At 7 a.m. the Fitzgerald reported 35-knot winds and ten-foot waves. At 3:30 in the afternoon, Fitzgerald Captain Ernest McSorley radios the Arthur Anderson, who is trailing the Fitz, and tells Captain Cooper his vessel had sustained “some topside damage.” and asked the Anderson to keep the Fitz in her sights. Forty minutes later the Fitz radioed the Anderson once again, announcing that her radar equipment had failed and asking for the Anderson’s assistance. Things got steadily worse for the Fitzgerald, and by 6 p.m. it was listing badly. At 7:10 the Fitzgerald told the Anderson “We are holding our own.” At 7:25 the Edmund Fitzgerald disappeared from the Anderson’s radar. For more information on the Fitzgerald sinking, visit S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online.

Tony Dierckins | Zenith City