Duluth, Minnesota

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Duluth is a seaport city in the State of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. Duluth has a population of 86,238 and is the second-largest city on Lake Superior's shores, after Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the lake's Canadian border; it does, however, have the largest metropolitan area on the Lake. The Duluth MSA had a population of 279,771 in 2010, the second-largest in Minnesota. The combined urban population of Duluth and its adjacent communities – including Proctor, Hermantown, and Superior, Wisconsin – totals over 131,000, based on 2010 census figures.

With the Alliance War for Independence Superior, Wisconsin was successfully held by the Federated American States. This removed it from the community collective for the metro area of Duluth. The bridges that once joined the community are destroyed, and all travel is by ferry or boat now.

Climate

Duluth has a humid continental climate, slightly moderated by its proximity to Lake Superior, with summer being significantly wetter. The nickname "The Air-Conditioned City" is given to Duluth because of the summertime cooling effect of Lake Superior. Severe thunderstorms do occasionally cross over the city during the summer. Winters are long, snowy, and very cold, normally seeing maximum temperatures remaining below 32 °F (0 °C) on 106 days (the second-most of any city in the contiguous US behind International Falls), minima falling to or below 0 °F (−18 °C) on 40–41 nights and bringing consistent snow cover from late November to late March. Winter storms that pass south or east of Duluth can often set up easterly or northeasterly flow, which leads to occasional upslope lake-effect snow events that bring a foot (30 cm) or more of snow to the city while areas 50 miles (80 km) inland receive considerably less.

Summers are warm, though nights are generally cool, with daytime temperatures averaging 76 °F (24 °C) in July, with the same figure over 80 °F (26.7 °C) inland. Temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on only 2 days per year, while the city has officially only seen 100 °F (38 °C) temperatures on 3 days, all in July 1936, part of the Dust Bowl years. The phrase "cooler by the lake" can be heard often in weather forecasts during the summer, especially on days when an easterly wind is expected. Great local variations are also common because of the rapid change in elevation between the nearly 900 foot hilltop and shoreside. Often this variation manifests itself as snow at the Miller Hill Mall while rain falls in Canal Park. The warmer shoreline temperatures also have permitted ginkgo trees, admired for their golden autumn leaves, to thrive beside the lake, even though Duluth is well north of the normal temperature range of ginkgos. The lake steams in the winter when moist, lake-warmed air at the surface rises and cools, losing some of its moisture carrying capacity.

2012 flooding

From June 19–20, 2012, Duluth experienced the worst flood in its history, recording nine inches of rain throughout the course of thirty hours. Combined with its rocky sediments, hard soil and forty three streams and creeks, the city could not handle the massive rainfall. Mayor Don Ness declared a state of emergency, asking for national assistance. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton also declared a state of emergency, sending the National Guard and the Red Cross to assist in the relief efforts. Several sink holes popped up throughout the city causing massive damage to property and vehicles. Several feet of standing water were in alleys and parking lots throughout the city. Streets were turned into rapids and many roads split apart due to the heavy flow of water. A portion of West Skyline Parkway tumbled down the hill, isolating a neighborhood. The Saint Louis River, in Duluth's Fond du Lac neighborhood, flooded Highway 23, isolating that neighborhood as well, and damaging roadways and bridges.

The Lake Superior Zoo flooded in the early hours of June 20 where eleven barnyard animals as well as a turkey vulture, a raven and a snowy owl drowned.[43] The rising waters allowed for a polar bear to escape her exhibit, though she was quickly found on zoo grounds, tranquilized and moved to safety. Two harbor seals escaped the zoo grounds but were later found on Grand Avenue. All three animals were moved to Como Park Zoo in Saint Paul for a temporary, but indeterminate, amount of time.[44][45][46] The polar bear was transferred to the Kansas City Zoo in late 2012 as part of the American Zoological Association's (AZA) Species Survival Program breeding recommendation.

Economy

Duluth is the major regional center for health care, higher education, retail, and business services not only of its own immediate area but also of a larger area encompassing northeastern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin, and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is also a major transportation center for the transshipment of coal, taconite, agricultural products, steel, limestone, and cement. In recent years it has seen strong growth in the transshipment of wind turbine components coming and going from manufacturers in both Europe and North Dakota and of oversized industrial machinery manufactured all around the world and destined for the tar sands oil extraction projects in northern Alberta.

Several multi-national aviation corporations are contributing to the economy of the Twin Ports. Cirrus Aircraft Corporation has its headquarters and main manufacturing facility in Duluth. The company was founded in 1984 by brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier to produce the VK-30 kit aircraft. Cirrus is the maker of the world's best-selling single-engine four-to-five-seat airplane, the SR22, and currently employs over 800 people. In 2012, another aircraft manufacturer, Kestrel Aircraft, maker of the Kestrel K-350 and now known as ONE Aviation, decided to locate a branch in the Twin Ports. The success in the aviation sector extended into commercial travel as Duluth opened the doors to a new, state-of-the-art airport terminal in January, 2013.

The Air Force chose the 148th Air National Guard based in Duluth as one of a handful of National Guard units to establish an Active Association, bringing new active duty Air Force jobs to the base.

Duluth has attracted several new engineering firms including Barr Engineering, LHB, Enbridge and Lake Superior Consulting.

Duluth is also a center for aquatic biology and aquatic science. The city is home to the EPA's Mid-Continent Ecology Division Laboratory and the University of Minnesota–Duluth. These institutions have spawned many economically and scientifically important businesses that support Duluth's economy. A short list of these businesses include ERA laboratories, LimnoLogic, the ASci Corporation, Environmental Consulting and Testing, and Ecolab.

The city is a popular center for tourism. Duluth is a convenient base for trips to the scenic North Shore via Highway 61 and to fishing and wilderness destinations in Minnesota's far north, including the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Tourists also may drive on the North Shore Scenic Drive to Gooseberry Falls State Park, Baptism Falls (Minnesota's largest waterfall), the vertical cliff of Palisade Head, Isle Royale National Park (reached via ferry), Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, and High Falls of the Pigeon River (on the Canadian border). Thunder Bay, Ontario, can be reached by following the highway into Canada along Lake Superior.

Geography

Duluth's topography is dominated by a steep hillside that climbs from Lake Superior to high inland elevations. Duluth has been called "the San Francisco of the Midwest." The expression alludes to San Francisco's similar water-to-hilltop topography. This similarity was most evident before World War II, when Duluth had a network of street cars and an "Incline Railroad" that, like San Francisco's cable cars, climbed a steep hill (at Seventh Avenue West). The change in elevation is illustrated by Duluth's two airports. The Sky Harbor airport's weather station, situated on Park Point, has an elevation of 607 feet (185 m), whereas the elevation of Duluth International Airport atop the hill is 1,427 feet (435 m)--820 feet higher.

As the city has grown, the population has tended to hug the Lake Superior shoreline, hence Duluth is primarily a southwest–northeast city. A considerable amount of development on the hill's upslope gives Duluth a reputation for steep streets. Some neighborhoods, such as Piedmont Heights and Bayview Heights, are atop the hill, at times giving scenic views of the city. Another example is Skyline Parkway, a scenic roadway that extends from Becks Road above the Gary – New Duluth neighborhood near the western end of the city to the Lester Park neighborhood on the east side. Skyline Parkway crosses nearly the entire length of Duluth and affords breathtaking views of the famous Aerial Lift Bridge, Canal Park, and the many industries that inhabit the largest inland port. Most important, the tip of Lake Superior can be seen continuously from high on the brow of the hill. Perhaps the most rapidly developing part of the city is Miller Hill Mall and the adjacent big-box retailer shopping strip "over the hill"—the Miller Trunk Highway corridor. The 2009–2010 road reconstruction project in Duluth's Miller Hill area improved transit movement through the U.S. Highway 53 corridor from Trinity Road to Maple Grove Road. The highway project reconstructed connector roads, intersections, and adjacent roadways. Construction of a new international airport terminal was completed in 2013 as part of the United States' government's Stimulus Reconstruction Program.

Government

Duluth has a Mayor–Council form of government. The City Administration makes policy proposals to a nine-member City Council. Duluth's five representational districts are divided into 36 precincts. Each of the five council districts elects its own councilor. There are also four at large councilors, representing the entire city. The City Council elects a president who presides at meetings

History of Duluth

The Anishinaabe, also known as the Ojibwe or Chippewa, have inhabited the Lake Superior region for over five hundred years and were preceded by the Dakota, Fox, Menominee, Nipigon, Noquet and Gros Ventres. After the arrival of Europeans, the Anishinaabe made themselves the middle-men between the French fur traders and other Native peoples. They soon became the dominant Indian nation in the region: they forced out the Dakota Sioux and Fox and won a victory against the Iroquois west of Sault St. Marie in 1662. By the mid-18th century, the Ojibwe occupied all of Lake Superior's shores. For both the Ojibwe and the Dakota, interaction with Europeans during the contact period revolved around the fur trade and related activities. A series of treaties executed between 1837 and 1889 expropriated vast areas of tribal lands for the use of Euro-Americans and relegated the Native American peoples to a number of small reservations.

The Ojibwe are historically known for their crafting of birch bark canoes, use of copper arrow points, and cultivation of wild rice. In 1745 they adopted guns from the British to use to defeat and push the Dakota nation of the Sioux to the south. The Ojibwe Nation was the first to set the agenda with European-Canadian leaders for signing more detailed treaties before many European settlers were allowed too far west.

Several factors brought the fur trade to the Great Lakes in the early decades of the 17th century. The fashion for beaver hats generated a demand for pelts. French trade for beaver in the lower Saint Lawrence River had led to the depletion of the animals in that region by the late 1630s. As a result, the French searched further and further west for new resources and new routes, making alliances with the Native Americans along the way to trap and deliver their furs.

Étienne Brûlé is credited with the European discovery of Lake Superior before 1620. Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers explored the Duluth area, Fond du Lac (Foot of the Lake) in 1654 and again in 1660. French fur posts were soon established near Duluth and in the far north where Grand Portage became a major trading center. Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, French explorer whose name is sometimes anglicized as "DuLuth", explored the Saint Louis River in 1679.

After 1792, the North West Company established several posts on Minnesota rivers and lakes, and in areas to the west and northwest, for trading with the Ojibwe, the Dakota, and other native tribes. The first of these posts was located at the present site of Superior, Wisconsin. Known as Fort Saint Louis, it became the headquarters for North West Company's new Fond du Lac Department. It had stockaded walls, two houses of 40 feet each, a shed of 60 feet, a large warehouse, and a canoe yard.

In 1808, the American Fur Company was organized by German-born John Jacob Astor. The Company began trading at the Head of the Lakes in 1809. In 1817, it erected a new headquarters at present-day Fond du Lac, on the Saint Louis River. There, portages connected Lake Superior with Lake Vermillion to the north, and with the Mississippi River to the south. Active trade was carried on until the failure of the fur trade in the 1840s.

Two Treaties of Fond du Lac were signed in the present neighborhood of Fond du Lac in 1826 and 1847. As part of the Treaty of Washington (1854) with the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa, the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation was established upstream from Duluth near Cloquet, Minnesota. The Ojibwa population was relocated there.

Interest in the area was piqued in the 1850s as rumors of copper mining began to circulate. A government land survey in 1852, followed by a treaty with local tribes in 1854, secured wilderness for gold-seeking explorers, sparked a "land rush," and led to the development of iron ore mining in the area.[15]

Around the same time, newly constructed channels and locks in the East permitted large ships to access the area. A road connecting Duluth to the Twin Cities was also constructed. Eleven small towns on both sides of the Saint Louis River were formed, establishing Duluth's roots as a city.

By 1857, copper resources became scarce and the area's economic focus shifted to timber harvesting. A nationwide financial crisis caused nearly three-quarters of the city's early pioneers to leave.

The opening of the canal at Sault Ste. Marie in 1855 and the contemporaneous announcement of the railroads' coming had made Duluth the only port with access to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Soon the lumber industry, railroads and mining were all growing so quickly that the influx of workers could hardly keep up with demand and storefronts popped up almost overnight. By 1868 business in Duluth was really booming. In a Fourth of July speech Dr. Thomas Preston Foster, founder of the first newspaper in Duluth, coined the expression "The Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas".

In 1869–1870, Duluth was the fastest growing city in the country and was expected to surpass Chicago in size in only a few years.[citation needed] When Jay Cooke, a wealthy Philadelphia land speculator, convinced the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad to create an extension from St. Paul to Duluth, the railroad opened areas due north and west of Lake Superior to iron ore mining. Duluth's population on New Year's Day in 1869 consisted of fourteen families; by the Fourth of July, 3,500 people were present to celebrate.[citation needed] However, Jay Cooke's empire crumbled and the stock market crashed in 1873 and Duluth almost disappeared from the map.

By the late 1870s, with the continued boom in lumber and mining and with the railroads completed, Duluth again bloomed. By the turn of the century, there were almost 100,000 inhabitants, and it was again a thriving community with small business loans, commerce and trade flowing through the city.

Population

• -- City (0) - Dated census
• -- Urban (0) - Dated census
• -- Metro Area (0) - Dated census

Supernaturals in the City

• Fae of Duluth
• Garou of Duluth
• Mages of Duluth
• Vampires of Duluth
• Wraiths of Duluth

Transportation

The Duluth area marks the northern endpoint of Interstate Highway 35, which stretches south to Laredo, Texas. U.S. Highways that serve the area are U.S. Highway 53, which stretches from La Crosse, Wisconsin, to International Falls, Minnesota, and U.S. Highway 2, which stretches from Everett, Washington, to St. Ignace, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The southwestern part of the city has Thompson Hill, where travelers entering Duluth on I-35 can see most of Duluth, including the Aerial Lift Bridge and the waterfront. There are two freeway connections from Duluth to Superior. U.S. Highway 2 provides a connection into Superior via the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge; and Interstate 535 is concurrent with U.S. 53 over the John Blatnik Bridge.

Many state highways serve the area. Highway 23 runs diagonally across Minnesota, indirectly connecting Duluth to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Highway 33 provides a western bypass of Duluth connecting Interstate 35, which comes up from the Twin Cities, to U.S. 53, which leads to Iron Range cities and International Falls. Highway 61 provides access to Thunder Bay, Ontario, via the North Shore of Lake Superior. Highway 194 provides a spur route into the city of Duluth known as "Central Entrance" and Mesaba Avenue. Wisconsin Highway 13 reaches along Lake Superior's South Shore. Wisconsin Highway 35 runs along Wisconsin's western border for 412 miles (663 km) to its southern terminus at the Wisconsin–Illinois border (three miles north of East Dubuque).

Highway 61 and parts of Highways 2 and 53 are segments of the Lake Superior Circle Tour route that follows Lake Superior through Minnesota, Ontario, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Duluth International Airport serves the city and surrounding region with daily flights to Minneapolis, Detroit, and Chicago, and weekly flights to Orlando, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Nearby municipal airports are Duluth Sky Harbor on Minnesota Point and the Richard I. Bong Airport in Superior. Both the Bong Airport and Bong Bridge are named for famed World War II pilot and highest-scoring American World War II air ace Major Richard Ira "Dick" Bong, a native of nearby Poplar, Wisconsin.

Located at the western end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the Duluth–Superior seaport is the largest and farthest-inland freshwater seaport in North America. By far the largest and busiest on the Great Lakes, the port handles an average of 46 million short tons of cargo and over 1,100 visits each year from domestic and international vessels. With 49 miles (79 km) of waterfront, it is one of the leading bulk cargo ports in North America and ranks among the top 20 ports in the United States.[58] Duluth is a major shipping port for taconite pellets, made from concentrated low-grade iron ore and destined for midwestern and eastern steel mills. The former Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway, now part of the Canadian National Railway, operates taconite-hauling trains in the area. Duluth is also served by the BNSF Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Union Pacific Railroad.

The local bus system is run by the Duluth Transit Authority, which serves Duluth, Hermantown, Proctor and Superior, Wisconsin. The DTA runs a system of buses manufactured by Gillig, including new hybrids.

Duluth is also served by Skyline Shuttle with daily service to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and Jefferson Lines with daily service to the Twin Cities.