Last Call at the Pilot House
Duluth Herald late-edition special report
Thursday, Jan. 28, 1915
By Joe Crisp, Senior Shipping Reporter
A famed local maritime drinking establishment has shut its doors. This is the ship’s pilot house on the tip of Timber Point in the harbor. For 16 years it has operated as the Pilot House bar. Initially serving a clientele made up exclusively of members of the Great Lakes Life Saving Service, soon it caught on with sailors and dock workers. Older Duluthians recall its origin, as the pilot house of the doomed Marchande which stuck out of the water in the shipping lanes for weeks in 1899. She had sunk by the stern as her cargo shifted, but her nose bobbed up. Using a floating crane, the Life Savers salvaged the pilot house and installed it on Timber Point. There they collectively owned and operated it as a business, until last night.
Because today, as the war in Europe heats up, the 45-year-old Life Saving Service has been officially subsumed into the Revenue Cutter Service. The resulting compound organization forms the newest branch of the armed forces, the United States Coast Guard. The Pilot House is a casualty of new regulations and a wave of retirements. Some old-timer Life Savers don’t wish to adapt, nor to compete against much younger men in basic training, to re-qualify for what will be different jobs. Many jobs are being eliminated. All three of Duluth’s Life Saving stations — at Park Point, Lester River, and Stony Point — have been officially replaced by the single new Coast Guard station in the harbor. The oars and battered wooden surfboats of the Life-Savers have given way to a steel steam-powered Coast Guard cutter, and a modern Life-Saving station complete with radio equipment and a machine shop. Among the sweeping changes are rules prohibiting Coast Guard personnel profiting from salvage. And since all the booze served at the Pilot House was salvaged from local shipwrecks, this effectively puts the bar out of business. Last night was last call. (more…)
Postcard from the Barney B. Barstow
There isn’t a lot of information online about the Barney B. Barstow of Duluth, featured in this undated postcard published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. But there are a few tidbits that suggest the vessel gets its name from a Superior attorney who, according to the June 1969 issue of Maritime Reporter Magazine, was one of eight directors at Fraser Shipyards, serving as secretary. (more…)
Birkie Giant Ski 2025: The Stage is Set
The stage is set for the “giantest show on snow.” The American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race on Main Street in Hayward happens tonight.
Gaelynn Lea celebrated at Console Room
Photo from Console Room.
Duluthian Gaelynn Lea was recently celebrated as a Guest at Console Room, the Minnesota Doctor Who convention. The music performed was sublime, the programming inflected by music in ways that the convention rarely experiences. All weekend long, I felt her impact on the convention, just as, in Duluth, I regularly feel the impact on our community. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Valentine’s Day on the Wild Side
Take a walk on the wild side with this week’s quiz, which recaps local Valentine’s Day celebrations that had some kind of critter connection.
A month-in-review quiz comes your way on Feb. 23. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat @ gmail.com by Feb 20. (more…)
Oliver Inn adds lounge and four new guest rooms
The Snively Lounge and four new guest rooms are being added to the 13-room Oliver Inn in Downtown Duluth. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
A new lounge featuring antique chandeliers, a forest of ferns and a make-your-own-music stage is part of a hotel expansion project inside a history-filled Downtown Duluth landmark.
The Snively Lounge is expected to open along with four new ground-floor guest rooms at the Oliver Inn, 132 E. Superior St., later this spring. The remodeling project replaces space formerly occupied by Wasabi Duluth, a Japanese restaurant that closed Dec. 31 and consolidated operations in Superior. (more…)
Greetings from Duluth, Minnesota
This undated postcard, published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography circa the 1960s, shows the Duluth Harbor from Observation Hill.
The caption on the back reads:
Duluth, Minn.
Vessels from all the world’s ports arrive here after transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes.
Fire
“Fire” was conceived as a response to a prompt from the Listeners Voices program on Two Harbors Community Radio. In the multi-media creation, Richmond provides a narrative of an adventure on the Two Harbors breakwall during a -28° afternoon with wind speeds gusting at 30 m.p.h.
Loading an Ore Ship: The Massive Mesabi Miner
For your educational viewing pleasure, Douglas Hildebrandt uses aerial footage to show how the massive Mesabi Miner is loaded with taconite at Canadian National Dock 6 in West Duluth.
Skyline Parkway connection to Jay Cooke Park planned in 1925
The caption for this graphic from the Feb. 11, 1925 Duluth Herald reads: “Map showing extent of Duluth’s heritage at Jay Cooke park; road which has been completed so far in the district connection with the Duluth park system, and the 1.6 miles of road which it is hoped to complete this year if the state legislature appropriates $40,000 for that purpose. Completion of the road will give Duluthians a direct route to the park.”
Before Highway 210 connected Jay Cooke State Park to Highway 23, Duluthians had to travel a long, “dusty and sometimes tiresome road,” to get to the “picturesque and pleasing stopping place,” according to an article in the Feb. 11, 1925 issue of the Duluth Herald. (more…)
Duluth Book Releases in 2025
Presenting Perfect Duluth Day’s annual rundown of books by Duluth-area writers and/or about Duluth-area topics that are new to bookstores and e-commerce sites. (more…)
Rachael Kilgour back in Duluth for Valentine’s Day Show
After a busy year touring her new album across the United States and Canada, singer-songwriter Rachael Kilgour is back in Duluth for Valentine’s Day. An open cynic of the romance industrial complex — known for her unflinching examination of a broken heart — Kilgour may seem like an odd choice to headline Sacred Heart Music Center’s annual Valentine’s concert. (more…)
Postcard from the Riverview Motel circa 1955
This postcard shows the Riverview Motel in West Duluth, which was replaced in the early 2000s by Westgate Townhomes. (more…)
Nolen Sellwood – “Forthcome”
Duluth’s Nolen Sellwood performed this track from his 2024 album Cadence to the Flame at Sacred Heart Music Center.
JamesG – “Just a Hair”
Former Duluthian James Geisler, aka JamesG, drops into Cutting Edge Barbershop in Coon Rapids in his latest music video.
Postcard from Skyline Parkway Overlooking DM&IR Ore Docks
This undated postcard shows the DM&IR ore docks, which mark the border between Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, then known as the West End, and West Duluth.
Duluth Deep Dive #1: Sandbars
From top to bottom, freshwater sandbars in Lake Eerie, Lake Baikal and our own on Lake Superior. In each image, the red line represents 15 miles. (Images from Google Earth)
The 10-mile combined length of Minnesota and Wisconsin Point is often described as one of the world’s longest natural freshwater sandbars. But which sandbars is it being compared against? This post takes a closer look at the world’s longest sandbars (and includes a Geoguessr challenge of remarkable sandbars around the world). (more…)
PDD Geoguessr becomes Duluth Deep Dive (with a Geoguessr)
PDD Geoguessr is getting a rebranding for 2025. Last year’s analytics showed that a lot more people were reading the context around the games than playing the games themselves. In recognition of this, the new monthly format will put more focus on the topic rather than just providing a link for the game. To keep the posts connected to cultural geography — and to show some appreciation to the dedicated PDD Geoguessr players — the posts will still conclude with a Geoguessr challenge. This announcement marks the transition with a Geoguessr challenge that fits the old format better than the new one. (more…)
Minnesota Land Surveyor’s Deathbed Confession, 1907
The text below is reproduced from a handwritten document that slipped out of a book of maps at the Minnesota Historical Society. Its authentication remains in progress.
I die happy seeing the completion of the Minnesota land survey, and the dissolution of the Office of the Surveyor General. He surveyed himself out of a job. We all did, the great work of our lives. It took five decades. But holes were chopped through the state that cannot be filled. I discovered a flaw in the measurements in the summer of 1855 when we were still just a territory. And I have knowledge of the disappearance of my hated competitor as he fell between the parallels, in the woods of what is now northeast Duluth.
Many surveying companies were employed by the Surveyor General. Mine was one and I was sworn in as a deputy surveyor. Rough work. We camped away from home for months, in 10-man teams: axe-men, chainmen, cooks, and muleskinners. Our families didn’t know if we were alive or dead until we returned (or failed to) for the winter break. (more…)
Great Lakes Now: A Different Perspective on the Fur Trade
Great Lakes Now interviews artist/historian Carl Gawboy about his book Fur Trade Nation: An Ojibwe’s Graphic History.
Perfect Duluth Day’s 20,000th Blog Post
After more than 21 years as “Duluth’s Duluthiest website,” Perfect Duluth Day today randomly hits the milestone of publishing its 20,000th blog post. (more…)
Big Into – “Lucy’s Dope Lil Spare Bedroom”
The latest video from Iron Range nerd-rockers Big Into is for those who’ve got the feeling they’re being watched.
Rob on Bikes: Dreamland at Spirit Mountain
Dreamland mountain bike trail opened at Spirit Mountain last fall. Two minutes into his October ride, Rob of Rob on Bikes crashed and scratched his GoPro lens, but persevered to pull together a segment with only slightly obscured footage.
Plans for Arrowhead Bridge emerge in 1925
One hundred years ago plans were emerging to build what would later be called the Arrowhead Bridge, which spanned the St. Louis River from Grassy Point in West Duluth to Billings Park in Superior. Construction of the bridge was completed in 1927. It was dismantled in 1985 after the opening of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge. (more…)