Street scene shows a packed dirt road lined with sidewalks. Several multi-story houses line the road. Two harbors courthouse on the right. Two Churches on the left. Identified as 4th Avenue, Two Harbors.
Image of wooden sign spanning road that reads "Silver Creek Cliff." on Trunk Highway 1, currently Scenic Highway 61. Dirt road runs underneath the sign which frames the road. A wooden storefront appears beyond the sign.
Image of the tugboat, Ella G. Stone, anchored off of the rocky shoreline in Burlington Bay. The Ella G. Stone was the first Duluth and Iron Range Company Tug used to supply workers and materials to build railroads and ore docks in Two Harbors (1883-1896).
Image of a group of men leveling the ground behind a steam powered machine. A man appears in the foreground, seated on a second piece of equipment. Bridge over the Beaver River near Beaver Bay, Minnesota. Completed during the Trunk Highway 1 project, now known as Scenic Highway 61.
Image of new steel bridge over Beaver River near Beaver Bay, Minnesota. Completed during the Trunk Highway 1 project, now known as Scenic Highway 61. A second, older bridge appears beneath the new bridge. Grand opening of the highway was celebrated in 1925, construction north of Two Harbors began 1922.
Image of John Beargrease and brother delivering mail for Grand Marais, Minnesota by dogsled. Packed trail is somewhere between Two Harbors and Grand Marais, Minnesota. Before road improvements in the 1920s, a combination of dogsleds, steam ships, sail boats, and sleighs were used to deliver mail to settlements north of Two Harbors. Working in pairs, contracted carriers would make the perilous journey twice weekly.
Mail delivery, especially in the winter, was tough on the north shore of Lake Superior. During the wintertime, a combination of sleigh and dogsled were used to distribute mail and people north of Two Harbors. Not until 1925 when the roads were improved North of Two Harbors could mail carriers easily travel their routes.
Image taken from bluff above bay showing passenger steamer "Ossifrage" at dock. Large dock owned by the Weiland Family, a prosperous family that owned and operated a lumber company out of Beaver Bay (1860-1883). Note the group of men and women of the village standing next to a tipi in the image foreground. Weiland homestead on hill above the dock.
Image of steam powered shovel stamped with "Foley Brothers Contractors" on the side. Shovel is loading a horse drawn wagon with dirt. Construction of Caribou River section of Trunk Highway 1, now known as Scenic Highway 61. Foley Brothers Contractors, based out of Saint Paul, worked with the Minnesota Highway Department to construct roads across Minnesota including Trunk Highway 1.
Close up image of steam powered shovel stamped with "Foley Brothers Contractors" on the top. Shovel is loading a horse drawn wagon with dirt. Wagon ruts appear on the level surface. Caribou River section of Trunk Highway 1, now known as Scenic Highway 61. Foley Brothers Contractors, based out of Saint Paul, worked with the Minnesota Highway Department to construct roads across Minnesota including Trunk Highway 1.
In 1893, James J. Hill's Northern Steamship Company built 385-foot ocean style passenger steamers. In 1911, the peak year, 80,000 passengers traveled to Lake Superior. After 1920, the number of passenger cruise ships diminished with the advent of "motor-cars." Very few cruise ships were still in service after World War II. The Canadian steel steamer Huronic was constructed in Collingwood, Ontario, in 1902. She ran on the Northern Navigation Division of the Canadian Steamship Company, on cruise trips from Detroit to Duluth. In 1940, the Huronic was dismantled and made into a package freighter.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Ore boat leaving Duluth. Detroit Publishing Co. was a prolific post card publisher, especially in the U.S. Their cards were published from 1898 to 1933. Using a color process called Phostint, their cards were considered to be very artistic. The hobby of collecting post cards is called deltiology. The first post card was issued by the Austrian government, America's first postcards came out in 1873. Picture postcards were introduced later. The golden age of postcards was supposed to date from 1907 through the first World War.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
The caption says The Aerial Bridge Span 393 feet 9 inches, 135 feet high from water line, cost $100,000 Duluth, Minn. A few more details that are not on this card are that the Aerial Bridge was completed in February, 1905. The Aerial Bridge transporter or gondola or transfer car roadway was 17 feet by 50 feet with sidewalks seven feet by 50 feet and the cabins were 30 feet long. This original bridge was modified with the lift span in 1929 and first operated March 19, 1930.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections