Growing up in Superior, WI (aka the “some mill in Wisconsin”) I remember the storm and the story of the Fitz very well as well as Gordon’s hit, and would have been standing point as the Fitz cruised past on it’s final voyage. When the ice breaks up in the spring, a strong storm from the east will throw semi truck chunks of ice two feet thick onto shore 20-25 feet tall, and on calmer days the ice chunks flow past that light house at a steady 3-5 knot from the bay to the lake. Wisconsin Point is a little less “lawless” today than it was back in high school (a lot of bonfire “Point Parties” submarine races, and pig roasts), and I can neither confirm nor deny jumping off of the lighthouse into the water and spending quality time with my first steady girlfriend looking out itoward the horizon. I’ll be a regular viewer.
SS Edmund Fitzgerald
- Thread starter Claudel Xerxes
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Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
I used to visit Duluth all the time. My friend worked at St Scholastica College. He lived on Minnesota Ave heading out to the point. Great view of the harbor from his deck. Tough town in the winter, Duluth. But I'll forever be a Bulldogs fan.
I'm a UWS alum and after our ROTC Detachment was combined with UMD and St Scholastica, we had to travel to UMD in the cold, dark, early hours up over the hill to attend classes. It was always colder and snowier over the hill, and I remember people standing on their porches with their coffee watching us trying to climb the icy, hilly streets in the winter. Nothing worse than being in "drive" and not making headway, if not sliding backwards down the "San Francisco-ish" hills and in 10 below zero weather, being passed by some guy out getting his daily run in on the sidewalk. No doubt both of us were thinking the same thing: "what kind of fool idiot would be out in these conditions?" Minnesota Ave is a tough area in the winter and it was always interesting to see how high the snow drifts could get after a blizzard, because it would always be worse on the peninsula -- well, it used to be a peninsula in the beginning, but I guess it's really an island in the true sense.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
I was just down the road and spent a year as a Bulldog before tranferring out. I did learn how to play rugby and a lot of songs that cannot be sung in polite company.
It's fortunate that sort of thing could never happen to a modern passenger airplane...
In Florida we have Lake Okeechobee, the 2nd largest fresh water lake that is entirely within the continental United States.
While it is large in area, it only has an average depth of about 13'. You wouldn't think water that shallow could develop rough water?
We had a small 16' bass boat when I was fifteen. We used to go out into the lake. Thunderstorms would come up and with the winds, it would turn up some heavy chop.
Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
Pahokee!!!
Yes, we used to drive up from Fort Lauderdale. Pahokee is on US-98. We took US-27 and went to Clewiston, which was another gem.
I don't recall news stories about the wreck as I was just a pre-schooler. However, I certainly recall the song from those days.
At some point, I looked more into the Edmund Fizgerald, and it blew my mind to find out how many shipwrecks there were (and lives lost) in the Great Lakes. Growing up on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, I just never thought about it.
At some point, I looked more into the Edmund Fizgerald, and it blew my mind to find out how many shipwrecks there were (and lives lost) in the Great Lakes. Growing up on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, I just never thought about it.
