Minnesota
Northlandia: How a few feet of Wisconsin ended up on Minnesota side of St. Louis River
DULUTH — The border between Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, is fairly straightforward to explain.
One is on this aspect of the St. Louis River; the opposite is on that aspect.
And normally, that’s right. However there are two tiny slices of Superior in what you’d count on to be mainland Duluth.
A 3.3-acre parcel on the tip of Spirit Lake Marina and RV Park in Duluth’s Riverside neighborhood and about 4 acres on the finish of Hallett Dock 6 in West Duluth, each alongside the St. Louis River, would seem like in Duluth to most individuals. They’re solely accessible by land from Duluth, in any case.
When Jeff Heller, president of Hallett Dock 6, an lively rail facility, purchased the property, he knew he’d decide up a bit of Wisconsin, however did not know the precise particulars.
“Then we seen we have been being taxed,” Heller stated.
The tax invoice listed a 4-acre parcel in Wisconsin. Immediately, annual taxes quantity to $186,
in response to Douglas County land information.
In addition to taxes, the Wisconsin property would not actually have an effect on the dock’s operations, Heller stated. Nothing is constructed on it and when he prolonged the railroad tracks, he purposely went as much as, however didn’t cross, the state line.
He did joke about opening a bar on the Wisconsin land that boaters might drive as much as of their pontoons.
The slivers of land on the finish of Hallett Dock 6 and Spirit Lake Marina are formally in Superior, due to a state-line dispute case determined by a U.S. Supreme Courtroom greater than 100 years in the past.
The 1920 resolution set the boundary, and prompted a survey and mapping undertaking of the border the next yr.
In 2018, surveyor Tony Lueck, of Duluth Township, replicated that 1921 survey, impressed by an error he discovered whereas finishing a survey of the ghost city of St. Louis close to Oliver, Wisconsin.
“I ran the bearings and distance up the map, after triangulation, but it surely did not shut by 150 ft,” Lueck stated. “I assumed, ‘What the hell? How can now we have a Supreme Courtroom map and it doesn’t shut? These guys are higher than that.’”
So he dug into the court-ordered 1921 border map and its coordinate desk.
The border itself was drawn accurately on the map, however a number of factors that surveyors might use to find the border had been copied incorrect. For instance, a number of numbers have been switched round and the incorrect path was recorded, Lueck found after evaluating the court docket’s coordinates with the agricultural triangulation books present in archives.
“I assumed my survey work was horses—, but it surely wasn’t,” he stated. “There’s an error on the silly line desk on the map.”
His work in replicating the 1921 border survey meant fieldwork on and close to the frozen St. Louis River in addition to a substantial period of time trying by way of microfilm of newspaper protection of the Supreme Courtroom case, county information and archived materials saved on the Jim Dan Hill Library Particular Collections on the College of Wisconsin-Superior.
“It’s only a head-scratcher. There’s no cash in it, nothing like that. It’s simply attention-grabbing historical past, isn’t it?” Lueck stated. “It’d avoid wasting errors from being made sooner or later.”
And, along with uncovering errors, he discovered extra in regards to the historical past of how elements of Wisconsin are in what we usually consider as Minnesota.
Wisconsin grew to become a state in 1848 — a decade earlier than Minnesota — and set the border because the deepest a part of the river, typically known as the pure or essential channel. However Minnesota argued the border fell about halfway between the 2 shores of the river.
Over time, the banks of the St. Louis River modified. Generally the change got here naturally, however most dramatically it was altered by people. Whole islands have been dredged out to make extra room for delivery and fill was added to increase land, creating docks and more room for different waterfront industries.
The Minnesota-side shoreline started encroaching after which crossing the deepest a part of the river (and what Wisconsin thought of the state border).
It’s only a head-scratcher. There’s no cash in it, nothing like that. It’s simply attention-grabbing historical past, isn’t it? It’d avoid wasting errors from being made sooner or later.
Tony Lueck, surveyor
On the finish of Duluth’s 59th Avenue West, Zenith Furnace Co. operated on what’s now Hallett Dock 6. It had stuffed in and prolonged into the St. Louis River.
And the deepest a part of the river additionally ran proper alongside the shore of what’s now Duluth’s Riverside neighborhood, but it surely was coated by piers when the shipyard of McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Co. in Riverside constructed ships for World Conflict I. These docks at the moment are Spirit Lake Marina and RV Park.
The businesses have been being taxed by each states, prompting a lawsuit.
Witnesses within the yearslong border case included “lake captains, professors of historical past and geography and outdated Indian settlers,” in response to a March 9, 1920, Duluth Information Tribune story saying the Supreme Courtroom’s resolution.
It was largely a struggle over semantics, Lueck stated.
“Minnesota’s premise was that the waters have been like a lake — the waters of Lake Superior all the way in which up not less than to Large Island if less than Fond Du Lac — and Wisconsin was saying ‘No, it’s all the time been the river. The mouth has all the time been between Minnesota (Level) and Wisconsin Level,’” he stated.
With the border settled, the properties that straddle the border are not double taxed. Terry Johnson, Superior’s metropolis assessor and the previous assistant county assessor for St. Louis County, is acquainted with the properties from either side of the border.
“They’ll be handled simply as comparable as another properties … there isn’t any type of particular association,” Johnson stated.
“I truthfully by no means even considered it after I was assessing what was over there in Duluth,” Johnson stated of his position at St. Louis County. “I simply checked out ‘OK, that is what’s in Minnesota, worth that portion of land, let Superior fear about what’s over there.’”
Charlie Stauduhar, proprietor of Spirit Lake Marina and RV Park, stated paying taxes to Superior yearly isn’t a giant deal.
Property taxes on the Wisconsin portion quantity to simply over $1,000,
in response to Douglas County information.
He does see the variations play out in environmental rules.
Most notably, final fall, when Minnesota and Wisconsin have been
trying to seize and euthanize geese alongside the St. Louis River
in an effort to carry again wholesome stands of untamed rice. Minnesota officers weren’t fairly prepared, however Wisconsin was, Stauduhar stated.
“So the Wisconsin guys stated, ‘Can we use your property? And we’ll chase them down onto your property and we’ll corral them up on the Wisconsin half,’” Stauduhar stated.
In an electronic mail, Dave Grandmaison, St. Louis River wild rice and habitat coordinator for the Wisconsin Division of Pure Sources, stated that whereas there is no such thing as a lively administration on the Wisconsin parcels, “I can verify that WDNR utilized Wisconsin property and waters for our goose roundup in 2022 to guard wild rice, together with the Wisconsin property on the finish of the Spirit Lake Marina slip.”
For probably the most half, the marina’s border is simply an oddity. “It’s one thing to make gentle of,” Stauduhar stated. “A brief-term buyer coming in with their camper or one thing, we’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going to place you down in Wisconsin.’”
Minnesota
Goalie Nicole Hensley stars as league-leading Minnesota Frost top New York Sirens in shootout | CBC Sports
Nicole Hensley made back-to-back saves in the shootout and the Minnesota Frost earned their fourth straight victory with a 4-3 win over the New York Sirens on Sunday in Newark, N.J.
It was the fourth time in seven all-time meetings that a game between the teams was decided in OT and the second this season. New York won the season opener in St. Paul, Minn.
Kendall Coyne Schofield scored two first-period goals to stake the Frost to the early lead and Taylor Heise beat Kayle Osborne, who relieved starter Abigail Levy in the New York net to start the second period, two minutes in to make it a 3-0 lead.
WATCH l Heise scores shootout winner:
But Osborne did not allow another goal in regulation and wasn’t seriously challenged in overtime while the Sirens staged a comeback. Brooke Hobson and Elizabeth Giguere each scored in the second period and Alex Carpenter pounced on a loose puck and lifted a shot over Hensley’s shoulder from deep in the face-off circle to tie the game midway through the third period.
Hensley was brilliant in overtime, turning away four close-in, open shots by the Sirens (2-1-1-1), two of them on breakaway chances.
Minnesota (4-0-1-0) got goals from Denisa Křížová, Grace Zumwinkle and Heise in the shootout. Noora Tulus and Carpenter each converted in the shootout for New York, but Hensley came up with a save on Sarah Fillier before stopping the final two shooters for the Sirens.
Hensley finished with 33 saves on 36 shots to earn the win. Osborne made 18 saves on 19 shots over her 45 minutes in goal for New York. Carpenter’s two-goal effort lifted her past Coyne Schofield and into the league lead with four goals in her first five games and she now has a league-leading seven points.
WATCH l Sirens’ Fillier, Carpenter test their off-ice chemistry:
Minnesota
Unique northern Minnesota border airport closing after 70 years
A northern Minnesota airport with an unusual claim to fame is closing after 70 years of operation.
The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport near Roseau is the only airport with a paved runway crossing the U.S.-Canada border.
The border airport opened in 1953 to expedite customs processing for air travelers and was regularly used by hunters and anglers flying to Canada.
Initially, the airport had a grass runway that ended at the border, but in 1978 a runway expansion added a paved runway that extended into Canada.
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Customs agents would meet travelers on either side of the border.
But declining usage and significant impending repair costs led to the decision to close the one of a kind operation, said Ryan Gaug, director of the Minnesota Department of Transportation aeronautics office.
“We know that the pavement condition has declined significantly over the years and will need a reconstruct most likely in the next one to three years,” said Gaug.
Short-term costs to bring the facility up to safety standards is estimated at $3.8 million.
Piney-Pinecreek is the only airport owned by MnDOT, and it is operated in collaboration with the Rural Municipality of Piney, Manitoba.
A Canadian official said the local government could not raise the money to pay its share of the planned improvement costs and Piney officials ended the joint operations agreement.
Gaug said an estimated 200 airplanes a year use the facility, far lower than traffic at similar sized facilities.
There are six airports on the U.S.-Canada border, but Piney-Pinecreek is the only one with a paved runway.
“It’s always been the No. 1 fun fact that I’ve shared with friends, family, coworkers, colleagues here at MnDOT,” said Gaug.
“It’s a tough decision to close an airport ever, but the evidence was all there that now was the time,” he said.
There are no local airplanes based at the airport.
“It’s very sad for the community to lose its airport,” said Marlin Elton, a local resident who served on the airport commission and helped maintain the facility for 30 years.
Elton said the closure hasn’t raised concerns in the community because “if you don’t fly, it won’t affect you. The ones who will be affected are the pilots who use it.”
Gaug said MnDOT reached out to pilots and aviation groups to gauge support for keeping the airport open but found “there just isn’t a strong user base for this airport and that also led to not a strong local support fighting to keep this airport.”
The final day of operations for the Piney-Pinecreek airport is Dec. 26.
Minnesota
NEXT Weather: 10 p.m. report for Minnesota from Dec. 21, 2024
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