(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "Almanac North," I'm Maarja Hewitt.

Tonight, we are joined by regional railroad experts and historians to discuss the past, present, and future of railroading in the Northland.

That's what's to come on tonight's episode.

But first, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will host a public meeting with the Pierce County Deer Advisory Council to provide information on Chronic Wasting Disease, CWD, in Wisconsin.

Local testing efforts and disease surveillance option's being considered.

The meeting will be held at 6:00 PM, on Wednesday, August 14th, in Spring Valley.

In April, the DNR confirmed the first positive test result for CWD in a wild deer in Pierce County.

The deer was located in the town of Spring Lake and is within 10 miles of the Dunn and St. Croix County borders.

CWD is a fatal infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk, and reindeer caribou.

The DNR began monitoring the state's wild white-tailed deer population for CWD in 1999.

In late July, the Minnesota Department of Health confirmed three measles cases in unvaccinated children in the Twin Cities Metro Area, which once again stresses the importance of getting children vaccinated.

The best way to prevent measles and other communicable diseases is through immunization.

Children should receive two doses of measles, mumps, and rubella MMR vaccine.

The first at 12 to 15 months of age, and the second at four to six years of age.

"For all ages, it is important to talk to a physician to make sure you and your family are up to date on your immunizations," says Minnesota Medical Association President, Laurel Ries.

"Diseases like measles have made a comeback because of low immunization rates.

We thought we had these diseases beat years ago."

Measles is a highly contagious rash illness, which can develop into a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and even death.

Measles spreads easily by coughing, sneezing, or even being in the same room with someone who has measles.

The virus can remain in the air for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area.

Additional information about measles can be found on the Minnesota Department of Health Measles website.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation will be starting pavement construction on Highway 2 near Floodwood on August 12th.

This project is a two minutes mill and overlay of the highway between Highway 200 and County Road 845, Mackey Road.

No work will take place in the city of Floodwood between Ash Street and Highway 73.

Motorists can expect lane closures, flaggers, and use of a pilot car during operations.

Work is expected to be complete by mid-October.

For more information as well as a video update about the upcoming work, please visit the MnDOT Project website.

Well, and now to the main topic of this episode, railroads.

Railroads were the first backbone that connected the United States and played a major role in shaping the region around us.

Our first guest joining us tonight is the author of the new book, "Twin Ports Trains," Tony Dierckins.

Tony, welcome to Almanac North.

- Thanks for having me.

- It's a pleasure to have you here.

And Tony, for many folks, your name is synonymous with history of Duluth and the region.

You've written a dozen books about Duluth history.

Tell us about this book.

- This one kind of ties a lot together.

It's a, it's a comprehensive thing, 'cause if you know, if you look at Duluth history, everything leads back to the coming of the first railroad.

It made all the difference of the world to us to get that railroad and it, and it was the big, you know, we- This is a book about both Duluth and Superior.

Not getting the railroad was an even bigger deal for Superior, because it set them back some 10-15 years development wise.

So up until, you know, I mean, for decades, most of Duluth's history, railroads played a key role.

You can watch as, as we get more railroads, the population goes up, we get more industry, our economic high points and low points run parallel to those of the railroads.

When the railroads were doing well, the Twin Ports were doing well, when the railroads weren't doing so well, especially in the post World War II era, you saw the decline in both the economy and populations in Duluth and Superior as well.

- So you've written so many books about Duluth history, some on Glensheen, some on beer even.

With trains, did, how- Where did you start from researching, or you already have it gathered?

- No, you start by getting yourself a co-author who's an expert on trains in fact.

Jeff Lemke, who wrote the book with me, is an expert on Duluth and Superior rail history in particular, he spent most of his life studying it, and amassed collection of over 50,000 images related to Twin Ports rail history.

Just an amazing guy.

That from my end, it helped that I knew Duluth history.

And we could tie the two together.

So we have a different kind of railroad book.

Most railroad books are about one railroad.

It's entire history or it's history in one state.

We've kind of turned that around.

Our book is about the community of the Twin Ports, you know, which, you know, let's face it, if there wasn't an imaginary state line between us, we'd be one community here, and the over 20 railroads that served it.

And you can see with railroad development, we also have civic development.

The railroads help change the shape of our city's borders and profoundly changed the lower St. Louis River and Bay with all the infrastructure tied with industry as well.

- Oh, wow, I can imagine you could probably make 20 books that size based on all the different railroads.

- It's, it's an, it's an incredible story, and we had, we, you know, the biggest goal for us was to write something that people could wrap their heads around and enjoy as a history, and not have to be a rail fan, - Yeah.

- To enjoy it.

Because this is, this, like I said, it's a history of Duluth and Superior.

And no matter what I write about, I've written books on architecture, Duluth's parks, as you mentioned, Duluth breweries, the aerial bridge, everything, all these inanimate things, I'm always writing about people.

Because it's people, the railroads serve people, it's how we got around before everybody could afford an automobile with transportation.

It moved all the raw materials in, and the finished goods out, and vice versa in different communities.

They're absolutely vital to us.

And as they declined, you know, Duluth and Superior became the buckle of the Rust Belt.

And so, you know, you can, like I said before, you can make these wonderful parallels and it's a really unique way to look at the history of the head of the lakes here, - Yeah.

- And put it in perspective like that.

- You know, this book, and I know a lot of your other books too, there's always a lot of visuals, and photos.

And I know you sent some to us, so maybe we can pull a few of them up.

- Yeah, we have 275 at least images in the book.

- So how do you, how do you go about gathering these?

- Well, Jeff's collection was for more of the modern ones and then also the local archives, UMDs, archives at the Martin Library.

The Lake Superior Railroad Museums archives as well.

Douglas County Historical Society helped us out.

UWS has the Lake Superior maritime collection, which also has some railroad related images in there.

So we seek out all these images, there's wonderful archivists all over the upper Midwest here that help us out.

We've collected quite a few over the years as you can guess, and we try to find those that, that best tell the story.

- What's this big, long landscape image?

- This big, long landscape, this is 1914 on Rice's Point.

These are the switch engines that belong to the Northern Pacific Railroad.

These engines moved the trains around and hooked up the trains, moved them.

They never, these engines never left the Twin Ports.

They were all for moving things around the train yards, and everything.

- They were the working train?

And this is the whole armada of switch engines out there with, if you can look closer, it's hard to see, but, you've got both, you've got conductors and engineers and Northern Pacific officials.

And their three piece suits next to the guys in the overalls and caps.

It's a really fascinating photo, and it's just one of, like I said, do you know- One of the great things these old photographers did was not just take pictures of locomotives and train cars, but they always had people in them.

- Highlight people.

- It gave a perspective, and it reminded you that this is a human endeavor.

You know, and it's the really, especially the older 19th century photographers, really made sure that they included people in their pictures, absolutely fascinating.

- Those photos are so fun to see.

So where can folks find your book?

- Well, if you're not in Duluth, you can find it, Zenith City online, or zenithcity.com, our website.

But of course, all the local stores bookstore, at Zenith bookstore, Glensheen gift shop, the Marine Museum, the, of course, the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, where we launched the book last Thursday.

Just different gift shops, art doc, go to gift shop and ask for it, and they'll probably have it.

- A lot of options.

Tony, thank you so much for joining us.

- Well, thanks for letting me tell you about the book tonight, I really appreciate the time.

(upbeat music) - Keeping the conversation on railroads chugging along, we are now joined by executive director of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum and the general manager of the North Shore Scenic Railroad, Ken Buehler.

Ken, welcome - Maarja, thanks for having us.

- Happy to have you here, and happy to be interviewing you once again, of course.

Let's talk about how, how you got into railroad history, and why you wanted to be a part of railroad history.

- Well, everyone thinks I'm a big railroad historian, and my actual love is of history in itself.

And the way it is, there were two Americas, there was the Agrarian society, where everyone was born, lived and died in about a 25 mile radius.

And there's the America today, a world leader economically, and in democracy, and a beacon of light.

And what made the transition from this one America to today's America, was the railroads.

Because railroads could move product, but more importantly, they could move people.

And with those people came ideas.

So an idea that is now working in Georgia, and everyone thinks it's a great idea, that person can now take that idea and it can work across the country.

And that's how America grew, prospered, and keeps moving today.

So you can't have American history, which I love, without having railroads.

- Yeah, that's a great point.

Railroads are at the base of it all.

So let's talk about the Lake Superior Railroad Museum.

For folks who haven't been there, what can people enjoy?

What do they see when they come and visit?

- They will see what USA today voted as the best transportation museum in America.

Now to win that honor, we competed against maritime museums, aviation, automotive, and railroads.

And they voted us as the best transportation museum in America.

It's a one and done, and we work hard every single day to live up to that.

What you're gonna see is a collection of railroad artifacts, huge steam locomotives, the most powerful steam locomotive ever built.

The first Minnesota steam engine ever to be in the state.

All sorts of railroad artifacts, life size, full size, and a very unique collection.

Our railroad museum has a very small radius.

In other words, everything you see in the museum at the Lake Spear Railroad Museum at the St. Louis County Depot has a tie to this area.

There's only one item in the collection that you go, well, that shouldn't be here.

Everything else was equipment from railroads or industries that was used in this area.

That's a very unique distinction.

Most railroad museums, and even automotive museums will have this wide range of items, but ours are all unique to this area.

- And something I really like about the museum is walking around and seeing the little shops from the eras and looking in.

And you can crawl around in some of the train cars too.

Not crawl, I mean, I'm thinking of my 2-year-old.

- Right, I was just gonna say, you know, for some, for families, we're a great family destination.

As you say, we've got the Depot square, the historic buildings from downtown Duluth at the turn of the century.

But yes, we, for some people, your little ones included, we are half trained museum, half jungle gym.

- Yeah, right.

And then folks can also enjoy the North Shore Scenic Railroad from the museum too.

- What we do with the North Shore Scenic Railroad is we take these historic pieces of railroad antiquity, the artifacts from the museum, and then put them to use on what they were built to do, which is carry people.

Obviously we don't have anywhere to go, but we do have exciting excursions that you can relive, that golden age of railroading, under dome cars, first class under the glass, we call it, in classic open air coaches, and open window coaches, or in air condition coaches and comfort.

It's all these different experiences, just like back in the day on railroads.

And you can take all sorts of different rides.

You can take our little short ride, you can go to Two Harbors, you can do our pizza train, our elegant dinner trains, which start next week.

And of course this coming weekend, it's all about the number one engine from the island of Sodor, Sir Topham Hat is here, with his favorite engine Thomas the Tank Engine.

- That's right, so the first weekend was this past weekend, and another weekend to check it out, up in Two Harbors, right?

- Up in Two Harbors, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

As with all things in the North Shore Scenic Railroad, it's a click away at duluthtrains.com.

- You know, something that I find fascinating with trains and railroads is whether you're two, or you're 82, there's a fa- there is a fascination.

- There is.

And I think whether, if you're a a little person, it's how big and powerful they are.

If you are an adult, it's bringing that little person to be impressed and have their eyes widened.

Especially if you have a Thomas appreciative person.

But for others, it's, I remember riding on those, I remember taking that train ride, I remember going to bootcamp on a train like this one.

And that is either a memory, or something that they want to pass on.

You know, I always say our train museum is wonderful, and I really am very lucky to work there.

But nothing happens at a train museum until somebody tells somebody else their railroad story.

Whether it was, you know, your grandpa used to work here.

Or your uncle was on the train, or I remember when I was on the train.

When those stories start to be told from generation to generation, that's when the stuff in the museum takes on its real importance, because a family story gets shared.

- It's the nostalgia, - And everyone's got a family train story.

And if they don't, we make a new one for them on the North Shore Scenic Railroad.

- There you go.

Well, let's talk a little bit about future of railroad and train in Duluth.

The Northern Lights Express, you've been a big part of that since the beginning.

- It's been a lot of us, yes.

- Yeah.

Where, where is that right now?

- Northern Lights Express is at a crucial point now.

This is the train connecting Duluth Superior to Minneapolis, about a two and a half hour journey, State-of-the-Art railroading, run by Amtrak, which we're now funded from the state of Minnesota fully, thanks to the legislators in this area and across the state that saw the beauty of this.

We are now going for the last tranche of federal dollars that will pay for the 80%.

We've got the 20% in our back pocket.

80% of this will come from federal money.

And that application is due this fall with an award, hopefully by the end of the year or the first part of next year.

If that all comes to fruition, then we will have the funding, the resources, and more importantly, the plan to build a railroad to reestablish railroad passenger service between Duluth Superior and Minneapolis, and Maarja, it's gonna be a train that will change everything.

- Yeah, how so?

- You know, everybody thinks that, you know, the car is the ultimate way to get from point A to point B.

And it is, but it's not for everybody.

My father is 97 years old.

I wouldn't let him drive in Duluth, let alone Minneapolis.

But there are things that he may wanna do in Minneapolis.

You may wanna go to a Twins game, you may want to come to Duluth and spend a weekend in downtown Duluth, experiencing Canal Park in the North Shore in Lake Superior.

But maybe you can't get there from here, because you don't drive, or you choose not to drive.

You know the, the younger Gen Zers have the lowest driving participation of any generation that's come down the pike?

They're saying in large numbers, you know, I don't want a car.

I'll rent a car when I need one, and I like public transportation.

And this is just another alternative.

It's not for everybody, but it's an alternative.

And for some people, the railroad is the way to go.

Why would you drive and have windshield time when you could sit back, relax, let somebody else do the driving, and be productive for that time between Duluth and Twin Cities?

You could do, you can work on your computer, you can be on your cell phone.

You can do all these things that you cannot do in your automobile.

- Well, that could be the future of railroad.

- That is the future.

- Yap.

Ken, thank you so much for joining us - Maarja, thank you for having us.

(upbeat music) - Our final guest for the program is Lake County Historical Society Executive Director Ellen Lynch.

Ellen, thank you for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- So what drew you to work with the Lake County Historical Society and the Depot Museum?

- Well, I've always really been interested in history and particularly in museums, 'cause it dives a little bit deeper than what you get from history in K-12 education.

I've worked a little bit in museums down in the cities at Mill City Museum, as well as the American Swedish Institute.

And when the position opened up, I just decided to take a chance and move to the Northland.

- That's awesome, well, welcome, we're happy to have you here.

- Yes, well, thank you.

Yeah, so I've been executive director for about five years, and we managed three sites, the Two Harbors Lighthouse, the Two Harbors Depot, as well as the 3M Birthplace Museum.

So just, you know, a lot of different hats, and that's what I really love about this position.

- Yeah, different aspects of history of Two Harbors too.

- Exactly, yes, yes.

- So tell us about the Depot and the history of the Depot and Two Harbors.

- Sure, so the Depot was constructed in 1907, and it was the headquarters of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad.

So the railroad really got started in the 1880s, well, 1883 to 1884 to be specific to the DMNIR, or excuse me, the DNIR laid track from Agate Bay all the way to the Vermilion Range, which is now known as the Iron Range.

- Oh, wow.

- So that fast construction of the trackage really led to a shipping boom out of Agate Bay as the iron ore needed to be shipped out of a port on Superior, which Agate Bay was chosen to be that site.

So that quick construction of the railroad inland brought a construction boom to Agate Bay, which then thus built the Wooden Orthodox in Agate Bay, parts of which are still used today.

- So that's a very important track.

- Yes.

- That witted in the 1880s.

- Yes, and exact- And the Three Spot, which is the little engine on display outside of the Two Harbors Depot, actually built that track out to the Vermilion range.

So it was put on display in 1923, right next to the historic Depot, which was built in 1907 to also carry passengers and become a hub for the growing city.

- Yeah so, role did the railroad play in the development of Two Harbors?

- Sure.

So the Two Harbors was previously known as Agate Bay, and while it had been settled previously, really White settlement kind of accelerated with the boom of the railroad.

And when the railroad came to town in 1883 and began to construct tracks out to the Vermillion range, so too did the city grow from a small hamlet into a larger city.

By 1900, approximately 3000 people called Two Harbors home.

And a lot of that was due to the railroad, and increasing traffic from the Orthodox into the Vermillion Range and back.

So with the construction of the Orthodox, larger shipping traffic came up as did, and then so as the increased shipping was in Agate Bay, the lighthouse got built in 1893 to help guide ships in and out of the Orthodox.

So all of that history is connected back to the railroad.

And really without the introduction of the Orthodox and the railroad, construction wouldn't have been as accelerated as it was in the early part of the 20th century.

- So a very integral part?

- Yes.

A very integral, integral part, yeah.

- So now the Depot is a museum?

- Yes.

- So what can people find when they come to the museum?

- Yes, so right now the Depot is one of our three sites.

So we are open 10 to 5, and it is open for a $5 admission charge.

We do a little bit of programming.

Actually August, 20th we will be doing concerts on the Depot platform.

So it's part of our "Depot at Dusk" series, where people can come down and enjoy the beautiful views of Agate Bay that we do have and listen to some fun local music.

- Oh, that's fun.

- So yeah.

- And is that a, is there a charge to get in?

- That is free and open to the public.

So that is one of our free days.

We are also open this weekend with Thomas the Tank.

We have free admission to our Depot museum, so you can come explore the history of Lake County.

And the Depot does offer displays for railroading and development of Lake County, which includes Finland, and kind of Greater Lake County as well.

- Are there any particular memorable stories or artifacts related to the railroad industry or history in the museum's collection?

- Sure, we have plenty of artifacts and displays on exhibit.

So one of the most important things is kind of a piece of railroad from the Alger-Smith Logging Company, which used to be based out of Knife River, and really have a high volume of traffic.

So that is kind of a symbol of one type of railroading history that we have in Lake County.

- When people visit the museum and they walk out the doors, what do you hope that they leave understanding or feeling?

- Sure, I hope that they get a little bit more connection to the personal stories that Two Harbors and Greater Lake County is founded on.

And like I mentioned, we do operate three historic sites, so not only does the Depot tell that story, but also the Two Harbors Lighthouse, as well as the 3M Birthplace Museum tells the story of the history and, the rich history of Lake County, a story that we've been telling for over, for nearly a century, yeah.

- And they, all the sites are intertwined in a way?

- Yep, all the sites are intertwined.

So for $10 you can visit all three sites.

The depot and lighthouse are open 10 to 5, and that's seven days a week right now.

And then the 3M Birthplace Museum is open 11 to 4, Thursday through Sunday.

- Wonderful.

- Yeah.

- Ellen, thank you so much for joining us, - Thank you.

- It was a pleasure to learn more.

Well, before we go, let's take a look at what you might be up to this weekend.

This Saturday at 10:00 AM in Beaver Bay is a split rock rock splitter cycling event put on by the cyclists of Gitchee Cumee Shores.

This year's cause promises to challenge riders of all abilities over 20 miles of hills, trails, rock gardens, flows, and descents.

Saturday from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM is the annual Green Cheese Picnic in Grand Rapids.

"Green Cheese," a live calling trivia show has been stumping listeners since 1981.

The annual picnic is hosted by KAXE, and the potluck begins at 5, with comedy at 6, and Green Cheese trivia starting at 7.

Bring your own questions, or test your trivia knowledge to join in the fun.

Sunday from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM is the Itasca Pride clothing swap at the Old Central School in Grand Rapids.

Bring your old clothes, find some new clothes.

What's left over will be available at the 38 Sales Itasca Pride fundraiser, and after that, all clothes will go to Foster Love Closet.

More information is available online.

Be prepared to sort your donations by size.

And all weekend long, the 35th annual Bayfront Blues Festival is taking place at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth.

Gates open at 11:00 AM all three days of the event, in addition to a wide variety of live music acts, there are also a ton of food and beverage vendors on site.

All tickets, including single day and three day general admission, and kids 12 and under are free.

Well, that's it for this week's show, make sure you go out and enjoy your weekend.

For everyone here at Almanac North, I'm Maarja Hewitt.

Thank you for joining us, good night.

(upbeat music)