Passenger boats were a vital link for people living in North Shore communities before Highway 61 was constructed. Boats like this one carried passengers, mail, supplies and frequently fish. Learn more about the passenger boats that sailed Lake Superior at a guest lecture at Cook County Higher Education on Thursday, October 18.
Cook County Higher Education is collaborating with the Cook County Historical Society to present Todd Lindahl, who will speak on Passenger Boats of the North Shore at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 at the North Shore Campus in Grand Marais.
The program covers the passenger boats, which ran on a schedule and serviced the North Shore of Lake Superior between 1870 and 1945. Prior to the completion of present-day Highway 61 in the 1920s, these boats were a vital link for people living in this remote region. The boats provided supplies, goods, medicine, transportation, and often were the only contact with the outside world.
The boats carried passengers, the U.S. mail, and freight besides collecting fish from commercial fishermen. The boats also initiated the first tourist industry on the North Shore. A number of these boats were tied in with both railroad and stage line schedules and ran in conjunction with each.
A total of 27 boats was engaged in this service throughout the period, but nearly all have been forgotten with the exception of two or three. Of these, 16 ended their days in disaster, although not all on Lake Superior.
The Oct. 18 guest lecture event will provide a glimpse into the world of these fascinating vessels, showing how they operated and for some how they met their final demise.
Lindahl has been a forester, miner, surveyor, and most recently a museum manager until retirement in 1998. He currently considers himself an avocational archaeologist specializing in primary historic and secondary prehistoric archaeology. The former of these two was been the focus of much of his work for 44 years.
Lindahl is a regular lecturing guest at many of the local universities including UWS, UMD, Lake Superior College in Duluth, St. Scholastica, and Vermilion Community College.
The Guest Lecture Series of Cook County Higher Education is offered to the community free, although donations are appreciated. The series is sponsored by the Grand Marais State Bank, Drury Lane Books, George F. Maruska Ltd., and the Lake Superior Trading Post. Refreshments are donated by Beth’s Fudge and Gifts and Johnson’s Foods. The lectures are held at Cook County Higher Education’s North Shore campus, located at 300 W. 3rd St. in Grand Marais. For more information call 387-3411.
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