Schroeder residents watched with interest the recent work on the Cleveland Cliffs railroad bridge over Highway 61 near the Taconite Harbor Energy Center. Traffic was stopped several times as contractors removed sections of the bridge that had been damaged when a truck with a high load hit the bridge in 2011. Duane Hill, Minnesota Department of Transportation district engineer, said when the bridge was hit one beam was broken and another was cracked. Hill said MnDOT asked Cleveland Cliffs to stabilize the bridge. It is an inactive railroad bridge at this time so the damaged pieces were removed. If the railroad bridge is ever used again, further repairs would be needed.
Linda Lamb came before the Schroeder Town Board on January 14 with an update on plans for the Cross River Heritage Center for 2014.
The center will open Friday, May 23 with an exhibit called Ojibwe Faces and Stories, said Lamb. Noted painter Eastman Johnson traveled throughout the northland, including to Grand Portage, in the 1850s and did large portraits of the Ojibwe people. All in all the center will display 36 pictures that are 47 inches wide and 82 inches tall. The traveling exhibit is on loan from the St. Louis County Historical Society, Lamb said.
“We will have our annual dinner with an Ojibwe theme and hopefully we can get someone from Grand Portage to speak,” said Lamb.
Other Heritage Center highlights include the June 6 opening party, the June 15 annual meeting, the July 12 Lunde Home tour, the August 16 John Schroeder Lumberjack Day celebration and the September 25 wine and beer tasting event. The Heritage Center will close October 18 but there will be one more event, the November 22 Holiday Bazaar and Quilt Drawing, Lamb said.
Fire and Rescue Chief Phil Bonin reported that his fire crew only had one call last month, a car rollover at the county line and one false alarm. “There were a few calls for rescues, but overall it was pretty quiet, although we are getting ready for the chimney fire season,” Bonin said.
One area of concern for the fire department was that snow has been blocking the fourth door of the fire hall “Now it’s drifting over into the third door,” Bonin said.
Supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever said that he would work on finding a piece of equipment big enough to move the snow from the two entrances.
Supervisor Deb Johnson said that the cemetery was also blocked by snow. “We can’t get in there right now. If there was a funeral, we would have to plow the road,” she said.
Supervisor Tina McKeever told the board that the North Country Crafters had donated four tables to the township. That brought the total of tables to 22 and after some discussion it was decided to order two stand-up carts that would hold 10 tables each. The carts will cost $227.
In other business, Skip Lamb talked about the Birch Grove “Big Buddies” program. It operates from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and, “offers a safe and fun environment for the kids,” Lamb said. The program was opened up after a local daycare center closed down.
The program will also run in the summer with a summer camp.
“We’re still looking for some more help with the younger kids (ages 2-3),” said Lamb, adding that the Birch Grove school had resolved its lease with the township of Tofte for 2013 – 2014, but, he added, “We still have a ways to go in getting more financing for the school.”
On another note, Lamb talked about upgrading the Cramer Road to a 10-ton road and extending the tarred surface. “It needs to be upgraded to better serve the industrial businesses on the Cramer Road,” he said. He asked the township to draft a letter that could be sent to the Cook County Highway Department to consider this upgrade in its future plans.
“I think that we have lost at least three businesses because the Cramer Road hasn’t been brought up to snuff,” said McKeever.
The board voted unanimously to send a letter to the Cook County Highway Department to include this in their future road and bridge plans.
Bill McKeever said that work is being done on a railroad bridge near Taconite Harbor on Highway 61 that was hit by a truckerin 2011. Parts of the bridge that were broken when it was hit by the truck were removed. “They are taking down the damaged section of the bridge,” McKeever said.
The board received a letter asking from the Minnesota Association of Townships asking for the township’s support of a transportation resolution, but Bill McKeever opposed it, saying, “I’m against raising gas taxes. There was stimulus money for roads, but no one knows where it went. Let’s write a letter saying we are opposed to it.”
The board voted unanimously with McKeever, and a letter will be sent to MAT.
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