This picnic table wasn’t the only thing that was buried or damaged by the wave driven water of Lake Superior in the county’s first winter storm of the year. Late Thursday, October 26, snow started to fall. It was preceded by rain and winds that gusted up to 50 miles per hour. Beach sand, twigs and sticks washed onto the streets of downtown Grand Marais, and trees blew down throughout the area.
Residents of the county awoke to snow covering the ground on Friday, October 27. Snow started to accumulate on Thursday evening up the Gunflint Trail and other places inland off of Lake Superior.
White flakes fell through early Saturday, often driven by wind gusts up to 50 mph, which made driving and walking hazardous.
Snow accumulated at various depths— from two to 12 inches—depending on where you lived.
Meanwhile the strong Alberta Clipper that was gifting our area with winds and snow helped knock down trees, downed power lines, and sent waves crashing onto the beaches. Especially hard hit was the breakwall by East Bay. Some water damage occurred to the Cook County Historical Society’s building and the Co-op parking lot was flooded from the rain and Superior waters that advanced far past the beach.
And even though the snowplow operators were doing all they could to remove snow from the streets, the roads were slippery enough that more than 40 accidents were reported across the Northland.
Once again the Cook County Whole Foods Co-op parking lot turned into a small lake after last Thursday evening’s big rain and later snow, which melted to flood parts of the low-lying area. Only the most diligent shoppers made it into the co-op early Friday, but some hearty souls donned rubber boots and shopped for groceries, said the dedicated staff who were there to serve the public.
One even involved the driver who takes the Cook County News-Heralds up the shore.
Cook County News- Herald newspapers arrived late to the post office on Friday because the newspaper’s reliable driver, Red, from Chisholm, slid into the ditch near Silver Bay on Friday morning.
A young fellow in a truck came along, got out and pushed him out by hand from the ditch, but as they were talking a car came around the corner and tagged the truck driven by the young fellow and then the car slid into Red’s vehicle, causing some damage to Red’s back bumper. The police were called, damaged vehicles noted, insurance companies soon contacted.
No tickets were issued.
No one was hurt, but Red, calling from his cell phone to inform us he was going to be late, reported that Highway 61 was “really slippery” and he was going to take his time getting to the Grand Marais post office and then over to the newspaper office. He arrived about 9:45 a.m.
Cook County News-Heralds get to subscribers’ mailboxes and newsstands because of Red, our capable driver who lives in Chisholm. Red makes it up the shore in all kinds of bad weather. Last week he was involved in a minor accident and was “late” getting the papers here.
Red, age 78, has been driving the paper up the shore for years. Only Mother Nature has caused him to be late a couple of times. But like the postman, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night,” stays him from completing his delivery. He gets up at 3 a.m. to get the papers to our readers, and that’s a great accomplishment, something we at the newspaper marvel at and deeply appreciate, especially given where we live.
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