Duluth’s ‘cribs’ a brilliant but impractical 1919 shipping idea
July 07, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
by Chuck Frederick | Source: Duluth News Tribune
“What is that building without a roof that can be seen in Lake Superior from the Lakewalk? We are puzzled!”
… the structure [is known] as “the cribs,” because that’s how it’s referred to on federal lake charts, [or] more intriguingly, as “Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum.”
… “It is the ruins of an energetic but short-lived commercial enterprise by [the] Whitney Brothers of Superior,” the marker reads. “It was Harvey Whitney’s brainchild.
“The structure was a sand [and] gravel hopper, built in the winter of 1919 and abandoned in 1922. It was a frantic era of Duluth construction in 1919, and Harvey was looking for efficiencies for his sand and gravel operation. He didn’t like the canal congestion, especially in the heavy summer months. He took a chance that the city would revive efforts to rebuild the Outer Harbor Breakwater, which had been abandoned in 1872.
“Sand from the lake around the Apostle Islands and gravel from Grand Marais were hauled to Duluth on the scow, Limit, using the steam tug, William A. Whitney,” the marker continues. “The Limit was tied to the concrete foundation structure and unloaded to the steel hopper with two steam-powered clam shells. A large conveyor belt on a trestle carried the materials to shore where they were dropped on top of a tunnel into which trucks would maneuver for loading.”
… While their sand and gravel hopper idea was ingenious … it could only have worked when Lake Superior was calm. Which was practically never.
Read the full story, see photo at the Duluth News Tribune >>
