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Duluth's other waterfront

The quiet St. Louis River is a hub for hikers, bikers, paddlers and train buffs.

Once, a wind-whipped sand spit was not the most desirable address in Duluth.

The Ojibwe preferred the lush estuary of the St. Louis River, which flows into Lake Superior at what today is Duluth-Superior Harbor. The French explorer Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, for whom the city was named, didn’t waste much time on the lakefront when he arrived in 1679. Nor did the early fur traders, who hustled straight up the St. Louis, which, via the little Savanna River, connects Lake Superior to the Mississippi.

The St. Louis looks sleepy, but it's the largest Lake Superior tributary in the United States. With Ontario's Nipigon River, it contributes about one-fourth of the lake's annual water input.

John Jacob Astor built his fur post next to the Ojibwe village in Fond du Lac, 20 river miles from the lake, and operated it for three decades, until 1847. When financier Jay Cooke brought in the first railroad, it came in along the banks of the St. Louis.

The action these days is on Duluth’s Canal Park, the foot of the six-mile sandbar that protects the harbor from Lake Superior. Tourists once came to the St. Louis, too, taking a sidewheeler on Sunday excursions to Fond du Lac, where a log reproduction of Astor’s post was built in 1935.

But the mills that lined the banks eventually polluted the river, giving it a stench of boiled cabbage and rotting fish that sent tourists fleeing. The mills also deposited mercury-laden waste that poisoned the fish, discouraging fishermen. Until the Environmental Protection Agency stepped in to clean it up, few wanted to be close to the St. Louis River.

“Thirty years ago, no one around here would have dreamed of going on it,’’ said Dean Wolf, a Carlton native who was fishing from a river cove as a big whitewater-rafting group from Superior Whitewater went by. “It’s super, seeing all the rafting on the river now.’’

The 4½-mile section of the river between Scanlon and Carlton, lined with nine rapids of Class I-IV difficulty, also is favored by kayakers and canoeists.

Such goings-on amaze Lynelle Hanson, director of the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee, who knew the river in its stinky days.

“Even 20 years ago, you couldn’t do all these water-contact sports out there,’’ she says, laughing.

Trails and scenic roads follow the St. Louis from the harbor to Jay Cooke State Park. The opportunities for recreation are remarkable: Canal Park may have the party, but the St. Louis River is the place to play.

People can pick up three of the trailheads within a block of each other in West Duluth.

The 70-mile Willard Munger State Trail, named for the longtime Duluth legislator who successfully pushed for the cleanup of the river, starts behind the Willard Munger Inn. Its first 15 miles, through rock cuts up to Jay Cooke State Park and Carlton, are perhaps the most scenic on any Minnesota bicycle trail.

A walking trail also starts behind the Munger Inn. The five-mile Western Waterfront Trail, surfaced with crushed limestone, follows the river’s bays past cattail marshes that are prime habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. Even on weekends, it’s one of the quietest, least-frequented spots in Duluth.

A block away, volunteer train buffs give rides on the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad, which arrived to huzzahs in 1870: “The lifeless corpse of Duluth . . . touched by the wand of Jay Cooke, sprang full-armed from the tomb,’’ said one legislator at the time.

Only six miles of the line remain, but they’re all scenic. Herons rise from cattail marshes just yards from the tracks, and the train occasionally has to stop so the fireman can remove ducks and turtles that have wandered up from the river.

Conductors point out other sights that are no less interesting: the site of the McDougall shipyard, which made the Meteor, now an attraction in Superior, and other whalebacks; Morgan Park, the steel-company town that included perhaps the nation’s first strip mall; traces of a giant steel mill, now the site of a Superfund cleanup; and an old paint factory that now houses $300,000 condos.

Ironically, now that citizens groups and environmentalists have successfully fought to return the river to its natural state, developers have swooped in.

“Come see it now before they put 1,000 condos on Clough Island, plus an 18-hole golf course,’’ says activist Hanson.

Hanson likes to kayak in and among the many peninsulas and islands, which once held speakeasies and stills but now are habitat for wildlife.

“You could be in the Boundary Waters, but you’re in the middle of 200,000 people,’’ she says. “Looking around, you really get the feeling you’re in a wilderness.’’

The river estuary is the walleye nursery for western Lake Superior, she says, and the 170,000 sturgeon released into the river over the past two decades have started to breed. Eagles nest there, and 70 percent of the birds seen in Minnesota come through Duluth on fall and spring migrations, she says; she likes to watch for them near Boy Scout Landing, in New Duluth.

Indian Point Campground rents canoes, and there are other access points. One of them is Chambers Grove Park in Fond du Lac, where Gary-New Duluth resident Tim Blazevic was hauling out his canoe on a recent Sunday.

“My friends say, ‘Oh, go to the Boundary Waters,’ but I say, ‘Why? I get it right here,’ ’’ he said. “You never know what you’re going to see, whether it’s your deer, beaver, otter or whatever.’’

Fond du Lac, French for “foot of the lake,’’ is where Daniel Greysolon negotiated the first short-lived truce between the Ojibwe and Dakota, and where the first U.S.-Ojibwe treaty was signed in 1826. Today, the neighborhood is a placid backwater, 14 road miles from downtown Duluth.

From there, Minnesota 210 twists up to Jay Cooke State Park, donated from the lands of a man who, according to an exhibit in the park, was “a rare good guy.’’ Here, voyageurs had a grueling seven-mile portage around a lethal stretch of Class VI falls and through house-sized boulders. Modern-day visitors, of course, love the dramatic riverbanks, lined by tilted slabs of slate.

This 29-mile stretch of river is a stunner, from the ferocious rapids upstream to the languid sloughs of the estuary.

“We have a unique part of the state,’’ says activist Hanson. “And we enjoy showing it off.’’

Trip Tips: Duluth’s St. Louis River

Getting there: From the Twin Cities, it’s a two-hour drive on I-35 to Carlton, and another 20 minutes into Duluth. But take the scenic route from Carlton along Minnesota 210, which follows the St. Louis River and segues into Minnesota 23 (Grand Avenue); this is the Rushing Rapids drive, a Minnesota Scenic Byway. For even more scenery, get off I-35 at Banning State Park and follow Minnesota 23 all the way into Duluth; that’s another Minnesota Scenic Byway, also known as Veterans Evergreen Memorial Highway.

Accommodations: The brick, one-story Willard Munger Inn, across from the Lake Superior Zoo, is the obvious choice. Built by the late legislator in 1954, it’s now operated by his son and is a comfortable and inexpensive place to stay.  Some rooms have kitchens and whirlpools. (800) 982-2453, www.mungerinn.com

Indian Point Campground, also owned by Willard Munger Jr., is right on the Western Waterfront Trail and the St. Louis River; its entrance is at Grand and 75th avenues. Its sites are shady and well-maintained, (800) 982-2453, 218-628-4977, www.indianpointcampground.com. Guests can rent bikes and canoes.

Bicycling: Many people start on the 70-mile Willard Munger State Trail behind the Munger Inn at Grand and 75th avenues; there’s also a lot at 72nd and Grand, behind the Tappa Keg Inn. The 15-mile stretch to Carlton is uphill. (888) 263-0586, www.munger-trail.com.

Walking: The Western Waterfront Trail has two parking lots, one behind the Munger Inn and one off Grand on Fremont Street, from which the first stretch is paved. For a map, call Duluth Parks and Rec at (218) 723-3337.

Train ride: The Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad, run by volunteers, travels along the St. Louis River for narrated 90-minute, 12-mile round-trip tours at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on weekends from early June through early October. It leaves from a parking lot behind the Little Store, across from the Lake Superior Zoo at Grand Avenue and 71st Avenue West. Fares are $9.25, $6.25 for children. (218) 624-7549, www.lsmmr.org.

Rafting: Superior Whitewater holds rafting trips from May through September over  six rapids, varying from Class I to Class IV, on a 4½-mile stretch of the St. Louis from Scanlon to the Thomson Reservoir. Guides in freestyle kayaks accompany customers, who paddle five to six in a raft. Much of the 2½-hour trip, $40, consists of instruction, but it’s a blast. Reserve at (218) 384-4637, www.minnesotawhitewater.com.

Canoeing: Indian Point Campground rents canoes to non-guests for use on St. Louis Bay and the river estuary. For a canoeing and boating guide to the Lower St. Louis, call the DNR at (651) 296-6157, (800) 657-3929, www.dnr.state.mn.us

The St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee hold its annual canoe tour and picnic in August, 218-733-9520, www.stlouisriver.org.

Kayaking: The University of Minnesota Outdoors Program offers kayaking trips on the St. Louis. Its Outpost, off Minnesota 210 next to the Thomson Dam, is an interesting stop for would-be whitewater kayakers and canoeists, who also can take weekend instruction, (218) 726-6533, www.umdrsop.org.

Fishing: The St. Louis River estuary holds muskies, as well as the walleye, smallmouth bass and northern pike found elsewhere on the river. Areas from which fish never should be eaten are posted. There are several boat landings, including Clyde Avenue off Grand Avenue in West Duluth.

Winter: West Duluth also is a hub for winter recreation. The Munger State Trail is used for snowmobiling, and there’s alpine skiing at Spirit Mountain (the Munger Inn is among hotels that offer its guests two free lift tickets on weekdays) as well as 22 kilometers of cross-country skiing at Spirit Mountain and 14 kilometers next-door at Magney and Snively parks.

Information: Duluth tourism, (800) 438-5884, www.visitduluth.com. St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee, (218) 733-9520, www.stlouisriver.org

Last updated on June 21, 2008