WHEN DULUTH’S LAKEWALK WAS A JUNKYARD

Walking the shore of Lake Superior in Duluth’s Canal Park now, along the well-used Lakewalk, it’s hard to imagine that just a few decades ago much of that shore was used as a junkyard.

We don’t know the names of the men pictured or just when the photo was taken. But the First United Methodist Church (coppertop) is visible atop the Hillside, so it’s sometime after the mid-1960s.

The picture was used for some kind of article on cleaning up the city. The other photo is a view looking toward the Duluth Ship Canal.

After years of cleanup — and fill supplied by the excavation work needed to create the Interstate 35 tunnels in downtown Duluth — the Lakewalk opened in 1988.

Gradually, the industrial businesses in Canal Park closed or moved elsewhere. The last one — Duluth

Spring Co. — relocated its remaining Canal Park employees in 2008; the site is now home to Canal Park Brewing Co.

— News Tribune Attic

More images of Duluth’s past are posted on the News Tribune Attic blog, attic.

In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, there’s one that floats above the rest: Lake Superior. And there is no better vantage point to observe the serene natural beauty than Duluth’s own Lakewalk.

The lakeside path is about 7.5 miles long, but you don’t have to travel that far to take in plenty. Numerous landmarks dot the trail, starting with Bayfront Festival Park, the Great Lakes Aquarium and William A. Irvin lake freighter.

Walk across into Canal Park, and you’ll find the iconic Aerial Lift Bridge and popular Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center. They sit among numerous options for dining and shopping.

Start the walk north, and you’ll find a paved sidewalk for cyclists and runners, leaving walkers on the boardwalk free to enjoy a leisurely pace. You’ll pass pilings adorned with padlocks and the old concrete unloading dock called Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum, a jumping-off point for daring young swimmers.

As you make the turn, enjoy the beach covered in stones perfect for skipping. Detour up to enjoy Lake Place Park and its public art installments.

Dwarfing the Lakewalk farther northeast is a smokestack that rises above Fitger’s mall, home of a hotel, dining, brewhouse and shopping. If you’re interested in a tasty treat, go up the stairs to the PortLand

Malt Shoppe, a quaint cliffside ice cream parlor. About a mile from the lift bridge, Leif Erikson Park features a stone stage, wide grassy hill and a couple sneaky paths down to the lake. Just beyond, the Duluth Rose Garden will be in full form in late summer. You might even see some wedding parties taking photos.

If it’s not just the landmarks that line the beach you’re after, but a view unlike any other, set your alarm early to take in a sunrise. The sun makes its appearance earliest in mid-June, peeking over the lake just after 5 a.m. By the end of July, it’s still rising before 6, leaving plenty of time for the rest of the day’s adventures.

— Duluth.com

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Statistically there is about a 1 percent chance each year that Lake Superior will rise 3.14 feet. The storm surge from late last October rose 3.3 feet.

So it’s not going to just be shifting and replacing missing rocks that the final design will call for. The boardwalk and shoreline near Canal Park is getting a tuneup to improve its resiliency as well, possibly in the form of a buried buffer wall.

“We’re building it again, but building it better,” LeBeau said. “There’s more science to it now than there was at the time of the original construction, and the frequency of severe weather seems to be increasing.”

Roche said because Duluth has a shorter construction season, they are trying to accelerate the design and permitting process to be finished by August. If everything goes according to plan, bidding for the construction will begin in September, construction will start in October, and the Lakewalk will be fixed by late 2019. v