Touring Two Harbors

We've enjoyed our stay at Burlington Bay Campground in Two Harbors, MN so we decide to spend our last day here seeing the sights in Two Harbors. After consulting the Shipping News we learned the Philip R. Clarke would be loading in Agate Bay today so we walked uptown. On Thursday evening at the community band performance we were told Two Harbors is the birthplace of 3M. We stopped by the museum and learned that 3M, originally known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, was started in 1902 by five men from the small town of Two Harbors, Minnesota. When the five founders of the company thought they had found mineral called corundum, which would be used for making sandpaper, they began the process of setting up a mining company. To get the company started the men erected a large dock, crushing mill and bunk and storage houses. After selling the corundum to a company in Chicago the men learned that the corundum wasn’t really corundum and had no commercial value. They nearly went bankrupt, but found an over-seas source for their abrasives and eventually recovered. In 1905 the company was moved to Duluth and then in 1907 it was moved to St. Paul and the rest, as they say, is history.

We proceeded to the docks and found the Philip R Clarke being loaded with iron ore pellets. This looks like a hard, dirty job. It seems to be quite a task to line up the chutes from the dock with the cargo holds.
It took several tries to load the hold pictured and the frustration of the workers was very evident.

We continued our walk along the shore of Lake Superior by the lighthouse and back to camp.
Matilda was glad to see us and ready for a walk. Our neighbors who were tent camping with motorcycles, asked about Matilda's breed. When I told them Australian Shepherd they said they were from Australia and had never seen a dog like her. German Shepherds, Border Collies and Australian Kelpies but no Australian Shepherds. One web site I found stated: "The exact origin of the Australian Shepherd is not known. The breed that is cherished and loved today was developed exclusively in the United States. They are typically referred to as "The Aussie"." Guess that is why they are not in Australia. Aussies are good swimmers but not THAT good. Should we consider changing Matilda's name...Daisy Mae maybe? Naw... The folks from Australia did say Matilda was really cute even though she looked more like a hyena than a dog.

The weather here is turning cooler and the breeze off the lake gives the feel of Fall. Nice sweater weather.