Star Tribune
Two century-old shipwrecks discovered in Lake Superior
DULUTH — The steamship C.F. Curtis was towing two barges loaded with lumber on Lake Superior on November 18, 1914, when it encountered gale force winds that sank all three vessels in what has been described as “the graveyard of the Great Lakes.”
For more than 100 years, the final resting places for the Curtis, the Annie M. Peterson and the Selden E. Martin, which took down a combined 28 people, has been a mystery. But the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced Tuesday that two of the ships have been found. A crew discovered the Curtis as part of a 2021 sweep that brought about nine shipwreck finds. Then came a surprise this past summer: The discovery of the Marvin a few miles from the Curtis.
The Curtis, piloted by Capt. Jay G. Jennings, was headed from Baraga, Mich., to Tonawanda, N.Y., along with the barges — a trio that made up a quarter of the fleet that belonged to the Edward Hines Lumber Company, a bigtime player once described as the “Napoleon of the lumber industry.” The ships reportedly carried more than 2 million board feet of lumber.
Self-described “amateur historian” Ric Mixter said there were no weather warnings that would’ve given the captain pause. The forecast was for “moderate to fresh southwest winds” that would shift to northwest by the following evening, and possibly snow.
The gales, which are sustained winds reaching up to 54 miles per hour, started up hours into the voyage.
In the days after the disappearance, a dozen bodies and debris — including life belts stenciled with “Str. Curtis” — washed ashore near Grand Marais, Mich.
Two of the Curtis’ crewmembers were said to have made it to shore alive, possibly by lifeboat, before succumbing to exhaustion and exposure. According to a news report, they both climbed a 20-foot embankment. One hit the top, then slipped and was unable to recover. The other made a “plucky” fight for his life. He reportedly walked and crawled 4 miles to the breakwater in Grand Marais.
“Here his body was found face down, his arms outstretched in an effort to get up the breakwater,” according to an article in the Duluth Herald.
Two unidentified women were also found, one with a piece of ore up her sleeve. A handful of the bodies were never identified.
Shipwreck researchers found the Curtis north of Grand Marais, Mich., 600 feet below the surface in 2021. It’s identity was obvious: The name of the lumber company was clearly printed on the bow. There was a perfectly intact grinding wheel and machinery that no human had seen for more than 100 years. An “H,” for “Hines,” on a smokestack, a load of lumber, a “mashed” pilot house and the red paint used to define Edward Hines’ name on the side of the ship can all be easily seen on underwater film footage.
The research crew went out again to a specific target area on Lake Superior this past summer. Darryl Ertel, director of marine operations for the shipwreck museum, using a remotely operated vehicle found lumber, a tow line, and remains of paint. Then the Selden E. Marvin nameplate was revealed perfectly intact.
“It blew my mind,” Mixter said. “I almost cried. Also, this is a gravesite. Human beings were lost here.”
One sobering sign: a shirt — or maybe a sheet — caught beneath a tow rope, a piece that emphasized the loss of human life for Mixter, who is based in Michigan.
With both of these finds, there is just one more piece of the puzzle remaining. The third ship — the Annie M. Peterson — has yet to be found.
As a photojournalism professor, R. Smith Schuneman mixed high expectations with a warm manner to launch the careers of a wide spectrum of photographers.
His students at the University of Minnesota, many of whom regarded Schuneman as a pivotal influence in their lives, went on to shoot for National Geographic, Look, Life and numerous other magazines and newspapers, as well as for corporate clients, photography studios and a wide array of film and video productions.
Then Schuneman, who went by his nickname “Smitty” and never by his given name of Raymond, embarked on a second career with the creation of Media Loft , an events and communications agency. He eventually sold the company to his employees before retiring with his wife, Pat, to a lakeside home in Okoboji, Iowa.
“Smitty could be utterly ruthless, uncompromising or unyielding in his goal of making photojournalists out of us,” wrote Richard Olsenius, a former student of Schuneman’s, in a memorial book prepared by friends. “But it was underlied with a deep-rooted concern for what is right and moral. He demanded honesty from our work.”
He died Nov. 24 at age 88 of heart problems.
Schuneman was born in 1936 in Spirit Lake, Iowa. His parents Raymond “Art” and Olive “Bunch” Schuneman ran the local newspaper in Milford, Iowa, and it was there that Schuneman began publishing photos while still in school.
He also ran a side business covering weddings, events and “whatever pictures were needed around the small town,” his wife said.
She remembers seeing Schuneman for the first time when her band director arranged for her to take drum lessons from him. She was 15 and he was 16. She later worked for him at his photo service, processing the film.
Lawmakers this session will talk to parents, teachers and others about whether they are identifying too many students as needing special education services and if some kids could use less-intensive support, she said. There’s a “mismatch” where some kids get more services than they need, said GOP Rep. Ron Kresha, who will be Youakim’s co-chair in the evenly divided House.
“There’s always going to be this tendency to [say], ‘Hey, let’s get as much services to this kid as we can because we want them to succeed.’ I think that’s a noble quest, but what are we taking away from other students who may have needs that we may not be addressing?” Kresha said, noting that some services may have to be rolled back in light of the potential deficit.
Nationally, special education officials are wary of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to eliminate the Department of Education, said Phyllis Wolfram, executive director of the national Council of Administrators of Special Education. Minnesota isn’t alone in its rising costs and demand for services, she said, adding that providers are grappling with challenging behaviors and mental health needs, including for younger children.
“We’re still seeing needs and challenges for students that are coming from a post-COVID era, and they don’t just diminish in one or two years,” Wolfram said.
Meanwhile, there is a shortage of special education staff and schools must rely on more expensive contract workers, said Niceta Thomas, president of Minnesota Administrators for Special Education. She said more families are moving to Minnesota with children who require special education and students’ needs are more severe.
“No matter what ability they come from, all children deserve a free and appropriate education,” Thomas said. “We need to make sure we’re meeting that.”
Willy Boulay and Mike Hudson have a grand vision for building affordable apartments for people with below-median incomes that are as nice as market-rate properties.
Their first buildings, one in Minneapolis that opened in May and another about to open in St. Paul, live up to their plans. Both have fitness centers, balconies on most units, roof decks, solar arrays, EV chargers, community rooms, even indoor playgrounds they tested themselves.
“The slide will support guys over 30,” Boulay said as he and Hudson took me through Canvas, their 161-unit project in northeast Minneapolis. It gets its name from all the original paintings purchased from neighborhood artists to fill halls and other common areas.
The seven-story building cost $71 million and is open to renters of all ages who make 60% of average market income, a level sometimes known as workforce housing. Hennepin County and the city of Minneapolis provided subsidies in the form of tax-exempt bonds and tax credits that will discount rents for 40 years. It’s a typical form of financing for affordable housing to help cover the difference between it and market-rate homes.
As of last week, Canvas had just two vacancies. Well, plus one big one on the ground floor.
To get the project approved, their firm, Broadway Street Development, had to comply with the desires of City Council members for buildings in a so-called “production” district, designated to create employment-focused developments.
As a result, the ground floor was built with 18-foot ceilings and about half of it, around 23,000 square feet, was set aside for commercial use. Perhaps a microbrewery with a taproom will lease it, or a commercial production studio, or a small industrial business that isn’t too disruptive to the hundreds of residents above.
Boulay and Hudson are confident they will get the space filled. They noted, however, that projects coming after them haven’t required as much space set aside. Which leads me to remind readers that, when my now-retired colleague Neal St. Anthony wrote about Canvas as construction was getting underway two years ago, he focused on the years of work Boulay, Hudson and partner Sterling Black of LS Black Constructors had already put in to get it financed.
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