Everybody deserves a good paddling on their birthday

Lake-no-horizon

Today I turned 44. Which is probably the reason I was left out of the 20-under-40-movers-and-shakers-around-town list today.
That, and the fact that I don’t move or shake so good no more.

Anyway, I sent both kids off to school this morning then loaded up the kayak to treat myself to a quick paddle on the lake.

Bacteria Sign
Disregarding the fecal coliform warning sign, I put in at Lake Place Plaza, or Corner of the Lake Park, and went to about 21st Ave E. It was a hazy day, one of those days where the horizon disappears and the water and the sky appear to be the same thing. Which as you head into it, leads you to believe you could be flying, or drowning. The water was really still, so I could see stuff on the bottom pretty well. I saw:

  • car springs (2 different sets in 2 places)
  • A huge fireworks rocket, probably 2-3 feet long
  • lots of old timbers and support structures, including pieces of that crib that washed down the shore a few years ago
  • huge squares of cement, between 4 and 8 feet across and a foot or 2 thick
  • someone with a guitar sleeping in a tent made of a plastic sheet (not underwater … on the shore at about 12th Ave, hidden from the Lakewalk etc.)
  • a tennis ball
  • a handrail
  • several pipes and tubes, but the most interesting was at about 15th Ave. There was a big pipe, probably 3 feet across, and it had rods running along both sides of it. At each joint or junction between sections was what looked like a rubber seal or something, and some sort of mechanism attaching the rods to the junction. It went waaay out into the lake, I followed it out until the water got too deep to see it anymore. Here’s a crappy drawing of what I remember it looking like.
    pipeDrawing

    Anybody know what that might be? I think I heard the water supply comes from East of Lester River.

    6 Comments

    Cory

    about 15 years ago

    Maybe it is that pipe that is pumping water to Nevada and California.

    Tony D.

    about 15 years ago

    B: You're right: the water is pulled out east (north) of the Lester at the Lakewood Pump House  (that big castle-like structure on your way north/east outta town). Until the Lakewood Pump House was built in 1897, water was pulled out of the lake at various spots chosen more for convenience than cleanliness. Before the pump house, A man working for Camille Poirer, who went on to found Duluth Pack delivered water to businesses and homes in a hogshead pulled by a horse cart. Water delivered this way helped propel two typhoid epidemics, one in 1881, the other in 1888 which led to the founding of St. Luke's and St. Mary's hospitals, respectively.
    
    So, no, I have no idea what that pipe is for.

    Karasu

    about 15 years ago

    It's the fiber optic cable that connects our telecommunications to that of Europe.  : 3

    baci

    about 15 years ago

    what!! 44? It's now your "Magnum" year.

    huitz

    about 15 years ago

    Witnessed today up the shore from a distance, a kayaker stand up in the boat, jump off, and get back in.  I did not know that was that easy.  The water was calm, but still...  It took her like 10 seconds to climb in.

    huitz

    about 15 years ago

    Oh, forgot about the pipe.  You should have looked for its foundation.  It's possibly a pipe for water.  I asked around, because I was curious.  Water intakes go out about 200 feet usually.  Take that with a grain of salt since I've never seen one myself.

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