Urban Exploration Posts

Daisy Roller Mill in Superior

A post on photographer Dan Turner’s Substreet website takes a peek at Superior’s old East End Milling District.

Daisy was the last of the flour mills to close in the Twin Ports,” Turner writes. “It closed in the 1970s when Peavey moved its durum operations to a new mill in Hastings, Minnesota. Today the mill is unused, though a company uses the silos.

Cramer Tunnel in Lake County

About 70 miles northeast of Duluth, near Crosby Manitou State Park, is a unincorporated community named after its pioneer merchant, J.N. Cramer. There sits Minnesota’s longest train tunnel, connecting the former LTV Steel Hoyt Lakes taconite plant with its ore dock at Taconite Harbor. A recent post on photographer Dan Turner’s Substreet website features a collection if interesting summer and winter photos from the tunnel and surrounding area.

Inside Duluth’s Armory

Photographer Dan Turner’s latest adventure on his Substreet website shows off the gritty and crumbling Duluth Armory, including a basement shooting range.

Exploring the Superior Entry Lighthouse on Wisconsin Point

The latest adventure on the Substreet website takes readers inside the Superior Entry Lighthouse, where every step “happens with an echoing crunch.”

As for the view from the top: “For 180 degrees, there is nothing but water, clouds, and a beautiful sandy beach backgrounded by pine trees and dune grass.”

Drain Duluth

This is fascinating and frightening. It’s from “Draining Zenith City” a blog entry by Dan Turner, a photographer, urban explorer and historian. The name of his blog is Substreet. The picture here is Chester Creek, somewhere under the Rose Garden. Turner has also documented other places around Duluth and Superior, and industrial and abandoned spaces across the country.

Yoerg’s Brewery

On this date 165 years ago — July 6, 1849 — Bavarian immigrant Anthony Yoerg opened Minnesota’s first brewery in St. Paul.

Interesting side note on Yoerg’s Brewery: In 1871 the operation moved to a spot adjacent to the Lilydale caves. Yoerg used the natural caves to store his product, and added the phrase “cave-aged” to the label. There are a number of places online to read about Yoerg’s Brewery, but of particular interest is the Substreet underground history site, which profiles Yoerg’s lost cellars.

Duluth’s “Underground Historian”

The SubStreet Underground website released one of it most compelling stories yesterday. It’s about the demolition of a St. Paul power station.

While the story is about St. Paul, the photographer/archivist/storyteller behind the project is Duluthian Dan “Glass.”

Trespassing at UMD’s Old Main in 1992

UMDOldMain2

One summer night in 1992, when I was 19 years old, I came home from doing something forgettable and found three of my friends waiting for me. They said I should grab a flashlight and come with them on an adventure.

Duluth’s Graffiti Graveyard

Video by Nathan Treanor.