DULUTH, Minn., city and lake port, seat of Saint Louis County and third largest city of the State, is favorably situated at the ex treme western end of Lake Superior. The scythe-like projection called Minnesota Point, with a similar peninsula from the Wisconsin shore, forms a harbor for the city and its twin port, Superior (Wis.), 19 miles square with a shore line of 49 miles. This fine harbor is en tered by two channels, one, natural, near the Wisconsin shore, the other, a canal, 250 feet wide, piercing Minnesota Point. The broad mouth of the Saint Louis River, nearly en closed by other points of land, forms an excel lent inner harbor. Federal improvements to the value of $7,500,000 have deepened the harbor from 9 to 22 feet and made 17 miles of chan nels 22 feet deep and 200 to 600 feet wide. Overlooking the river, harbor and lake from steep and picturesque slopes, the city of Duluth stretches from the old Astor trading-post at Fond du Lac northeastward for more than 20 miles.
Improvements and The city owns its own waterworks and gas distributing system which it values at $4,756,218. It has 85 miles of paving and 186 miles of sewers. The city has profited by the beauty of its surround ings in its parking and boulevarding, having laid out spacious grounds along the banks of the several mountain streams that enter the lake at this point, and made roadways that command views of the lake and countryside. Altogether it possesses 21 miles of these drives, the most notable of which is Rogers Boulevard that fol lows a most interesting course of 12 miles. There are 442 acres of parks including Lester, the largest, Congdon and Chester; and in ad dition there are eight playgrounds. The Duluth Superior Street Railway reaches all parts of the city and Superior, Wisconsin, using the Inter state Bridge. It has 60 miles of track. Among the buildings that are noteworthy are the Cen tral High School, Carnegie Library, Court house, Pilgrim (Congregational) Church, Dar ling's Observatory, the National Guard and Naval Militia Armory, Kitchi Gammi Club, Ald worth Building and Soo Line Station.
Recreation Duluth is a favorite resort for tourists because of the variety of outings it suggests. Excursion steamers make regular trips to Fond du Lac and to Isle Royale, and other Lake Superior resorts. The Duluth Boat Club, with 2,000 members, has a high reputation for sportsmanship. There is abund ant fishing both for Lake Superior and inland varieties. The curling rink has a capacity of 6,000 curlers and skaters; and the ski hills attract thousands annually. Other attractions for the visitor are the incline railway up the bluff 800 feet high that overlooks the centre of the city and the aerial bridge over the steamer channel through Minnesota Point.
Duluth has 41 school buildings, including two high schools and three junior high schools. These buildings are valued at $3,533,218. In the system are enrolled 17,000 pupils. A state normal school located here en rolls 400 students annually. The Roman Cath
olics support Villa Scholastica and also a train ing school for nurses in Saint Mary's Hospital; and the. Episcopalians maintain a school for nurses in Saint Luke's Hospital. In the city there are 90 churches. The Duluth Carnegie Library and two branches circulated in 1916 236,166 volumes. The Duluth Bar Association has an extensive library.
great advantage of pos sessing a fine harbor has made Duluth the second port in point of tonnage in the United States. In 1916 its outgoing tonnage of ore and grain equaled that of any two ports in the world. This tonnage has greatly increased dur ing the past few years. In 1900 the total num ber of tons shipped and received was 14,387,058, and the total number of vessels arriving and departing was 11,334; in 1917 the tonnage was 52,177,333 and the number of vessels 12,445. Four hundred and ninety-nine vessels make Duluth their home port. Less than three hours' run from the Mesabi Range, the city receives iron ore in constantly increasing volume for ship ment to mills at Chicago, Gary and Pennsylva nia points. In 1916 this business amounted to 38,374,953 tons. Ore trains run directly to the docks from which they are dumped into pockets which in turn discharge into ore steamers. One of these docks is 2,300 feet long and 50 feet wide and contains 384 pockets. Usually it takes three hours to dump 10,000 tons. From the Red River Valley and the fields of Canada 65,072,940 bushels of grain were received at the Duluth elevators which have a capacity of 33,125,000 bushels; and from the forest country of northern Minnesota 146,892,000 feet of lum ber. The district supplying these products de pends on Duluth for its coal as also do the manufacturing plants of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and other points to the south. In 1916, 9,585,337 tons of hard and soft coat were re ceived at Duluth. The coal docks are equipped with electrically operated machinery so that 1,000 tons can be unloaded in an hour. The docks have a storage capacity of 10,000,000 tons. For the transportation of this and other commodities the city has ample railroad facili ties. With the Minneapolis and Saint Paul it is connected by the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Soo and the Chicago, Saint Paul, Minne apolis and Omaha; with North Dakota, Mani toba and Montana by the first three and the Canadian Northern; with the Mesabi Range by all of these, excepting the last, and by the Duluth, Mesabi and Northern. The Duluth and Iron Range connects the city with its subport, Two Harbors and with the Vermillion Range. The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic and the Soo Line maintain service with eastern points; and both the Soo and the Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha make direct connection between Duluth and Chicago. The Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul maintains a freight service between Duluth and the Twin Cities by arrangement with the Northern Pacific Com pany.