Lake Superior (known as Gichigami, or ‘big lake’ in Ojibwe) is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh water. The lake straddles 150 miles of Minnesota’s northeastern border, with its most western edge ending along the city twin ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin.
July 14, 2003 - For lots of young people, summer means time to go to camp. There are different kinds of camps - hockey camp, language camp, Girl Scout camp. An increasingly popular option for talented young instrumentalists is music camp. MPR's Stephanie Hemphill visits Madeline Island out on Lake Superior, where young people from around the Midwest spend four weeks playing classical music.
August 15, 2003 - Mainstreet Radio’s Chris Julin reports on rocks of the Great Lakes. Thousands of tourists visit the beaches of Lake Superior's North Shore to enjoy it’s rocky shoreline…and many will be throwing those rocks into the lake.
August 18, 2003 - MPR’s Jayne Solinger talks with Tom Brown, with the U-S Coast Guard in Duluth, about high waves that caused unusually strong currents in Lake Superior. The dangerous conditions prompted the closing of beaches in Minnesota and Wisconsin for the day.
October 29, 2003 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill looks back at fight to stop the pollution of Lake Superior, an early chapter in the history of the environmental movement. It established the principle that the government can force industry to clean up its pollution.
November 28, 2003 - Midday presents two Voices of Minnesota conversations with Minnesota fishermen. Howard Sivertson and Walter Sve share recollections of growing up in fishing families on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It's a way of life that's practically disappeared.
February 10, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill profiles Ryan Rapsys, a young composer who has turned Duluth-Superior harbor sounds into music. While most people who visit Duluth spend some time sight-seeing on the waterfront, for Rapsys, sounds of the harbor can be just as inspiring as the sights.
September 28, 2004 - Commercial fisherman Walter Sve recounts story about the dangers of being a commercial herring fisherman on the North Shore of Lake Superior. He's been at the job for decades. We talked with him while he was cleaning fish in his fish-house.
July 20, 2005 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill reports on a recent discovery 400ft below the surface of Lake Superior…the Benjamin Noble, a ship lost with all 20 crewmen, back in 1914. It disappeared into the depths of the lake during an April storm, and it's been the target of numerous unsuccessful searches over the years.
August 19, 2005 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann talks with Tom Holden, of the Army Corps of Engineers at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center, about the first 100 years of the iconic Duluth Lift Bridge.
November 22, 2005 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports that two Minnesota legislators are proposing a bill to guard against invasive species hitchhiking in ocean-going ships on Lake Superior. The legislation would require big international ships that travel in Lake Superior to treat ballast water before dumping it into the lake.