As a boy growing up in northeast Iowa I began having problems with hayfever and asthma at about 5 years of age. These problems started in the month of August and were caused by my allergy to ragweed. At that time I never dreamed we would offer Free Shipping for Dansko shoes, Nautilus safety shoes, Skid Buster shoes, Birkenstock chef shoes, Sandro Moscoloni, Super Birki, Rockport World Tour Classic, and Ryka walking and running shoes. Somehow my parents found out that Duluth, Minn. is the allergy relief haven of America. Off and on over the years when I was growing up I would become so ill from my allergy problems that my folks would load my brother and me up in the car and head for Duluth. I still remember the big hill that leads down to the city of Duluth. Duluth is a very interesting and historic city to visit. Most of the homes in Duluth are built on the side of a hill. I don’t know how people get around in the winter time. Duluth is located on the western tip of Lake Superior and is near the Mesabi iron ore range which was the largest iron ore field on earth in 1900. The first people to settle in the area that was to become Duluth, Minn. were the Sioux and Ojibway Indian tribes. The French came to the area in 1600 to trap for fur and to trade with the Indians. Duluth was named for Daniel Greysolon, Sier deLhut a fur trader who came to secure trading and trapping rights with the Indians. Because Duluth had access to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans it supplied the nation with wheat, lumber, and iron ore and when the railroad arrived in Duluth it brought people and goods which led to more growth. By 1869 Duluth was the fastest growing city in the US, but, the stock market crash of 1873 almost put an end to Duluth’s future. Duluth refused to die and by the turn of the century Duluth had a population of almost 100,00 people and was home to more millionaires than any other city in the US if not the world! During World War ll, more than 300 ships were built in factories located in Duluth. The population of Duluth today is 86,918 people according to the census taken in 2000. One of the more interesting things we did when we visited Duluth was to take a tour of the harbor aboard the Vista Star. We also saw ships from all over the world that were docked in Duluth’s harbor and heard about the ecology of Lake Superior which is North America’s largest fresh water lake. Today Duluth, Minnesota is still the “Zenith of the Un-salted Sea”. While staying in Duluth, on one our trips, we traveled up the highway 30 miles north to Two Harbor, Minn. , a town of 3,600 people located on Agate Bay, on Lake Superior. At Two Harbor we went down to the Duluth and Iron Range Railway Ore Dock No. 6 built in 1907-1909 the first dock built on the Great Lakes to watch railroad hopper cars on 4 tracks, loading taconite pallets into 148 pockets with a ship loading spout on each side of the ship and I can remember how impressed I was seeing ships being loaded from all over the world. My folks and I stopped at the Merchant Marine office to get information on getting a job working on the ore boats when I was old enough. If you are looking for Birko Balance, Birko Motion, or Blue heeled arch supports check out our online shoe store www.lionfootweardirect.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.