Comments on: (US) Duluth inclines / Les funiculaires de Duluth (Minnesota)

By: Joseph Martin

Joseph Martin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:24:00 +0000

My mother, Beatrice Bernhardt Martin was born in 1909. As a young girl she rode the incline to her Grandpa’s brothers house at 631 west 3rd street (last house next to the incline.) Her Great uncle’s wife died in 1916, so Mom was only 7 years old but remembers clearly the ‘old men’ asking Anton Schlender if the incline car passing kept him awake at night!
PS, I still have the heavy steel frame for the new 1911 West car and also the original blue-print for the cars when they were built in Minneapolis. The frame meaures 11′ by 16′.

By: Barbara Humphrey

Barbara Humphrey — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:59:55 +0000

This is a wonderful site. Thank you for all the excellent information and the fantastic photos. Like my friend Donn Larson, my grandmother, Flora Cameron Humphrey, must have wanted me to have thi9s experience. I was but 4 years old and so my memory not as keen as Donn’s. But I remember it being quite thrilling, and terrifying for so young a child.

I have the Tony Dierckins book about the Aerial Bridge that Donn mentions and it is excellent, one of several histories of Duluth Tony has published.

By: Funimag

Funimag — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:48:13 +0000

Hello Donn… thank you for your comment. I am really happy to know someone who saw and rode the incline before its end! I hope this article had remind you a lot of souvenirs…

By: Donn Larson

Donn Larson — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:50:33 +0000

I was 10 years old in 1939. When my aunt, Helene Gronberg, learned that the Incline was about to to be torn down, she took me for a ride and impressed me with knowing this should be a special memory, which it surely is. For those who are interested in the Aerial Lift Bridge, X-Comm in Duluth has published (2008) an excellent book, Crossing the Canal: An Illustrated History of Duluth’s Aerial Bridge, by Tony Dierckins.

By: Funimag

Funimag — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:01:22 +0000

Look at the first photo… the Beacon Hill Pavilion has some rounded walls… Look at the 6th photo, after the fire you can see that the lower part of the Pavilion is still there with the rounded walls… may be this remaining part stayed like that several years…
Does your friend have any remembrance of the Belt Line Incline Railway?

By: Daniel Watson

Daniel Watson — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:20:55 +0000

Yes, I live in Duluth. We have a friend who is 90 years old, and remembers riding on the incline railway. His memory is not real good anymore. We read the pavilion was destroyed in 1901 by fire. He remembers doing something at “the pavilion” which he remembers as a round building, so I did some searching on line to find out more. Your site helped confirm that his recollection must be of some other structure, since your picture of the pavillion shows it certainly not round, and confirmed that it burned to the ground 9 years before he was born!

By: Funimag

Funimag — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:44:05 +0000

Daniel> Thank you… I am sure now the car which crashed was the car on the right track. This car was pulverized at the bottom station… the car pulverized also the station. When I wrote this article I was not sure about which car crashed … now I am sure… I have updated the article. On the 6th photo, you can see the top station after the fire and before the car crashed. This car is on the right track because you can see the passenger compartment which was built on the exterior side of each car. If it was the left car, the passenger compartment should not be visible on this photo.

By: Daniel Watson

Daniel Watson — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:29:04 +0000

Great site! Regarding the crash in 1901: Could it be the ‘intact’ car you see at the bottom station is not the one that ran wild down the tracks and crashed? The debris from the crashed car would have been farther down hill it seems to me.