37 years ago today....

[upnut]

I was a 21 year old kid, loading gravel with an old Case backhoe at the Rigg's Pit. I remember the gravel flying sideways as it dropped toward the dump truck box. The big, heavy duty trucks were literally rocking with the wind gusts. Found out on the radio, listening to WJR Detroit that the Edmund Fitzgerald had sunk, all hands were lost at sea. Still get a lump in my throat....If you ever get the chance, visit Whitefish Point, kind of commercialized now compared to those days, but the Shipwreck Museum provides haunting memories.
 
Scott B.

[Lloyd Smale]

i was 18 year old. At the time it sunk believe it or not i was in coast guard boot camp in cape may nj. The storm was there too. You could see electrical transformer fuses blowing off in the distance from or squad bay window. Nobody was even going outside to have a smoke.

[upnut]

On Veterans Day, let me thank you for your service!
 
Scott B.

[RevJim]

 I was 22 then, Texas oilfield worker, never heard of the Edmond Fitzgerald until Gordon Lightfoot sang about it later. Last April, visited my first time to UP, looked at the Lake right above Marquette, thought about that ship. Strange feeling for sure. My buddy worked on a freighter during his college years, he said when water got in it turned the ore into a slurry, no way to stop it from capsizing, too cold to swim. I have never been a fan of Big Water (grew up in Galveston area) its only one of the reasons I joined the Army instead of the Navy, lol.

[ihookem]

When I hear the song it feels so spooky. I can't imagine going down in that cold of water. I was east of Marquette Mich in July 1987. It was so hot I ran into Lake Superior. In a few seconds my legs where numb and couldn't feel anything. The water in the summer time is enough to kill you. Those people went down to the bottom. I think I would rather die in a fire.

[Lloyd Smale]

I live about an 1/8 of a mile from the shore and us locals laugh at the tourist swimming on the beach. I think about age 12 you aquire enough sense to find an inland lake to swim in.

When I hear the song it feels so spooky. I can't imagine going down in that cold of water. I was east of Marquette Mich in July 1987. It was so hot I ran into Lake Superior. In a few seconds my legs where numb and couldn't feel anything. The water in the summer time is enough to kill you. Those people went down to the bottom. I think I would rather die in a fire.

[Drilling Man]

  37 years ago i was already a resident of Alaska, and by then, already out stalking my second brown bear...  I also shot a very nice Dall sheep that fall, along with the other big game animals that i put in my freezer...
 
  The winter of "75" was one cold SOB, with 3 solid weeks of -35 or colder!
 
  DM