Ice-clearing activities along the St. Lawrence River
Ice-clearing activities will begin on or about March 15, 2025, throughout the St. Lawrence River, including the area between the Eisenhower and Snell Locks in preparation for the Seaway’s upcoming navigation season.
All ice fishermen, snowmobile operators, and All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) operators should refrain from using the areas where ice has been cleared to avoid numerous open water leads and unstable ice cover caused by the clearing.
RESTRICTION OF RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES BETWEEN EISENHOWER AND SNELL LOCKS
All persons are to refrain from using the canal in the area between the Eisenhower and Snell Locks due to the possibility of unstable ice cover. The Montreal-Lake Ontario section of the St. Lawrence Seaway is scheduled to open at 8 a.m., March 22.
Valerie van Heest is Marine Historical Society
of Detroit’s 2025 Historian of the Year
Shipwreck explorer, author and museum exhibit designer Valerie van Heest is the recipient of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit’s 2025 Robert T. Pocotte Historian of the Year Award.
The honor, which has been awarded most years since 1969, is meant to recognize excellence in historic preservation, with an emphasis on the written word.
van Heest’s personal mission is to preserve and interpret Great Lakes maritime history in ways that educate, entertain, and inspire. Her work began in 1989 when, as an architectural designer, she cofounded the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago. Using her design and diving skills, she developed efficient ways to document shipwrecks and created numerous site drawings. She led several projects on the area’s most significant shipwrecks, in one case testifying for the State of Illinois about the shipwreck Lady Elgin.
Relocation to Michigan in 1995 prompted Valerie, her husband Jack, and others to cofound the nonprofit Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA). Since then, her team has discovered 20 shipwrecks and documented those and dozens of others. Her work led her to begin lecturing. She has delivered over 800 multi-media presentations and cohosted MSRA’s 25 annual shipwreck festivals in Holland, Michigan, showcasing the work of Great Lakes maritime explorers. She has written dozens of magazine articles, been interviewed for countless news stories, and appeared on a dozen national television programs discussing her research.
In 2006 she established In-Depth Editions to publish her first book, as well as the books of other historians whose niche topics are often overlooked by bigger publishers. Of her eight books, she is most proud of those in which she has been able to correct erroneous historical information, including Lost on the Lady Elgin, Fatal Crossing, and Big Red Lighthouse. The latter book prompted the state of Michigan to install a corrected state historical marker at the site of the Holland Harbor Lighthouse.
In 2008, she and maritime historian William Lafferty, named 2016 Historian of the Year by the Detroit group, coauthored the National Register of Historic Places nomination of the shipwreck Hennepin. This led to their establishment of the exhibit design firm Lafferty van Heest and Associates. LvH has curated and designed all the exhibits for The Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, and numerous exhibits for the Michigan Maritime Museum, Chicago Maritime Museum, and other museums. She has written three successful grant applications as cooperative projects between MSRA and LvH’s museum clients and has been instrumental in negotiating the donation of collections belonging to others to various maritime museums, including a dozen steamship models, and over 200 artifacts from the Lady Elgin, Niagara, and Northwest Airlines Flight 2501.
She is an inductee in the Women Divers Hall of Fame, recipient of Michigan State History Awards for her maritime preservation work and several of her books, Daughters of the America Revolution Women in History Award, and the AGLMH’s Joyce C. Hayward Award for Historical Interpretation. Her greatest honor has been raising, with her husband, two successful daughters, both who are certified scuba divers.
The Marine Historical Society of Detroit marked its 80th anniversary in 2024. It has published numerous books, including the recent Ahoy & Farewell III. Find out more at MHSD.org.
2025 “Know Your Ships” launches
The new shipping season is at hand, and so is the release of the 2025 edition of Know Your Ships, the popular annual field guide to boats and boatwatching on the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Seaway, now in its 66th year.
Preorders are now being taken. As usual, standard and spiral bindings are available. Preorders will be the first to mail out when the book arrives from the printer around March 23.
New this year is the ability to preorder the midsummer EXTRA magazine, which will feature a 50th anniversary tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew, when you preorder the book.
To mark the opening of the Soo Locks, Editor & Publisher Roger LeLievre will be at the Soo Locks Visitor Center Saturday, March 26, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., to sign copies of the new edition. Buy them right from him, or from Das Gift Haus and Island Books and Crafts in the Soo, bring them to the Visitor Center and he will sign them.
Preorder at this link: www.knowyourships.com
Enter Duluth’s 42nd Annual First Ship Contest
Birds chirping. Snow thawing. Groundhogs emerging. There are many signs of spring across the country. In Duluth, it’s when the season’s first oceangoing vessel, known as a “saltie,” enters the city’s harbor. Begone ice! The ships are coming in.
To celebrate the occasion, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority and Visit Duluth are partnering for the 42nd Annual First Ship Contest. Correctly guess when the season’s first saltie sails into our seaport and you could win an epic prize package of Duluth goods and experiences. The second-place winner will also receive a prize package.
Here’s the link: https://visitduluth.com/first-ship/
Help Wanted: Interlake Logistics
Solutions Seeks Chief Engineer
The Interlake Logistics Solutions team has an immediate need for an experienced Chief Engineer Limited. More details about the position, pay and schedule can be found via the link below. You can apply directly through ADP and if you have additional questions and genuine interest, you can reach directly to General Manager Chuck Leonard at 231-590-8695 or cleonard@interlakems.com
