Harbor Fog (Duluth Minnesota)

[Umpqua1012]

I have a picture of the front of the light showing one of the two resonators.

[Umpqua1012]

TooT is busy looking for a place to install the old diaphone and let blast freely for posterity.

[Umpqua1012]

The horn will be heard again. Believe me, it is coming back soon!

[Umpqua1012]

Sounds sick doesn't it?

[Umpqua1012]

The old diaphone is now in storage; they are planning to maybe put it back into service

[joeharris1223]

Wat kinda fog horn was it

[jane1975]

@joeharris1223 : Its a Diaphone type foghorn, these types have a characteristic grunt at the end of the blast-this one was a Type F known as an F2T horn.

[manga12]

I thought the f2t was the classic rooo ruuuut sound that many of the great lakes diaphones were this sounds like a g type.

[KGero478]

This foghorn's wail will never be forgotten. It's like hearing an old friend.

[JA38EAL]

I miss that horn so much! It never woke me up, but I'd hear it in my dreams, and then I could realize I was dreaming and then everything was lucid.

I would open the windows, just to hear it better. When I moved to a place very far away, there were times that I thought I could still hear it, though it was only wishful thinking.

[auntie55bob]

Thank you for preserving this little piece of history. I visit this page often so I thought I should let you know it's appreciated.

I haven't lived in Duluth for over 30 years but, I still have fond memories of the fog horn. It was like when you heard it on a foggy night, you just knew everything was OK.

With all the hotels down on Canal Park now, I don't suppose the tourists would have taken too well to hearing it in the middle of the night though. LOL

[rynoceras]

@auntie55bob: Thank you. I'm glad you've derived some enjoyment from it. I may have mentioned this in some other comment but I have very fond memories of sitting in my upstairs room in Lester Park on foggy, rainy days and hearing the wail of the old horn in the distance. I see you've commented before. Sometimes I'm not on top of replying to comments. Thanks again.

[auntie55bob]

@rynoceras, I wasn't really expecting a reply but, thank you.

LOL, I didn't realize I'd already commented on this one till after I'd published the newest comment.

[IndigoCat17]

Thats the most creepy fog horn i have ever heard

[nukecat]

yes, thank you who ever posted this !i love nostaglia .i grew up partly in duluth,mn when this fog horn was still in service .fricken shame that its now defunct. those rotten bastards. sometimes i just hate this world we live in !!!!!!!!!!

[nancysparkplug]

Was that Enger tower in one of those shots? Wasn't there a story of some teenager seeing a ghost up there and falling to his death? That's the legend that was going around when I lived in Duluth.

[JA38EAL]

@nancysparkplug I love that legend about Enger Tower, but it never made a lot of sense to me. If he fell because of his reaction to seeing a ghost, how do we know he saw the ghost if he wasn't alive to tell us?

I just remembered I time I scared myself out of my wits at Enger Tower at night :)

[auntie55bob]

Thanks for the video and the memories.

[rattlinurcage3]

I can remember the fog horn too,We went out for one of the harbor cruises and the fog rolled in !! I remember being scared to death,since I was like 6 yrs old at the time.Hearing that now brings it all back.

[sithhmahnze]

Oh how I miss that lovely bellow from the harbor on a foggy day. I can't believe how suddenly the people of Duluth turned against the foghorn.

[MoparMan55]

i miss it too could you tell me what happent

[rynoceras]

From what I understand there was a faction of residents who didn't like hearing the horn and complained. More current signal technology made it obsolete but still nostalgic for some folks. So a compromise was arrived at and the horn was operated only during certain hours for a time. But evidently the wiring went bad and the Coast Guard said it was too expensive to repair so it was shut down.

[burghill1979]

where was the foghorn? was it in the building or within the grounds? or was it in a sepparate building

[rynoceras]

There are two piers that form the canal entrance to Duluth's harbor. The foghorn was located in the building at the end of the south pier. In the video, the opening and closing shots of the lighthouse on the north pier were taken from right next to the building that housed the foghorn.

[markhinr]

Very cool video!! It would make a great intro for a eerie movie. :-)

[anyplacewild37]

Thanks for posting this. The way the foghorn used to pierce the stillness of a fooggy morning is a memory that sits with me to this day. Every year, time seems to claim more of those old memories, but something of the spirit of Duluth still remains.

[SeeDeeMoe]

I lived in Duluth as a small child from around 1960 to 1964. I remember listening to this horn late a night after I'd gone to bed. I've never forgotten it. Hearing it again is like meeting an old friend. Thank you for sharing this.

[rynoceras]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Since the foghorn has been put out of service, I thought it was important to have some record of it, at least for those of us who enjoyed its sound.

[LNERMallard]

I thought the foghorn was deactivated in 2003. When was this video shot?

[rynoceras]

The foghorn and fog were shot in 1996.

[mdog192]

Lol I dont know much but what does deactivated mean?

[LNERMallard]

Deactivated: Adjective; Defunct, No longer active, forgoten

[jane1975]

Yes the lovely Diaphone went out of service according to the reports on the web and has been replaced by an electric fog horn-which I am sure will also become extinct in years to come [boo] Soone ought to put up a video of what the fog horn sounds like today-it will be puny in comparison but worth a recording before it gets shut off too.

[badottum]

Oh, D-Town. How I love thee.

[WBJBW]

cool!!!

[lmlittleman]

nice vid - i also live in duluth right by the lake ive see fog like that all the time - ice fogs my fav.

[KMelKang]

Cool vid!

[hellooldchap]

Sea fog can be very eerie when thick. The fog horn adds to it nicely!

[pencilman222000]

is a lake not a sea but its AWSOME

i love duluth

WE SHOULD MAKE AN ANTHEM FOR DULUTH

[jane1975]

I would love to go one day with the new horn sounding and get a comparison-thanks for sharing your enthusiasim with us.

[HeyMedic]

Now THAT is a foghorn! :-D

[jane1975]

Blimey that is one loud Fog horn. I hear that it has been superseded by an electric "peep" now.