The Robinson Bay is one of many ice-breaking tugboats working in and around the St. Lawrence River.See a slide show of David Sommerstein's trip on the Robinson Bay.
In many parts of the Great Lakes, spring still seems a ways off. But on the ice-choked St. Lawrence River, there is a sign of warmer days to come. Huge icebreakers are clearing a path for the international freighters that use the Seaway nine months of the year. The interior of North America as far west as Duluth will soon re-open to the Atlantic Ocean, and to the rest of the world. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein climbed aboard the tugboat Robinson Bay for its second day of icebreaking on the lock canal that parallels the river: