MnDOT: Mission Creek Burial Recovery Completed

DULUTH, Minn.-MnDOT has announced that burial recovery efforts at the historic Mission Creek cemetery located in the Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth have been completed.

In May 2017, MnDOT uncovered burial remains in the historic cemetery while excavating to replace the Mission Creek Bridge. Since that time, project partners and contractors have worked together to complete burial recovery efforts.

In May 2019, the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa took the lead on recovery efforts, executing an aggressive work plan and doubling crew size from that of previous contractors.

The next steps will be to return soils to the central cemetery slope, officially define the cemetery boundaries, and repatriate remains and burial related items.

The agencies are also working with a landscape architect who will aid in development of the cemetery’s final design.

Upon delineation of the final cemetery boundaries, MnDOT will restart the project development process to address the Mission Creek Bridge.