Charlie Wight discusses first meeting the McAllister brothers; cruising Balsam Lake with McAllister; his memories of a woodsman named William Taft; the Taft spurs; a spur from Red Lake to Lake Julia and the logging around Lake Julia; hoisting logs out of Mud Lake; what determined whether a company would trestle or hoist logs; Scanlon-Gipson operations around Little Turtle Lake in 1901-1902; his acquaintance with Dave Conners; Irwin and O'Brien landing logs in Whitefish Lake; where lumber was sawed; the first road into Funkley; whether he saw any Native Americans living around Bemidji early on; whether he noticed old native trails; the names of different portages; scouting out homesteads; early logging by the Keewatin Company; the equipment his outfit used on their trips; trying to find a folding-up oven to demonstrate baking biscuits; the length of his first cruising trip; where else he cruised; how Weyerhaeuser moved his timber to Little Falls; the type of ties used for an inland logging railroad; the operation at Cross Lake; how moving logs by rail is like portaging; the amount of timber in the Cross Lake area; who he worked for after leaving Weyerhaeuser and Billy Woods; buying his own timber; losing almost everything in the Panic of 1932; about his family; what he did after the panic; his knowledge of Billy Woods; and his method of cruising. Then Wight discusses how he burnt slash; trying to talk another cruiser out of burning in poor conditions; how state policies hindered safe burning conditions; claims that were heavily timbered, and buyers who sold low; cruising for Clerk of Court Rasmussen; his health; a tree scale table by Frank Hasty; Frank Hasty; his sight; where the best timber was; whether you drive timber from Clearwater to Winnipeg in a year; Eau Claire area timer companies; the interviewer briefly tells about Weyerhaeuser difficulties north of Grand Rapids; Wight's visit at Cloquet; value of stumpage. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Kate Hines Erickson is interviewed by an unknown man with Dr. Charles Vandersluis present. Vandersluis refers to man with something rhyming with "rig," possibly Marvin J. Briggs of the Bemidji Pioneer. Erickson discusses where her parents were from and when and where they settled; how her uncle conceived of the Farmer-Hines Railroad; her recollection of the land as a child; her early work for the Crookston Lumber Company; being transferred to Shevlin-Hixon at Blind River, Ontario; whether she remembered the Bemidji mill; the 1924 fire at the Bemidji mill; where lumber milled at Bemidji came from; working for Weyerhaeuser for 9 years; how much lumber Minnesota produced; where Leonard Carpenter might be; how the plant's closing affected Bemdiji; jobs that she said native people preferred; how the Canadian lumber company hired eastern Europeans to build the mill; and Finnish nobility who came to Canada to learn the trade. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Reverend Samuel Blair discusses when and how he first came to Bemidji; what Bemidji looked like when he arrived; the service he held the first night he arrived; the timeline of his work; the first Presbyterian church in Bemidji; patroness Mrs. Cyrus H. McCormick; the first ministers; services in tents; his memories of Chief Bemidji; memories of Reverend Frank Higgins; his service in Buena Vista; his service in Nebish; the Presbyterian church in Kelliher; Higgins' sled dogs; and the Bemidji overreaction to the uprising at Leech Lake. In the next part of the recording, Blair discusses his recollection of Moose; when Malzahn building was finished; when the Northern Hotel was finished; the territories that he and Dr. Adams covered; whether any Sunday Schools have persisted without parent churches; how modern roads are changing church-going habits; why he quit the American Sunday School Union; his personal background; his blacksmith work in lumber camps; and working his way through Moody Institute. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The interview with Frederick Messerschmidt was conducted by an unknown interviewer on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Mr. Messerschmidt discusses moving to Blackduck, Minnesota in 1900 and Quiring, Minnesota in 1912. He also discusses a murder that occurred in Quiring Township in 1903. He also describes the undeveloped town of Carter, establishing the Quiring Farmer's Club, and joining the Blackduck creamery.
The interview with Henry Kolden was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Henry Kolden discusses toting goods and operating the Summit Mercantile Company in Blackduck, Minnesota in the early 1900s. He also describes early fraternal organizations, churches, schools, railroads, travelling salesmen, and musicians. He also describes photographer Louis Halverson, the Palace Hotel, and early newspapers including the Blackduck Times and the Blackduck American. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including interactions like hiring an Ojibwe driver, boarding on the Red Lake reservation, attending a dance, and disagreements over timber. The interview is continued from BCHS020a, and continues in BCHS 130a/b and BCHS 131a/b.
The interview with John Van House was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably Kelliher, Minnesota. Van House discusses living in Kelliher starting in 1906. He discusses logging, sawmills, and early mail delivery. He also describes development of the water and sewer system and an electric light plant. He describes fighting a fire at a local church. The interview is continued from BCHS 059a.
Claud Fish discusses moving to Buffalo and Deer River, Minnesota in 1881 and 1898, respectively. He discusses homesteading, logging, laying railroads, and farming. He describes mail delivery by moose and horses that were killed on the railroad. He discusses how Koochiching County split from Itasca County. He also describes the Itasca Lumber Company, J. P. Sims, and a variety of railway lines. The interview continues in BCHS 070b, BCHS 069a, and concludes in BCHS 071a.
The first interview is with Josie Hanson Saltnes, and was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Josie Hanson Saltnes discusses teaching at the Park School in Solway, Minnesota in 1907 and 1908, then Foy, Minnesota in about 1909 to 1912, and again at Foy in 1915 or 1916. She describes boarding with neighbors and getting mail delivered by stage from Blackduck, Minnesota. She also describes several photographs including a picnic and a school photo. She also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including how Ojibwe people camped near the store in Foy and interacted with white people on the reservation. The interview is continued from BCHS 072a. Late in the interview, an unidentified man describes traveling to a homestead without enough provisions, with a companion who gets drunk and freezes to the bottom of a boat. He also discusses Bridgie, Minnesota. The second interview is with an unidentified man, called Bill late in the recording. The unidentified narrator discusses traveling to Bagley, Minnesota in 1897 or 1898. He also discusses logging for Jim Sherry and caring for his team. He also describes running a general store and interacting with loggers.
In the recording, all speakers are in the background, at an unknown gathering of women. The discernable spoken phrases are provided. The women are reviewing old materials and talking about putting on a historical program. The recording is continued from bchs075a. The women are planning a historical program. A woman from the Jones family tells about her life; women sing to piano accompaniment; a woman named Alma tells how she caught a skunk as a child; they look at old papers; one tells about a missing child at Shepherd's Crossing; a man sings a the song 'Fare Thee Well' with piano accompaniment in English and Ojibwe, then another song; the group of women discuss missionaries; one tells a story of lumberjack underwear stopping up a fire engine; a man talks about farming with oxen; and a man shows a variety of maps.
The first part of the recording is an interview with Charles William Vandersluis (CWV) conducted by his son, Dr. Charles Wilson Vandersluis, on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The elder Vandersluis discusses being a traveling salesman in the area around Bemidji, Minnesota starting in 1901. He also discusses development of Bena, Minnesota and the original stopping place and store there. He describes railroads, hotels, lumber companies, and sawmills. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including selling goods, intermarriage, and white people gaining access to Ojibwe allotments on reservations for logging. This part of the interview was probably continued from BCHS 071a. The second part of the recording is a discussion with a group of unidentified narrators, conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The group of unidentified narrators discuss railroads, log drives, and sawmills in the area of Bemidji, Minnesota around 1900. They also discuss steamboats and describe a logging tool called a cant hook. This section of the recording is continued from BCHS 071a.
Charlie Wight discusses the Duluth and Winnipeg railroad; various logging projects; the locations of lumber camps; Blakely and Farley; the locations of logging spurs; the Carver brothers; and the engine hill at Weaver Camp.
Silas Carter discusses the post office at Isle; carrying the mail from Mora to Isle; having a charter boat on Mille Lacs with his dad, and some of their passengers and freight; remembering a rumored Native American uprising; the tugboat Gracie Dee; working as a cook in West Superior as the docks and Minnesota-Wisconsin bridge were being built, and setting up a kitchen; getting a tip on a homestead near Tenstrike and going out to it; Farmer Hines; being hospitalized with rheumatic fever and not getting into the Spanish-American War; and Frank Dudley and his wife's slot machines. The recording is continued from bchs078a.
Van House, John; Miller, Anna E.; Saltnes, Josie Hanson
Date Created:
1950 - 1959
Description:
The first interview, with John Van House, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Van House discusses a boat that was lent to Ojibwe people near Waskish around 1916 and was used for hauling liquor. He also describes a sawmill. The interview is continued from BCHS 059a and BCHS 059b. The second interview, with Anna E. Miller, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in 1953 in an unrecorded location. Miller discusses the fire in Kelliher, Minnesota around 1913. She also discusses the Kelliher Mercantile Company, the area's old settler's organization, and deadheading logs on Bullhead Lake. She also mentions working for the post office starting in 1918 and serving as postmaster from 1920 to 1934. The final interview, with Josie Hanson Saltnes, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Josie Hanson Saltnes discusses teaching at the Park School in Solway, Minnesota in 1907 and 1908, then Foy, Minnesota in about 1909 to 1912, and again at Foy in 1915 or 1916. She describes attending summer school, boarding with neighbors, surviving a forest fire in 1908, and eating at a logging camp. She also describes the store at Foy and a location called Jerome. She also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including Ojibwe people camping near the store at Foy and selling corn there. The interview continues in BCHS 072b.
Silas Carter discusses his background before coming to the area; his father's experience as a contractor in Princeton; his father's homestead on Mille Lacs; his early job in logging on the Rum River; how logs were marked; how logs were sorted; how dams helped in a log drive; the [Quayle?] brothers; his role helping find bodies and secure homes after the Hinckley fire; naming Isle; and carrying the mail from Mora to Isle. The recording is continued in bchs078b
Ella B. Bowser (Mrs. William N.) discusses her husband's first coming to Bemidji; her early thoughts of Bemidji; the rumored Native American uprising around 1900; Mary Carson selling milk; fleas, lice, and bedbugs; doctors she remembered; going for buggy rides; her early Bemidji neighborhood; getting hit by a horse; memories of dances; the suicide of a druggist; boating; card games; prices; clothing; and hats. The interview includes two unknown women, one referred to as Miss or Mrs. Moody, the other as Jane. Beginning at 49:15, all speakers are in the background, at an unknown gathering of women. The discernable spoken phrases are provided. The women are reviewing old materials and talking about putting on a historical program. The recording continues in bchs075b.
Henry Lucius Carter and his daughter-in-law, Josephine Knutson (Mrs. Cass) Carter, discuss some of his cruising instruments; when he quit timber cruising; surveying; making errors when surveying; using compasses near iron ore deposits; who he worked for; evaluating different areas; and whether he ever homesteaded. The recording is dated June 8, 1952. It is continued from bchs077a.
Archie Logan discusses wages, room, and board as a logger; what loggers ate in lumber camps; logging accidents and health care available to injured loggers; lumberjack sky pilot Frank Higgins; what the Native Americans in the area ate; whether Native Americans got a fair deal for their lumber; how the lumber industry cruised forests for the best timber early on; traveling to Buena Vista by steamboat; stagecoaches; Freeman Doud; Tom Joy; early logging around Red Lake; steamboats used to haul timber on lakes; the volume of logs put in the river from Red Lake depending on conditions; how a sorting works operated; and deadhead logs. Leonard Dickinson is also part of the conversation. The recording is part of a series, continued from BCHS 115a and BCHS 116b, continuing in BCHS 079b, BCHS 116a, and BCHS 116b.
Henry Carter and his daughter-in-law, Josephine Knutson (Mrs. Cass) Carter, discuss Henry Carter's history before coming to the area; his start as a timber cruiser; what he ate and how he lived on a cruising trip; cruisers he remembered; Carter's and Vandersluis's opinions about how Native Americans were treated in timber deals; whether there was a need for Indian Agencies; moving logs by water versus by rail; and working for J.Neils. The recording is dated June 8, 1952. It is continued in BCHS 077b.
Archie Logan discusses deadhead logs; where log marks were recorded; the lengths of logs; how logs were loaded on railroad cars; most prevalent species of timber; cedar yards around Kelliher; the logging railroad from Nebish to Red Lake; where logging took place in the mid-1880s; the logging railroad out of Crosslake; the narrow-gauge line at Gull Lake; smallpox in the lumber camps; quarantine in a lumber camp; and the source of the Mississippi. Leonard Dickinson is also part of the conversation. The recording is part of a series, continued from BCHS 115a, BCHS 115b, and BCHS 079a, and continued in BCHS116a and BCHS 116b.
Wellington Schroeder discusses establishing a dam at Bemidji with the Warfield brothers; the building he built with Julius Miller; building another building and how much contractors were paid; being in a financial wreck; his first homestead; Clarence Speelman; taking a Beltrami County exhibit to the state fair; organizing the county fairgrounds; a saloon-keeper at Tenstrike who wanted to take road contracts; and getting stuck in a storm with a team of horses. The interview is continued from BCHS 105b. In the second part of the recording, Peter Rudolph Peterson tells of the life of lumberjack sky pilot Frank Higgins; how they met; Higgins' death; and Higgins' conversion of John Sornberger. The interview continues in BCHS 084b.
Wight, Charlie; Bourgeois, Euclid; Brooks, Walter L.
Date Created:
1956 - 1959
Description:
The following oral history was recorded by Dr. Charles Vandersluis. The interview(s) include Charlie Wight, Euclid (Ernie) Bourgeois, and other unknown people, including probably Howard Newcomb. Wight, Bourgeois and others talk about the singer Hank Underwood and his family and Hank Underwood's funeral. Other topics include Tom Nary; the Carver brothers; the Stewart family; a preacher in Laporte and Nary; the Hines family; 'Grampy' Porter Nye. Walter L. Brooks talks about payments on the Red Lake reservation; a man reads what he says is an interview with Maurice Godfrey on February 1, 1956, in which Godfrey talks about his father, a boat builder; various boats in the area; the locations of camps and lakes; various dams; Bob Neving; and Bagley's nephew, Buzzle.
Lillian French Baney discusses where her parents came from; her early life in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the St. Cloud area; her family's arrival at Bagley; their early situation at Four-Legged Lake; her father's efforts to organize the township and a school; the bachelors who tried to run a store on their property; her father's acquisition of the store and commission of a post office; the mail route from Bagley; Henry How's stopping place; a group of Frenchmen who stayed at her family's stopping place during a rumored Native American uprising; the Noonan lumber camp; Dr. McKinnon and Dr. Gilmore; a Native American campground on their claim; the brothel at Klondike; penalties for providing liquor to a Native American; Mrs. Henry How's reputation; wanigans near Bob Neving's place; and Clearwater Dam. The recording, dated October 3, 1955, is continued in bchs088b.
Archie Logan and Leonard Dickinson discuss how lumberjacks were recruited; what lumberjacks did in their free time; Sundays in the lumber camp; salesmen in the camps; Catholic sisters in the camps; lumberjack sky pilot Frank Higgins; where settlers came from; Indian agents; Redby; John G. Morrison, Jr., and his collection; Indian Paul; early Buena Vista; Dickinson's father's box company; getting cheated of payment; and eminent domain. The recording is part of a series, continued from BCHS 115a, BCHS 115b, BCHS 079a, and BHCS 079b, and continued in BCHS 116b.
Edna Dunham (Mrs. Jack) Essler discusses where she was born and how her family first came to St. Peter, Minnesota; her grandfather's livestock business; her first teaching jobs at Traverse des Sioux, Lake Washington, Kasota, and Cleveland; working at Kerr's Department Store in Minneapolis; going with her friend, Miss Lula Rickmire, to stay at her homestead claim in Itasca County; buying her own relinquishment in Itasca County; what Farley and Blackduck looked like when she first went through; going up to her own homestead for the first time; her and Miss Rickmire's encounter with a bear; meeting her husband; teaching a country school near her claim; buying her land; getting married at Blackduck; what Bemidji looked like in 1902; and early doctors in Bemidji. The recording is continued in bchs087b.
Knute Rauk discusses where he was born; when he and his family came to Shevlin; his father's hardware business; the Beltrami County Advocate; operating the printing press at Shevlin; banks in Shevlin; the Mallard Call newspaper and early Mallard. George Kerr talks about his paper route in Brainerd; his dream of being a railroad engineer; logging on the Gull River; the Stony Brook and Northern; a railroad machine shop, possibly at East Brainerd; the lower and upper landings; the dangers of unloading logs; the use of stakes to secure logs on train cars; the Brainerd and Northern Minnesota railroad; and railroad operations at Lothrop. Charlie Wight is also present. The Kerr interview continues in BCHS 120b.
Edna Dunham (Mrs. Jack) Essler discusses Rev. Frank Higgins; Rev. McCloud; whether she remembered early Bemidji businesses; consolidation of Nymore; early Bemidji residents she remembered; Rev. Zoll; Rev. Blair; early Bemidji infrastructure; the first cars in Bemidji; early women's organizations; the exceptional people of Hines; boats on Lake Bemidji; her first cabin in Bemidji; and traveling up to her homestead. The recording is continued from bchs087a.
Charles Lemuel (Charlie) Slough and Christian Hoines discuss Slough coming to Bemidji in 1901; what Bemidji looked like at the time; what Nary looked like at the time; many local residents; fires at Nary; a story about Slough's father sleeping in a rut in the road; Slough's father losing his gun in the lake; Al Jester; who was logging around Nary; how much money loggers made; rocks in the ground; early days on Slough's homestead; how companies acquired timber land; logging companies selling land to a land company; S. D. [Samuel Dallas] Works selling land; and a large sheep operation. The recording is continued from bchs106a.
Elsie Mae Willsey discusses her father's life before coming to the area; her father's choice of homestead ending up far from the railroad; her first trip to Big Turtle Lake from Chicago in 1901; what they did for fun; mosquitoes and bedbugs; her friendship with Martha Miersch; their sock and stocking bazaar; early residents of Turtle River; the town water pump; the railroad coming to Turtle River; her father building boats; a description of her father; who cared for her father in his final years; her father catching 11 fish for dinner; their roothouse; salting fish; and how Movil Lake got its name. The recording, clearly dated September 19, 1952, is continued in bchs119b.
The following oral history was recorded by Dr. Charles Vandersluis. Harry Carlson discusses the steamboat Ida, which his father built; early Bemidji; stumps in Third Street; eating wild meat and salt pork before the railroad came in; Gustav Hinsch's idea to build a statue of Chief Bemidji; Hinsch's disappearance and possible death; Hinsch losing everything in a fire at Phillips, Wisconsin; and when the village and county were organized. Earl Geil is also present during the interview. The recording jumps twice to unidentified musical performances. The recording, possibly from 1952, is continued from bchs104b.
Harriet Villemin Cameron discusses a lumberjack named Big Mike; feeding logging crews; the wild town of Tenstrike and a murder there; her memories of Henry Funkley; the couple she got her furniture from; and Grandma Carson. Dr. Vandersluis reads the text of deeds to her land. Previous interviews are found in BCHS 054a and BCHS 054b. In the second part of the recording, Cameron's brother, Louis Villemin, discusses his arrival in Bemidji; his arrival in Porterville, California; his homestead in northern Minnesota; his horses, Billy and Prince; and the Dewey battle on Lake Bemidji. The recording, dated December 1953, is continued in bchs103b. Villemin was speaking from Porterville, California, probably via telephone.
Archie Logan discusses mosquitoes; when he first came to the area; the source of the Mississippi; driving logs at Deer River; saloonkeepers taking advantage of lumberjacks; staying with the Native American man John Smith; coming to Bemidji in 1896; and taking a homestead. The recording is dated March 3, 1952. It is part of a series, continued in BCHS 115b, BCHS 079a, BCHS 079b, BCHS 116a, and BCHS 116b.
The recording begins with Dr. Harold T. Hagg addressing a group about his interest in Beltrami County history; his writing on the topic for a state historical society's magazine; and his interest in the lumberjack sky pilot Frank Higgins. The recording then cuts to a children's piano recital. The conversation with Harry Carlson begins at about 21:15, preceded by Dr. Vandersluis' thoughts on the importance of collecting personal histories. Harry Carlson discusses his arrival in Bemidji; his memories of early Bemidji; helping Ed Kaiser run off copies of the Bemidji Pioneer; the Mississippi Boom Company; and his dad's idea to construct the steamboat Ida. Earl Geil is also present during the interview. The interview, possibly from 1952, is continued from BCHS104b.
Wellington Schroeder discusses where he was born and his childhood home; coming to Minnesota on a train and seeing the largest flour mill in the world; his father's farm at Sanford, Minnesota; hauling supplies for logging camps near Grand Rapids; helping unload the first steel rails of the Deer River logging railroad; how much different men in the logging camps made; being barn boss for the teamsters at a logging camp; the poor logging conditions in 1892-93; the financial constraints of logging companies; ice fishing on Maple Lake; starting a store in Bemidji; coming to Bemidji from Osakis; early businesses in Bemidji; hauling supplies for his store from Park Rapids; his custom-made wagon; making a killing on flour; hauling money for a bank; fixing the roads as he passed over them; his route into tow; following lumber teams to know where it was safe to drive; and buying and shipping blueberries. The interview continues in BCHS 084a.
Dr. Vandersluis reads about the origin of Cutfoot Sioux and a conflict between the Sioux and Ojibwe. George Kerr and Charlie Wight talk about the narrow-gauge railroad between Gilpatrick Lake and Spider Lake; a woman talks about coming to Hackensack from Brainerd in 1894; Kerr describes Lothrop. The group discusses the location of Steamboat Landing; spurs and landings between Walker and Bemidji; and sinkholes in the area. Edna Essler describes coming up to her claim. A man describes an adventure as a child visiting his grandparents' homestead and returning home again. Other participants in the conversation include a man named Howard, probably Howard Newcomb.
Henry Kolden discusses returning from a trip to St. Cloud to file his claim; how good M. D. Stoner was at walking; how early logging began on the Clearwater River; going on a log drive from Bagley Dam in 1896; how dams helped log drives; what the wanigan was like; and what type of men worked on the log drive. The recording is a continuation of BCHS 020a/b, and continues in bchs130b and BCHS 131a/b.
An unknown narrator discusses Klondike and the directions of different roads. Henry Holden discusses different stopping places; traveling with Langord to look for timber near Red Lake; Joe Juneau; squatting on his homestead land; W. R. Spears' store and hotel on the Red Lake reservation; boats on the Thief River; large timber around Nebish; the Jack Mealey camp; and the Arpin family. The recording is continued from BCHS 020a/b, BCHS 130a/b, and BCHS 131a.
Harry Carlson discusses businesses in early Bemidji; the early Bemidji Pioneer newspaper; El Carson losing his grocery store; early doctors; helping Doc Henderson stitch up a man's wound; being in the Great Northern wreck of 1898; Tom Joy's homestead; Freeman Doud; the athletic field; early cemeteries; the early jail; and Charlie Miles. The interview is continued from BCHS 104a. The recording is dated June 1955.
This is the recording of an autobiography of Elizabeth Ridenour Arnold. She discusses her arrival in Bemidji in 1898 and the local overreaction to an Objibwe uprising (Battle of Sugar Point) at Leech Lake. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
This is the recording of a presentation on the history of music in Minnesota presented by an anonymous person. The presenter speaks about music history, sings a song arranged by Frances Densmore in some way representing Ojibwe music, sings a French Canadian voyageur song, and sings a song dating to territorial Minnesota arranged by Bessie Stanchfield called "The Beauty of the West" with the audience joining in. The final part of the recording seems to be Dr. Charles Vandersluis showing the recording device to his family or a private group. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Otterstad discusses his family's arrival in the Turtle River area in 1900; the early buildings of Turtle River; the logging industry; the town of Farley; the Red Lake-Leech Lake Indian trails; and early Turtle River newspapers. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The first part of the recording was made August 1, 1951, in St. Paul. Ralph Carson interviews his father, Joseph Evan Carson, about when his mother died; and where his parents came from. Ralph then reads the flyleaf of the Pondsfordian, by Reverend Benno Watrin, regarding some Carson family history. Evan then talks about the names of his family; their leaving Carsonville; when and where his brothers started their stores where they got their stock; when and where his father built a stopping place; the Beltrami Eagle; his mother's hotel; early Bemidji buildings; earliest Bemidji residents; the Alex Cameron family as the first family at their hotel; memories of Chief Bemidji; where the first school was and early teachers; receiving Chief Bemidji's gun from Mary Carson; and the swimming hole. Evan's wife, Jennie Newell Carson, makes a few suggestions. The recording then transitions to an interview of Evan Carson by Dr. Charles Vandersluis in Bemidji. Carson describes some photographs; street grading; unmarked burials; lumberjacks trying to protect their money; his father serving as probate judge. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The multi-part recording is John G. Morrison, Jr., showing a small group his collections, which were the basis for the original BCHS collections. On the tour, he describes a violin that belonged to his father; his collection of pipes; Navajo rugs; his grandfather's snuffbox and wallet; an assortment of drums and their purposes; bowls; a shopping bag; a battle flag; baby boards; snowshoes; a model tipi; a gambling game; tools and utensils; buckskin bags to carry food; a flint-lock musket; lacrosse sticks; war clubs; powder horns; a quiver; the knuckle game; sashes; headdresses; a stick detailing the training of a warrior; necklaces; and tobacco pouches.He discusses headdresses; water drums; grand medicine; beading; what the Ojibwe used before beads; a doll; dancing regalia; a bead sack; the differences between Sioux and Ojibwe beading designs; how different tribes recognized one another; a battle between the Sioux and Ojibwe; how Red Lake got its name; how the Ojibwe tanned leather; a tobacco sack; a shopping bag; a medicine rattle; a deer tail headdress; and the knuckle game. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Several different clips of interviews are present in the first quarter of the recording; the bulk of the recording is an interview with Charlie Wight. The first clip of significant length is an interview with a man, possibly Albert D. Johnson, who tells Vandersluis about the men who helped prepare legislation for the state game preserve. The recording then jumps to an interview between Vandersluis and timber cruiser Charlie Wight. Wight talks about S. C. Bagley's work on the Schoolcraft River, and what other companies Bagley worked for. Then the recording returns to Johnson, about how Lake of the Woods County was also invested in a state game preserve; whether beavers spoiled the ditches; and the boundaries of the game reserve. Finally, Wight discusses how the Wells brothers owned the Brainerd Lumber Company; how Clark and Dempsey sued the Brainerd Lumber Company for damage on a drive; a narrow-gauge railroad built by the Gull River Lumber Company; conversion to standard gauge; working for Irwin and O'Brien; early history of the Duluth and Winnipeg right-of-way; other trails and canoe routes; how the dam affected Lake Winnibigoshish; what other companies he worked for; working for the Crookston Lumber Company; about R. E. White and White and McDevitt; the Freestone boys; Old Man Dixon; how settlers used scrip; bits about early Kelliher; and other early loggers he knew.
John G. Morrison, Jr., discusses the location of the Ponemah school, meeting his wife, Edith E. MacArthur; arriving at Ponemah school; the struggle to get the school supplied and started; about smallpox epidemic around 1901; a battle between Ojibwe and Sioux tribes; what the schoolchildren wore; how Ponemah got its name; a federal lawsuit he filed; his father's store and business practices; his allotment and homestead; and swamp land. In the second portion of the recording, Morrison and a small group of unidentified others discusss his own homestead and ditching around Upper red Lake.
The first part of the interview features Laura Carson Moore, daughter of El and Mary Carson and granddaughter of Chief Bemidji. Moore talks about her parents' names, when and where she was born, how her parents met, her family, her childhood, her family's move to Texas, how she met her husband, their golden wedding anniversary, her Ojibwe grandparents, her grandfather drinking, trying to find their homestead, her Carson grandparents, her pet deer, her grandchildren, any artifacts she owns, and how quickly her mother forgot the Ojibwe language. The second part of the interview features Moore's cousin, Ralph Carson. Carson dicusses his history, his early memories fishing, his aunt Jessie Carson Spain and her family, his father's pet bears, and his father stealing feathers out of Chief Bemidji's headdress. Other people during the interview include Moore's husband, William Moore, their daughter Eva Mae Moore Long, Carson's wife Grace White Carson, and a secondary interviewer possibly Theo Johnson. The final part of the recording features Ralph Carson, son of Evan Carson. Carson discusses family stories of his grandmother, Susannah Carson, scaring away a bear and making bread from horse feed; family artifacts; and his family history in newspaper work. Other people present during the interview include his cousin Laura Carson Moore, her husband William Moore, their daughter Eva Mae Moore Long, and a secondary interviewer, possibly Theo Johnson. Carson's wife, Grace White Carson, also briefly speaks about her own family; her memories of Susannah Carson, and two of Susannah Carson's platters.
An unidentified man discusses when he began working for the Crookston Lumber Company's railroad; the Island Lake railroad; going back and forth to short railroad jobs; the spur to Island Lake; the siding at Spaulding; the trestle near August Becker's house; early Holt; and people he worked with. In Part 2 he recounts a Y in the railroad at Kelliher; hauling logs from the Battle River; where Crookston Lumber Company had a camp near Waskish; hauling logs out of Blackduck Lake; an argument with a straw boss at the Taft II spur; and various railroads and projects.
Father Thomas Borgerding discusses where he was born; where his parents came from; his family; when and why they came to Minnesota; his first school in Minnesota; the national secularization of public schools; what languages they spoke at school; his years at St. John's University; training for the priesthood; about his order; going to his first parish at Millerville; his abbott appointing him to mission work; first arrival at Red Lake; and their first church building, the nuns who first came to Red Lake; the nuns' first attempt at a day school in 1888; where the Ojibwe families had sugar camps; financial assistance from the Drexel sisters; whether the church owned its land; how they got lumber to build church buildings; the other government school; the role of missionaries in ""civilizing"" Native Americans; changes in school funding over time; the school's dairy farm; and his role at the school.
The interview is with a man, probably Gus A. Anderson. A woman is also present, possibly a niece. Anderson discusses when he first came up into the Bigfork area for hunting; coming up to claim a homestead with a friend in 1902; how he made money while proving up; the lumber camps he worked for; early Canadians driving the Big Fork River; Busticogan helping ill surveyors; who was logging the Bigfork area in the early 1900s; a hoist at Craig; the Farm Camp logging camp; how they got supplies; where sawmills were; and logging his own timber.
Otterstad recounts when he first came to Beltrami County; his recollections on early Bemidji and its settlers, early Fosston, Leech Lake-Red Lake trail used by Native Americans, early mills, steamboats, homsteading, log transportation on Mississippi River, and Tom Joy.
Wellington G. Schroeder discusses his building on Third Street; other buildings that were standing when he built it; his recollection of Guy Remore; the area called Moose; selling out to his brother and starting his own store; early livery barns; some immoral business going on in town, possibly prostitution; how strong he was; a dispute with a man over a bridge; his homestead on Lake Hattie; when he began farming; making a profit in the corn market and flour; building the Winter Block; his idea to introduce hydroelectric power; buying up land along the river; the first electric light plant; going into business with the Warfields; constructing the dam; local brick-making; and being injured in a train wreck.
Dr. Vandersluis interviews his father, Charles William Vandersluis. Vandersluis discusses a man named Dick Palmer, who had a saloon; when Dick shot a man; when Fred Wightman had his pocketbook stolen at a boarding house; the popularity of gambling; gamblers leaving Bemidji for Nevada in 1915; singer Hank Underwood; when Solway burned down; Sieb Vandersluis, who was a printer in Solway; when Ernie [Flemming or Plummer?]'s logs freed themselves after three years; how Ernie Flemming met his wife; how Ernie made money; a man whose horses froze in Lake Winnibigoshish; how Ernie's daughter got sick with a painful skin ailment; making trips to Canada [to get liquor?]; Joe Markham selling his hotel, then digging a hole to pretend he was building another; Fred Brinkman turning his hotel into a theater; a series of theaters; serving on the building committee for the Elks building; Ernie Flemming helping finance the building; Al Jester and his resort; S. D. [Werks?] bringing in sheep; the area of Guthrie; changes to the city hall building when he was mayor; his memories of Buena Vista; and whether Bemidji put up money to have the terminal of the Red Lake, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad.
Four part interview with surveyor Euclid "Ernie" Bourgeois discusses the logging industry, S.C. Bagley, spur 75, Red Lake steamers, platting and civil engineering, recollections of Farley and Turtle River, histories of local railroads, Markham Hotel, and early Bemidji saloons' involvement with railroads. In part 2, Bourgeois discusses his early memories of Bemidji and Buena Vista, early Bemidji infrastructure, platting and civil engineering, Marcus D. Stoner, the town site of Turtle, and his work on spur 75. In later portions, Bourgeois discusses the evaluation of local land for dairy production and/or clover or seed; logging on Clearwater River; his experience with the Brainerd Lumber Company near LaSalle Lake and log unloading during winter; whether logs were driven on the Mississippi; spreading clover seed on drive to Baudette; name of cruisers for whom creeks might be named; knowledge of surveyor Thomas H. Croswell, plats of small settlements in the area; naming of Buena Vista and plats of Tenstrike, Hidewood, Kelliher, Funkley, and Dexter; the Red Lake Transportation Company; how Bemidji business owners chipped in to induce a railroad to come to town; surveying for a railroad near the Blakeslee farm; breaking out to survey on his own; recollection of the Delphine post office; the Red Lake-Leech Lake trail; early history of Lavinia; platted communities of Jens Opsahl; early history of Grand Forks Bay; and comparing old Nebish to modern Nebish.
Father Thomas Borgerding discusses the first year of the boarding school; enforcing the English-only rule among students; translating letters for people; disease; early doctors; Ojibwe healers; how old the Red Lake settlement was; wildfires; timber on the reservation; other missionaries; how many people spoke English when he arrived; local chiefs; and the Moose Dung section of Thief River Falls and the legal battle around it; lumber drives on the Thief River and Clearwater River; early Redby; the Red Lake Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad; early Buena Vista; the Red Lake-Leech Lake trail by canoe; his visit to Leech Lake; where Bugonaygeshig lived; his memory of the Battle of Sugar Point; and his opinion of the character of the Red Lake Ojibwe.
Borgerding discusses early non-Catholic churches in the Red Lake area, the Red Lake-Leech Lake Trail, early mills in the Redby area, Moose Dung and the legal battle among his heirs over his land at Thief River Falls, his acquaintance with the Meehan brothers, steamboats on Red Lake, his acquaintance with Joe Jerome, his acquaintance with Bob Neving and his wife, his knowledge of Father Gilfillan, the Episcopal mission west of Cass Lake and the couple who lived there, and biographical information about Father Roman Homar and his great-uncle, Father Pierz.
This is the recording of a presentation on the history of music in Minnesota presented by an anonymous person. The presenter speaks about music history, sings a song arranged by Frances Densmore in some way representing Ojibwe music, sings a French Canadian voyageur song, and sings a song dating to territorial Minnesota arranged by Bessie Stanchfield called "The Beauty of the West" with the audience joining in. The final part of the recording seems to be Dr. Charles Vandersluis showing the recording device to his family or a private group. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is a 90th birthday celebration for John G. Morrison, Jr., probably featuring members of the Beltrami County Historical Society. Morrison's birthday was October 30, 1963; he died less than three months later. The recording may have been made by Dr. Charles Vandersluis. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
This is the recording of a presentation on the history of music in Minnesota presented by an anonymous person. The presenter speaks about music history, sings a song arranged by Frances Densmore in some way representing Ojibwe music, sings a French Canadian voyageur song, and sings a song dating to territorial Minnesota arranged by Bessie Stanchfield called "The Beauty of the West" with the audience joining in. The final part of the recording seems to be Dr. Charles Vandersluis showing the recording device to his family or a private group. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
John G. Morrison, Jr., shows a group some of his collection, tells them about his forefathers who were among the earliest European settlers in Minnesota; and reads a list of family births and deaths. Morrison then discusses his family and their move from Crow Wing to White Earth; when he first came to Red Lake and his movements before settling in Ponemah; the trail to Detroit Lakes; steamboats on Red Lake; the remainder of his freighting betweeen White Earth and Detroit Lakes; his recollections of early Bemidji and Chief Bemidji; a legend of Nanabozho; the earliest settlements at Red Lake; a local caucus in 1894; a pipe he received from a grave near an Episcopal church; "Grandma How" Josette Jourdain Warren How; early settlers on Upper Red Lake; and early Catholic priests. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Photographer Niels Hakkerup discusses how he first came to Bemidji; his acquaintance with Chief Bemidji; taking photographs in lumber camps; his first studio on Third Street; where he got his equipment and training; photographing the Catholic church on Third Street; doing corporate work; burning his hand with magnesium; photographing lumberjacks; and a popular photograph of old John Smith. Hakkerup then discusses a photograph of Little Cloud published in the Minneapolis Journal; Charles W. Vandersluis interjects with a story about Long John dying of diphtheria; an award-winning photo of Mrs. Danielson; other award-winning photographs; a photograph of a young Ojibwe man standing on the shore with his bow in the air; and the lumber waste of undersized trees. He also identies a number of phograph subjects. One background speaker might be Dr. Vandersluis's father, Charles W. Vandersluis. At one point. Dr. Vandersluis addresses his brother, Angus.
Chippewa Region Historical Society; Beltrami County Historical Society
Date Created:
1952-11-11
Description:
The recording is a joint meeting of the Chippewa Region Historical Society and BCHS on Oct 11, 1952, at the Catholic High School; Dr. Charles Vandersluis provides the initial voiceover; a woman talks about two Ojibwe women she knew who were students at a boarding school; a man speaks about the Ojibwe men who studied under Bishop Whipple; another man speaks about Joseph Renville; John G. Morrison, Jr., speaks about the Battle at Sugar Point. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
There are at least four men in the group being interviewed, including Harry Carson and Earl Geil, and a man named Warner, probably Carl Warner. Quote attributed to "unkown" may refer to more than one man. One of the unidentified men could be a brother of Geil's, possibly Harry Geil. The group discusses the names of Chief Bemidji's children; the relationship between the Carsons and Chief Bemidji; a man named Hinch sketching Chief Bemidji for a statue; coming to Bemidji before the mill started; whether early Bemidji was safe for women; when the Geil family came to Bemidji; the Geils freighting for the Carsons; the Geils building a house; Geil and McTaggart purchasing the Remore Hotel; about Guy Remore; running the Remore Hotel; fleas, lice and bedbugs; the Markham Hotel; settlers who were in Bemidji before the Geils; hauling in a boiler from Park Rapids; working at the Steidl mills; the Swedback mill; about Warner's travels from North Dakota by covered wagon; Earl Geil stopping Willis Brannon's runaway team; their memories of the local panic about the Leech Lake uprising; when a group of Ojibwe raided a liquor delivery; the mission between Lake Andrusia and Cass Lake; the city opera house; early doctors, hospitals, and smallpox; the origin of the Bemidji fire department; and the fire on Whiskey Row. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
John G. Morrison, Jr., discusses a canoe trail to Winnipeg; part of a voyageur's travel account, explaining why General Pike mislabeled the source of the Mississippi; his ancestors' voyageur activity; some of his siblings' birthplaces; what Red Lake was like in 1893; a "beau gang" or hobos; how Ponemah got its name; stopping place owner Truman Warren and his wife; the distances between cities and stopping places; the area known as Fowlds; steamboats on Red Lake; the Nelson Act; and the origins of the Red Lake Game Preserve. Morrison then discusses the origins of the Red Lake Game Preserve; A. E. Andrews' model farm north of Waskish and boat service for settlers; ditch liens; how Native American land was settled after the Nelson Act; how timber companies worked together to buy cheaper timber land; Page Morris's effort to move from estimators to bank scales; how lumber companies took advantage of settlers selling timber; Native Americans who had lived around Lake of the Woods; whether the people at Pembina were Ojibwe; the Ojibwe reservations; trust patents; whether Allan Jourdain loaned an old Hudson Bay building to the Catholic school; how they kept a fire burning overnight while hauling freight; logging on the Mud River; the Meehans' logging activities; and Episcopal missionaries. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is Dr. Charles Vandersluis interviewing his father, Charles W. Vandersluis (CWV). Vandersluis (CWV) talks about his own father's work as an interpreter at a St. Cloud hardware store; the Red River carts going through St. Cloud; his parents, grandparents, and siblings; their house in St. Cloud; and log drives on the Mississippi. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Thomas Borgerding talks about the logging industry. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Morrison discusses his arrival at the Ponemah school; orders from the agency to break up Native American customs; a smallpox epidemic at Ponemah; and a doctor teaching him to pull teeth, establishing a post office at Ponemah; a storm that left a windfall of trees in the early 1900s; memories of Billy Burce; the dock at Ponemah; vaccinating people against smallpox; the lack of law and order; steamboats and other boats on Red Lake; A. E. Andrews' attempts to settle Upper Red Lake; Morrison's opinion of how the government handles its interactions with Native Americans; gardening habits of the Red Lake Ojibwe; the decline of basket weaving and beadwork on the Red Lake Reservation; local produce theft; his opinion on compelling families to garden; his opinion on the work ethic of Native Americans; and his opinion on the quality of education provided to Native American children; his opinions about reducing economic support for Native Americans; resources available to Native Americans on the reservations; the fishing industry on the Red Lake Reservation; early staff members at the Ponemah school; his store, Chippewa Trading, at Red Lake; early law enforcement on the reservation; his time as a traveling salesman; his time at Nett Lake; his time at Onigum, including WPA work; whether Native Americans can get jobs; Native American population in the Twin Cities, and the regulations and challenges for traders on reservations. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
John G. Morrison, Jr. describes grand medicine item; how Fosston relocated; about Beaulieu family; family relative being near Hole-in-the-Day when he died; father's friendship with Hole-in-the-Day; death of Helen MacArthur and lynching; Red River Trail; Red and Leech Lake trails; other local trails; getting supplies to Ponemah School; how Ojibwe handled being responsible for a death; and style of houses around Ponemah in 1900. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is a multi-part interview with Sam Dolgaard, early resident of Saum area. Dolgaard talks about the location of Saum, the Matsons donating land for a school; Matson's sawmill; the election of 1903; the names of various Saum residents; whether Foy had a Post office; and starting a post office at Saum; scouting out his land prior to homesteading; arriving at Battle River, where Joe Jerome had a store and post office; his work contracting with logging companies; switching to work in scaling; building the Battle River dam; where he got materials to build his house; working for the Thief River Falls Lumber Company; wildfires; his recollection of J. J. Upsahl; timber moving from Funkley to Kelliher by railroad; the cedar business; how Kelliher got its name; early residents of Woodrow and Battle townships; what the area looked like when he arrived; getting merchandise from Golden and Thompson in Blackduck; what livestock they brought to Saum; and early schools. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Van House recalls businesses in Kelliher, Cann and Whitting, Beltrami Timber Company, toting freight from Solway to Red Lake, homestead rush after reservation opening, Bob Nevins, and many various lumber companies and their camps in the Kelliher area; Joe Jerome's post office at Battle River; when he homesteaded; the locations of Craig's Hotel, Linnon's saloon, and other saloons and businesses in Kelliher; a flowing well near Foy; and the steamboat Dahlburg, on which he ran the engine for three years. The woman speaking in the interview is probably is his wife, Catherine Van House. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Fred Cyr discusses biographical information; memories of logging drives on the Clearwater River when he was a child; how logging drives worked; his experience toting supplies for J.C. Parker; what wanigans were like; how logs were sorted; and the role of the swamper. The recording continues with Cyr's experience in logging industry; when Cyr's father came to Red Lake Falls; locations of high and low water on the Clearwater River; his experience in a logging camp in winter; how lumberjacks dealt with lice; delays at a sorting gap; his experience with Native American loggers; logging near Cass Lake; and whether logs were transported on the Mississippi River. In the final portion of the recording, Cyr discusses logging at Portage Lake near Bena; how logs were hoisted onto trains near Cass Lake; getting injured as a lumberjack; driving on the river, possibly Clearwater; knowledge of J. C. Parker; how lumberjacks ate; the contents of some unidentified photographs; and fishing on the Battle River. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Carson, Joseph Evan; Falls, Jack; Falls, Vera; Carson, Mary; Carson, Eva
Date Created:
1953-03
Description:
The first part of the recording is a group interview with Joseph Evan Carson and family. Those speaking include Evan Carson; his wife Jennie (Newell) Carson; their daughter Leonore (Carson) Gardner; and Leonore's husband, Gordon Gardener. They discuss Chief Bemidji's real name; where Chief Bemidji's family went to after Bemidji started to grow; Chief Bemidji's children; Chief Bemidji's death; the Carson Brothers' trading posts and how they started; Jessie Carson hauling mail and El Carson as first postmaster; the Carsons' homesteads; Bemidji's first school; the first brickyard; a Bemidji swimming hole; Harry Geil's dairy; who owned Bemidji townsite; Evan Carson learning printing business; origins of Beltrami Eagle; Mrs. Carson building a hotel; where Willis Brannon had his first hardware store; early schools and teachers; Mrs. Carson selling out to Charlie [Miles?]; and Evan Carson's pet bear cubs. Then members of Evan Carson family record greetings to family of Mary Carson. The next part of the recording is an interview with Jack and Vera Falls of Mission, Texas. They discuss a group of photos; Bank of Bemidji; Charlie Schroeder and his building; when Vera began teaching and her schoolhouse. They discuss a group of photos; what Charlie Schroeder's business sold; early Bemidji fire department and loss of Rex Hotel; Vera's family arrival in Bemidji; memories of John Smith; beginning of Falls and Cameron Store; where Vera taught school; the town pump in Bemidji; and the background of Judge Spooner. The final portion of the recording is an interview with Mary Carson, widow of El and daughter of Chief Bemidji, with her daughter, Eva Carson Woodson. Carson discusses where Chief Bemidji was born; who her brothers and sisters were; whether there was a Native American village on the south shore of Lake Bemidji; where they lived in summer and winter; what foods her family ate; making maple sugar; her father making canoes; how they harvested rice; why Chief Bemidji went to the eventual Bemidji area; the first white settlers; what they bought from the Carson brothers; when she was born and where she was registered; how much they got for rice, sugar, and hides; whether her brother Canoe took over after her father's death; a group of photographs; and about Eva's schoolhouse. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is a tour by John G. Morrison, Jr., of items he donated to the BCHS, before a small group. Morrison discusses baby boards; snowshoes; an item that depicts the life of a Sioux hunter and warrior; war clubs; a tomahawk; a Paiute root that was chewed; a doll; moccasins; dancing regalia; several pipes; tobacco pouches; and grand medicine paraphernalia. In the middle of the recording, a man is singing Native American (probably Ojibwe) songs. Brown Oak Grove could be the man singing or drumming. Morrison discusses headdresses; the knuckle game; dancing regalia; a water drum; and other drums. Next, one man is singing Native American songs; either the same man or another person is drumming. One of the songs was written by Robert Gibbs about his son, who died in World War II. Finally, a man demonstrates a water drum and Morrison answers a few questions. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is an interview with Charlie Wight and unidentified others. Due to glitches in the recording, the content is disjointed, but includes some discussion of snowshoes and possibly horse bridles. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is presentation before the BCHS about the history of the Red Lake fisheries with John G. Morrison, Jr., and an unnamed fishery employee. Morrison explains how the Ojibwe kept fish for winter use; and how he helped write a bill regulating the fishing industry on Red Lake. Morrison discusses consulting with state officials to get the fisheries set up. The unnamed fishery employee discusses a lawsuit in 1927 accusing the state of participating in a competitive enterprise; the first board of directors; total fish produced; condition of fish; fishing nets; types of fish in the lake; the current number of participating fishermen and employees; how Native Americans get paid; decreasing demand for whole fish; how fish are shipped; how much ice they harvest; the threat of the lamprey eel; and a cash journal in his possession from the fisheries in 1919. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is an interview with an unkown lumberman who worked near Grand Forks. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is John G. Morrison, Jr., providing a tour of a museum in Bemidji, featuring artifacts he donated, probably to members of the Beltrami County Historical Society. On the tour, he describes a violin that belonged to his father; his collection of pipes; Navajo rugs; his grandfather's snuffbox and wallet; an assortment of drums and their purposes; bowls; a shopping bag; a battle flag; baby boards; snowshoes; a model tipi; a gambling game; tools and utensils; buckskin bags to carry food; a flint-lock musket; lacrosse sticks; war clubs; powder horns; a quiver; the knuckle game; sashes; headdresses; a stick detailing the training of a warrior; necklaces; and tobacco pouches. The tour continues as he describes necklaces; ladies' gowns; a beaded sack; a skirt; a doll; a necklace made of human bones; ladies' shopping bags; more beaded sacks; leggings; gloves; a dancing costume; a display of sugar-making equipment; baskets; birchbark floral designs; moccasins; belts; moose hides; sweet grass blankets; grand medicine bags and paraphernalia; and drums of medicine men. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
In the first section of the four-part recording, Roy Bailey discusses the owners of the Red Lake railroad having found iron there; his arrival at Redby and the condition of the railroad then; how that railroad used to dump logs into the lake; how they loaded logs onto the train; Molander's background; early challenges with the Crookston Lumber Company; where logs hauled to Bemidji were landed; the railroad's ownership of a steamboat, the Michael Kelly; summer excursions to Red Lake from Bemidji; what early Redby was like; the relationship between the railroad and the post office in Redby; friends from Wahpeton telling him that Red Lake was a hard country; selling partridges to out-of-towners at a profit; trouble with a man named Joe Jourdain; and annoyances with cattle running wild in Redby area. Next, Bailey discusses a dispute between Newman and Pat Cassin; a prank he pulled on Charlie Vandersluis and Bill Browning; the layout of the Redby depot; stops and fares along the railroad; government waste in shipping items to the school at Ponemah; when Captain Eberhard gave him a boat; memories of the boat the J. P. K.; a description of the steamboat the Mudhen; what happened to some of the steamboats; the background of the Thief River Falls Lumber Company; the first automobile in Redby; local saw mills; memories of A. C. Goddard; the robbery at Puposky; and killing bedbugs at the depot. There are two additional portions of the recording.
Vandersluis speaks with Charlie Wight, timber cruiser, on March 14, 1953, in the doctor's office. Wight talks about where he was born; his family's move to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; lumbering activity in Western Wisconsin; whether there were any Native Americans living at Chippewa Falls; birch bark canoes on the Chippewa River; his grandfather helping install the first turbine wheel at the Chippewa River; his grandfather helping install the first turbine wheel at the Chippewa Falls mill; the reaches of the Weyerhaeuser company; how they moved lumber down river by rafts; brailing logs; and pool companies that took over on the Mississippi. Wight then discusses working as a cookee at a camp in Wisconsin; driving a one-horse tram car at the mill; where men from the mills went in the winter; toting supplies; learning the timber estimating business as a compass man with Billy Woods; how they travelled to the land they were cruising; supplies they packed; what areas they cruised; finding section corners scribed into trees; seeing the Red Lake-Leech Lake trail and other trails; what they saw on the north shore of Lake Bemidji; a bridge near Lake Andrusia and any other bridges; about the Farmer-Hines railroad; where he went after that first trip; mills and bridges at Brainerd; the Gull River Lumber Company's narrow gauge railroad; other cruising jobs; and early fires. Next, Wight discusses his acquaintances with Marcus D. Stoner and Sam Dolgaard; some logging operations around Turtle River; Dan Freeman logging at Long Lake; Freeman and Gray splitting up; where Bagley started working for Walker; about S. C. Bagley; Bagley's nephew, Buzzle; where logs went from Mallard Lake; and which loggers collaborated. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is an interview with Father Thomas Borgerding. He discusses whether the Indian agencies are effective; whether he thinks the Ojibwe are more impoverished than the average white family; and whether an increasing number of babies are born out of wedlock and Catholic views related. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Claud Deluse Fish discusses homesteading at Island Lake, Minnesota in 1902. He also discusses logging and laying railroad. He discusses the store in Bena, Minnesota and explains a stone and timber claim. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including a smallpox episode, intermarriage, and white people gaining access to Ojibwe allotments on reservations. The interview begins in BCHS 070a and continues in BCHS 069a and BCHS 071a.
The interview with Charles Slough was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Slough discusses Nary, Minnesota around 1900. He also discusses getting married in 1907, homesteading, logging, and fishing in Lake Plantagenet. He also discusses catching and eating turtles, and cooking fish. The interview continues in BCHS 060b.
The interview with Henry Kolden was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably Blackduck, Minnesota. Kolden discusses arriving in Blackduck, in 1901 and building and operating a grocery and hardware store. He describes Marcus D. Stoner's efforts to establish Blackduck and the area's early hotels, saloons, churches, attorneys, doctors, and hospital. He describes the myth of Ojibwe Chief Blackduck. He explains that Summit Avenue is located close to the Great Divide. He also describes meeting attorney Henry Funkley for the first time and the activities of traveling salesman. The interview is continued in BCHS 020b, BCHS 130a/b, and BCHS 131a/b.
Bean, Hadley Lewis; Bean, Helen Lidstrom; Lady Alice
Date Created:
1950 - 1959
Description:
The first interview with Mr. Hadley Lewis Bean and Mrs. Helen Lidstrom Bean was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Mr. and Mrs. Bean discuss arriving in Glen Ullin, North Dakota in 1885 and 1887, respectively. Mrs. Bean also discusses her upbringing in Hastings, Minnesota and establishing a homestead in North Dakota. Both describe events surrounding the death of Sitting Bull. Mr. Bean describes farming, picking buffalo bones, and seeking other ways of earning money in North Dakota. They also describe prairie fires, the Heart Dam, and the Garrison Dam in North Dakota. The second interview, with Lady Alice was, conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Lady Alice discusses working in a hospital in Birmingham, England during World War I. She also discusses immigrating to the United States after the war to work in public health in Cleveland, Ohio. She also describes her work with infant welfare in Chicago, Illinois and at the Eudowood Sanitorium near Baltimore, Maryland. The interview is continued in BCHS 028b.
The interview with Charles Warfield was conducted by Helen Warfield Schell (Warfield's daughter) and Dr. Charles Vandersluis in December 1953 in an unrecorded location. Warfield discusses establishing and serving as president of the Beltrami Electric Light and Power Company, which started delivering electricity in 1898. He also discusses the water tanks in Bemidji, Minnesota, building the city's dam, and stories about Charles F. Ruggles. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including the Battle at Sugar Point. The interview continues from BCHS 068a.
The interview with Charles William Vandersluis (CWV) was conducted by his son, Dr. Charles Wilson Vandersluis, on an unrecorded date, possibly 1952, in an unrecorded location. Vandersluis discusses his own father immigrating from Holland during the Civil War and serving as a French interpreter in St. Cloud, Minnesota for the Red River oxcarts. He also describes log drives and delivering groceries to them when he was a boy. He provides an assessment of how T. B. Walker conducted surveys. He describes homesteading and the early businesses of Bemidji, Minnesota, including hotels and saloons. He tells a story about a woman named Liz who was sold as part of personal property. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including stories about Chief Bemidji and the Battle of Sugar Point. He also describes serving on the Bemidji school board and financing construction of a new school in 1923. The interview is continued from BCHS 029a.
The interview with Frank Louis Gorenflo (1873-1961) was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably Cass Lake, Minnesota. Frank Gorenflo coming to Cass Lake in 1898 and the town's early development and doctors, schools, churches, and entertainment. He also discusses the building of the Brainerd & Northern Railway and describes the towns of Farris, Rosby, and Nary Minnesota in their early days. He also describes operating the Cass Lake Hotel and a short period of gold mining in northern Minnesota. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including how Ojibwe lands were acquired for the railroad and townsite of Cass Lake.
The interview with Harriet Villemin (Mrs. Alex) Cameron was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis in December 1953. Mrs. Cameron discusses leaving her homestead cabin near Northome, Minnesota and arriving in Blackduck, Minnesota. She also discusses herding cattle, cutting hay, and attending a wedding. She describes early religious services, mail delivery, and teachers near Bemidji, Minnesota in the early 1900s. The interview is a continuation from BCHS 054a. An additional interview is recorded in BCHS 103a.
The first interview with an unidentified speaker was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The unidentified narrator discusses extensive ditching leading to near bankruptcy for Beltrami County, Minnesota. He also describes logging and railroads near Lake Irving in the late 1890s and early 1900s. He also describes the Birchmont Hotel, Central School, and building the Elks building and Elko Theater in Bemidji, Minnesota. The second interview was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in at the hardware store of J. M. Reid in Glendora, California. J. M. Reid discusses moving to Blackduck, Minnesota in 1901. He also describes the early newspapers and businesses of Blackduck, Minnesota. The interview with Reid is continued in BCHS 019b.
The first interview, with Arthur E. Morgan, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably Yellow Springs, Ohio. Arthur E. Morgan discusses working as a surveyor in Beltrami County and Itasca County, Minnesota in 1902 to 1903. He describes encountering unique natural features in Minnesota like rapidly growing poplar trees and a magnetic declination. He provides a white perspective on Ojibwe, Dakota, and other Indigenous people. He also describes his work with developing rural communities and recommending a rural university program in India. The interview is continued from BCHS 031a. The second interview, with Helen Lidstrom (Mrs. Hadley L.) Bean, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Helen Bean discusses her parents immigrating from Sweden in the late 1860s and her childhood near Hastings, Minnesota. She also describes her family giving up her grandfather's homestead when he was killed in a hunting accident. She describes some of her family members as working as a maid, a blacksmith, and a farmer.
The first interview, with Claud Fish, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on May 27, 1955, in an unrecorded location. Fish describes a series of photographs from near Northome, Minnesota including at Bowstring Lake and his homestead on Island Lake. He discusses laying railroad lines, the Itasca Logging Company, and J. P. Sims. He also discusses how Ojibwe people lived and processed wild rice near Island Lake. The interview is the fourth in the series, continuing from BCHS 070a, BCHS 070b, and BCHS 069a. The second part of the recording is an interview with Emma Knutson [Mrs. Mike Knutson], conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on July 2, 1955, in an unrecorded location. Knutson discusses arriving in Big Fork, Minnesota in 1902. She describes toting goods by foot and later traveling by train. She also describes mail delivery by dog team from Marcell, Minnesota. The third part of the recording is a discussion with a group of unidentified narrators, conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The group of unidentified narrators discuss logging in northern Minnesota around 1900. They discuss the Clearwater Logging Company's camp near Pinewood, Minnesota. They also discuss the Bagley dam, timber sales, and how T. B. Walker acquired his timber holdings. This portion of the recording continues on BCHS 071b. The final portion of the recording is an interview with an unidentified narrator (possibly referred to as Charlie in BCHS 071b), conducted by an unidentified interviewer, possibly Dr. Charles Vandersluis, on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The unidentified narrator discusses how a logging company would prepare its ox teams in St. Cloud, Minnesota to go up north in the 1880s. He also discusses the tornado at St. Cloud, Minnesota on April 14, 1886. This portion of the recording continues on BCHS 071b.
The discussion with a group of unidentified narrators was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The group of unidentified narrators discusses sawmills, saloons, railroads, logging, lumber companies, and mail delivery in near Bemidji, Minnesota in the early 1900s. They also discuss how to scale a tree and a location called Brush Shanty near Alvwood, Minnesota.
The recorded interview with Harriet Villemin (Mrs. Alex) Cameron was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis in December 1953. Mrs. Cameron discusses homesteading near Northome, Minnesota. She also discusses her mother's midwife activities, raising children, shooting a moose, and the Battle of Sugar Point. The interview continues in BCHS 054b. An additional interview is recorded in BCHS 103a.
The interview with Claud Fish was conducted by an unidentified interviewer on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Claud Fish discusses travelling through Bena, Deer River, Moose Lake, and Island Lake, Minnesota in 1901. He also discusses moving there in 1902 to homestead and building a house. He also discusses toting goods from Bena, Minnesota and working in the logging industry. The interview is the third in a series, beginning in BCHS 070a and continuing in BCHS 070b, and finishing in BCHS 071a.
The first part of the recording is a discussion with a group of unidentified speakers, conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The group of speakers discusses the location of railroad lines, including spur 28. They also discuss logging in 1916, 1917, 1926, and 1927. One group member reads forestry reports from 1917 and 1919, as well as reports about a blowdown on the Red Lake Reservation in 1905. The group also discusses early Nebish, Minnesota and a robbery in Puposky, Minnesota. The second part of the recording is an interview with an unidentified narrator, probably Otto C. Perske, conducted by an unknown interviewer on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Perske discusses sawmills in northern Minnesota during the early 1900s and his work as a millwright. He describes early lumber sales and how to brace a saw without electricity. He also describes earning a bonus on a rush milling job for Hormel. He also describes participating in a strike and supporting a union in search of higher wages.
The interview with Charles William Vandersluis (CWV) was conducted by his son, Dr. Charles Wilson Vandersluis, on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Vandersluis describes traveling through northern Minnesota as a hardware salesman for Janney, Semple, & Hill Company starting in 1901. He discusses traveling by foot and train, including a description of a stopping place outside Little Fork, Minnesota. He describes selling to logging companies and mercantile stores. He also describes the early buildings and businesses of towns like Farley, Turtle River, Red Lake, Solway, and Redby, Minnesota. He describes the early days of Brainerd, including building the Central School and Episcopal Church. The interview continues in BCHS 029b.
The interview with Mrs. Boyd and unidentified narrators was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Mrs. Boyd and the unidentified narrators discuss a Presbyterian mission from Oberlin College in Cass Lake, Minnesota. They also discuss a trader who was killed, a trading post at Lake Andrusia, Minnesota, and a missionary who froze to death. The unidentified elder says that he attended the mission school founded by Bishop Whipple. They also discuss a mission or village on Ravens Point in Lake Winnibigoshish. Timestamps are included when the translator and the Ojibwe speaker have overlapping speech or numerous exchanges.
The interview with Frank Louis Gorenflo (1873-1961) was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably Cass Lake, Minnesota. Gorenflo discusses moving to Brainerd, Minnesota in 1879 and Cass Lake in 1898. He also discusses his schoolboy days, the Gull River Railroad, the Great Northern Railroad, the Battle of Sugar Point, and owning a grocery store and hotel in Cass Lake during its early days. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including how Ojibwe lands were acquired for the townsite of Cass Lake. The interview is continued in BCHS 011b.
The presentation by Erwin Mittleholtz was recorded by an unknown recorder on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably to a meeting of the Beltrami County Historical Society. Erwin Mittleholtz presents highlights from thesis about Grand Portage, Minnesota. He discusses Ojibwe people, voyageurs, the fur trade, and Fort Charlotte. The presentation continues in BCHS 044b.
The presentation by Erwin Mittleholtz was recorded by an unknown recorder on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably at a meeting of the Beltrami County Historical Society. Mittleholtz presents highlights from a thesis about Grand Portage, Minnesota. He discusses Ojibwe people, missionaries, schoolteachers, and the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Fort William in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada. The presentation is continued from BCHS 044a. The second part of the recording is a group discussion and was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The unidentified narrators discuss logging, lumber camps, and log drives in northern Minnesota in the early 1900s. They also discuss spearing fish, making tea from native plants, and experiencing discrimination against the French.
Curtis, Penny Foran; Cameron, Harriet Villemin; Warfield, Charles
Date Created:
1950 - 1959
Description:
The first portion of the recording is an interview with an unidentified narrator conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis in December 1953 in an unrecorded location. The unidentified narrator discusses fishing at Chippewa Falls, Minnesota in the early 1900s and spearing fish. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including sharing food and cutting hay together. The second portion of the recording is an interview with Penny Foran Curtis, Harriet Villemin Cameron, Susie Curtis, and other members of the Curtis family, conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis in December 1953 in an unrecorded location. The unidentified narrators provide updates about their lives and send Christmas greetings to Aunt Alice [Cameron Bowers], Uncle Archie [Archibald Bowers], and their children. The final portion of the recording is an interview with Charles Warfield conducted by Helen Warfield Schell (Warfield's daughter) and Dr. Charles Vandersluis in December 1953 in an unrecorded location. Warfield discusses establishing and building the Beltrami Light and Power Company, which started delivering electricity in 1898. He also discusses Bemidji's water tanks. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including the marriage of Chief Bemidji's daughter to a white man.