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.
