Interview with Frances Nelson. Frances Nelson tells her granddaughter what Ely was like in 1915. There were no sidewalks or cars but transportation was by horse and wagons. There was one grocery store. There were a lot of Finnish and Slovenians and many of them didn't speak English. Milk was 5 cents a quart. Her family used the wood for heat and cooking because they had no coal. They walked everywhere and carried their lunches to school. When World War I broke out there was a diphtheria epidemic and they were quarantined. Native Americans would come around and ask for work. She said her family was very poor with no changes of clothing. When World War II broke out all of her brothers were drafted. One brother came home with yellow jaundice. She felt people were healthier then though because there were no chemicals in their food.
In an oral history, Frank Gutz talks about moving to Pequot Lakes after his wife died during the flu epidemic of 1918 to keep his children from going into an orphanage. He also discusses what Peqout lakes was like during the 1920s and the Depression, his work as a painter, rationing during World War II, and various other things.
Interview with Frank Muvich. Frank's parents were born in Yugoslavia, but they met in Michigan where his father worked as a stevedore on the boats. He had a cousin in Michigan. His mother came to this country because others were immigrating and life was so hard there that she felt it had to be better in the United States. They arrived in Ely in the late 1880s where he worked at the Chandler Mine and later the Pioneer Mine. Conditions were terrible as the only tools used were the pick, shovel, and dynamite. There were nine children in the family with Frank being the eighth child. His younger sister died. Frank started working at 19 and was given his father position when he retired after 35 years. He was glad to have the position as it was 1936 and during the Great Depression. He became a contract miner but the Pioneer Mine didn't play fair with the contracts and cut the price if they felt the miners were earning too much. He joined the union on day 1. They met at Pink Hall where the company would position people to write down the names of the men attending the meetings. The company tried to organize their own union for their favorites but as it was illegal they had to disband. Frank talks about mine accidents, acid rain in the mine, and of his relief when the Pioneer Mine closed for good. He liked the crew, but he hated the work. Happy and relieved, Frank went to work for the EPA and felt he had been let out of prison.
Interview with Harlan and Bertha Krause. Note: This tape is very fuzzy and hard to understand. He talks about his parents moving from somewhere in South Dakota to Browns Valley, Minnesota in order to farm. His family came to Ely from Browns Valley in 1923 because they were sick of farming. His father was hired at the Pioneer Mine as a timberman to start with. Later he was a janitor in the shop buildings. He died in 1939. Harlan began working at the Pioneer Mine in 1926. He retired 41 years later when the Pioneer closed its doors. A religious man, he preached salvation wherever he could. When he was given the choice between joining the union or losing his job, he refused to join the union and he also kept his job. The same was true when he was offered group insurance through the mine. He refused the insurance even though it meant that the quota of insured men was too low for good rates. He felt his sustenance came from God, not the Oliver Mining Company.
Interview with Harold Nelson. Harold volunteered for the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) during the Great Depression. He was stationed in Isabella and decided to stay there after his tour was done. The CCC men were paid $30 a month but $25 was sent to their families. When the CCC camps shut down he was left with out work but managed to get some work with the AAWPS and then worked for the Evergreen Mine for three years. When it closed he worked for the Zenith Mine and then the Sibley Mine where he stayed until World War II ended. Eventually he was hired at the Pioneer Mine where he worked for 20 years until he retired.
In an oral history, Henry Mattson tells about his father coming from Sweden to homestead near Brainerd about 1896. He also talks about things he remembers from his childhood up to World War I like life on the farm, his schooling, and cutting wood to sell. He also speaks of things concerning the 1920s and 1930s and how he help to build the telephone lines in the area.
In an oral history, Herb Anderson describes his family coming to Crow Wing County from Sweden experiences he had as a youngster, encounters his famly had with Indians, his parents starting a resort, and general information about the area in the early part of the 20th century.
In an oral history, Herbert Frank Thiesse tells about how life was growing up on a dairy farm during the Depression years and what the family did to survive.
Note: This tape does not begin at the beginning but jumps into the subject mid-sentence. Isabel speaks of being on the school board and the problems faced when the Superintendent was a Catholic and many on the board were Lutherans. She said that a man she had admired and thought most upright and decent remarked when a majority of the board were Lutherans that now they could "get" the superintendent. Women, for the most part, did not run for public office. Their husbands would not like having their wives in the public like that. In thinking it over she was proud that she had run for school board and served her term but wouldn't do it again. Talking about Ely's future (in the 1980s), she saw Ely as stuck with tourism now that the mines were closed. However more restrictions were being placed on tourism as well making it difficult to make a living as a resort-owner, too. In the mid-1950s, drilling companies were busy drilling along Highway 1 for precious metals, gold in particular. Now even those explorations were gone as the government put more restrictions on land usage. She speaks of declining populations citing how whole neighborhoods that once teemed with children now house old, single women. One thing, she said, is that as you get old you don't lie awake thinking of the things you shouldn't have done, but instead you think of the things you should have done. The children suffer, she said, when women try to have it all and their marriages pay the price as well.
In an oral history, Mrs. Ed (Jessie) Berg describes her family coming to Crow Wing County, her experiences as a teacher starting in 1903, her husband's work, and her thoughts on various historical events.
Interview with Julia Purdy. Julia was born in 1890 and taught school in Tower until she met and married her husband John. Most of her interview is on her husband and his job on the D & IR Railroad where he worked from 1905-1914. As his lungs weren't strong he wintered in California or Colorado where he worked as a switchman for various railroads. He as also the constable and town clerk for the Town of Morse. Julia then held that position for 25 years and she also worked as janitor a the DM&IR depot. When tourism was being developed they began a bait service and rented fishing boats on Shagawa. John died of TV at Nopemming in 1948.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Sandy Keith as part of the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society's oral history project. Keith was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1989 and was Chief Justice from 1990 to 1998. Subjects discussed: His childhood in Rochester, Minnesota near the Mayo Clinic, and his mother's influence; his experiences at Amherst; race and the law; the selection of U.S. Supreme Court Justices; his experiences with family law; being in the Legislature; the creation of the Minnesota Court of Appeals; his experiences being on the Minnesota Supreme Court and the role of the courts.
Interview with former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Sandra Gardebring as part of the Minnesota Supreme Court Historical Society's oral history project. Gardebring was a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1991 to 1998. Subjects discussed: her childhood in North Dakota; her decision to attend law school; her entry into Minnesota state politics; her views on feminism; her experiences on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Interview with Lee Brownell. Lee Brownell was born in Wisconsin. His mother was from Wisconsin. His father was from Michigan. Lee's father came to Tower in 1886, and later arrived in Ely in 1888. His father was a supervisor for the Forest Service in Ely until 1919 and then transferred to Colorado. When he came back from Colorado he quit the Forest Service and opened a meat market. Lee discusses his work as a miner, including the Pioneer Mine in Ely.
In an oral history, Lucille Shaw, a life-long resident of Brainerd, relates how she contracted polio as a child (which she recovered from) and her teachers would come to her home so she could get her education. She also tells about starting a successful book store business, and buying a house which she paid for by having renters in the upstairs. She speaks of her family history, life during the Depression, and old businesses of Brianerd.
In an oral history, Mabel Foss talks about her husband and her running a restaurant, coming to Brainerd in 1929 and running a grocery store, and her church.
Interview with Marion Columbo. Marion Columbo speaks on Ely history and promotes her two books, "Roaring Stony Days" and "The History of Incredible Ely." She speaks at length about Ely schools and the quality of its education.
Interview with Mary Anderson. Mary Anderson was born on Burntside Lake. Her mother was an Objiwe (sometimes called Chippewa) who was born on the Indian Reservation near Tower, Minnesota, the Bois Forte Indian Reservation. Her father, who was French and Irish, was born in Norway, Michigan. When her father was 14 his family moved to Tower. Mary said her parents each had to learn the other's language. Mary explained about how her father's family never accepted his Native American wife.
Interview with Mary Marsnik. Mary Marsnik was born in Ely in 1906. Her parents were married in Austria/Hungary and their first two children died and were buried there. Her father came to Soudan, Minnesota in 1900 and worked in the mine there. He meant to go back to get his wife but instead moved to Ely where he worked in the Pioneer Mine. His wife came in 1905 reluctantly and she never liked it here. She remembers her father coming home and changing clothes in a shed in the yard. His knees would be all dirty and bleeding as all his work was done on his knees as the drifts were so low. Mary would take hot water and a towel and bathe her fathers' knees. He was paid $1.50 a day. Later, the pay was raised to $2.00 a day. There were nine children in her family. As the oldest she had a lot to do and could bake bread by the time she was nine. They had a garden plot where Vermilion College is today. Mary married at 15. Five years later she was a widow with three children and a fourth on the way. Two years later she remarried and had nine more children. All finished school and four graduated college in the same year! In 1976 she was named Mother of the Year in Ely and the following year she was runner up Mother of the Year for the State of Minnesota.
She came from Yugoslavia by ship to visit her brother, aunt and uncle, arriving in New York on February 16, 1913. She came to Ely by train and decided to stay. She met her husband in Yugoslavia. They were married in Ely by Father Buh. They had six children. Her husband as an underground miner earning $2.40 a day. She as a teacher in Yugoslavia but not in Ely. She spoke English and taught others English and helped with citizenship applications. Shipman Hospital. Dr. Shipman, Sutherland, and Ayres. 1918 Influenza Epidemic. The hospital couldn't handle all the patients so some were housed at the Community Center. The dead were taken immediately to the mortuary above the James Laing store and buried right away. Her brother was one of the first victims. one day there were so many deaths that the Catholic church suspended its tradition of ringing the church bells when a parishioner died. Depression. Job losses. Prohibition, making moonshine. Ely Ely, Camp Street, Sheridan Street, stores, wooden sidewalks. Fourth of July she marched in the parade with Lodge #2. There were four lodges. There were Lodge flags, bands, and dancing at Sandy Point.
In an oral history, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Dropping talks about various topics including his family moving to the Jenkins area in 1901, his life growing up on a farm, her career as a teacher, and life during the Depression years.
In an oral history, Mrs. Annie Bragstadt describes her family life in Norway, the journey from there to Minnesota in 1903, and her life as a young adult, before and after her marriage in 1914.
