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.
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 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.
