The first interview, with Ralph White, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. White discusses moving to Aitkin County, Minnesota in about 1904. He also discusses logging, farming, and living in Wadena County, Minnesota. The interview continues from a brief mention at the end of BCHS 058a. The majority 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 discusses railroads including the Minnesota Duluth & Western Railway, the Cut Foot Sioux Branch, the Minneapolis & International Railway, the Virginia Rainy Lake Railway, and others. They also discuss logging camps at spurs 29 and 53. They also discuss logging near Blackduck, Minnesota and Turtle River, Minnesota. The final portion of the recording is a fragment of an interview with an unidentified narrator, conducted by an unidentified interviewer on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The interview does not provide substantial information.
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.
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.
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.
Sarah McTaggart, her daughter, Ethel, and her son, Wesley, discuss her family's history; her husband's visit to Bemidji from Forest River, North Dakota; her husband's partnership with her brother-in-law, Earl Geil, to take over the Remore Hotel; what her husband built on; her husband's other carpenter work in town; their relationship with the Carson family; the Beltrami Eagle building; the interior of their hotel; how she traveled to Bemidji; her first impressions of the town; where Chief Bemidji lived; Mary Carson's milk delivery; encountering a Native American dance; Grandpa Nye's school; John Steidl's mill; John Smith; dances at the Malzahn building; Betsy and Freeman Doud; Theodore Snyder; their employees; how polite lumberjacks were; bedbugs; and early doctors and druggists. An unknown person assists Dr. Vandersluis with the interview. The recording, dated October 2, 1953, is continued in bchs121b.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Peterson's Restaurant in Beltrami County, circa 1900 (description from, "The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004). The sign reads, "Log Cabin Restaurant Lodging."
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
Third Street looking toward Lake Bemidji in 1898. On the left is a shoe store, Schroeder Brothers Feed and Seed, and Naylor and Young furniture. On the right is a furniture store, Hotel Northern, and Bank of Bemidji. (description from, "The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004).
The Working Man's Reading Room at Minnesota Avenue, circa 1900 (description from, "The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004). Next door to the Reading Room is The People's Barber Shop and a shoe repair shop.
