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).
Chief Bemidji, whose real name was " Shay-Now-Ish -Kung," received his new name from Lake Bemidji which was called Bay-me-ji-ga, or "lake with cross waters." He was born near Inger, Minnesota, in 1833 or 1834 and lived in the Leech Lake and Cass Lake area. In 1860, he married a Leech Lake Pillager Indian woman and they had eight children, three boys of whom died at early ages. Four daughters and one son grew up and lived to older ages. In 1882, Chief Bemidji's wife died. Saddened by her death, he loaded all his possessions and children in his birch bark canoe and paddled up the Mississippi River to settle on the south shore of Lake Bemidji. He was the first permanent settler of Bemidji (from p. 107,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" 2004).
W. B. Mclachlan was captain of the cruise boat, "City of Bemidji" around the turn of the last century (description from,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004).
Engine on the Minnesota and International railroad bridge over the Battle River. Claude Ritchie is the engineer, Art Setterholm is the fireman, John Vanhouse, is the brakeman and Roy Rice is the pilot. (description from,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004).
View of an early 1900's hunting party hauling a moose out of the timber. Emil Falk in the first man on the left (description from,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004). The moose is on a handmade sled.
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 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.
Bemidji basketball team, December 1901. Players in the back are Arthur Brannon and Harry Geil. In the front are Erton Geil and William Boskell. John Raymond is in the middle. Note the picture of Chief Bemidji on their uniforms (description from,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004). The basketball is inscribed, "B.A.C. 1902."
Horse and buggy parked in front of Hakkerup's Photo Studio located at 113 3rd Street in Bemidji (description from,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004).
City Opera House was located at 401 Minnesota Avenue, Bemidji, circa 1905 (description from,"The Bemidji Area Looking Back" Pediment Publishing, 2004).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
