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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Photographer Niels Hakkerup discusses how he first came to Bemidji; his acquaintance with Chief Bemidji; taking photographs in lumber camps; his first studio on Third Street; where he got his equipment and training; photographing the Catholic church on Third Street; doing corporate work; burning his hand with magnesium; photographing lumberjacks; and a popular photograph of old John Smith. Hakkerup then discusses a photograph of Little Cloud published in the Minneapolis Journal; Charles W. Vandersluis interjects with a story about Long John dying of diphtheria; an award-winning photo of Mrs. Danielson; other award-winning photographs; a photograph of a young Ojibwe man standing on the shore with his bow in the air; and the lumber waste of undersized trees. He also identies a number of phograph subjects. One background speaker might be Dr. Vandersluis's father, Charles W. Vandersluis. At one point. Dr. Vandersluis addresses his brother, Angus.
Otterstad recounts when he first came to Beltrami County; his recollections on early Bemidji and its settlers, early Fosston, Leech Lake-Red Lake trail used by Native Americans, early mills, steamboats, homsteading, log transportation on Mississippi River, and Tom Joy.
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.
Van House recalls businesses in Kelliher, Cann and Whitting, Beltrami Timber Company, toting freight from Solway to Red Lake, homestead rush after reservation opening, Bob Nevins, and many various lumber companies and their camps in the Kelliher area; Joe Jerome's post office at Battle River; when he homesteaded; the locations of Craig's Hotel, Linnon's saloon, and other saloons and businesses in Kelliher; a flowing well near Foy; and the steamboat Dahlburg, on which he ran the engine for three years. The woman speaking in the interview is probably is his wife, Catherine Van House. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
John G. Morrison, Jr., discusses the location of the Ponemah school, meeting his wife, Edith E. MacArthur; arriving at Ponemah school; the struggle to get the school supplied and started; about smallpox epidemic around 1901; a battle between Ojibwe and Sioux tribes; what the schoolchildren wore; how Ponemah got its name; a federal lawsuit he filed; his father's store and business practices; his allotment and homestead; and swamp land. In the second portion of the recording, Morrison and a small group of unidentified others discusss his own homestead and ditching around Upper red Lake.
John G. Morrison, Jr. describes grand medicine item; how Fosston relocated; about Beaulieu family; family relative being near Hole-in-the-Day when he died; father's friendship with Hole-in-the-Day; death of Helen MacArthur and lynching; Red River Trail; Red and Leech Lake trails; other local trails; getting supplies to Ponemah School; how Ojibwe handled being responsible for a death; and style of houses around Ponemah in 1900. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
John G. Morrison, Jr., discusses a canoe trail to Winnipeg; part of a voyageur's travel account, explaining why General Pike mislabeled the source of the Mississippi; his ancestors' voyageur activity; some of his siblings' birthplaces; what Red Lake was like in 1893; a "beau gang" or hobos; how Ponemah got its name; stopping place owner Truman Warren and his wife; the distances between cities and stopping places; the area known as Fowlds; steamboats on Red Lake; the Nelson Act; and the origins of the Red Lake Game Preserve. Morrison then discusses the origins of the Red Lake Game Preserve; A. E. Andrews' model farm north of Waskish and boat service for settlers; ditch liens; how Native American land was settled after the Nelson Act; how timber companies worked together to buy cheaper timber land; Page Morris's effort to move from estimators to bank scales; how lumber companies took advantage of settlers selling timber; Native Americans who had lived around Lake of the Woods; whether the people at Pembina were Ojibwe; the Ojibwe reservations; trust patents; whether Allan Jourdain loaned an old Hudson Bay building to the Catholic school; how they kept a fire burning overnight while hauling freight; logging on the Mud River; the Meehans' logging activities; and Episcopal missionaries. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Morrison discusses his arrival at the Ponemah school; orders from the agency to break up Native American customs; a smallpox epidemic at Ponemah; and a doctor teaching him to pull teeth, establishing a post office at Ponemah; a storm that left a windfall of trees in the early 1900s; memories of Billy Burce; the dock at Ponemah; vaccinating people against smallpox; the lack of law and order; steamboats and other boats on Red Lake; A. E. Andrews' attempts to settle Upper Red Lake; Morrison's opinion of how the government handles its interactions with Native Americans; gardening habits of the Red Lake Ojibwe; the decline of basket weaving and beadwork on the Red Lake Reservation; local produce theft; his opinion on compelling families to garden; his opinion on the work ethic of Native Americans; and his opinion on the quality of education provided to Native American children; his opinions about reducing economic support for Native Americans; resources available to Native Americans on the reservations; the fishing industry on the Red Lake Reservation; early staff members at the Ponemah school; his store, Chippewa Trading, at Red Lake; early law enforcement on the reservation; his time as a traveling salesman; his time at Nett Lake; his time at Onigum, including WPA work; whether Native Americans can get jobs; Native American population in the Twin Cities, and the regulations and challenges for traders on reservations. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
John G. Morrison, Jr., shows a group some of his collection, tells them about his forefathers who were among the earliest European settlers in Minnesota; and reads a list of family births and deaths. Morrison then discusses his family and their move from Crow Wing to White Earth; when he first came to Red Lake and his movements before settling in Ponemah; the trail to Detroit Lakes; steamboats on Red Lake; the remainder of his freighting betweeen White Earth and Detroit Lakes; his recollections of early Bemidji and Chief Bemidji; a legend of Nanabozho; the earliest settlements at Red Lake; a local caucus in 1894; a pipe he received from a grave near an Episcopal church; "Grandma How" Josette Jourdain Warren How; early settlers on Upper Red Lake; and early Catholic priests. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
There are at least four men in the group being interviewed, including Harry Carson and Earl Geil, and a man named Warner, probably Carl Warner. Quote attributed to "unkown" may refer to more than one man. One of the unidentified men could be a brother of Geil's, possibly Harry Geil. The group discusses the names of Chief Bemidji's children; the relationship between the Carsons and Chief Bemidji; a man named Hinch sketching Chief Bemidji for a statue; coming to Bemidji before the mill started; whether early Bemidji was safe for women; when the Geil family came to Bemidji; the Geils freighting for the Carsons; the Geils building a house; Geil and McTaggart purchasing the Remore Hotel; about Guy Remore; running the Remore Hotel; fleas, lice and bedbugs; the Markham Hotel; settlers who were in Bemidji before the Geils; hauling in a boiler from Park Rapids; working at the Steidl mills; the Swedback mill; about Warner's travels from North Dakota by covered wagon; Earl Geil stopping Willis Brannon's runaway team; their memories of the local panic about the Leech Lake uprising; when a group of Ojibwe raided a liquor delivery; the mission between Lake Andrusia and Cass Lake; the city opera house; early doctors, hospitals, and smallpox; the origin of the Bemidji fire department; and the fire on Whiskey Row. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
