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26. Interview with Frank Muvich, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Muvich, Frank
Date Created:
1983-03-11
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

27. Interview with Harlan and Bertha Krause, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Krause, Harlan; Krause, Bertha
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

28. Interview with Harold Nelson, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Nelson, Harold
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

29. Interview with Isabel Koski, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Koski, Isabel
Date Created:
1982-11-22
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

30. Interview with Julia Purdy, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Purdy, Julia
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

31. Interview with Lee Brownell, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Brownell, Lee
Date Created:
1983-03-14
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

32. Interview with Marion Columbo, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Columbo, Marion
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

33. Interview with Mary Anderson, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Mary Anderson
Date Created:
1983-03-27
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

34. Interview with Mary Marsnik, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Marsnik, Mary
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

35. Interview with Mary Poljanic, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Poljanic, Mary
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
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.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

36. Interview with Mrs. Ellen Ostlund, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Ostlund, John
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
Interview with Mrs. John Ostlund (nee Ellen Reko, born 1913 in Winton, Minnesota. In the interview Ellen discusses her parents- Finnish immigrants, William and Hilma Reko; father worked in the mine. He walked to work along the railroad tracks or rode a bicycle. Activities: Games- King of the Hill, Kick the Can, Hide and Seek, Run Sheep Run. Depression era picnics with crackers, butter and sugar lumps. Skating and bonfires on the frozen (glare ice) river; skating on Fall Lake using clamp-on skates, playing Crack the Whip. Rowboats and launches. Camping on the weekends, Winton power dam, site for fishing and picnicking on Fall Lake; Learning to swim at the sandy point across the lake from the power dam. Swimming in petticoats and underwear, no swim suits. Riding a flat car to Cedar Lake to pick blueberries. Waling to Section 30 to pick raspberries and have lunch. Waling to Ely in groups to go to the movies. Ticket price 15 cents. Silent movies. She remembers All Quiet on the Western Front. Favorite actors- Joan Crawford, Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino, Gilbert Roland, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford. Bobsled parties with teachers. Winton sites: Bob Bedford's livery stable with carriages, sleighs with velvet tapestry. He had one of the early cars in the area. The ice cream parlor located whter the old post office was. A saloon located withe the playground is today. John (or Jeff) St. Marie owned a touring car and gave rides to local children.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

37. Interview with Senja Maki, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Maki, Senja
Date Created:
1983-01-04
Description:
Interview with Senja Maki. Senja Maki was born in Finland in 1888 and immigrated to the United States when she was 4. She moved to Ely when she was 16. Her parents divorced because her father was an alcoholic and her mother remarried. Senja moved to Ely where she worked waiting tables at a hotel. The hotel burned and she looked for a new job where she worked until she broke her knee. In 1907 she married Gust Maki who owned "Maki Clothing." They had five children and her husband died in 1964. Senja marched for women's right to vote and was part of the Delphin Society. The Delphin Society was a study group for women to learn about art, music, and literature. She has lived in the same house for 77 years. Her philosophy of life is to learn to live the proper way and always do what is right.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

38. Interview with Tony Klun, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Klun, Tony
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
Interview with Tony Klun, age 65, part owner of Klun's Meat Market on Central Avenue, Ely. He is not heard on this tape but it is a report read by his interviewer, Mike Petrich, concerning his method of making sausage. The store, which opened in 1922 was converted from a dry goods store owned by Tony's stepmother. The precise way of making sausage is very clearly explained, but there is no mention of the spices used nor the amounts.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

39. Interview with Urho Hokkanen, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Hokkanen, Urho
Date Created:
1982-12-07
Description:
Interview with Urho Hokkanen. Urho was born in Finland in 1909. His family immigrated to America in 1913. His father first arrived in America in 1905, but returned to Finland in 1908, and left again in 1910 for America. They traveled from Helsinki to Copenhagen and on to Hull, England and then caught a White Star ship in Liverpool arriving in Quebec, Canada before making his way to northern Minnesota. His father worked in the lumber camps and occasionally in the Section 30 or Zenith Mine. Urho Hokkanen attended the Winton, Minnesota school through the 8th grade and then graduated high school in Ely. He traveled around a while after high school, but came back to Winton because his mother was so lonely for him. He spent one winter in a lumber camp on the North Shore of Lake Superior and then was hired at the Pioneer Mine in Ely. Urho talks about working in the underground mine, cave-ins and mud slides, the Great Depression and its affect on the area, unionization of the mines, and what he did after the Pioneer Mine closed in 1967.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

40. Interview with Vivian E. Tuomikoski, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Tuomikoski, Vivian E.
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
Interview with Vivian Tumoikoski. This interview discusses homesteading near One Pine Lake in early 1900. Topics include, dairy farm, chores, milking, bottling, selling, haymaking, and hired help. Vivian also discusses making ice and harvesting ice as well as recreation and family travels.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

41. Lake Insula, Ely, Minnesota

Date Created:
1950-1970
Description:
A lone canoer paddles past a point on Lake Insula. This lake is now located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

42. Large group of people at Section 30, Fall Lake Township, Minnesota

Date Created:
1915
Description:
Section Thirty is an unincorporated community located in Fall Lake Township, four miles east of Ely. Among this group at Section 30 are, Top, Mr. and Mrs. Albin Sundholm and daughters; Center in dark coat, Mrs. Oppel; Upper right, Mr. and Mrs. Thaisen and her sons Carl and Albert Ramquist.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

43. Loggers cutting white pine with two-man saw, northern Minnesota

Date Created:
1890 - 1920
Description:
White Pine was decidely the "king of the forest." It would take two men to cut these giants.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

44. Loggers eating lunch in the forest, northern Minnesota

Date Created:
1890 - 1920
Description:
Strange as it seems, many logging camps brought a hot meal out to the crews in the woods.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

45. Logging crew poses for a picture in an unidentified logging camp, northern Minnesota

Date Created:
1890 - 1910
Description:
The logging crew poses complete with the camp dog. One man holds his rifle.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

46. Looking west on Sheridan Street, Ely, Minnesota

Date Created:
1940 - 1950
Description:
Another view of Sheridan Street. While the water tower remains the same, the street is now paved.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

47. Lyle Klein speaks on Ely's music history, Ely, Minnesota

Creator:
Lyle Klein
Date Created:
1982 - 1983
Description:
A talk given by Lyle Klein, music instructor. He spoke on the origins of bands in Ely beginning with the first band of about 12 people known as the "Ely Cornet Band," or the Brass Band or the City Band, and sometimes all three names were used in the same newspaper article. Bands began in 1888-1889. Klein lists the various band directors through to 1967. Most school students were members of bands and Ely had an excellent instrumental music program. The school music directors followed closely the list of city band directors. Klein speaks of the Sampo Band under the direction of Charles Klemola a trumpet player and composer.The talk touches on the various ethnic bands as well.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Sound Recording Nonmusical
Format:
Oral histories

48. Memorial High School, Ely, Minnesota

Date Created:
1930 - 1940
Description:
Opening in 1924, Memorial High School has been in constant use ever since although it no longer has the lovely gardens pictured here.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

49. Old High School, Ely, Minnesota

Date Created:
1930 - 1940
Description:
Ely's original high school, Old High functioned in that capacity from 1905 until 1924 when the new high school opened. It later became Ely Junior College, the second such college in the State.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards

50. Pillow Rock, Ely, Minnesota

Date Created:
1990 - 2000
Description:
An excellent example of an ellipsoidal lava flow said to be 2.7 billion years old with peculiar masses formed when dark lavas flowed under water. One of the few specimens of its kind in the world. The rock is an outcrop of Ely Greenstone.
Contributing Institution:
Ely-Winton Historical Society
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Postcards
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