A photograph of: Park General Manager Bill Clapp, owner Fred Pearce, Sr., western star William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy), Park Superintendent Joe Colihan and unknown at the Excelsior Amusement Park.
Cedric Adams on the left and Art Tibodeau on the right advertise Vigorena Feeds. The bag both are holding onto reads: Vigorena: The Feed You Need, Springfields Milling Corporation, Springfield, Minnesota.
Panoramic view the Cobb Williams American Legion Post 222 Drum and Bugle Corps of Hibbing, Minnesota, posed in a group photograph on the east lawn of the Hibbing City Hall in their band uniforms and with their instruments.
The recording is a tour by John G. Morrison, Jr., of items he donated to the BCHS, before a small group. Morrison discusses baby boards; snowshoes; an item that depicts the life of a Sioux hunter and warrior; war clubs; a tomahawk; a Paiute root that was chewed; a doll; moccasins; dancing regalia; several pipes; tobacco pouches; and grand medicine paraphernalia. In the middle of the recording, a man is singing Native American (probably Ojibwe) songs. Brown Oak Grove could be the man singing or drumming. Morrison discusses headdresses; the knuckle game; dancing regalia; a water drum; and other drums. Next, one man is singing Native American songs; either the same man or another person is drumming. One of the songs was written by Robert Gibbs about his son, who died in World War II. Finally, a man demonstrates a water drum and Morrison answers a few questions. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Mayor Eugene R. Lambert, Fred R. Lewis General Chairman and others, noted the 1856 naming and platting of Duluth in a local centennial celebration August 2-12, 1956.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
An unknown D.M. & I.R. crewman sitting in the Fireman's seat of a Yellowstone type steam locomotive. Dressed in typical coveralls, hat gloves and boots. Gauges and valves of the locomotive are visible.
Elmer Albinson was a director of the American Swedish Institute. Completed in 1908, the Swan J. Turnblad mansion was built in the French Chateauesque style. The house became the American Swedish Institute in 1929.
Panoramic view of rural winter scene. Photograph is divided in half depicting the same image on both halves. The photograph depicts a two-story farm house and barn on the left side of the paved road and a farmland scent on the right side of the road.
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.
The first part of the recording was made August 1, 1951, in St. Paul. Ralph Carson interviews his father, Joseph Evan Carson, about when his mother died; and where his parents came from. Ralph then reads the flyleaf of the Pondsfordian, by Reverend Benno Watrin, regarding some Carson family history. Evan then talks about the names of his family; their leaving Carsonville; when and where his brothers started their stores where they got their stock; when and where his father built a stopping place; the Beltrami Eagle; his mother's hotel; early Bemidji buildings; earliest Bemidji residents; the Alex Cameron family as the first family at their hotel; memories of Chief Bemidji; where the first school was and early teachers; receiving Chief Bemidji's gun from Mary Carson; and the swimming hole. Evan's wife, Jennie Newell Carson, makes a few suggestions. The recording then transitions to an interview of Evan Carson by Dr. Charles Vandersluis in Bemidji. Carson describes some photographs; street grading; unmarked burials; lumberjacks trying to protect their money; his father serving as probate judge. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
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.
Otterstad discusses his family's arrival in the Turtle River area in 1900; the early buildings of Turtle River; the logging industry; the town of Farley; the Red Lake-Leech Lake Indian trails; and early Turtle River newspapers. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Charlie Wight discusses first meeting the McAllister brothers; cruising Balsam Lake with McAllister; his memories of a woodsman named William Taft; the Taft spurs; a spur from Red Lake to Lake Julia and the logging around Lake Julia; hoisting logs out of Mud Lake; what determined whether a company would trestle or hoist logs; Scanlon-Gipson operations around Little Turtle Lake in 1901-1902; his acquaintance with Dave Conners; Irwin and O'Brien landing logs in Whitefish Lake; where lumber was sawed; the first road into Funkley; whether he saw any Native Americans living around Bemidji early on; whether he noticed old native trails; the names of different portages; scouting out homesteads; early logging by the Keewatin Company; the equipment his outfit used on their trips; trying to find a folding-up oven to demonstrate baking biscuits; the length of his first cruising trip; where else he cruised; how Weyerhaeuser moved his timber to Little Falls; the type of ties used for an inland logging railroad; the operation at Cross Lake; how moving logs by rail is like portaging; the amount of timber in the Cross Lake area; who he worked for after leaving Weyerhaeuser and Billy Woods; buying his own timber; losing almost everything in the Panic of 1932; about his family; what he did after the panic; his knowledge of Billy Woods; and his method of cruising. Then Wight discusses how he burnt slash; trying to talk another cruiser out of burning in poor conditions; how state policies hindered safe burning conditions; claims that were heavily timbered, and buyers who sold low; cruising for Clerk of Court Rasmussen; his health; a tree scale table by Frank Hasty; Frank Hasty; his sight; where the best timber was; whether you drive timber from Clearwater to Winnipeg in a year; Eau Claire area timer companies; the interviewer briefly tells about Weyerhaeuser difficulties north of Grand Rapids; Wight's visit at Cloquet; value of stumpage. 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.
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 Dr. Charles Vandersluis interviewing his father, Charles W. Vandersluis (CWV). Vandersluis (CWV) talks about his own father's work as an interpreter at a St. Cloud hardware store; the Red River carts going through St. Cloud; his parents, grandparents, and siblings; their house in St. Cloud; and log drives on the Mississippi. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
The recording is an interview with Charlie Wight and unidentified others. Due to glitches in the recording, the content is disjointed, but includes some discussion of snowshoes and possibly horse bridles. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Vandersluis speaks with Charlie Wight, timber cruiser, on March 14, 1953, in the doctor's office. Wight talks about where he was born; his family's move to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; lumbering activity in Western Wisconsin; whether there were any Native Americans living at Chippewa Falls; birch bark canoes on the Chippewa River; his grandfather helping install the first turbine wheel at the Chippewa River; his grandfather helping install the first turbine wheel at the Chippewa Falls mill; the reaches of the Weyerhaeuser company; how they moved lumber down river by rafts; brailing logs; and pool companies that took over on the Mississippi. Wight then discusses working as a cookee at a camp in Wisconsin; driving a one-horse tram car at the mill; where men from the mills went in the winter; toting supplies; learning the timber estimating business as a compass man with Billy Woods; how they travelled to the land they were cruising; supplies they packed; what areas they cruised; finding section corners scribed into trees; seeing the Red Lake-Leech Lake trail and other trails; what they saw on the north shore of Lake Bemidji; a bridge near Lake Andrusia and any other bridges; about the Farmer-Hines railroad; where he went after that first trip; mills and bridges at Brainerd; the Gull River Lumber Company's narrow gauge railroad; other cruising jobs; and early fires. Next, Wight discusses his acquaintances with Marcus D. Stoner and Sam Dolgaard; some logging operations around Turtle River; Dan Freeman logging at Long Lake; Freeman and Gray splitting up; where Bagley started working for Walker; about S. C. Bagley; Bagley's nephew, Buzzle; where logs went from Mallard Lake; and which loggers collaborated. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
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.
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.
Four part interview with surveyor Euclid "Ernie" Bourgeois discusses the logging industry, S.C. Bagley, spur 75, Red Lake steamers, platting and civil engineering, recollections of Farley and Turtle River, histories of local railroads, Markham Hotel, and early Bemidji saloons' involvement with railroads. In part 2, Bourgeois discusses his early memories of Bemidji and Buena Vista, early Bemidji infrastructure, platting and civil engineering, Marcus D. Stoner, the town site of Turtle, and his work on spur 75. In later portions, Bourgeois discusses the evaluation of local land for dairy production and/or clover or seed; logging on Clearwater River; his experience with the Brainerd Lumber Company near LaSalle Lake and log unloading during winter; whether logs were driven on the Mississippi; spreading clover seed on drive to Baudette; name of cruisers for whom creeks might be named; knowledge of surveyor Thomas H. Croswell, plats of small settlements in the area; naming of Buena Vista and plats of Tenstrike, Hidewood, Kelliher, Funkley, and Dexter; the Red Lake Transportation Company; how Bemidji business owners chipped in to induce a railroad to come to town; surveying for a railroad near the Blakeslee farm; breaking out to survey on his own; recollection of the Delphine post office; the Red Lake-Leech Lake trail; early history of Lavinia; platted communities of Jens Opsahl; early history of Grand Forks Bay; and comparing old Nebish to modern Nebish.
