The first part of the recording is a discussion with a group of unidentified speakers, conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The group of speakers discusses the location of railroad lines, including spur 28. They also discuss logging in 1916, 1917, 1926, and 1927. One group member reads forestry reports from 1917 and 1919, as well as reports about a blowdown on the Red Lake Reservation in 1905. The group also discusses early Nebish, Minnesota and a robbery in Puposky, Minnesota. The second part of the recording is an interview with an unidentified narrator, probably Otto C. Perske, conducted by an unknown interviewer on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Perske discusses sawmills in northern Minnesota during the early 1900s and his work as a millwright. He describes early lumber sales and how to brace a saw without electricity. He also describes earning a bonus on a rush milling job for Hormel. He also describes participating in a strike and supporting a union in search of higher wages.
Harriet Villemin Cameron discusses a lumberjack named Big Mike; feeding logging crews; the wild town of Tenstrike and a murder there; her memories of Henry Funkley; the couple she got her furniture from; and Grandma Carson. Dr. Vandersluis reads the text of deeds to her land. Previous interviews are found in BCHS 054a and BCHS 054b. In the second part of the recording, Cameron's brother, Louis Villemin, discusses his arrival in Bemidji; his arrival in Porterville, California; his homestead in northern Minnesota; his horses, Billy and Prince; and the Dewey battle on Lake Bemidji. The recording, dated December 1953, is continued in bchs103b. Villemin was speaking from Porterville, California, probably via telephone.
Van House, John; Miller, Anna E.; Saltnes, Josie Hanson
Date Created:
1950 - 1959
Description:
The first interview, with John Van House, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Van House discusses a boat that was lent to Ojibwe people near Waskish around 1916 and was used for hauling liquor. He also describes a sawmill. The interview is continued from BCHS 059a and BCHS 059b. The second interview, with Anna E. Miller, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in 1953 in an unrecorded location. Miller discusses the fire in Kelliher, Minnesota around 1913. She also discusses the Kelliher Mercantile Company, the area's old settler's organization, and deadheading logs on Bullhead Lake. She also mentions working for the post office starting in 1918 and serving as postmaster from 1920 to 1934. The final interview, with Josie Hanson Saltnes, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Josie Hanson Saltnes discusses teaching at the Park School in Solway, Minnesota in 1907 and 1908, then Foy, Minnesota in about 1909 to 1912, and again at Foy in 1915 or 1916. She describes attending summer school, boarding with neighbors, surviving a forest fire in 1908, and eating at a logging camp. She also describes the store at Foy and a location called Jerome. She also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including Ojibwe people camping near the store at Foy and selling corn there. The interview continues in BCHS 072b.
Knute Rauk discusses where he was born; when he and his family came to Shevlin; his father's hardware business; the Beltrami County Advocate; operating the printing press at Shevlin; banks in Shevlin; the Mallard Call newspaper and early Mallard. George Kerr talks about his paper route in Brainerd; his dream of being a railroad engineer; logging on the Gull River; the Stony Brook and Northern; a railroad machine shop, possibly at East Brainerd; the lower and upper landings; the dangers of unloading logs; the use of stakes to secure logs on train cars; the Brainerd and Northern Minnesota railroad; and railroad operations at Lothrop. Charlie Wight is also present. The Kerr interview continues in BCHS 120b.
The interview with Alvah G. Swindlehurst was conducted by an unknown interviewer on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. Swindlehurst discusses growing up near Hubbard Prairie and Wadena, Minnesota in the late 1800s. He describes working in the newspaper business for 20 years in Wadena, then moving to Cass Lake, Minnesota in 1914 to be the registrar of the U.S. Land Office, then becoming postmaster in Cass Lake in 1934. He provides a history of the Scanlon Gipson Mill near Cass Lake, the Morris Act for forest conservation, and fur trading. He also describes interactions between white people and Ojibwe people, including trading posts, treaties, Bishop Whipple's missionary activities, and settler interactions. The interviewer mentions that he's seeking testimony to support Native American attorneys in court.
Archie Logan discusses deadhead logs; where log marks were recorded; the lengths of logs; how logs were loaded on railroad cars; most prevalent species of timber; cedar yards around Kelliher; the logging railroad from Nebish to Red Lake; where logging took place in the mid-1880s; the logging railroad out of Crosslake; the narrow-gauge line at Gull Lake; smallpox in the lumber camps; quarantine in a lumber camp; and the source of the Mississippi. Leonard Dickinson is also part of the conversation. The recording is part of a series, continued from BCHS 115a, BCHS 115b, and BCHS 079a, and continued in BCHS116a and BCHS 116b.
The interview with Arthur E. Morgan was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably Yellow Springs, Ohio. Arthur Ernest Morgan discusses his childhood in St. Cloud, Minnesota and seeing log drives on the Mississippi River. He describes working as a surveyor in Beltrami County and Itasca County in 1902 to 1903. He describes encountering mosquitoes, moose, wolves, and a magnetic declination. He also describes interactions between White surveyors and Ojibwe people, including working for Ed Warren and staying overnight with an Ojibwe family. His wife, Lucy M. Griscom Morgan, also participates in the interview. The recording continues in BCHS 031b.
The first part of the recording is an interview with Charles William Vandersluis (CWV) conducted by his son, Dr. Charles Wilson Vandersluis, on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The elder Vandersluis discusses being a traveling salesman in the area around Bemidji, Minnesota starting in 1901. He also discusses development of Bena, Minnesota and the original stopping place and store there. He describes railroads, hotels, lumber companies, and sawmills. He also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including selling goods, intermarriage, and white people gaining access to Ojibwe allotments on reservations for logging. This part of the interview was probably continued from BCHS 071a. The second part 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 of unidentified narrators discuss railroads, log drives, and sawmills in the area of Bemidji, Minnesota around 1900. They also discuss steamboats and describe a logging tool called a cant hook. This section of the recording is continued from BCHS 071a.
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.
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.
