The first interview, with Claud Fish, was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on May 27, 1955, in an unrecorded location. Fish describes a series of photographs from near Northome, Minnesota including at Bowstring Lake and his homestead on Island Lake. He discusses laying railroad lines, the Itasca Logging Company, and J. P. Sims. He also discusses how Ojibwe people lived and processed wild rice near Island Lake. The interview is the fourth in the series, continuing from BCHS 070a, BCHS 070b, and BCHS 069a. The second part of the recording is an interview with Emma Knutson [Mrs. Mike Knutson], conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on July 2, 1955, in an unrecorded location. Knutson discusses arriving in Big Fork, Minnesota in 1902. She describes toting goods by foot and later traveling by train. She also describes mail delivery by dog team from Marcell, Minnesota. The third 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 logging in northern Minnesota around 1900. They discuss the Clearwater Logging Company's camp near Pinewood, Minnesota. They also discuss the Bagley dam, timber sales, and how T. B. Walker acquired his timber holdings. This portion of the recording continues on BCHS 071b. The final portion of the recording is an interview with an unidentified narrator (possibly referred to as Charlie in BCHS 071b), conducted by an unidentified interviewer, possibly Dr. Charles Vandersluis, on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The unidentified narrator discusses how a logging company would prepare its ox teams in St. Cloud, Minnesota to go up north in the 1880s. He also discusses the tornado at St. Cloud, Minnesota on April 14, 1886. This portion of the recording continues on BCHS 071b.
This sound clip highlights the Simon Olson family's early years of marriage and later homesteading in Stokes Township, Roseau County. The Roseau County Historical Society prepared this radio script to share county history through weekly broadcasts on KJ102 FM in Roseau. The broadcast was titled "A Look Back In Time". The topics highlight the history of Roseau County and the people that lived there.
