The discussion with a group of unidentified narrators was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location. The group of unidentified narrators discusses sawmills, saloons, railroads, logging, lumber companies, and mail delivery in near Bemidji, Minnesota in the early 1900s. They also discuss how to scale a tree and a location called Brush Shanty near Alvwood, Minnesota.
Wight, Charlie; Bourgeois, Euclid; Brooks, Walter L.
Date Created:
1956 - 1959
Description:
The following oral history was recorded by Dr. Charles Vandersluis. The interview(s) include Charlie Wight, Euclid (Ernie) Bourgeois, and other unknown people, including probably Howard Newcomb. Wight, Bourgeois and others talk about the singer Hank Underwood and his family and Hank Underwood's funeral. Other topics include Tom Nary; the Carver brothers; the Stewart family; a preacher in Laporte and Nary; the Hines family; 'Grampy' Porter Nye. Walter L. Brooks talks about payments on the Red Lake reservation; a man reads what he says is an interview with Maurice Godfrey on February 1, 1956, in which Godfrey talks about his father, a boat builder; various boats in the area; the locations of camps and lakes; various dams; Bob Neving; and Bagley's nephew, Buzzle.
The first interview is with Josie Hanson Saltnes, and 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 boarding with neighbors and getting mail delivered by stage from Blackduck, Minnesota. She also describes several photographs including a picnic and a school photo. She also describes interactions between white settlers and Ojibwe people, including how Ojibwe people camped near the store in Foy and interacted with white people on the reservation. The interview is continued from BCHS 072a. Late in the interview, an unidentified man describes traveling to a homestead without enough provisions, with a companion who gets drunk and freezes to the bottom of a boat. He also discusses Bridgie, Minnesota. The second interview is with an unidentified man, called Bill late in the recording. The unidentified narrator discusses traveling to Bagley, Minnesota in 1897 or 1898. He also discusses logging for Jim Sherry and caring for his team. He also describes running a general store and interacting with loggers.
In the first part of the recording, Thomas Miller discusses constructing a county road between Bemidji and Fosston; the establishment of Pinewood; early Pinewood businesses; helping build the railroad between Bagley and Shevlin; and operating a sawmill with his dad. In the second part of the recording, Walter L. Brooks discusses what originally brought him to Bemidji; his childhood; playing football for the University of Wisconsin at Madison; how he got his first job in a bank; how he got a promotion at the bank; taking a new job at Northwestern National Bank in Minneapolis; a co-worker embezzling funds and implicating him; moving to the First National Bank; hearing about the job at Bemidji; how rough early Bemidji was; the early bank building; his home in early Bemidji; early bank operations; cashing time checks for lumberjacks; trying to encourage lumberjacks to save money; extending credit to saloonkeepers; how well lumberjacks treated his wife; Charlie Miles' automobile getting stuck in the sand; when gambling closed in Bemidji; when the saloons closed in Bemidji; an agreement with the Crookston Lumber Company to cover their excess taxes; boats on Lake Bemidji; and keeping horses. The interview was recorded on December 10, 1952.
Charlie Wight discusses the Duluth and Winnipeg railroad; various logging projects; the locations of lumber camps; Blakely and Farley; the locations of logging spurs; the Carver brothers; and the engine hill at Weaver Camp.
Fred Cyr discusses biographical information; memories of logging drives on the Clearwater River when he was a child; how logging drives worked; his experience toting supplies for J.C. Parker; what wanigans were like; how logs were sorted; and the role of the swamper. The recording continues with Cyr's experience in logging industry; when Cyr's father came to Red Lake Falls; locations of high and low water on the Clearwater River; his experience in a logging camp in winter; how lumberjacks dealt with lice; delays at a sorting gap; his experience with Native American loggers; logging near Cass Lake; and whether logs were transported on the Mississippi River. In the final portion of the recording, Cyr discusses logging at Portage Lake near Bena; how logs were hoisted onto trains near Cass Lake; getting injured as a lumberjack; driving on the river, possibly Clearwater; knowledge of J. C. Parker; how lumberjacks ate; the contents of some unidentified photographs; and fishing on the Battle River. This record contains parts of multiple interviews. Please refer to the transcripts for help understanding these.
Henry Kolden discusses returning from a trip to St. Cloud to file his claim; how good M. D. Stoner was at walking; how early logging began on the Clearwater River; going on a log drive from Bagley Dam in 1896; how dams helped log drives; what the wanigan was like; and what type of men worked on the log drive. The recording is a continuation of BCHS 020a/b, and continues in bchs130b and BCHS 131a/b.
The interview with John Van House was conducted by Dr. Charles Vandersluis on an unrecorded date in an unrecorded location, probably Kelliher, Minnesota. Van House discusses living in Fosston, Solway, and Turtle River, Minnesota starting in about 1892, 1903, and 1906, respectively. He also discusses old village of Turtle versus the later village of Turtle River. He discusses early saloons, hotels, churches, and schools in those areas. He also discusses working in a livery barn and as a saloonkeeper. The interview continues in BCHS 059b.
Lillian French Baney discusses where her parents came from; her early life in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the St. Cloud area; her family's arrival at Bagley; their early situation at Four-Legged Lake; her father's efforts to organize the township and a school; the bachelors who tried to run a store on their property; her father's acquisition of the store and commission of a post office; the mail route from Bagley; Henry How's stopping place; a group of Frenchmen who stayed at her family's stopping place during a rumored Native American uprising; the Noonan lumber camp; Dr. McKinnon and Dr. Gilmore; a Native American campground on their claim; the brothel at Klondike; penalties for providing liquor to a Native American; Mrs. Henry How's reputation; wanigans near Bob Neving's place; and Clearwater Dam. The recording, dated October 3, 1955, is continued in bchs088b.
This sound clip highlights John and Josephine (Helseth) Aasen of Reine Twp. The Roseau County Historical Society prepared this radio script to share county history through broadcasts on KJ102 FM in Roseau. The topics highlight the history of Roseau County and the people that lived there.
