Forest for the Trees: How Humans Shaped the North Woods

Preface and Acknowledgments

Preface and Acknowledgments in September 1991 I began the research for an ecological history of northern Minnesota, but my association with the region began at birth. My great-grandfather was one of the first emigrants to northern Minnesota, a Cornish mining engineer who hiked over the Vermilion Trail to begin the digs at Tower. I remember going for long walks with my grandmother, Theresa (Treat) Je≠ery, and being rapt as she bent slowly to pick a wintergreen leaf (tastes like Beemans gum, she’d say), or blueberries, or some fantastic mushroom, or a ginseng root shaped like a little man, or a wildflower. To her the forest was a large garden, ordered, full of useful plants and beautiful flowers. I followed behind, listening as she talked about the forest and about the history of the land. My grandmother was very active in the St. Louis County Historical Society and the Tower Historical Society. The Railroad Train Museum at the entrance to Tower is dedicated to her memory. She was instrumental in setting up the underground mine at Soudan, and trips into the mine my great-grandfather had opened remain a favored rainy-day activity. This book is largely the result of the wonderful walks she and I took together, and the stories that she told of forest fires, of voyageurs, Indians, miners, and loggers. The Winton watershed—the streams and lakes that flow from the northern slopes of the Laurentian Divide, up the Stony River, into Fall Lake and north through the border lakes, and into Quetico Provincial Park in Canada—defined my study area. Because pioneer loggers used xi water routes to transport logs to the mill, examining a single watershed is especially instructive. I concentrated the research for this book in five source areas, conducted close to forty interviews with those who still had a memory of the logging days, and read oral histories of fifty more who had died before I began this work. I reviewed the archives of the main players, the lumber companies, the U.S. Forest Service, and county, state, and federal documents. I used the local newspapers from that time. The works of researchers who had gone before me, the perspectives of many historians , and academic works that touched upon my topic were also a great help. The rotting dams, sluiceways, and trestle pilings, the scarcity of old white pine, the diseased “flag” limbs of the trees that survived, the tangled thickets of vigorous, young aspen stands, the absence of elk and caribou, the abundance of deer, the portages and roads, the diminished town of Winton—all of these informed me. I am indebted to all who took the time to talk with me. One of the greatest joys of this work was meeting and speaking at great length with these people, many of whom are now deceased: the late Robert G. Whiteside and his wife, Kitty, E. Matt Laitala, the late Dorothy Anderson , Robert and Opal Hill, Mrs. Howard Hario, Cyrille Fortier Jr., James Pete, the late Mary Anderson, the late Andy and Hannah Johnson, Robert Mills, the late Miron “Bud” Heinselman, the late J. C. “Buzz” Ryan, Cecilia Kuitenen, the late Harry Homer, John Sansted, Lou Gold, Tuano Maki, Rudolph and Auggie Majerla, Robert Porthan, Everett Laitala, and Urho Hokkanen. I also thank the late Lee Brownell for his many excellent photographs; Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Tuthill for not only their photographs but also their excellent coffee; and Victor Zyganor (Whitewater Slim) for his spirit, his egg coffee, and his authentic lumberjack lemon cream pie, baked in an old lumber camp wood stove. A very special thanks to the late Laurie McGuinn for not only her invaluable help with the labor section but also her support and warm friendship. Thanks also to Nancy Lincoln, a partner in this effort, who transcribed many of these interviews. The patience, helpfulness, and professionalism of the Minnesota Historical Society’s staff cannot be overstated. I am deeply indebted to editor Shannon M. Pennefeather, whose help during the revision preface and acknowledgments xii process was indispensable and whose many creative suggestions made this a much better book. Her enthusiasm and kind, challenging , and detailed editing carried this project through to a far happier end. The sta≠ of the Iron Range Interpretive Center was very helpful and knowledgeable; Edward Nelson oversees an excellent organization there. The Lake County Historical Society, the Iron...