Moments In Time

The Cook County News Herald is truly a treasury of moments in time. In this edition of our historical series, WTIP's Jay Andersen, a former News Herald editor, interviews the current editor, Rhonda Silence, about the history of the newspaper.

Photo courtesy of Luc de Leeuw via Flickr.

Vi Wonser and her husband Gordon operated Northern Cleaners & Laundry from 1947 to 1981 in downtown Grand Marais. In this editon of Moments in Time, Vi shares her memories of the business.

Photo courtesy of W.E. Vilmer via Wikimedia.

Renowned Minnesota architect Edwin Lundie (1886-1972) had a 50-year career in St. Paul.  Lundie also had strong ties to the North Shore.  We learn more about those ties in this edition of Moments in Time, featuring Linda Lamb of the Schroeder Area Historical Society.  The Society sponsors the annual "Lundie Tour"of  North Shore homes and cabins designed by Lundie.  Produced by Carah Thomas.

(Lundie cabin photo courtesy of the Schroeder Area Historical Society)

Rick Anderson grew up in Grand Marais. One day at little league practice, he and his teammates looked up overhead and saw what looked like a missile heading out toward the big lake. Check out Rick's story in this edition of Moments In Time.

Walter Sve is a third generation North Shore commercial fisherman based near Two Harbors, MN.  In this edition of Moments in Time, Walter talks with Art Fenstad of the North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum in Tofte, during a "Remembering the Fishing Life" presentation at the museum.  Produced by Carah Thomas.

Although not much is left of the town of Mineral Center these days, it was once a bustling settler village full of homesteaders, many of whom came from Wisconsin in search of a better life. The town was located on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation which was opened to white settlement though the passages of the Nelson Act in 1889. The town’s life was brief; settlers began coming to the area in the early 1900s and just over 30 years later nearly everyone was gone and the town died. Nona Smith was born and raised in Mineral Center. She now lives in Grand Marais. She was twelve when her family left the community in 1936 and she remembers life there well. Listen to her story of growing up in Mineral Center in this edition of Moments In Time.

Clearwater Lodge sits half-way up the Gunflint Trail. It's one of the oldest resorts in the Northwoods. Within its history lie stories of the area's earliest pioneers. In this edition of Moments in Time, Harriet Boostrom Taus, daughter of Clearwater founders Charlie & Petra Boostrom, shares the story of her pioneer parents and what it was like growing up at Clearwater Lodge and on the early Gunflint Trail.

Photo courtesy of Eugene Kim via Flickr.
 

The Gunflint Trail is a quiet and wild place. Best known for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness that surrounds it on both sides, the Trail is often characterized as pristine and untouched. But there was a time when things on the Gunflint Trail were very different. In fact, in the late 1800s an iron mine was established near the end of the trail. There was even a rail line that came down from Canada to the area. Building the line was extremely dangerous and had life and death consequences.

Photo courtesy of David Battistel. To learn more about the history of the Port Arthur, Duluth & Western Railroad check out David’s website.

In its early days, before Isle Royale became a national park in 1940, the island was home to loggers, miners and fishermen. Most were Scandinavian immigrants. However, there are people whose ties to the island go much farther back, and their story is often overlooked. In this edition of Moments in Time, we look at the story of the Anishinaabe and their connection to the island. They have a different set of uses for the land, and a different name for it.

Music by Keith Secola and the XX.

Photo courtesy of MDuchek on Wikimedia.

As you travel along highway 61 today, it’s hard to imagine that just over 150 years ago, the only thing connecting Cook County with lower sections of the North Shore was a long, intricate system of trails and footpaths. There was no highway, no roads, and almost no way to travel during the winter months except by dogsled. In this edition of Moments in Time, regional historian Todd Lindahl explains these early road and trail systems of the North Shore and how they developed into what we have today.

Photo courtesy of Tom Schleicher via Flickr.