Oral History Transcriptions

Oral History Transcriptions

An important aspect of the Aitkin County Historical Society is gathering information from the people who are a part of the history of our area. We call this our "oral history program." We remain consciously aware that the elderly people in our area have a wealth of information from their experience and from their parents' and grandparents' experiences. To lose this information would be losing part of our history.

The truly important and most interesting history is of the common working people, not just the follies of the rich and famous. It is important that we get firsthand memories and reminiscences from the people who experienced it. It is essential that we document the abundance of information while it is available. We have a list of people who are second and third generation from this area. We have a need for people who would be interested in interviewing these people. It's a very enjoyable and fascinating experience.

These interviews can be written or we have audio and video equipment available. We are confident that there are people out there who would really enjoy getting involved in this project. We need your help. Anyone who has an interest and would enjoy conducting interviews can contact the Depot Museum. We will provide complete instructions and interviewing tips to help you get started. We are continuously adding names to our list of people to be interviewed from throughout the entire county. Please help us gather this wealth of important historical information. - Mary Rea, past administrator of the ACHS.

Below is a list of the histories that have been transcribed from recorded interviews. If you would like to listen to the recordings, stop into the Depot Museum and we will set you up to listen to them.

American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps

The American Legion Auxiliary Drum and Bugle Corps, of the Aitkin Lee Unit No. 86, of Aitkin, Minnesota was started on January 15, 1934. In this 2001 interview, Kathryn Hartman Harrison, Marcie Broman, Sarah Lehman Fossen, and Alice Edquist Hanson recall their times in the Corps. Katherine and Sarah were charter members. Learning to play the instruments. The original roster. Costumes, traveling to parades, uniforms, tunes they played, marching formations, staying in hotels. Why they disbanded.

Botilla, John and Elsie

Rice River and Beaver Townships. The Riverside School. Green Valley School. The Rice River Dance Hall. Jack's Shack. Names of families who lived in these townships. Section 27. Home-made shingles. Home-made coffins. Schools in Beaver Township.

Cairns, Bob

Memories of Klondike Lodge on Glacier Lake. Bob's parents owned the lodge. Interviewed Nov 1997.

Cartie, Ernest

Ernie Cartie, and Floyd and Lydia Hogan. Floyd Hogan was 76 years old, and his wife, Lydia Hogan was 66 years old at the time of this interview in 1986. Ernest (Ernie) Cartie was born in 1905.

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Cummings, Alan

Cedar Brook Co-op Creamery; memories of Wyman Eddy, a Civil War veteran

Davis, Georgiana

Georgiana was born in 1901 and lived almost all her life in Aitkin. Livery stable, 1907 forest fire; Cluff's Royal Clothing Store; working at the Post Office; saving Father Green from drowning in the Rice River.

Ekelund, Wally and Harry

Sawmills and schools in Turner, Cornish, and Shamrock Townships; Pine Needle School; Marcus Nelson; Harold Barrett; and other logging camps.

Farah, Joseph P.

Joe and Florence Farah married in 1942. They recalled life in McGregor, dating back to 1920.

Hanson, Olaf

"A bit of history of Olaf Hanson's Logging Camps," by Herman Hanson (1893 - 1973), one of the five Hanson children. Olaf Hanson (1955-1939) emigrated to the United States in 1891.

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Hendrickson, Erma

Erma's grandparents started the General Store in Aitkin before 1900. "Larson Alley," the Evergreen Cemetery, Andersonville, and the early days of the Historical Society. Erma was born in 1907 and died in 2006.

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Hogan, Lydia

Aili Lake, Lydia Hogan, and Lillian Mattson talk about their past. Finnish families - Hyytinen, Leppanen, Karjala, Skarbakka, Havari, Mariin, Laukkanen, Palomaki. Hard times farming, especially during the Depression. Living through a tornado. Rossburg Meadow. Making hay in 1936. Raising milk cows and turkeys. The 1918 fire. Diogiovani's Store.

Hogan, Floyd and Lydia

Ernie Cartie, and Floyd and Lydia Hogan. Floyd Hogan was 76 years old, and his wife, Lydia Hogan was 66 years old at the time of this interview in 1986. Ernest (Ernie) Cartie was born in 1905.

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Holum, Eddie

Building the Doris Community Church (circia 1896), planing the lumber by hand, how the church got its name. Delivering the mail, Postmaster Gwathney. Logging stories. Mr. Holum was 95 at the time of this interview, which was done in 1974.

Jackman, Harold

Lawler, Grayling, Rabey, Brower. Schools, logging camps.Stud Horse Lake, Dower Lumber Company. The railroad at Lawler, sawmills, homesteads, churches, John Pursi's butcher shop.

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Jacobson, Oscar

Oscar was six years old when his family moved to Aitkin County in June of 1900. Rice River community, home life, school days, Fleming Methodist Church, log drives, history of the Airport Road.

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Johnson, Mel

In these two tapes, Gene Peterson and Mel Johnson talk about the history of the town of Tamarack. First tape: Schools, the light plant, Post Office, churches. Second tape: Logging camps, the stockyard, train derailment in the late 1800s, the 1918 fire, Sicottis.

Kelly, Virginia and Bob

Tamarack. Nelson Lake School, the Hart School, logging camps, Marcus Nelson, mud houses, churches, the railroad, stores. Grayling, resorts.

Lake, Aili

Aili Lake, Lydia Hogan, and Lillian Mattson talk about their past. Finnish families - Hyytinen, Leppanen, Karjala, Skarbakka, Havari, Mariin, Laukkanen, Palomaki. Hard times farming, especially during the Depression. Living through a tornado. Rossburg Meadow. Making hay in 1936. Raising milk cows and turkeys. The 1918 fire. Diogiovani's Store.

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Laucamp, Francis Anderson

Balsam Township. Balsam School, McGregor High School. Hard times during the Depression, canning ducks, how they had fun. Family history. Working at the Klondike Lodge, World War II.

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Lueck, Fritz

Mr. Lueck was born in 1926, his mother attended by Dr. McHugh. He grew up on the Mississippi River. 1938 flood. 1950 flood. Fishing and wimming in the Mississippi.1916 flood.

Mattson, Lillian

Aili Lake, Lydia Hogan, and Lillian Mattson talk about their past. Finnish families - Hyytinen, Leppanen, Karjala, Skarbakka, Havari, Mariin, Laukkanen, Palomaki. Hard times farming, especially during the Depression. Living through a tornado. Rossburg Meadow. Making hay in 1936. Raising milk cows and turkeys. The 1918 fire. Diogiovani's Store.

Nelson, Alf

Mr. Nelson's parents emigrated to the United States from Sweden around 1905. Jevne Towhship. How Lansford got its name. How Une got its name. How Jevne Township got its name. The wire-grass business. Township roads. Mud Lake. Schools. The Lansford Cemetery.

Palisade Memories

This lengthy and colorful transcription of the good old days in Palisade is only available at the Depot Museum. Informal chat with Jerry Wickstrom, Don (Donnie) Johnson, Ray Kullhem, Gordon Passell, and Don Christiansen, at the Palisade Community Center done March 24, 2011. A VHS tape of this interview is also available for viewing.

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Peterson, Gene

In these two tapes, Gene Peterson and Mel Johnson talk about the history of the town of Tamarack. First tape: Schools, the light plant, Post Office, churches. Second tape: Logging camps, the stockyard, train derailment in the late 1800s, the 1918 fire, Sicottis.

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Pittman, Herman

Mr. Pittman moved to Aitkin in 1915 from Iowa. He was a forester for over 41 years, starting in 1921, and describes a typical work week for him in the early days. A vivid description of the great fire of 1918. The flu epidemic of 1918. Hunting and fishing in the early days. The drought of the 1930s. The Depression. Wages of a forester. Logging in the Aitkin area. Life in a logging camp. Fire towers coming into use.

Schwab, John C.

This 63-page document was written by and donated in 2017 by a gentleman who uses the pen name "PineView." He writes:

"I was about 6 years old when I came to Big Pine Lake in Hazelton Township (circa 1957), along with my parents and sister. We built our cabin in the Pine View Addition with the help of our relatives and friends. A few years after the cabin was completed, we would go for nature hikes. One such hike led from our driveway down the road, down the steep hill, past the Pine View Resort, past the Garrison cutoff, past a long grassed-over archaic road to the vicinity of a pond and an "S" curve hilly road. Near this area there was a long driveway, rather obscured by large trees. At the far end of this driveway was a padlocked chain drawn between two steel posts. Walking past the chain we found ourselves within a large open meadow with the hilly side populated by red-sumac. I remember finding the remains of a long extinguished fire. Within those remains I found a chrome handle, perhaps from a door or trunk on an early automobile.

"I suspect the door handle may have been my inspiration in finding out the history of this location. At that time (circa 1960), I had no idea who the original inhabitants were or how far back in time they would have resided there. Also at that time, I knew that doing historical research would be very laborious and time consuming.

"However, after my retirement, I was able to access the historical data, quite easily on the internet. This revealed that it was the Schwab family that owned this property and as early as 1882. Trips to the Aitkin City Hall revealed birth, land ownership data and County Commissioner records. The Crow Wing County Historical Society, surprisingly had John Schwab's autobiography, as dictated to a WPA worker in 1939. The National Archives had John's original homestead papers. The digitized or microfilmed newspapers at MNHS produced news items about the Schwab family as they lived out their lives. I regret that I never located any portraits of the the Schwab family for inclusion in this work."

Taylor, Eugene (McHugh)

1996 Interview. Mr. Taylor was the stepson of Doctor Roderick McHugh, who practiced medicine in Aitkin from 1919 to July 8, 1935. How his mother met Dr. McHugh. Dr. Ben Kelley. Dr. McHugh's early years and education. Serving in World War I. His father and grandfather. Settling in Aitkin. Paying the doctor by barter. Siblings Raymond, Michael, Patty, and Truman. Hospitals in Aitkin - Draper's, Deming's, Gray's Beecroft's. Surgery stories. Fellow doctors. The tuberculosis sanitarium in the 1920s and 1930s. Drugstores. Sawmill injuries.Medicines. Types of surgeries he performed. Captain McHugh and the National Guard.

Letter to the Aitkin Independent Age. In this transcription of a letter to the Aitkin Independent Age, Mr. Taylor reminisces about schools. The letter may have been prompted by an Aitkin All-Class Reunion.

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Thompson, Reuben and Burt

Logging camps. Traveling bad roads in a Model T. Trying to farm the bogs. The community of Turner. Working in a lath milld. The community of Shamrock. Families east of Balsam Town Hall. Encounters with the game warden around Sandy Lake.

Usterman, Lawrence

Delivering the mail in 1935. Paving the streets. Drilling wells in Minnewawa, Tamarack, Cromwell. Raising mink. Businesses in McGregor. Vernon Bachler's grocery store. Fire-fighting. Localj banks. Growing up north of Tamarack. Building his and his wife Doris' house. Building the theater. Other buildings in McGregor.

Vivant, Fred

McGrath hostory. Logging camps. Schools. Stores. Veteransville and Silver Star communities.

Weingarner, Cecil

"Sixty Years of Logging," a memoir written by Mr. Weingarner in 1977. Lakes, rivers, and watersheds in the region. Bain Township homesteads and settlers. White Elk Township homesteads and settlers. Timber. "Ri ver Pigs." The great fire of 1918. White Elk schools. The social life and church.

Interview. Mr. Weingarner was 85 at the time of this interview which was done in 1987. Loading boxcars with pulpwood at the age of 14. Courtship and marriage to Edith Fossen. Their family. Working in the timber industry. The great Cloquet fire of 1918. Getting run over by a tractor. Witnessing winds of 60mph in 1910. Seeing the Wright Brothers. Meeting Charles Lindbergh in Aitkin. Indian burial grounds. Trucking in fruit from Illinois. Meeting James J. Hill, the railroad baron. The Depression.

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Wayrynen, Leverne

Mrs. Wayrynen reminisces about her son, Dale Wayrynen. He enlisted in the service in 1964 after graduating from McGregor High School. He was killed in Viet Nam only two months after he arrived there in 1967. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. His family accepted the Medal from President Richard Nixon in a ceremony in Washington, DC, on October 16, 1969. At the time of this interview in 1997,Dale was the only Aitkin County soldier who had received the Medal of Honor.