Boundary Waters Boy

Jack Blackwell recounts many of the stories he heard from his grandfather, legendary backwoodsman Alec Boostrom, in the pages of Boundary Waters Boy.

Jack Blackwell’s account of his grandfather Alec Boostrom is an excellent read for anyone who loves local history or who wants to know more about the area and early settlers who came here at the turn of the last century.

To say that life was hard for the natives and early settlers is an understatement.

It was September 1914 when Alec left his parents’ small farm in Milaca, Minnesota and journeyed with his older brother, Charlie, who was 10 years older, and Charlie’s wife Petra and one-month-old son Donald to Hovland.

Charlie had come to the area three years earlier and learned to trap, fish and hunt, building a small cabin on Moon Lake, where he hoped to homestead, and he had come back to Milaca to take his wife and child with him when Alec joined them.

On their journey, Alec and Charlie walked for two days behind a wagon carrying the driver, Petra, and Donald. In Duluth they boarded the legendary steamship America and rode 130 miles to Hovland; Alec marveled at the rugged coastline and hills, noting the fall colors, especially the maples.

 

Once in Hovland a friend of Charlie’s, Martin Jacobsen, agreed to take them and their winter’s supply of food, 200 pounds of wheat, 100 pounds of sugar, three bushels of beets and miscellaneous goods, to McFarland Lake, a journey of 20 miles through a rugged trail.

Again, Charlie and Alec walked. They made it in one day, crossing streams and rivers on the way, staying at a small cabin owned by a friend of Charlie’s.

The next morning Charlie, Petra, and Donald took one canoe while Alec paddled solo a second canoe. It was a two-day journey to get to Moon Lake. Once there, Alec felt uncomfortable staying inside with Charlie and his family. He would stay outside in a tent until he and Charlie could build him a small log cabin to sleep in. This would be the first of more than 100 log cabins Alec would build in his life.

Charlie would teach Alec how to find and trap fur-bearing animals, especially beaver and mink, how to make a variety of canoe paddles, to wear smoked glasses to prevent snow blindness from the reflection of the snow on a bright sunny day. They would see the last of the caribou leave the land, learn that federal regulations would soon outlaw trapping and the cabins they built in the wilderness, learn that when the “popple buds are as big as beaver’s ears” it’s a great time to catch lake trout.

Working for the International Boundary Commission, which set the dividing line between the U.S. and Canada, taught Alec many skills he would use for the rest of his life. He learned to run a dog team, to repair outboard motors, clear lines for surveying and he knew the border waters from Basswood Lake all of the way down the Pigeon River intimately. That was 1918, and Alec was now 18. He was a grown man.

In these pages are the names and stories of iconic families and individuals from the early days of the county. Lost history is recounted. From 1925 to 1930 the U.S. and Canada contributed to a study planning a series of dams that would flood the county from North Lake all of the way to Rainy Lake near International Falls. The goal was to log along the corridor, using the vast lakes that would be created to move the wood, and the plan included generating power from hydro dams.

Pushback from locals and fledgling environmental groups killed the idea.

After the boundary commission work was done, Alec moved to Clearwater Lake where Charlie and Petra had settled after giving up their home on Moon Lake. Charlie and Petra were building cabins, renting to tourists. They would build the iconic Clearwater Lodge, and Alec would spend three years working for them, building, guiding fishermen and hunters far into Canada or to Ely. He was paid five dollars a day.

Alec was married to Jo Zimmermann in 1921. Jo was half-Ojibwe. They would have two children, Jean (called sister) and Betty. Jean was the mother of Jack, Billy, and Mary.

At age 17, shortly after Jack’s father had died, he spent one month trapping with his grandfather, Alec. During that time many of the stories in this book were told to Jack, who spent 10 years “on fits and starts” doing research, conducting interviews with people who knew or worked with Alec, who passed away on August 23, 1967, and combing historical books about the area for this book. Despite the extensive work, Jack calls this “historical fiction.”

Jack’s sister, Mary, a retired college professor who taught college at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota contributed to this book. His brother Billy is a respected elder and medicine man in Grand Portage, and Jack said his knowledge was invaluable in the chapter about the Anishinabe ways, medicines, customs and history.

Stuart Osthoff, who with his wife Michelle, have for the past 28 years published the Boundary Waters Journal, said in the introduction that, “I have read nearly everything written of the BWCAW, and I must say, Boundary Waters Boy is the best historical account I have ever seen about this area.”

Blackwell, who grew up here, spent 40 years working for the Forest Service, transferring 13 times as he rose up through the ranks to become a regional forester. Today he and his wife live in Snake River in southern Idaho. Jack flew to Cook County in one day. “A long time ago Charlie Tice taught me how to fly,” Jack said with a twinkle in his eye. “I once flew with Warren Lapanta (Luiwegie), and we crashed,” he said with a laugh.

Sounds like more material for another book. As for this one, it’s easy to read, a great story on each page.