The Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder opens May 24 with an interesting exhibit about forest fires in the Arrowhead Region. The exhibit includes news articles, oral histories and photos, like this one of a forestry vehicle.
The Pagami Creek Fire reminded us again that with the right conditions, forest fires can spread rapidly and unpredictably. Even with roads into the wilderness, cell phones, water-dropping planes, and the services of the state and national forest services and sheriff ’s department, residents in and near the flaming forest experienced fear.
Early news articles and oral histories describe the helplessness and fear settlers and homesteaders had of forest fires. They fought the fires by wetting down their houses with blankets, digging trenches and clearing brush around their homes. When the fire raged closer and the smoke clogged the air, they fled toward Lake Superior. In the well documented fires of 1908, the steamers Easton and America and the USS Gopher picked the refugees up in Grand Marais, Beaver Bay and settlements along the shore and delivered them to safety in Duluth.
This summer’s exhibit, Forest Fires on the Arrowhead, uses text and photos to tell personal stories of forest fires from the viewpoint of settlers and homesteaders, describes firefighting from the days when there were no roads from lake to lake and as the Superior National Forest was established, and explores the importance of forest fire to the ecology of the forest and its inhabitants. The exhibit was created in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service.
The Schroeder Area Historical Society will be celebrating 10 seasons at the Cross River Heritage Center in 2013. A special commemorative day on Sept. 21 will celebrate this milestone.
The Schroeder Area Historical Society Annual Meeting at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 15 will feature a community dinner. The suggested donation for the meal is $5.
The Birch Grove students are creating fire tower centerpieces for the dinner. Drawings for the centerpieces will be held after the dinner. Forest Service archaeologist Lee Johnson will speak after the dinner.
A new twist has been added to Schroeder Area Historical Society’s annual Lundie Tour on Saturday, July 13. This year the Lundie Tour will move up the North Shore to the Hovland area. In a cooperative effort with the Naniboujou Lodge, the Lundie Tour will start and end at Naniboujou
There will be seven sites visited on the tour including a Lundie home and four vacation homes. One of the vacation homes was designed by architect Dale Mulfinger. A historic cabin featured in The Real Log Cabin by Chilson Aldrich is one of the tour stops. The historical Trinity Lutheran Church of Hovland will be one of the tour sites as well.
Architect Dale Mulfinger will be on the tour and available for informal conversation and book sales and signing.
The Lundie Tour is a fundraiser for the Schroeder Area Historical Society. A donation of $150 for the tour includes a pre-fixed light supper at Naniboujou Lodge. For more information about the tour call the Cross River Heritage Center at 218-663- 7706. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m. and closed Monday.
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