10 YEARS AGO
JAN. 2, 2010
At the invitation of Cook County commissioners, Association of Minnesota Counties Executive Director Jim Mulder came up from St. Paul to discuss the possibility of hiring a county administrator, something Mulder openly supported. The board started talking about hiring an administrator after passage of the referendum authorizing a countywide 1 percent sales and use tax, which will fund up to seven capital improvement projects.
The county has received seven “qualified” bids from firms around the country for engineering design and construction management of a countywide fiber optic communications network. A six-member review committee interviewed three companies and decided Spectrum Engineering Corporation of Auburn, Indiana was the best fit for the project.
20 YEARS AGO
JAN. 3, 2000
The Minnesota Historical Society has awarded a grant of $1,778 to make the Chippewa City Church on the outskirts of Grand Marais handicapped accessible. This is the second grant given for restoration of the old church by the state organization. The grant will go into replacing the steep front steps on the south end of the building. Work will begin in the spring.
A Christmas Eve deadline for suspending certain federal procedures in dealing with timber downed by the July 4 windstorm has passed, but salvage logging, crushing and burning in acreage mapped and scheduled for treatment can continue. This is good news to most living and working in the blow-down area, especially since most politicians, foresters and loggers have put only a dent into the over 3,000 acres of tangled wood targeted for removal.
50 YEARS AGO
JAN. 1, 1970
The Sawtooth Mountain Ski Hill was opened Wednesday. A new tow rope has been installed.
Mineral explorations with heavy equipment may soon begin within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota. George St. Clair of New York has announced his intent to start core drilling in the Canoe Area, which was established as a unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964.
Prize winners named in the Grand Marais Garden Club Christmas lighting and decorating contest are: the Chuck Futterer home, first, $15; the Edwin Thoreson home, second, $13; the Gene Malner home, third, $10; and the John McElevey home, fourth, $8.
90 YEARS AGO
JAN. 2, 1930
At a joint meeting of the County Board of Health and the local school board Wednesday evening it was decided that the Grand Marais school should remain closed for a period of one week from next Monday in order that the epidemic of smallpox which broke out in the east end of the county may be placed under control.
Late Monday night at 7:30 a report was received by the local Coast Guard station that a light was seen off the shore, midway between Hovland and Grand Portage. The peculiar circumstances surrounding the appearance of the light demanded investigation and the Coast Guard crew under Capt. Rogers left at once in the large power lifeboat for the vicinity in which the light was seen. It was feared that some small fish boat was in distress. The Coast Guard combed the waters as far east as Grand Portage with no success and the appearance of the light is still a mystery.
Peter Strand was a passenger on the bus to Duluth last Friday. He met friends from Norway there.
Do you have an old picture or a story from years gone by that you would like to share with the Cook County News-Herald readers? We’d love to hear your Historical Reflections Call (218) 387-9100; e-mail ccnh@boreal.org; or stop by our office at 15 First Avenue West.
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