Grand Marais resident Chester “Chet” Lindskog was once a fixture on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, but he once ran a three-day campaign for U.S. Senate in an effort to get Rudy Boschwitz to pull out of the race.
At a storytelling event celebrating Cook County’s history at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on March 9, 2013, Lindskog talked about his political efforts several decades ago.
Lindskog lobbied hard to protect Cook County’s interests when the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) was facing new legislation in the 1970s. He testified before Congress over the issue, arguing that taking all that land off the tax rolls would cause hardship for the county. “Sam Perpich was asked why he was at the Capitol on a Saturday,” Lindskog said. “He said, ‘D— Cook County!’”
Former commissioner Gene Erickson of Grand Marais, who also spoke at the storytelling event, said he believes Cook County would have lost more land if people from Cook County had not gone to Washington. North and South Fowl lakes were created by a manmade dam, he said, and he argued that no one would want a manmade lake to be part of the BWCA.
Event organizer Billy Blackwell of Grand Portage talked about Benny Ambrose, who refused to leave his home in the BWCA. Since the government couldn’t stop him, he said, they made him a warden.
This is the last in a series about the tales of Cook County history that were shared at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on March 9, 2013. The event was called “Stories you’ve never heard – and good ones to hear again!”
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