Camping on Pine Island in 1919

The first of many wonderful summers on Lake Vermilion

by Elizabeth A. (Ferguson) Bitney

September 1987

I had just had my eleventh birthday, and my brother, Richard, was eight. Our folks, Olin J. Ferguson and his wife Hannah, had decided that it was time to explore the lots on Pine Island that Dad had bought some time before, from O. H. Clark, a representative for Gray-Werton Co. Vermilion Dells had been platted in 1914, according to the map we had.

Our journey from Nebraska had been a long adventure of four train rides before we arrived on the second morning at Tower, Minn. We had lunch in town, and bought loads of groceries which followed all our baggage to the boat dock. We still had time to see the stores and study everything in Doc Lackey’s Trading Post before boat time.

The “Tub” we were told, was a boat brought from Lake Superior and was very seaworthy, though it rolled some in the big waves on Big Bay. (Later years this boat was called the “Bobby B”.) It brought us to “Kelly’s Dock” where all of our belongings and we were deposited, on Pine Island. They’d see us again next week at this dock with our next grocery order.

Our tents and the frame for the big one, the steamer trunk, suit cases and groceries were all carried through the woods to our lot, where a clearing had been prepared for the floor and frame. The sun was vanishing behind clouds and everyone hurried to get ready for the storm. Of course it rained before the big canvas was all in place over its frame and where it got wet on the underside the rain dripped through. With strategically placed rain coats, umbrellas and pails, our living quarters took on a funny sight. But the fragrance… [Read More]

The LaRue Mine (Armstrong Bay Mine)

History

The LaRue Mine was a small mining operation northeast of Lake Vermilion, located along the same ridge as the larger Soudan Mine and the Consolidated Vermilion & Extension mine. It… [Read More]


Monsignor Joseph Francis Buh

History

Monsignor Joseph Francis Buh was a Catholic priest who traveled Minnesota around the time of the early gold rush, ministering to many groups of people and setting up churches across… [Read More]


Early Day History

This was a series of articles printed in the Tower Weekly News between March 14, 1914 and April 24, 1914.


Early Day History

It has been thirty years—come St. Patrick’s Day,… [Read More]


The People of Lake Vermilion

Since the Vermilion Gold Rush, a wide diaspora of people have come to the Lake Vermilion area in search of fortune, fame, recreation, or a little slice of the woods… [Read More]


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