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11/05/2018 04:45PM
After the Pagami fire I was amazed how many old roads and rail road grades that could easily be seen from the air. I also heard an old car was found up in the Hope lake area. Before the fire from the air you couldn't see any sign of a road or people. I always knew the roads were there but they were hard to spot. As things are growing back now things are disappearing again. I am sure if you flew above the area in the early spring you could still see signs of the camps and roads you talk about. JIM
11/10/2018 08:36AM
Pinetree:"That road just before the river had I believe class 5 gravel on it. It was a major logging road.
The years just before the big fire the forest was taking over the road pretty much and I see now it is burnt over and lot of downfalls. Yes On old aerial photos you should see the open field at the end of the road where the shack was. I also took old roads that came out on the little Isabella river like a 0.5 miles up from the parent river I believe those were satelite(sp) roads from the Island river road.
The Island river road also had a spur that went south toward bog lake but stopped just short. Lot of red pine plantations back there.
I have paddled up the Mitawan creek from Island river and intersected the old road where the bridge crossed the creek but it was removed.
I would love to see photo's from the logging city by Isabella lake. I don't think I ever have seen any?"
Pinetree, here are a couple photos of Forest Center. The store and Post office building with gas pumps was up on the hill overlooking the wood yard and railroad tracks where the BWCA Entry parking lot is now.
The small brown shacks on mid right in the second photo is where my Uncle Ted and Aunt Tress lived. This is across the road to the south of the BWCA parking lot. Easy to locate and still looks much as it did.
The Village was along the stub road south of wood yard, which was in the clearing at very top of that photo. You can see the old school house (round roof) in the village photo. It is now an open gravel pit. You can find the concrete footings of the new school house, which was built later just to south of old one if you look. You can also find some evidence of the houses along both sides of the road if you kick around in the burned down trees from Pagami fire. Frank and Sylvia Lundberg and the Housey family lived in a couple of the houses on the left side of that road as I recall.
11/10/2018 02:46PM
Forest Center was in my division during the Pagami Fire.
I found this phone while kicking around in the ashes during the fire, on the south side of the road and BW parking lot.
Ps, if you can get a tour of the Isabella Work Center they have alot of pics and memorabilia of Forest Center. It's in their display case where they used to issue permits
I found this phone while kicking around in the ashes during the fire, on the south side of the road and BW parking lot.
Ps, if you can get a tour of the Isabella Work Center they have alot of pics and memorabilia of Forest Center. It's in their display case where they used to issue permits
11/10/2018 07:59PM
JackpineJim: "Pinetree:"That road just before the river had I believe class 5 gravel on it. It was a major logging road.
The years just before the big fire the forest was taking over the road pretty much and I see now it is burnt over and lot of downfalls. Yes On old aerial photos you should see the open field at the end of the road where the shack was. I also took old roads that came out on the little Isabella river like a 0.5 miles up from the parent river I believe those were satelite(sp) roads from the Island river road.
The Island river road also had a spur that went south toward bog lake but stopped just short. Lot of red pine plantations back there.
I have paddled up the Mitawan creek from Island river and intersected the old road where the bridge crossed the creek but it was removed.
I would love to see photo's from the logging city by Isabella lake. I don't think I ever have seen any?"
Pinetree, here are a couple photos of Forest Center. The store and Post office building with gas pumps was up on the hill overlooking the wood yard and railroad tracks where the BWCA Entry parking lot is now.
The small brown shacks on mid right in the second photo is where my Uncle Ted and Aunt Tress lived. This is across the road to the south of the BWCA parking lot. Easy to locate and still looks much as it did.
The Village was along the stub road south of wood yard, which was in the clearing at very top of that photo. You can see the old school house (round roof) in the village photo. It is now an open gravel pit. You can find the concrete footings of the new school house, which was built later just to south of old one if you look. You can also find some evidence of the houses along both sides of the road if you kick around in the burned down trees from Pagami fire. Frank and Sylvia Lundberg and the Housey family lived in a couple of the houses on the left side of that road as I recall.
"
Thanks,quite a town. Its quite the lumber town,too bad someone didn't do a book on the town. A lot of peoples life was spent there.
11/10/2018 08:02PM
LindenTree3: "Forest Center was in my division during the Pagami Fire.
I found this phone while kicking around in the ashes during the fire, on the south side of the road and BW parking lot.
Ps, if you can get a tour of the Isabella Work Center they have alot of pics and memorabilia of Forest Center. It's in their display case where they used to issue permits
The day of the fire expansion I came out from Island river to the Little Isabella parking lot that day and forest service already had yellow ribbon across the access. Drove down to Island river bridge and Isabella parking lot and you could see all hell was breaking out and Forest service trying to get everyone out. Ashes were flying everywhere. I knew it was time for me to get out of the way so I left.
I remember the day before the big cloud that looked like a atomic bomb went off but it died down some that evening. Hindsight they should of attacked with everything they got instead of waiting one more day and it flared up.
11/10/2018 09:36PM
ellahallely: "This photo of the Pagami was taken from county road 7 at Crooked Lake Resort, by the Trestle Inn. Shortly after this picture was taken the wind switch direction by almost 180 degrees. The closest the fire came to Crooked Lake Resort was 11 miles as the crow flies. "
I probably was one of the closest person on the east side when that formed and I didn't have a camera,as I paddled out with temperature at 10 am in the 80's there was a big bull moose cooling off in little Isabella river with a cow also 20 yards in front of me. No camera. When I got home I bought a new digital compact camera.
11/11/2018 12:10PM
ellahallely: "Jackpine Jim Where was camp 6? I see you said by Stoney River. Was it near the Happy Wanderer? I spent a little time at the Wanderer back when they sold gas and beer. Maybe 30 years ago. The Wanderer is for sale."
Camp 6 was in the red circle on this map image. Just a grown over gravel pit now. Some artifacts if you kick around a bit.
11/11/2018 12:18PM
JackpineJim: "ellahallely: "Jackpine Jim Where was camp 6? I see you said by Stoney River. Was it near the Happy Wanderer? I spent a little time at the Wanderer back when they sold gas and beer. Maybe 30 years ago. The Wanderer is for sale.
In the red circle on this map image. Just a grown over gravel pit now. Some artifacts if you kick around a bit.
"
Camp 2 was here (red circle) near Highway 1 Tomahawk Road intersection.
11/12/2018 07:40PM
Moosepatrol: " A link about Forest Center.|
The link is from Ely Echo archives page, it is best viewed in full screen. There is also a search function, although not the best search engine. Also try Sawbill landing or Winton, etc ….. if looking for other logging info."
My Mom kept a magazine from 1963 with a couple of good articles about Forest Center.
You'll have to expand the photos to read the articles.
The horse was named Colonel - best horse ever!, I was told.
11/13/2018 02:54PM
JackpineJim: "Moosepatrol: " A link about Forest Center.|
The link is from Ely Echo archives page, it is best viewed in full screen. There is also a search function, although not the best search engine. Also try Sawbill landing or Winton, etc ….. if looking for other logging info."
My Mom kept a magazine from 1963 with a couple of good articles about Forest Center.
You'll have to expand the photos to read the articles.
The horse was named Colonel - best horse ever!, I was told.
"
I worked with Oliver Thums (mentioned in the article) in the early 2,000's.
I ran the fire engine out of the USFS Isabella Work Station, Ollie was a SCEP employee.
Senior Citizen Employment Program. I also worked with a few other past people who lived at Forest Center.
I believe the building housing the current Stoney River Cafe in Isabella was moved from Sawbill Landing. A community similar to Forest Center.
11/13/2018 09:58PM
ellahallely: "The Great Outdoors: "Tomahawk Timber Co. had their office in Ely, and was located upstairs of Frank's Variety next to the State Theater.
You may want to contact the Trygg Land Office, as they had maps that show logging camps and several Indian Villages in the entire area. I also think they have a book with the info.
There are still some old loggers that worked in those camps, and I know one that was born in a camp next to Insula Lake.
All the Camps had numbers for names, and the history is very interesting."
The Trygg maps are great. The ones I have are before logging or even before roads or towns. Maybe they date to around 1850-1880S. They do show Indian Villages and Indian sugar camps. They also show cabins that settlers built. Many of the lakes had different names.
J. William Trygg (Bill Sr.) was born September 17, 1905, at Cook Minnesota. He became a professional forester and worked for the United States Forest Service (USFS) from 1926 until 1954. He was in charge of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in the Ely, Minnesota, area and, at the time of his retirement from the USFS, was a district forest ranger. In addition to his expertise in forestry he had experience with Indian claims throughout the Great Lakes region.
After leaving the Forest Service Trygg worked as a land use consultant and as an appraiser of natural resources. Through an intense interest in the history of the area he developed a system he used to make historical appraisals on behalf of various Indian tribes in the Midwest, appraisals for Indian lands already ceded to the United States. With his son he owned the Trygg Land Office, a real estate agency located at Ely. Trygg was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1966 from District 62 (St. Louis County) and served one term.
Trygg died in Washington, D.C. on April 11, 1971, where he was testifying on Indian land claims. He is buried in the Ely Cemetery.
You can buy the maps online for $8 or read more on the history of the Trygg family at
at this link.
If you like old maps of the area these are a must have.
"
It is interesting you mention the maps with the locations of Indian villages. My Dad told me of the logging camp called Indian Village Camp he lived in in 1943, located in the red circle in this map. He didn't know why it was called Indian Village.
11/15/2018 11:51PM
Tomahawk: " I was attempting to get more info on Tomahawk Timber Co. and their Camp 4 & Camp 5 north of Isabella Lake. I got onto this sight and read some of Jackpine Jim's comments on the Maniwaki Lake camp. I had been there back in the late 1960s and also in the early 1970s and would like to find out more. Is Jackpine Jim still out there somewhere?"
I'm glad you started this thread Tomahawk. It prompted me to dig around for some maps and listen to some recordings of oral history my Dad left me. Here is a map showing many of the roads in the area. I know this map is incomplete because there was a logging camp on the portage trail between Baskatong and Square Lake with a road to it. 'I'm having trouble uploading the map got it
11/22/2018 01:49PM
In the photo that I tried to send here is of the large area that was dug up by that huge bull moose I had seen. If you look closely at the deepest area you can see my 2 3/4" 12 ga. shotgun shell to give an idea how deep it was. It was at least 12"-14" deep, maybe deeper and nearly 4' across. I had seen many of these scrapes by moose in other areas before but nothing this large. He must've also peed in it because it was wet toward the center of the dug out and the entire area smelled like a horse barn. The urine smell was incredibly strong, I must've just missed him.
The Hudson Road went in quite aways and ended in a clearcut where they must've had a landing at one time. We followed it that far many times on hunting trips back in the 70s-80s. Gradually it grew over but someone was cutting it to keep it open for many years. But you pretty much had to know the trail well in order to follow it. This was not far from the creek that came in from Hudson Lake. I'm thinking that cutover must've been about 400'-500' from that creek where the reservation boundary was.
11/22/2018 02:03PM
This photo is of my hunting partner carrying out a nice antler he had found very near to Arrow Lake. For years we had it hidden, tied to a tree and trying to figure a way to carry it out. It was very heavy and finally we strapped it to a pack frame and got it out. It sits in his basement with a painted scene on it to this day.
11/22/2018 03:12PM
Tomahawk: "
In the photo that I tried to send here is of the large area that was dug up by that huge bull moose I had seen. If you look closely at the deepest area you can see my 2 3/4" 12 ga. shotgun shell to give an idea how deep it was. It was at least 12"-14" deep, maybe deeper and nearly 4' across. I had seen many of these scrapes by moose in other areas before but nothing this large. He must've also peed in it because it was wet toward the center of the dug out and the entire area smelled like a horse barn. The urine smell was incredibly strong, I must've just missed him.
The Hudson Road went in quite aways and ended in a clearcut where they must've had a landing at one time. We followed it that far many times on hunting trips back in the 70s-80s. Gradually it grew over but someone was cutting it to keep it open for many years. But you pretty much had to know the trail well in order to follow it. This was not far from the creek that came in from Hudson Lake. I'm thinking that cutover must've been about 400'-500' from that creek where the reservation boundary was."
I think the one cutting the trail to keep it open was the individual(he was one fast walker) that I mentioned from Virgina_area who hunted grouse there and worked as a USFS employee once. He always carried a machete with him and seen where he cut the trails be it toward the Parent river loop or the Pose loop area.
The Hudson loop had just a overgrown area where once they took gravel just before the creek. Good area for grouse.
11/24/2018 09:22AM
ellahallely: "Tomahawk, where do you live now.
That moose rack is as big as I have seen in Minnesota for along time!
Did anybody run into wolves back then? 40s, 50s,60s,70s?I remember the Happy Wanderer have a stuffed one. I had a few beers at the Wanderer in the day. "
Dad carted this rack out from a bull he found frozen in the ice near Arrow Lake when he was running his trap line in 1962 or '63. He would use a bicycle to get his traps and gear
up the old roads. He tied the rack to his bicycle and pushed it down the road all the way to where his car was parked on the North Road by Forest Center. The road was already bermed off by then. He told me on some mornings when the ground was frozen solid and the snow was mostly gone he could ride the bike and made great time all the way to Bugo Lake. Often, in the afternoons, the ground would be too soft to ride the bike with his pack of traps.
11/24/2018 10:14AM
JackpineJim: "ellahallely: "Tomahawk, where do you live now.
That moose rack is as big as I have seen in Minnesota for along time!
Did anybody run into wolves back then? 40s, 50s,60s,70s?I remember the Happy Wanderer have a stuffed one. I had a few beers at the Wanderer in the day. "
Dad carted this rack out from a bull he found frozen in the ice near Arrow Lake when he was running his trap line in 1962 or '63. He would use a bicycle to get his traps and gear
up the old roads. He tied the rack to his bicycle and pushed it down the road all the way to where his car was parked on the North Road by Forest Center. The road was already bermed off by then. He told me on some mornings when the ground was frozen solid and the snow was mostly gone he could ride the bike and made great time all the way to Bugo Lake. Often, in the afternoons, the ground would be too soft to ride the bike with his pack of traps.
"
Wow quite the story. Anymore trapline stories. What a trapline,never know what you would see or experience. What was his main furs.
The mid to late 60's up to 1969 when the area and all of northern Minnesota there was deer everywhere also. Era of big bucks. By 1970 numbers crashed. The deer populations were very high also until the very harsh winter of 1969 where snow was already deep during deer season.
11/24/2018 12:05PM
Pinetree: "JackpineJim: "ellahallely: "Tomahawk, where do you live now.
That moose rack is as big as I have seen in Minnesota for along time!
Did anybody run into wolves back then? 40s, 50s,60s,70s?I remember the Happy Wanderer have a stuffed one. I had a few beers at the Wanderer in the day. "
Dad carted this rack out from a bull he found frozen in the ice near Arrow Lake when he was running his trap line in 1962 or '63. He would use a bicycle to get his traps and gear
up the old roads. He tied the rack to his bicycle and pushed it down the road all the way to where his car was parked on the North Road by Forest Center. The road was already bermed off by then. He told me on some mornings when the ground was frozen solid and the snow was mostly gone he could ride the bike and made great time all the way to Bugo Lake. Often, in the afternoons, the ground would be too soft to ride the bike with his pack of traps.
Wow quite the story. Anymore trapline stories. What a trapline,never know what you would see or experience. What was his main furs.
The mid to late 60's up to 1969 when the area and all of northern Minnesota there was deer everywhere also. Era of big bucks. By 1970 numbers crashed. The deer populations were very high also until the very harsh winter of 1969 where snow was already deep during deer season. "
Dad mostly trapped beaver and a few otter and mink and got an occasional red fox. This pic is a year after the moose antler picture and one of the beaver pelts is of a jet black beaver he caught in Arrow Lake. The only black furred beaver he ever caught. He got a few more dollars for that one.
11/24/2018 12:33PM
Dad mostly trapped beaver and a few otter and mink and got an occasional red fox. This pic is a year after the moose antler picture and one of the beaver pelts is of a jet black beaver he caught in Arrow Lake. The only black furred beaver he ever caught. He got a few more dollars for that one.
"are your brothers still alive? If so, where did they wind up going? Love the history of this thread!
11/24/2018 02:08PM
ellahallely: "
Trygg map of area. I have others of NE Minnesota I can upload if anyone wants to see them."
I'd love to see your other maps. I was just listening to some audio recordings I my dad left me where he mentioned an old Forest Service trail on the East side of the Arrow lakes that connected with the Hudson Road. He trapped along that. Also, I found a mention of a 1953 map of the area that might be informative.
11/24/2018 04:22PM
Cretbo: "
Dad mostly trapped beaver and a few otter and mink and got an occasional red fox. This pic is a year after the moose antler picture and one of the beaver pelts is of a jet black beaver he caught in Arrow Lake. The only black furred beaver he ever caught. He got a few more dollars for that one.
"
are your brothers still alive? If so, where did they wind up going? Love the history of this thread!"
Both still kicking :) One lives near Madison and the one with the cowboy boots and hat in the moose antler pic is a physician in Oneida county, WI.
11/24/2018 11:40PM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine,
You really have my interest when you mentioned Camp 5. I have been there a number of time via canoe from South Hope to Maniwaki but never realized there was a camp there. Also walked in there off the North Road. I've looked on the satellite map and you say it was on the southwest part of Maniwaki lake. Was it near the road that came in from the North Road, the road that went up into Fishdance Lake or was it more over toward the creek that went along the portage in the direction to South Hope? Can you circle it on a map?
Thanks much, I know a guy who lived there when the camp was there but he was only 5 at the time and wasn't sure where it was.
Many thanks!!"
Tomahawk, I'm operating from memory of discussions with my Dad on where Camp 5 was located. I recall him saying it was near the creek to Maniwaki. I was thinking it was near where the road branched off to the north crossing Hope Creek but I found these two different maps (too big to upload, apparently) from 1960 that appear to show two buildings (squares) near Maniwaki Creek on the East end of Maniwaki Lake. They are in the white area just east of the 1612' Benchmark triangle in the road. There was a branch in the road just NE of the two squares ( buildings?) with one heading North toward Fishdance and the other continuing on to Camp 4 (Poly Camp). I'll ask my mother this weekend and see if she can recall the exact location of Camp 5.
11/25/2018 11:12AM
Some old fisher maps I have of the area, dated 1952. With trails or small roads before the roads were made by the people of Forest center.Hudson road, was that the road(now powwow trail) going north and starting on the west side of Isabella Lake? There was a fire tower off that road called Arrow lookout tower. However it was closer to Pose Lake then the Arrow Lakes.
I am sure people paddle to this area Koma, Hudson, Hope etc...…. go ashore and think they might be in a spot that no man had ever stood. When in fact it was logged 50-80 years ago.
This is a map I copied from another thread on this site.JIM P.
11/25/2018 12:22PM
ellahallely: "
Some old fisher maps I have of the area, dated 1952. With trails or small roads before the roads were made by the people of Forest center.
Hudson road, was that the road(now powwow trail) going north and starting on the west side of Isabella Lake? There was a fire tower off that road called Arrow lookout tower. However it was closer to Pose Lake then the Arrow Lakes.
I am sure people paddle to this area Koma, Hudson, Hope etc...…. go ashore and think they might be in a spot that no man had ever stood. When in fact it was logged 50-80 years ago.
This is a map I copied from another thread on this site.
JIM P."
Jim P. It looks like the Pow Wow trail diverges from the Hudson Road South of Pose Lake. I think the map you posted shows the actual Hudson road, which my dad told me was still a good road in the 1950's. This map shows some of the Tomahawk Timber Co. spurs that Pinetree mentioned.
11/25/2018 12:23PM
Ellahallely, yes, the way to Hudson started on the west side of Isabella Lake, this was called the Isabella North Road because as it left Forest Center it ran in a northwardly direction. About 3 mi. up there was a road that left off the North Road to the left and went NW. This was the road that went near the Arrow Lookout. You're right again, the tower was much closer to Pose than Arrow Lakes. Go figger how they gave it the name Arrow Lookout, always wondered that myself. Anyway, About a mile off the North Road going NW on this road you came to another fork with a road to the left, going due west, this went to Pose Lake. But staying on a due North heading at this fork would take you to the Ahmoo Creek bridge crossing. This bridge was gone by the time I was there, only some timbers left to cross the river. After crossing Ahmoo, the road went due north for about 1/2 mi., then another fork. To the right (east) the road went below Insula Lake and over toward Arrow Lakes; to the left (west) the road went toward Hudson Lake. Going toward Hudson about another 3/4 mi brought you to another crossing of Ahmoo Creek and a nice, big bridge. After the bridge the road went another 1 1/2 mi. or so and ended in a clearcut where they also had a landing at one time. This was the end of Tomahawk's main haul road, from here there was a network of short winter roads before they ended as well at the very end of Tomahawk's sale boundary. This is where the creek came in from Hudson Lake to the sale area. The trail on the map that you show here is too far to the north, the Hudson Road actually went further to the south, ending in the area of Zitkala Creek. The trail you show is a fire trail and they crisscrossed much of the BW, running from fire tower to fire tower. Hope this helps.
11/25/2018 04:25PM
I will bring these names up to him the next time we meet, not sure when that will be. Don mentioned a few names here, he knew Freddie & Ollie Thumes. I knew Freddie myself, threw down more than 1 beer with him at the Happy Wanderer. He also mentioned Charlie Hommerding, I knew him as well. Charlie lived on the Bandana Lake Road off Hwy. 1 for many years. Speaking of Jim Lundbereg, this is him in the picture of the young kids at school in Forest Center. 
Jim is in the 1st row, 4th from left I believe.
Jim is in the 1st row, 4th from left I believe.
11/25/2018 04:45PM
Tomahawk: " I will bring these names up to him the next time we meet, not sure when that will be. Don mentioned a few names here, he knew Freddie & Ollie Thumes. I knew Freddie myself, threw down more than 1 beer with him at the Happy Wanderer. He also mentioned Charlie Hommerding, I knew him as well. Charlie lived on the Bandana Lake Road off Hwy. 1 for many years. Speaking of Jim Lundbereg, this is him in the picture of the young kids at school in Forest Center.
I knew a lot of those kids. If I'm not mistaken, the first four in the front row, left to right; Jimmy Krings, Jimmy Lundberg, Neil Olson, Johnny Olson, ?, ?, ?
Second row seated/kneeling, left to right; Jim Steigel, ?, ?, Pam Dehnhoff, ?, Suzie Westerland, ?, ?, ?
Third row standing (six girls); ?, ?, Thelma Gardener, Margaret Housey, Christine Thums, ?
Back row standing; Jimmy Evans, Mikey Yeager, ?, ?, ?, Ricky Deitrick, Shirly Thums, ?, Mrs. Sylvia Hansen, Larry Lundberg, ?
11/26/2018 08:55AM
Jackpine, you've added quite a few names to that photo I found on the Internet. Thanks much! You've identified Don (Bobby) Krings for me. His real name was Don but hey called him Bobby, maybe his dad was also Don? When I was a senior in high school in Ely (1966), Don and his girlfriend, Jeannie Kramm came to Ely from Forest Center. I got to know Don a little, they were both real quiet, very nice people. Lovebirds, they made a great couple and eventually got married, had one daughter at least. I lost track of them after high school and I believe Don went in the service and came out to work fro Reserve Mining Co. in Babbitt, possibly a welder. Sadly to say, both Don & Jeannie have passed away.
11/28/2018 04:47PM
Good to hear that you're in Jackpine, that book we'd write would be a best seller. The first chapter would be about your dad and his souvenir business, that'd sell the book right there! I'm still giggling.
Jackpine, you asked me earlier how I got interested in the area. I tried to reply but I had issues with the website, all seems to be working fine now so here it goes. It goes back to our neighborhood when I grew up in Ely. An older guy I got to know was a "catskinner" for the Forest Service. He was a heavy equipment operator for them and he ran an International TD-19 (similar in size to a Caterpillar D8 or D9) dozer. I was always interested in those that ran such equipment, so about 1968 or so I asked him what he was doing currently. He said he and another TD-19 were working up north of Ferne Lake, rock raking. The photo here shows a rock rake, a fork-like attachment that they put on the front of dozers to pick up all the left over branches and tops from recent logging operations and push them into piles or windrows for burning. For any snags or trees left standing they would hook up anchor chain to the rear of the dozers. This anchor chain is the same anchor chain used on Great Lakes ships, real heavy chain with links about a foot long. For a long time there was about a 50' length of this very chain near Camp 2, right along the road, many of you out there probably remember this chain. After they hook this chain up to the back of the dozers, the run parallel with each other and knock down anything left standing.
The older guy that was doing the rock raking told me about all the grouse and moose he'd see everyday. The area was open to hunting on foot but there was a gate across the road that would not allow private vehicles in. Each day they'd have a key for the gate, open it, and drive their panel truck up to their two TD-19s north of Ferne. During the week they'd stay in the last house left at Forest Center that was atop the hill overlooking the pulp yard. I've been told this was the McDonald house. Nice house with a garage and a full basement.
I started hunting the area in 1971 and we saw so many moose and grouse that people wouldn't believe us. It was the heyday for both, we'd see those big coveys of spruce and ruffed that Pinetree talked about. Coveys of 7-8 were fairly common, some as large as 11-12. It would be no time at all before we'd have a limit so then we'd quit hunting and just walk to see how many grouse and moose we'd see. We never counted how many we saw in those early years but later on there was another spike in the grouse population in the 80s and I decided to count one particular day. We ended up seeing 72 one day, mostly ruffs. Those early days in the 70s were even better, we saw even more then. When we first started in '71, the only tracks we'd see were moose & wolf tracks, no boot tracks. An occasional tire track as they were still logging in certain areas plus they'd have wolf trackers in vehicles. A wild time, indeed.
Jackpine, you asked me earlier how I got interested in the area. I tried to reply but I had issues with the website, all seems to be working fine now so here it goes. It goes back to our neighborhood when I grew up in Ely. An older guy I got to know was a "catskinner" for the Forest Service. He was a heavy equipment operator for them and he ran an International TD-19 (similar in size to a Caterpillar D8 or D9) dozer. I was always interested in those that ran such equipment, so about 1968 or so I asked him what he was doing currently. He said he and another TD-19 were working up north of Ferne Lake, rock raking. The photo here shows a rock rake, a fork-like attachment that they put on the front of dozers to pick up all the left over branches and tops from recent logging operations and push them into piles or windrows for burning. For any snags or trees left standing they would hook up anchor chain to the rear of the dozers. This anchor chain is the same anchor chain used on Great Lakes ships, real heavy chain with links about a foot long. For a long time there was about a 50' length of this very chain near Camp 2, right along the road, many of you out there probably remember this chain. After they hook this chain up to the back of the dozers, the run parallel with each other and knock down anything left standing.
The older guy that was doing the rock raking told me about all the grouse and moose he'd see everyday. The area was open to hunting on foot but there was a gate across the road that would not allow private vehicles in. Each day they'd have a key for the gate, open it, and drive their panel truck up to their two TD-19s north of Ferne. During the week they'd stay in the last house left at Forest Center that was atop the hill overlooking the pulp yard. I've been told this was the McDonald house. Nice house with a garage and a full basement.
I started hunting the area in 1971 and we saw so many moose and grouse that people wouldn't believe us. It was the heyday for both, we'd see those big coveys of spruce and ruffed that Pinetree talked about. Coveys of 7-8 were fairly common, some as large as 11-12. It would be no time at all before we'd have a limit so then we'd quit hunting and just walk to see how many grouse and moose we'd see. We never counted how many we saw in those early years but later on there was another spike in the grouse population in the 80s and I decided to count one particular day. We ended up seeing 72 one day, mostly ruffs. Those early days in the 70s were even better, we saw even more then. When we first started in '71, the only tracks we'd see were moose & wolf tracks, no boot tracks. An occasional tire track as they were still logging in certain areas plus they'd have wolf trackers in vehicles. A wild time, indeed.
11/28/2018 08:19PM
Tomahawk: "Good to hear that you're in Jackpine, that book we'd write would be a best seller. The first chapter would be about your dad and his souvenir business, that'd sell the book right there! I'm still giggling.
Jackpine, you asked me earlier how I got interested in the area. I tried to reply but I had issues with the website, all seems to be working fine now so here it goes. It goes back to our neighborhood when I grew up in Ely. An older guy I got to know was a "catskinner" for the Forest Service. He was a heavy equipment operator for them and he ran an International TD-19 (similar in size to a Caterpillar D8 or D9) dozer. I was always interested in those that ran such equipment, so about 1968 or so I asked him what he was doing currently. He said he and another TD-19 were working up north of Ferne Lake, rock raking. The photo here shows a rock rake, a fork-like attachment that they put on the front of dozers to pick up all the left over branches and tops from recent logging operations and push them into piles or windrows for burning. For any snags or trees left standing they would hook up anchor chain to the rear of the dozers. This anchor chain is the same anchor chain used on Great Lakes ships, real heavy chain with links about a foot long. For a long time there was about a 50' length of this very chain near Camp 2, right along the road, many of you out there probably remember this chain. After they hook this chain up to the back of the dozers, the run parallel with each other and knock down anything left standing.
The older guy that was doing the rock raking told me about all the grouse and moose he'd see everyday. The area was open to hunting on foot but there was a gate across the road that would not allow private vehicles in. Each day they'd have a key for the gate, open it, and drive their panel truck up to their two TD-19s north of Ferne. During the week they'd stay in the last house left at Forest Center that was atop the hill overlooking the pulp yard. I've been told this was the McDonald house. Nice house with a garage and a full basement.
I started hunting the area in 1971 and we saw so many moose and grouse that people wouldn't believe us. It was the heyday for both, we'd see those big coveys of spruce and ruffed that Pinetree talked about. Coveys of 7-8 were fairly common, some as large as 11-12. It would be no time at all before we'd have a limit so then we'd quit hunting and just walk to see how many grouse and moose we'd see. We never counted how many we saw in those early years but later on there was another spike in the grouse population in the 80s and I decided to count one particular day. We ended up seeing 72 one day, mostly ruffs. Those early days in the 70s were even better, we saw even more then. When we first started in '71, the only tracks we'd see were moose & wolf tracks, no boot tracks. An occasional tire track as they were still logging in certain areas plus they'd have wolf trackers in vehicles. A wild time, indeed.
I wish I would have walked those roads then but when dad had vacation time we'd canoe into Koma and Malberg. We'd always see 10 or more moose on those trips. It was moose heaven.
11/29/2018 12:48PM
Pinetree, yes, there were some big, big deer in that area north & east of Isabella Lake. We didn't see many over the years but when we saw one it was a big animal. The Forest Center people hunted there a lot, we'd run into some of their younger relatives or even they themselves and they would hunt deer there in the 70s. 
The nice doe in the photo here was one I came across between Quadga and Diana Lakes. Actually, it was very near the Quadga Village (where the houses had been built atop that sandpit to the north of the road and also down the side of the pit). I had flushed a bird off the road and went back to see if I could flush it again. Not far off the edge of the road was this dead doe. You can see where the hind end has been chewed by wolves, I assumed. There were no wolves that I saw and the deer was stiff, had been there awhile. You can see where the entrails are even coming out the back end. The next week when my partner came to the spot I described, there wasn't a thing left, only some hair.
The nice doe in the photo here was one I came across between Quadga and Diana Lakes. Actually, it was very near the Quadga Village (where the houses had been built atop that sandpit to the north of the road and also down the side of the pit). I had flushed a bird off the road and went back to see if I could flush it again. Not far off the edge of the road was this dead doe. You can see where the hind end has been chewed by wolves, I assumed. There were no wolves that I saw and the deer was stiff, had been there awhile. You can see where the entrails are even coming out the back end. The next week when my partner came to the spot I described, there wasn't a thing left, only some hair.
11/29/2018 08:14PM
Tomahawk: "Very interesting, I do not recall a snowmobile route going from Kawishiwi lake to Malberg. I do remember the border routes from Basswood through Knife, etc., I didn't know there was one from Kawishiwi Lake. Did you ever travel that route, seems like not very good ice with so many creeks to travel on."
Hand drawn map with itinerary. 1976
11/29/2018 08:25PM
ellahallely: "Tomahawk: "Very interesting, I do not recall a snowmobile route going from Kawishiwi lake to Malberg. I do remember the border routes from Basswood through Knife, etc., I didn't know there was one from Kawishiwi Lake. Did you ever travel that route, seems like not very good ice with so many creeks to travel on."
Hand drawn map with itinerary. 1976
"
I'll bet that was a blast. Did you make that trip?
11/30/2018 08:59AM
Pinetree, I remember those signs well that the wolf trappers had put up. I ran into them many times, mostly up in the Pose Lake toward Arrow Lakes area. These were federal trappers, a head trapper with an assistant and very nice people, interesting to talk to. The first time I met them there was a young guy and a young woman, she was very attractive. They hadn't trapped any wolves at that time and said they were staying at Pose Lake, I've sent a picture of that campsite here. I suppose that's all burnt now, it was a real nice site. Not far from that picture of the sign I sent I came across where they had a trap. I don't know what they baited their traps with but it stunk so bad I almost lost my breakfast. But I suppose to a hungry wolf it'd smell pretty good. I saw the same lead trapper the next year in the same area but he had a different assistant. This time the assistant was another guy and after I talked with them awhile I told the new guy that he wasn't as good looking as the assistant the head trapper had last year. He had a puzzled look on his face, I filled him in on the previous assistant and the looked at the head trapper who was blushing by this time. Then with a big grin on his face he told me, "He never told me anything about her." The new guy did tell me that they not only had not trapped any wolves but some clever critter, they fingered either a weasel or a pine marten, had been cleaning out their traps without springing them.Then to add insult to injury the culprit would relieve itself on the trap without springing it! This not only happened on one trap but quite a number that they had out. We all laughed hard about that. The trappers were out again the following year but I never had a chance to visit with them. However, after a day's hunt we met some other hunters in the parking lot that we ran into often. They had run into the trappers and they still had not trapped a wolf in 3 years. One of the hunters said he looked at the head trapper and told him kiddingly, "You're just not very good at this are you?" The young trapper just smiled, what could he say.
Also sending a picture of a wolf track we came across on the old Northwest Road near Little Isabella River. That's a 2 3/4" 12 ga. shell next to it. It was lone wolf, walking all by itself for a long ways.
11/30/2018 05:32PM
ellahallely: "Tomahawk: "Very interesting, I do not recall a snowmobile route going from Kawishiwi lake to Malberg. I do remember the border routes from Basswood through Knife, etc., I didn't know there was one from Kawishiwi Lake. Did you ever travel that route, seems like not very good ice with so many creeks to travel on."
Hand drawn map with itinerary. 1976
"
If the trail had been used and cleared it took most of the day, with several breaks. We always tried to be off the trail before dark. We carried extra gas but most didn't need it. One trip we came back the same way. 2 others trips we did a loop riding the Tomahawk rd. We wouldn't do the loop in one day, we would spend the night at one of the resorts.
One year we tried it early in the year. The trail (portages) hadn't been cleared we worked all day and turned back. That was from the Ely side.
11/30/2018 05:50PM
Tomahawk: "Ellahallely, I was at that memorial service on Knife as well, a somber day indeed. Reading your emails along with Jackpine Jim and Pinetree, I know we've crossed paths. Maybe even stumbled across Lindentree's path once or twice. It's a small world.
If you can find that map, that'd be neat to see ."
Front and back. Map is dated 1976. Not sure how to rotate with this format?
12/01/2018 11:38AM
Tomahawk: "Never heard about that, what a tragedy that must've been. I remember Juel Foster, owner of the Happy Wanderer, lived in that very same area by Mitawan Creek. I think he said he was single at the time."
I'll probably go back to Isabella this winter and spend a nite at the Knotted Pine.
May Dehnoff's brother (Adee) lives on Mitowan Lake I'll ask him about it. May died last year but her husband Kenny is still around. I can ask him, we always got along well.
Happy Wanderer, I had a few beers there in 2002 ish. I bought the logs for a log home I built from Juel Foster, I paid him cash and I'll never forget his response.
"Thats the first time anyone ever paid me before I even delivered the logs"
Shortly after he delivered the logs, seems like they cost around 600 bucks.
The log home is built just south of the old Moose Ridge bar, and Stoney River cafe at 9351 St hwy 1, Isabella.
That's where I lived. Here is a poor pic of the place, I sold it in 2003 when I moved back to Detroit Lakes.
12/01/2018 02:27PM
ellahallely: "ellahallely: "Tomahawk: "Very interesting, I do not recall a snowmobile route going from Kawishiwi lake to Malberg. I do remember the border routes from Basswood through Knife, etc., I didn't know there was one from Kawishiwi Lake. Did you ever travel that route, seems like not very good ice with so many creeks to travel on."
Hand drawn map with itinerary. 1976
"
If the trail had been used and cleared it took most of the day, with several breaks. We always tried to be off the trail before dark. We carried extra gas but most didn't need it. One trip we came back the same way. 2 others trips we did a loop riding the Tomahawk rd. We wouldn't do the loop in one day, we would spend the night at one of the resorts.
One year we tried it early in the year. The trail (portages) hadn't been cleared we worked all day and turned back. That was from the Ely side.
"
Done that entire route also. But not at once.
Did from Kawishiwi lake-Fraser-Sagus by canoe in the 80's in one day with a 85 pound aluminum canoe. That was one good workout. I would think there would be a lot of slush on that route. Did see 5 moose.
Snowbank-Thomas-Fraser area in the winter by skis.
12/02/2018 10:38AM
Jackpine Jim, Your mention here of Jackpine Mountain brings up a question for you or anyone else out there who might know. Back in the 70s I could drive my pickup or snowmobile to the top of Jackpine Mountain to the site of the Jackpine Lookout, the lookout was long gone as was the cabin but a real nice log thunderbox was still there. It would be a true honor for anyone who used that. The view back then was unbelievable! A couple of years ago we walked up there on an ATV trail while bird hunting, the road had all but grown in and once you got to the old tower sight it was all pretty much overgrown. But right at the concrete pads for the tower were 2 crosses. All of a sudden we became very quiet, we knew we were at a place of reverence. One cross said: Dick,8-18-37 to 8-25-13 and the other said: Pete, 1957 - 2003. I suspected that Dick had at one time manned the tower by his age but the younger Pete I had no idea. A friend confirmed my thought about Dick but he said Pete was a real tragic story. Seemed that younger guys from Wisconsin would come up each year to deer hunt there. One year Pete was accidentally shot by another hunter in the party. Anyone know anything more? 
Also included is a photo of that classic boom box atop the Mountain in the 70s.
Also included is a photo of that classic boom box atop the Mountain in the 70s.
12/02/2018 12:35PM
Like the view with the sleds. Must be early 70s, an elan, Nordic, and I sure don't remember seen all that many Yamahas in the area. The last time I was at Jackpine Mt. there was one cross. The trees had grown so much there was no view, so I haven't been up since. I remember the first time riding Tomahawk rd. on snowmobile. It was like a super highway. I could seen what looked like forever. Now with the trees all grown not so much. But I was just a kid then. Good memories. With the improvements of snowmobiles in the late 60;s it sure changed winter for the people of Ely.
When doing a loop and going back the border route we would always stay with Vince (RIP) at Windigo.
When doing a loop and going back the border route we would always stay with Vince (RIP) at Windigo.
12/02/2018 10:40PM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine Jim, Your mention here of Jackpine Mountain brings up a question for you or anyone else out there who might know. Back in the 70s I could drive my pickup or snowmobile to the top of Jackpine Mountain to the site of the Jackpine Lookout, the lookout was long gone as was the cabin but a real nice log thunderbox was still there. It would be a true honor for anyone who used that. The view back then was unbelievable! A couple of years ago we walked up there on an ATV trail while bird hunting, the road had all but grown in and once you got to the old tower sight it was all pretty much overgrown. But right at the concrete pads for the tower were 2 crosses. All of a sudden we became very quiet, we knew we were at a place of reverence. One cross said: Dick,8-18-37 to 8-25-13 and the other said: Pete, 1957 - 2003. I suspected that Dick had at one time manned the tower by his age but the younger Pete I had no idea. A friend confirmed my thought about Dick but he said Pete was a real tragic story. Seemed that younger guys from Wisconsin would come up each year to deer hunt there. One year Pete was accidentally shot by another hunter in the party. Anyone know anything more?
Also included is a photo of that classic boom box atop the Mountain in the 70s.
Tomahawk, when last I was on Jackpine Mountain in 2015 I took note of the crosses and had a. moment of silence for Pete and Dick and wondered what their stories were. Dad always went hunting up there during Pete's lifetime and stayed with Jule and Marylou Foster but never mentioned any hunting accidents of any kind. I know Jule was from Jump River, Wisconsin and there were other hunters from Wisconsin in the area.
12/03/2018 09:32AM
Zwater: "Sorry, kind of off topic. I collect vintage sleds. My dad grew up in Crosby, so a I found his old Scorpion 71 stinger III, have a 78 Scorpion whip, 79 Tkx Scorpion, and 77 Yamaha exciter. My buddies and I do a lot of vintage rides. It's a blast!
Ellahalley, what were the most dependable sleds for you back then?
"
Back then newer was always better. My little brother on the 1964 Cat me on the 71 Cat. We also had 68 Ski Doo twin cylinder. Hence the yellow suit I was wearing. I also owned Mercury and Polaris.
Many a bush mechanic took a good sled and made it into an unreliable machine. I might comment on mining however I would never say one snowmobile was better then the other. Those were fighting words!!
Dorothy Molter always said Polaris was the best.
12/04/2018 01:13PM
Tomahawk: "
Ellahallely, yes, the way to Hudson started on the west side of Isabella Lake, this was called the Isabella North Road because as it left Forest Center it ran in a northwardly direction. About 3 mi. up there was a road that left off the North Road to the left and went NW. This was the road that went near the Arrow Lookout. You're right again, the tower was much closer to Pose than Arrow Lakes. Go figger how they gave it the name Arrow Lookout, always wondered that myself. Anyway, About a mile off the North Road going NW on this road you came to another fork with a road to the left, going due west, this went to Pose Lake. But staying on a due North heading at this fork would take you to the Ahmoo Creek bridge crossing. This bridge was gone by the time I was there, only some timbers left to cross the river. After crossing Ahmoo, the road went due north for about 1/2 mi., then another fork. To the right (east) the road went below Insula Lake and over toward Arrow Lakes; to the left (west) the road went toward Hudson Lake. Going toward Hudson about another 3/4 mi brought you to another crossing of Ahmoo Creek and a nice, big bridge. After the bridge the road went another 1 1/2 mi. or so and ended in a clearcut where they also had a landing at one time. This was the end of Tomahawk's main haul road, from here there was a network of short winter roads before they ended as well at the very end of Tomahawk's sale boundary. This is where the creek came in from Hudson Lake to the sale area. The trail on the map that you show here is too far to the north, the Hudson Road actually went further to the south, ending in the area of Zitkala Creek. The trail you show is a fire trail and they crisscrossed much of the BW, running from fire tower to fire tower. Hope this helps."
Tomahawk, Do you have a similar map for the East loop of the Pow Wow Trail?
12/04/2018 01:13PM
Tomahawk: "
Ellahallely, yes, the way to Hudson started on the west side of Isabella Lake, this was called the Isabella North Road because as it left Forest Center it ran in a northwardly direction. About 3 mi. up there was a road that left off the North Road to the left and went NW. This was the road that went near the Arrow Lookout. You're right again, the tower was much closer to Pose than Arrow Lakes. Go figger how they gave it the name Arrow Lookout, always wondered that myself. Anyway, About a mile off the North Road going NW on this road you came to another fork with a road to the left, going due west, this went to Pose Lake. But staying on a due North heading at this fork would take you to the Ahmoo Creek bridge crossing. This bridge was gone by the time I was there, only some timbers left to cross the river. After crossing Ahmoo, the road went due north for about 1/2 mi., then another fork. To the right (east) the road went below Insula Lake and over toward Arrow Lakes; to the left (west) the road went toward Hudson Lake. Going toward Hudson about another 3/4 mi brought you to another crossing of Ahmoo Creek and a nice, big bridge. After the bridge the road went another 1 1/2 mi. or so and ended in a clearcut where they also had a landing at one time. This was the end of Tomahawk's main haul road, from here there was a network of short winter roads before they ended as well at the very end of Tomahawk's sale boundary. This is where the creek came in from Hudson Lake to the sale area. The trail on the map that you show here is too far to the north, the Hudson Road actually went further to the south, ending in the area of Zitkala Creek. The trail you show is a fire trail and they crisscrossed much of the BW, running from fire tower to fire tower. Hope this helps."
Tomahawk, Do you have a similar map for the East loop of the Pow Wow Trail?
12/04/2018 01:29PM
Jackpine, ask and you shall receive. Actually, this map is just the right hand side of the map I sent earlier, it was too big to scan in all at the same time. If you look at the map, where the East Road goes past Tomahawk Lake going NE, it takes an abrupt turn to the N/NW just below Chickadee Lake. At this point is where the Pow Wow Trail system was only a trail going up to Chickadee, Fungus & Whittler Lakes, the East Road went due east, down a steep hill, crossed Chickadee Creek and went up a steep hill on the other side of the Creek. I walked up toward Fungus lake only briefly, it didn't look too birdy. Staying on the East Road was much birdier. From Chickadee Creek it was only about another 2 miles to the main road that went north to Kawishiwi Lake, but maybe only another 1/2 mi. from the Creek got you into the middle of a huge clearcut up on a huge vista. The clearcut was on such a very high point of land and you could see both Perent Lake to the south and Kawishiwi Lake to the north. This was an incredible view to see all this, on top of it all to the north, in a swamp very close to Kawishiwi Lake, was an enormous bull moose. The size was just incredible, probably one for the record books with a rack that was equally incredible! A memory I will never forget! This was the furthest we ever walked, always planned to come back and walk all the way to the Kawishiwi Road but never did. Incidentally, when the East Road crossed the road going Kawishiwi Lake, the East Road kept on going north up to Polly Lake & Camp 4. In the winter you could make the loop back to the North Road and Forest Center, I've been told.
12/05/2018 08:02AM
JackpineJim: "Tomahawk: "Jackpine,
You really have my interest when you mentioned Camp 5. I have been there a number of time via canoe from South Hope to Maniwaki but never realized there was a camp there. Also walked in there off the North Road. I've looked on the satellite map and you say it was on the southwest part of Maniwaki lake. Was it near the road that came in from the North Road, the road that went up into Fishdance Lake or was it more over toward the creek that went along the portage in the direction to South Hope? Can you circle it on a map?
Thanks much, I know a guy who lived there when the camp was there but he was only 5 at the time and wasn't sure where it was.
Many thanks!!"
Tomahawk, I'm operating from memory of discussions with my Dad on where Camp 5 was located. I recall him saying it was near the creek to Maniwaki. I was thinking it was near where the road branched off to the north crossing Hope Creek but I found these two different maps (too big to upload, apparently) from 1960 that appear to show two buildings (squares) near Maniwaki Creek on the East end of Maniwaki Lake. They are in the white area just east of the 1612' Benchmark triangle in the road. There was a branch in the road just NE of the two squares ( buildings?) with one heading North toward Fishdance and the other continuing on to Camp 4 (Poly Camp). I'll ask my mother this weekend and see if she can recall the exact location of Camp 5.
"
Tomahawk, I visited my Mom and uncle Donny last weekend about the location of Camp 5. Mom couldn't locate it on the map, only remembered it was about 4 miles from Pow Wow Lake, where Marion Taylor used to fish from shore right "down in the brush right next to the road", and Aunt Tress' cook shack ant the store were right on the main road. My uncle Donny only remembered the site was a "big field" when he camped there with my dad while trapping when he was 14 years old in 1962. Then Mom pulled out a map my dad had drawn in the road just south of Maniwaki Lake and put a mark for Camp 5 on the Northeast side of Maniwaki Creek, very near where the map in this post shows the two squares. So, I'm positive those two squares mark the location of Camp 5.
12/05/2018 09:19AM
Schweady, the maps were made in October 1986. 
I sent all 3 images of the Pow Wow Trail system map, I think I have it all here for you now if not, let me know. Glad to help out.
It was odd how we found out about the map. My hunting partner and I had seen the road system getting overgrown, little by little. Funny, but we thought it was always going to be the way it was when we first started hunting there in 1971. You learn a lot about Mother Nature filling voids such as entire road systems. Pinetree said it best here earlier when he said you don't realize what you had until you lost it. Anyway, we were out on the Insula Road one day and were on our way toward Arrow Lakes where the road usually ended, or became so over gorwn we didn't care to go any further. We got to one of those overgrown points and the trail was wide. it had been cut. The same for the road that we had walked in on, we noticed that was wider as well and windfalls had been cut. We were elated that the road system was not going away anytime soon. We wanted to find out more so we went to the nearest Ranger Station, that was the Isabella Ranger Station which is no more. There we not only found a map but they had plans for restoring a lot of the old road system, making loops out of them. Their purpose was to make loops so you wouldn't have to go the same way out as the way you came in, at the same time running into less people that way. They put in campsites with facilities and replaced the former truck bridges with walking bridges. The one they put in across Perent River on the East Road was a real feat of engineering! They really had a nice plan and it held for about 5 yrs. or so. Then they ran out of funds and the program ended. Typical federal government, spend all that money to build a nice trail system then just let it go away and the higher ups in the regional office seemed to have cared less. The local grunts that put the system in wanted it to continue but no one upstairs was listening to them. What a shame! But the Kek Trail Club and Martin Kubik (bless his soul) came to the rescue and kept the North Loop of the trail system open. The East loop was pretty much written off because of all the beaver activity flooding the trail out, a good call. Martin is still trying to keep the North Loop open after the fire. Incidentally, if you look at the map where it says "wet areas" in red marker, those areas had about 3"-4" of water in them at the time in the deepest spots, now they're beaver ponds or small lakes.
It was probably somewhere in the 90s when I last walked the part of the East Loop around Ferne lake. I'd always look forward to that trip, we'd see so many grouse and moose. But the last time was the last time, there was so much beaver activity the trails were mostly covered in water and disappearing fast.
I sent all 3 images of the Pow Wow Trail system map, I think I have it all here for you now if not, let me know. Glad to help out. It was odd how we found out about the map. My hunting partner and I had seen the road system getting overgrown, little by little. Funny, but we thought it was always going to be the way it was when we first started hunting there in 1971. You learn a lot about Mother Nature filling voids such as entire road systems. Pinetree said it best here earlier when he said you don't realize what you had until you lost it. Anyway, we were out on the Insula Road one day and were on our way toward Arrow Lakes where the road usually ended, or became so over gorwn we didn't care to go any further. We got to one of those overgrown points and the trail was wide. it had been cut. The same for the road that we had walked in on, we noticed that was wider as well and windfalls had been cut. We were elated that the road system was not going away anytime soon. We wanted to find out more so we went to the nearest Ranger Station, that was the Isabella Ranger Station which is no more. There we not only found a map but they had plans for restoring a lot of the old road system, making loops out of them. Their purpose was to make loops so you wouldn't have to go the same way out as the way you came in, at the same time running into less people that way. They put in campsites with facilities and replaced the former truck bridges with walking bridges. The one they put in across Perent River on the East Road was a real feat of engineering! They really had a nice plan and it held for about 5 yrs. or so. Then they ran out of funds and the program ended. Typical federal government, spend all that money to build a nice trail system then just let it go away and the higher ups in the regional office seemed to have cared less. The local grunts that put the system in wanted it to continue but no one upstairs was listening to them. What a shame! But the Kek Trail Club and Martin Kubik (bless his soul) came to the rescue and kept the North Loop of the trail system open. The East loop was pretty much written off because of all the beaver activity flooding the trail out, a good call. Martin is still trying to keep the North Loop open after the fire. Incidentally, if you look at the map where it says "wet areas" in red marker, those areas had about 3"-4" of water in them at the time in the deepest spots, now they're beaver ponds or small lakes.
It was probably somewhere in the 90s when I last walked the part of the East Loop around Ferne lake. I'd always look forward to that trip, we'd see so many grouse and moose. But the last time was the last time, there was so much beaver activity the trails were mostly covered in water and disappearing fast.
12/05/2018 03:34PM
Tomahawk: "Schweady, the maps were made in October 1986.
"
Thanks. Not to be a stickler, but the map would be complete with a 4th image: the SE corner... the area south of Perent River/Perent Lake. (even tho there's probably no additional trail there) :-)
12/06/2018 08:31AM
Schweady, I'm sending that last portion of the map here so you can have a complete map. It doesn't have any part pf the Pow Wow Trail system on it that I didn't already send but it does include part of Perent River, Perent Lake, etc. that you asked for so now you're complete. My apologies for the condition of the map but it was put through a lot of use over the years when we were on the trail.
12/06/2018 12:08PM
aholmgren: "Great thread indeed. Thanks to all who contributed. I collect vintage maps and wanted to post this 1957 USGS map of Forest Center which shows some of the areas and roads mentioned, though I am not sure how well they will show detail"
Curious anyone, is the current bridge over the Island River the auto bridge or RR bridge that served Forest Center back in the day?
I always figured the bridge now was the old RR bridge.
12/06/2018 02:40PM
Ellahallely, You mentioned how bold some wolves are getting and I've shared some of my encounters with them, here's a couple more. On a grouse hunting trip one beautiful bluebird, sunny day in October many years ago, I was walking on the Quadga Road on the Pow Wow and on my way to Superstition Lake. Perfectly calm in the early morning about 9 am, I was approaching Marathon Lake about couple of hours from the parking lot. A wolf cut loose ahead of me with a howl that made me jump near out of my boots, and he was close. I had to check, yup, I still had my boots on. Then a bit later another howl from what sounded like a different wolf and at the same time a 3rd one chimed in, so now I realized was I was dealing with a pack not far ahead of me. That's when you realize how alone you are. I had been noticing very fresh scrape marks on the trail since leaving the Isabella North Road, all over and often, where they had probably peed and left their scent. This bunch must've been out drinkin' all night because it seemed they were peein' non-stop. Not meant to gross anyone out but I've sent an image of one of the scat piles (with the green 12 ga. 2 3/4" shell for effect) left by what must've been the Alpha male. A near record if not a new record as far as I was concerned. This guy could've plugged a toilet had he been using one. At first I thought they were moving toward me but they kept their distance and it was clear we were both moving in the same direction, west. Every half hour to 45 mn. they'd cut loose to let me know they were still there and fully aware of me. After awhile I even got used to the howls, at least I knew they were still going away from me and not coming toward me. This went on all the way to Superstition where I turned around and was on my way back, they kept going to the west. See ya! I did not flush either a ruffed or spruce grouse anywhere near the trail on the way up,
the wolves had taken care of that with their mere presence but with the wolves gone on the way back I even picked up 2 ruffs.
I've also sent a picture of another scat pile near a red 12 ga. shell by another large wolf, this one on the old Northwest Road between the Little Isabella River and the Edwards Lake Road. Another toilet plugger.
the wolves had taken care of that with their mere presence but with the wolves gone on the way back I even picked up 2 ruffs.
I've also sent a picture of another scat pile near a red 12 ga. shell by another large wolf, this one on the old Northwest Road between the Little Isabella River and the Edwards Lake Road. Another toilet plugger.
12/06/2018 04:18PM
Tomahawk: "Schweady, I'm sending that last portion of the map here so you can have a complete map. It doesn't have any part pf the Pow Wow Trail system on it that I didn't already send but it does include part of Perent River, Perent Lake, etc. that you asked for so now you're complete. My apologies for the condition of the map but it was put through a lot of use over the years when we were on the trail."
So here we have the 4 map tiles, pieced together... I do love old maps.
The used condition gives it character, for sure. In fact, parts that bled through made for some interesting reading once the image was mirrored. Mostly, the usual camping suggestions, but enough of it indicated a bit of area history such that scans of that reverse side would be of interest, I'm sure.
Some of the resolution was lost in my merge process, but in your original image posted above, the date in script at the lower right looks sort of like '10/80.' October 1980? Also, there's a very faint pencilling above the '80' that looks like '85.' ??
12/06/2018 06:44PM
aholmgren: "Great thread indeed. Thanks to all who contributed. I collect vintage maps and wanted to post this 1957 USGS map of Forest Center which shows some of the areas and roads mentioned, though I am not sure how well they will show detail
Great Map, thanks for posting. I particularly like the indication of where
the building/shacks were. Are those building markers on the East side of Arrow lake It's kind of hard to make out. Do you have any more of 1957 maps?
12/06/2018 07:00PM
Tomahawk: "Ellahallely, You mentioned how bold some wolves are getting and I've shared some of my encounters with them, here's a couple more. On a grouse hunting trip one beautiful bluebird, sunny day in October many years ago, I was walking on the Quadga Road on the Pow Wow and on my way to Superstition Lake. Perfectly calm in the early morning about 9 am, I was approaching Marathon Lake about couple of hours from the parking lot. A wolf cut loose ahead of me with a howl that made me jump near out of my boots, and he was close. I had to check, yup, I still had my boots on. Then a bit later another howl from what sounded like a different wolf and at the same time a 3rd one chimed in, so now I realized was I was dealing with a pack not far ahead of me. That's when you realize how alone you are. I had been noticing very fresh scrape marks on the trail since leaving the Isabella North Road, all over and often, where they had probably peed and left their scent. This bunch must've been out drinkin' all night because it seemed they were peein' non-stop. Not meant to gross anyone out but I've sent an image of one of the scat piles (with the green 12 ga. 2 3/4" shell for effect) left by what must've been the Alpha male. A near record if not a new record as far as I was concerned. This guy could've plugged a toilet had he been using one. At first I thought they were moving toward me but they kept their distance and it was clear we were both moving in the same direction, west. Every half hour to 45 mn. they'd cut loose to let me know they were still there and fully aware of me. After awhile I even got used to the howls, at least I knew they were still going away from me and not coming toward me. This went on all the way to Superstition where I turned around and was on my way back, they kept going to the west. See ya! I did not flush either a ruffed or spruce grouse anywhere near the trail on the way up,
the wolves had taken care of that with their mere presence but with the wolves gone on the way back I even picked up 2 ruffs.
I've also sent a picture of another scat pile near a red 12 ga. shell by another large wolf, this one on the old Northwest Road between the Little Isabella River and the Edwards Lake Road. Another toilet plugger.
One of the highlights of the year for me was taking my Dad up road hunting for birds on the old Tomahawk Timber Company roads. We'd stay with Jule and Marylou Foster (rest all their souls) - Dad and Jule were great friends from way back in the day. Jule told us a story about a logging truck that broke down late in the day back in on one of the roads off the Tomahawk Road. The driver, I don't recall his name, grabbed his picaroon from behind the seat and started walking out. The picaroon provided a moderate sense of security. After some distance a wolf came out on the road and started following him. He'd stop and turn around and the wolf would stop and stare at him. he'd walk some more and the wolf would follow, all the while getting closer, showing no aggression. He'd stop and the wolf would stop. After a time the wolf was very close, only feet away. The guy spun quickly and hit the wolf on the side of the head with the picaroon and killed it.
That makes a guy think. Must have been something wrong with that wolf.
12/06/2018 07:37PM
aholmgren: "Great thread indeed. Thanks to all who contributed. I collect vintage maps and wanted to post this 1957 USGS map of Forest Center which shows some of the areas and roads mentioned, though I am not sure how well they will show detail
A little more than a mile south of Bog Lake there is a cluster of more than a dozen buildings. Anyone know what this was?
12/06/2018 07:59PM
ellahallely: "aholmgren: "Great thread indeed. Thanks to all who contributed. I collect vintage maps and wanted to post this 1957 USGS map of Forest Center which shows some of the areas and roads mentioned, though I am not sure how well they will show detail
A little more than a mile south of Bog Lake there is a cluster of more than a dozen buildings. Anyone know what this was?"
Years ago I do remember that being a fairly open field like area at one time. I think I remember one of those huge logging chains laying there. Gone now.
I did bush wack from the road-trail north of bog lake that crosses the Mitiwan and went to a field with a logger shack and stove intact 20 years ago. I than bush wacked to John lake than to the road with the buildings shown on the map. Glad I had my compass. I could follow a road heading south for a ways than it disappeared. Did see a old setup for wolf trapping with wired attached to a tree than running toward a rock.
6 years ago from Little Isabella river just before entering the Island river I parked my canoe on the east side and could walk a old road for quite a ways and a red pine plantation was there also.
12/07/2018 08:39AM
ellahallely: "aholmgren: "Great thread indeed. Thanks to all who contributed. I collect vintage maps and wanted to post this 1957 USGS map of Forest Center which shows some of the areas and roads mentioned, though I am not sure how well they will show detail
A little more than a mile south of Bog Lake there is a cluster of more than a dozen buildings. Anyone know what this was?"
Jim P, My dad told me; "The Northwest Paper Company, where Jule worked, had a timber sale and camps on that [North] side of the road."
I don't know if those buildings were theirs. He told me they had a camp very near August Lake as well, and I recall a camp on the Northwest side of the foot bridge across the Snake River that was a Northwest Paper Company camp.
12/07/2018 10:36AM
Schweady, I know what you mean, I'm an old map freak myself. As a matter of fact, I have one of the entire Tomahawk Timber Co. Sale area, made back in the 50s is my guess. I can look at old maps like this one for hours on end..............
I've made a copy of the back of that Pow Wow map as well as another copy of the front of it. I've got both the front & back down to 2 pieces each, so maybe that'll work better for you. Not sure how well the back will read for you but it's better than nothing I guess.
I really enjoy conversing with all you out there, sharing my stories and listening to yours. My wife has heard all these stories over & over again and when she hears me about to retell them she'll wrinkle up her nose and find something else to do. Evidently, it's more interesting to clean the toilet bowl than listening to my stories again. Women. So, it's nice to have someone interested and listening out there..........................
I've made a copy of the back of that Pow Wow map as well as another copy of the front of it. I've got both the front & back down to 2 pieces each, so maybe that'll work better for you. Not sure how well the back will read for you but it's better than nothing I guess.
I really enjoy conversing with all you out there, sharing my stories and listening to yours. My wife has heard all these stories over & over again and when she hears me about to retell them she'll wrinkle up her nose and find something else to do. Evidently, it's more interesting to clean the toilet bowl than listening to my stories again. Women. So, it's nice to have someone interested and listening out there..........................
12/07/2018 08:15PM
Tomahawk: "Schweady, I believe you may be correct. The date on the map may very well be 10/80. I thought it looked more like 10/86, it's still hard to tell."
Okay, now everyone can print their own map -- front and back on legal size paper -- and travel the Pow Wow in just the same way that Tomahawk did back in the 1980s... :-)
I wonder whether the USFS publication number SU-03-7-81-IS-R on this text side possibly indicates a 1981 publication date (03-7-81 ?? or 7-81 ??) with the map drawing on the reverse dated 10/80 by the cartographer... (I spent a good bit of time googling USFS publication numbering systems, to no avail.)
12/08/2018 09:12AM
Jackpine Jim, I hit the send button by mistake on that other email, so here goes. You were right on the money with your location of Camp 5. I found it marked on my huge map (made in 1957) of the entire Tomahawk Timber Co. Sale Area 
If you look at the image with Maniwaki Lake at the very bottom center, go right (east) from there and just beyond Maniwaki Creek you'll see a dark line at the very bottom of the image here. That dark line is the Isabella North Road and just below the North Road you'll find another road with broken lines meaning either a secondary road or a winter road. The main haul roads are all shown in heavy black lines, the secondary/winter roads are in broken double lines. Anyway, look on that secondary road just below the North Road and you'll small black boxes that represent buildings, this must've been where your dad spent the night in the blacksmith's shop? If you look even harder you'll see a black box with a peaked roof on it and nearby that you'll find C.P. V (Camp 5). I walked right through this area in 1971 and had no idea a camp was here back in the days. The red dots are campsites and if you strain your eyes you may see portages marked with yellow.The heavy dark line with black dots is the No Cut Boundary.There is also a heavy dark line signifying the Halfway Ranger District Boundary and a heavy broken line showing the Tomahawk Sale Boundary.
From another portion of that large map I'm sending an image of the Polly lake Camp, Camp 4. That camp is marked as Camp IV and has 2 short double vertical lines below a peaked roof, that can be found near the very bottom of that most eastern bay on Polly Lake and at the end of a portage leading to Phoebe Creek. I was there a few times in the late 60s and only some concrete footings were left of the buildings plus a couple of rotting timbers.
If you look at the image with Maniwaki Lake at the very bottom center, go right (east) from there and just beyond Maniwaki Creek you'll see a dark line at the very bottom of the image here. That dark line is the Isabella North Road and just below the North Road you'll find another road with broken lines meaning either a secondary road or a winter road. The main haul roads are all shown in heavy black lines, the secondary/winter roads are in broken double lines. Anyway, look on that secondary road just below the North Road and you'll small black boxes that represent buildings, this must've been where your dad spent the night in the blacksmith's shop? If you look even harder you'll see a black box with a peaked roof on it and nearby that you'll find C.P. V (Camp 5). I walked right through this area in 1971 and had no idea a camp was here back in the days. The red dots are campsites and if you strain your eyes you may see portages marked with yellow.The heavy dark line with black dots is the No Cut Boundary.There is also a heavy dark line signifying the Halfway Ranger District Boundary and a heavy broken line showing the Tomahawk Sale Boundary. From another portion of that large map I'm sending an image of the Polly lake Camp, Camp 4. That camp is marked as Camp IV and has 2 short double vertical lines below a peaked roof, that can be found near the very bottom of that most eastern bay on Polly Lake and at the end of a portage leading to Phoebe Creek. I was there a few times in the late 60s and only some concrete footings were left of the buildings plus a couple of rotting timbers.
12/08/2018 11:03AM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine Jim, I hit the send button by mistake on that other email, so here goes. You were right on the money with your location of Camp 5. I found it marked on my huge map (made in 1957) of the entire Tomahawk Timber Co. Sale Area
From another portion of that large map I'm sending an image of the Polly lake Camp, Camp 4. That camp is marked as Camp IV and has 2 short double vertical lines below a peaked roof, that can be found near the very bottom of that most eastern bay on Polly Lake and at the end of a portage leading to Phoebe Creek. I was there a few times in the late 60s and only some concrete footings were left of the buildings plus a couple of rotting timbers.
Wow! The exact locations of all these camps have been in the back of my mind since I was a child. Mom told me last weekend that when she and dad go married she they lived in an outpost camp North of Camp 4 "Polly Camp" and then moved to an outpost camp they called "Bogo Camp" just S.E. of Bugo Lake, just before I was born in 1955.
Interesting story: They had a 1950 Dodge pickup "woods truck" he bought from Uncle Ted at the time, I guess it was a beater, and when mom went into labor the decided to drive into the Winton hospital. The didn't trust the truck for such an important journey so the first drove down to Camp 5 to borrow Uncle Ted and Aunt Tress' car. Unfortunately, their car wouldn't start so the drove the "woods truck" all the way to Winton where Dr. Snyker (I originally posted Dr Grawhak but Tomahawk corrected me and I confirmed with my mom it was Dr. Snyker) delivered yours truly.
This is the Dodge pickup
Liz, Aunt Tress and Uncle Ted
I'm pretty sure this is Camp 5.
12/08/2018 03:35PM
ellahallely: "Was everything pulp? Was anything or what was milled for building. I was told in the early years cedar was not cut, it was "junk wood". That is why so many old cedars are standing. Maybe not some much in this area but more to the north.
Funny to think what is now a pma was a work area for the local residents. A play ground for the local kids. And so easy to get to by car or truck."
Jim P. There was a saw mill at Forest Center, so some of the logs were milled. It was located at the West end of the wood yard. I believe the vast majority of wood that was cut was jack pine and spruce pulpwood.
Forest Center Saw Mill
Forest Center Wood Yard (where the BWCA and Pow Wow Trail parking lot is now.
12/08/2018 03:54PM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine, you have so many good family memories of that area. You mention Fantail Lake, where was that? And do you recall where on Boze Lake the camp was?"
Tomahawk, I don't have any info on the location of Boze Lake Camp. Fantail Lake is just west of Koma Lake. It's the little pear-shaped oval in the upper left corner of the old map you posted. We used to bushwhack over there from Koma to trap minnows. There are two big White Spruce on the hill about 3/4 of the way that you can see from Koma that we used as landmarks. We'd go to them then angle NW to where the creek runs out towards Koma and put the minnow trap in there. The old road ran right next to the white spruce trees then crossed the creek and headed north. Great place to spot a moose back in the day. You can make out part of the road in this satellite image.
12/11/2018 08:29PM
JackpineJim: "Pinetree: ""
I love the maps you guys are posting."
Curious, why wasn't there more Rail Road logging previous to the Tomahawk sale in the area that is now the BW?
Where I have my cabin by Itasca State Park, the old logging rail lines can still be seen easily when walking through the woods, I have an old RR- spike from the early 1900's.
One rail line splits my property and is now a DNR Forest road.
Roads around Forest Center,
I remember one time when I was fighting the Pagami Fire, I was SE of Isabella Lake but before Comfort Lake. I was crawling through the brush with a couple of Smoke Jumpers.
We were flagging fireline for the hand crews to come up behind us. Suddenly I came aross an old road heavily over grown but, was as clear as the nose on my face. (I have a big nose). This road may have been able to hold small trucks.
We didn't use this road as a fireline, but cut our fireline right across it as we followed the fires path.
Your map doesn't go that far over to the East to show the road I came across.
But back to my OP.
How come more rail road logging was not done in the BW area north of Forest Center or other areas previous to the 1930's in the Superior NF?
12/12/2018 09:53AM
Pinetree: "
Linden a little more east here."
Looking at it closer I bet I was on one of those roads heading east out of Forest Center just before or Northeast of Comfort Lake. I didn't look at the road bed very close because we had to keep moving so I don't know if it was a main road, but I kinda doubt it.
Funny story.
I was setting up to scout that fireline with the two Smoke Jumpers and another firefighter. As we were getting ready I took off my bulky fire gear back pack and put on a belt with my fire shelter and a day pack on. We had about 7 miles to bushwack toward Comfort Lake. The jumpers looked at me funny and asked me why I was ditching my pack. I replied.
I'm getting ready to bushwack, and bushwack we did. Many times we had to crawl on the ground to make it through the Alder or regeneration Balsam Fir. We flagged line to Comfort Lake and caught a ride back to our starting point. I think I had over 14 miles of fire hose lays on my setion of line. WIth Mark III water pumps every couple of miles or less.
12/12/2018 10:08AM
LindenTree: "Pinetree: "
Linden a little more east here."
Looking at it closer I bet I was on one of those roads heading east out of Forest Center just before or Northeast of Comfort Lake. I didn't look at the road bed very close because we had to keep moving so I don't know if it was a main road, but I kinda doubt it.
Funny story.
I was setting up to scout that fireline with the two Smoke Jumpers and another firefighter. As we were getting ready I took off my bulky fire gear back pack and put on a belt with my fire shelter and a day pack on. We had about 7 miles to bushwack toward Comfort Lake. The jumpers looked at me funny and asked me why I was ditching my pack. I replied.
I'm getting ready to bushwack, and bushwack we did. Many times we had to crawl on the ground to make it through the Alder or regeneration Balsam Fir. We flagged line to Comfort Lake and caught a ride back to our starting point. I think I had over 14 miles of fire hose lays on my setion of line. WIth Mark III water pumps every couple of miles or less."
Sounds like a calorie burner workout.
12/14/2018 11:03AM
Jackpine jim, What time of the year was that when your mom had to go in the hospital? Must've been winter if they couldn't get Uncle Ted's car to start. She didn't drive all that way by herself did she?
In all those years since 1971 that I've been bird hunting north of Isabella Lake, I've certainly come across some critters and some interesting finds. One of the finds were Dray Bunks. There were quite a number of them in a grassy area about halfway between where the road turned west toward Quadga Lake off the North Road and Quadga Lake itself. They were laying in that open, grassy area on the north side of the road, also found part of an old shovel there as well. I guessed there must've been some sort of settlement there at one time but that's just a guess. There were horses there at one time for sure, a lot of oat grass around. Supposedly from what I had heard from a guy who worked in the area for Tomahawk Timber, these heavy metal brackets would be placed at the ends of the dray (sled) to build up the sides of the dray so vertical posts could be added when dragging out logs. Possibly a few of you out there have also seen these in that very field.
And then I came across a most interesting find of all, a Set Vice. I found this back off the road that went north to Insula/Hudson Lakes. It was just north of where the trail went west toward Pose Lake (in that grassy field). Going north of this field at least 200 yards or so I happened to look off the road to the west. And there, about 100' off the Insula/Hudson Road, was something that appeared to be a grouse sitting on a tree stump. From that distance I couldn't tell what it was, I was now thinking it wasn't a grouse at all so I walked in toward it, waiting with my shotgun at the ready for a flying shot as the bird flew off the stump, just in case it decided to turn into a grouse:-)) Been there, done that! As I got closer I could see it wasn't a bird at all, the closer I got the more puzzled I became. When I got right up to it I was even more puzzled, really scratching my head now. At first I thought it was some form of early chainsaw art. But the same guy that told me about the Dray Bunks said this was a Set Vice after showing him a picture of it. To me it looked like this upside down pyramid was one of those steel splitting wedges that had been left in this tree stump, long forgotten. When I tried to pick the "splitting wedge" out of the stump I realized that it was also wood and all part of the stump. This was really spooky now after realizing it wasn't a steel splitting wedge at all. The whole structure was a single piece, all one carving! Now I was really confused as to what this was, but whatever it was it had been there for a LONG,LONG time! The guy told me that this was from the days of the 3' long buck saws, there was a cut in the top of this "pyramid" where the back of the saw would slide into. With the saw teeth now facing upward, the teeth could be set giving the sawyer a better cut into a tree. I had found not an early wood sculpture but a device to set saw teeth, no chainsaw art but something well before chainsaws were used around here. From the best info I could find, this area had been cut in the late 40s-early 50s, I discovered the Set Vice in 2008. Anyone else ever come across this very device in this spot or one like it? I'm hoping that either Jackpine Jim or Pinetree have stumbled across this as well, I don't want to be the only one. Anyone else seen this? I also understood they had these in a number of locations. In all the times I had come by this very spot I had never seen it. In my early days of 1971 when I first had come by here, the trees were all small and low to the ground with their branches and nearby brush was all hiding the Set Vice. As the trees grew taller, the lower branches must've died off and the brushy areas next to the tree also died off from lack of sunlight as the trees grew taller. The day I saw it the sun was just shining on it right so could finally see it. There was no evidence of any buildings around the Set Vice, the adjacent jackpine & spruce were at least 15" across so it had been a long time if any buildings had been here. I'm guessing there were buildings here at one time as there was also a lot of oat grass around from the horses.
In all those years since 1971 that I've been bird hunting north of Isabella Lake, I've certainly come across some critters and some interesting finds. One of the finds were Dray Bunks. There were quite a number of them in a grassy area about halfway between where the road turned west toward Quadga Lake off the North Road and Quadga Lake itself. They were laying in that open, grassy area on the north side of the road, also found part of an old shovel there as well. I guessed there must've been some sort of settlement there at one time but that's just a guess. There were horses there at one time for sure, a lot of oat grass around. Supposedly from what I had heard from a guy who worked in the area for Tomahawk Timber, these heavy metal brackets would be placed at the ends of the dray (sled) to build up the sides of the dray so vertical posts could be added when dragging out logs. Possibly a few of you out there have also seen these in that very field.
And then I came across a most interesting find of all, a Set Vice. I found this back off the road that went north to Insula/Hudson Lakes. It was just north of where the trail went west toward Pose Lake (in that grassy field). Going north of this field at least 200 yards or so I happened to look off the road to the west. And there, about 100' off the Insula/Hudson Road, was something that appeared to be a grouse sitting on a tree stump. From that distance I couldn't tell what it was, I was now thinking it wasn't a grouse at all so I walked in toward it, waiting with my shotgun at the ready for a flying shot as the bird flew off the stump, just in case it decided to turn into a grouse:-)) Been there, done that! As I got closer I could see it wasn't a bird at all, the closer I got the more puzzled I became. When I got right up to it I was even more puzzled, really scratching my head now. At first I thought it was some form of early chainsaw art. But the same guy that told me about the Dray Bunks said this was a Set Vice after showing him a picture of it. To me it looked like this upside down pyramid was one of those steel splitting wedges that had been left in this tree stump, long forgotten. When I tried to pick the "splitting wedge" out of the stump I realized that it was also wood and all part of the stump. This was really spooky now after realizing it wasn't a steel splitting wedge at all. The whole structure was a single piece, all one carving! Now I was really confused as to what this was, but whatever it was it had been there for a LONG,LONG time! The guy told me that this was from the days of the 3' long buck saws, there was a cut in the top of this "pyramid" where the back of the saw would slide into. With the saw teeth now facing upward, the teeth could be set giving the sawyer a better cut into a tree. I had found not an early wood sculpture but a device to set saw teeth, no chainsaw art but something well before chainsaws were used around here. From the best info I could find, this area had been cut in the late 40s-early 50s, I discovered the Set Vice in 2008. Anyone else ever come across this very device in this spot or one like it? I'm hoping that either Jackpine Jim or Pinetree have stumbled across this as well, I don't want to be the only one. Anyone else seen this? I also understood they had these in a number of locations. In all the times I had come by this very spot I had never seen it. In my early days of 1971 when I first had come by here, the trees were all small and low to the ground with their branches and nearby brush was all hiding the Set Vice. As the trees grew taller, the lower branches must've died off and the brushy areas next to the tree also died off from lack of sunlight as the trees grew taller. The day I saw it the sun was just shining on it right so could finally see it. There was no evidence of any buildings around the Set Vice, the adjacent jackpine & spruce were at least 15" across so it had been a long time if any buildings had been here. I'm guessing there were buildings here at one time as there was also a lot of oat grass around from the horses.
12/15/2018 02:50PM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine jim, What time of the year was that when your mom had to go in the hospital? Must've been winter if they couldn't get Uncle Ted's car to start. She didn't drive all that way by herself did she?
In all those years since 1971 that I've been bird hunting north of Isabella Lake, I've certainly come across some critters and some interesting finds. One of the finds were Dray Bunks. There were quite a number of them in a grassy area about halfway between where the road turned west toward Quadga Lake off the North Road and Quadga Lake itself. They were laying in that open, grassy area on the north side of the road, also found part of an old shovel there as well. I guessed there must've been some sort of settlement there at one time but that's just a guess. There were horses there at one time for sure, a lot of oat grass around. Supposedly from what I had heard from a guy who worked in the area for Tomahawk Timber, these heavy metal brackets would be placed at the ends of the dray (sled) to build up the sides of the dray so vertical posts could be added when dragging out logs. Possibly a few of you out there have also seen these in that very field.
And then I came across a most interesting find of all, a Set Vice. I found this back off the road that went north to Insula/Hudson Lakes. It was just north of where the trail went west toward Pose Lake (in that grassy field). Going north of this field at least 200 yards or so I happened to look off the road to the west. And there, about 100' off the Insula/Hudson Road, was something that appeared to be a grouse sitting on a tree stump. From that distance I couldn't tell what it was, I was now thinking it wasn't a grouse at all so I walked in toward it, waiting with my shotgun at the ready for a flying shot as the bird flew off the stump, just in case it decided to turn into a grouse:-)) Been there, done that! As I got closer I could see it wasn't a bird at all, the closer I got the more puzzled I became. When I got right up to it I was even more puzzled, really scratching my head now. At first I thought it was some form of early chainsaw art. But the same guy that told me about the Dray Bunks said this was a Set Vice after showing him a picture of it. To me it looked like this upside down pyramid was one of those steel splitting wedges that had been left in this tree stump, long forgotten. When I tried to pick the "splitting wedge" out of the stump I realized that it was also wood and all part of the stump. This was really spooky now after realizing it wasn't a steel splitting wedge at all. The whole structure was a single piece, all one carving! Now I was really confused as to what this was, but whatever it was it had been there for a LONG,LONG time! The guy told me that this was from the days of the 3' long buck saws, there was a cut in the top of this "pyramid" where the back of the saw would slide into. With the saw teeth now facing upward, the teeth could be set giving the sawyer a better cut into a tree. I had found not an early wood sculpture but a device to set saw teeth, no chainsaw art but something well before chainsaws were used around here. From the best info I could find, this area had been cut in the late 40s-early 50s, I discovered the Set Vice in 2008. Anyone else ever come across this very device in this spot or one like it? I'm hoping that either Jackpine Jim or Pinetree have stumbled across this as well, I don't want to be the only one. Anyone else seen this? I also understood they had these in a number of locations. In all the times I had come by this very spot I had never seen it. In my early days of 1971 when I first had come by here, the trees were all small and low to the ground with their branches and nearby brush was all hiding the Set Vice. As the trees grew taller, the lower branches must've died off and the brushy areas next to the tree also died off from lack of sunlight as the trees grew taller. The day I saw it the sun was just shining on it right so could finally see it. There was no evidence of any buildings around the Set Vice, the adjacent jackpine & spruce were at least 15" across so it had been a long time if any buildings had been here. I'm guessing there were buildings here at one time as there was also a lot of oat grass around from the horses.
Tomahawk,
It was the first of August when uncle Ted's car wouldn't start, so couldn't blame it on the cold. Mom didn't drive alone to the hospital. I've never run across the Set Vice that I recall. I wonder why the upside down pyramid shape was necessary. Dad told me he used a crosscut saw when he first started logging with his cousin, but never mentioned such a device. I've seen many a dray in action, but wouldn't recognize a dray bunk if I saw one until you posted this picture - Thanks for that. As for the oat grass, that gives away the location of the old horse barns. I've shot quite a few birds near the oat grass over the years. Jim
12/16/2018 03:56PM
Here is a story my Dad told about trapping up north of Lake Isabella that you might enjoy.
Trapping in the Roadless Area;
“In the spring of the year the company got in the habit of having you work three days a week. Or sometimes - one spring was bad - they had you... 7 1/2 cord a week is all you could cut. It made it pretty tough living then. Then I started trapping a little areas around Camp 6 here and there [1959 and 1960]. I got a few fox, I got another mink or two, but as long as you could work, a guy worked, you know, you didn't take much time for trapping. But, little by little I gathered up some traps. I think I had 25 traps at one time. I got 15 traps from Reno Hennenen, he used to trap, he said, years before. Anyway, I got a few beavers down by Camp 6. "
First year trapping in the Restricted Area (1961): "And then [in 1961] me and old George Klaus, he wanted to go trapping. He'd made a two wheeled cart out of a home made axel, a couple bicycle wheels he bought, had a box built on it on it, and a piece of metal pipe bent into a u-shape for a handle. We put our traps in the box, and some groceries, a couple of sleeping bags, a piece of plastic for a tent, and we walked from Forest Center, up by the old the bridge there on the North Road, all the way up in to Calamity Camp. Well, we set a few traps that same day, built our selves up a tent. Too dumb to check the weather forecast when we went. Woke up about daylight when something plopped down on top of me. Here that son of a bitch had snowed about 7 inches during the night. So, the tent collapsed on us. Too much wet snow weight.
So we walked out. I'd break trail for a ways and the George would break trail for a ways. There was an old little camp site [of shacks], that's where Charlie Hommerding and Nick Jasper and Walt Knotts and four or five other people were living. We bummed a ride with Nick Jasper and got back to where we had parked the car. We gave him enough money to buy a case of beer. We had a hell of a time getting turned around. And went back to Camp 6 and we didn't go back for a week. When we went back that time we snitched a ride about 2/3 of the way in. The Forestry was getting ready to plant trees. We walked the rest of the way in and checked what traps we had set before, then we set a bunch of traps that day. We had three that we caught - it didn't hurt them to lay there for a week in the freezing water they'd drowned you know.
Anyway, we stayed up there and trapped for two weeks then. I think we got 42 beaver, no otter that time. So then I was enthused."
Second year trapping in the Restricted Area (1962): "The next spring [1962] I went in alone. George said it was too much for him. Ah, shit he was 60 years old. He did it more for the fun of it because I don't think he was hurting for money. Then I bicycled. I'd start right from the bridge where Isabella spills off and heads toward Bald Eagle. After getting in good bicycling shape I could get in there to Camp 5 in an hour and a half. It's about 12 miles or so. I biked all the way into Camp 5 and camped there. One time I biked all the way to Camp 4 [Poly Camp] and set traps on the Phoebe river. I only did that trip twice, once to set the traps and once to check them and take them out. It was just too far to go."
Third year trapping in the Restricted Area (1963): "Well, when I went alone I'd bicycle, but one time the next year [1963] me and [younger brother] Donny and Bob Reese hoofed'er in to Camp 5 pushing the cart George Klaus made. I think Donny was 13 or 14 years old at the time.
When the company pulled out of Camp 5 they left a horse shoeing rack - a blacksmith shop is what it was. That was a long walk up there pushing that cart, and we were tired when we got there. We built a lean-to with a piece of plastic up against the blacksmith shop. It got cold that night and it snowed, so we went inside the blacksmith shop in the morning to get out of the wind and warm up. There was a couple of pieces of sheet metal in there on the floor so I scraped up a little pile of coal chunks and coal dust up on one of the pieces of sheet metal and started a little fire and it got nice and comfortable warm pretty quick.
Well, then we went out and set some traps and, coming back about 2:00 in the afternoon, and holey shit, I could see smoke. When we got there, the blacksmith shop was burned down, our tent and sleeping bags were burned up, half of my traps were burned and the temper was out of them and they wouldn't spring any more. Our groceries were gone. So there we were, no groceries, no tent, no sleeping bags, so we hoofed'er back out of there. It was really an ideal place to camp if we wouldn't have been so dumb to start that fire there.
Well, that was it for Bob Reese, he quit and wouldn't go back. Donny went up a couple of more times with me to check my traps.
When I went back a couple days after we burned to check my traps - we'd set about six or eight - that's where I found that dead moose frozen in the ice out on that beaver pond where the timber wolves had killed him. I chopped his horns off right through the eyes in the skull and behind the ears. It made one nice rack of horns. I got a jet black beaver on south Hope Lake."
Fourth year trapping in the Restricted Area (1964): "So the next year I went back in alone to where I first trapped that country, to Calamity Camp, and trapped those ponds north of Calamity up towards Promise, where we lived for a while in a small camp, then over to the West side of Arrow Lake by Tornado Lake and along a creek [Ahmoo Creek] heading towards Hudson Lake. That must have been my fourth year of doing it. There was an old Forestry trail that went from Arrow Lake, you had to make kind of a big detour around a big beaver pond [North of Arrow] and walk the beaver dam and got on that trail on the back [West] side of Arrow Lake. [Dad marked the beaver dam on a map at the north end of the northern-most of the three Arrow Lakes.] Near there is where I got my first otter on a small pond South of Tornado Lake.
Well, then I got smart and bought some maps, got a couple from Ed Nelson, and lo and behold, I discovered that the Hudson Road was a hell of a lot closer to where I was trapping and going in and out on the Hudson road was easier. There were some beaver dams right there and it was pretty nice trapping and from there I'd walk up and around to the East side of Arrow Lake and make that little route and camp at Calamity Camp site and then come back out that same way. Anyway, I could really sail out of there in a hurry [on the Hudson Road] - well, not in a hurry, it took a couple hours when you've got a big load of rough skinned pelts and traps.
But that last trip up there was a good one - I think I got 7 beaver that last trip. So that last trip out was quite a load. I think I had about 20 traps and seven pelts. Frank [Dad's brother] was living at Forest Center and logging up there and he said he'd meet me at the junction of the North Road and the road to Quadga, where he working at the time, and he'd pull me out. I'd ride the bicycle and hold on to the side of his car and he'd go slow. So, I met him there and I hung on to the back fender some how and he pulled me back to my car.
Then I gave up on going way the hell up there. Well, if you trapped one area too much there's not enough to reproduce, the season is short and the weather can be miserable, and if it would freeze at night the beaver wouldn't even come out.”
Here are some relevant images. Those are the moose antlers in the story. One of the pelts Dad is holding in that picture is the “jet black” one he caught. That map covers most of the territory Dad trapped.
Trapping in the Roadless Area;
“In the spring of the year the company got in the habit of having you work three days a week. Or sometimes - one spring was bad - they had you... 7 1/2 cord a week is all you could cut. It made it pretty tough living then. Then I started trapping a little areas around Camp 6 here and there [1959 and 1960]. I got a few fox, I got another mink or two, but as long as you could work, a guy worked, you know, you didn't take much time for trapping. But, little by little I gathered up some traps. I think I had 25 traps at one time. I got 15 traps from Reno Hennenen, he used to trap, he said, years before. Anyway, I got a few beavers down by Camp 6. "
First year trapping in the Restricted Area (1961): "And then [in 1961] me and old George Klaus, he wanted to go trapping. He'd made a two wheeled cart out of a home made axel, a couple bicycle wheels he bought, had a box built on it on it, and a piece of metal pipe bent into a u-shape for a handle. We put our traps in the box, and some groceries, a couple of sleeping bags, a piece of plastic for a tent, and we walked from Forest Center, up by the old the bridge there on the North Road, all the way up in to Calamity Camp. Well, we set a few traps that same day, built our selves up a tent. Too dumb to check the weather forecast when we went. Woke up about daylight when something plopped down on top of me. Here that son of a bitch had snowed about 7 inches during the night. So, the tent collapsed on us. Too much wet snow weight.
So we walked out. I'd break trail for a ways and the George would break trail for a ways. There was an old little camp site [of shacks], that's where Charlie Hommerding and Nick Jasper and Walt Knotts and four or five other people were living. We bummed a ride with Nick Jasper and got back to where we had parked the car. We gave him enough money to buy a case of beer. We had a hell of a time getting turned around. And went back to Camp 6 and we didn't go back for a week. When we went back that time we snitched a ride about 2/3 of the way in. The Forestry was getting ready to plant trees. We walked the rest of the way in and checked what traps we had set before, then we set a bunch of traps that day. We had three that we caught - it didn't hurt them to lay there for a week in the freezing water they'd drowned you know.
Anyway, we stayed up there and trapped for two weeks then. I think we got 42 beaver, no otter that time. So then I was enthused."
Second year trapping in the Restricted Area (1962): "The next spring [1962] I went in alone. George said it was too much for him. Ah, shit he was 60 years old. He did it more for the fun of it because I don't think he was hurting for money. Then I bicycled. I'd start right from the bridge where Isabella spills off and heads toward Bald Eagle. After getting in good bicycling shape I could get in there to Camp 5 in an hour and a half. It's about 12 miles or so. I biked all the way into Camp 5 and camped there. One time I biked all the way to Camp 4 [Poly Camp] and set traps on the Phoebe river. I only did that trip twice, once to set the traps and once to check them and take them out. It was just too far to go."
Third year trapping in the Restricted Area (1963): "Well, when I went alone I'd bicycle, but one time the next year [1963] me and [younger brother] Donny and Bob Reese hoofed'er in to Camp 5 pushing the cart George Klaus made. I think Donny was 13 or 14 years old at the time.
When the company pulled out of Camp 5 they left a horse shoeing rack - a blacksmith shop is what it was. That was a long walk up there pushing that cart, and we were tired when we got there. We built a lean-to with a piece of plastic up against the blacksmith shop. It got cold that night and it snowed, so we went inside the blacksmith shop in the morning to get out of the wind and warm up. There was a couple of pieces of sheet metal in there on the floor so I scraped up a little pile of coal chunks and coal dust up on one of the pieces of sheet metal and started a little fire and it got nice and comfortable warm pretty quick.
Well, then we went out and set some traps and, coming back about 2:00 in the afternoon, and holey shit, I could see smoke. When we got there, the blacksmith shop was burned down, our tent and sleeping bags were burned up, half of my traps were burned and the temper was out of them and they wouldn't spring any more. Our groceries were gone. So there we were, no groceries, no tent, no sleeping bags, so we hoofed'er back out of there. It was really an ideal place to camp if we wouldn't have been so dumb to start that fire there.
Well, that was it for Bob Reese, he quit and wouldn't go back. Donny went up a couple of more times with me to check my traps.
When I went back a couple days after we burned to check my traps - we'd set about six or eight - that's where I found that dead moose frozen in the ice out on that beaver pond where the timber wolves had killed him. I chopped his horns off right through the eyes in the skull and behind the ears. It made one nice rack of horns. I got a jet black beaver on south Hope Lake."
Fourth year trapping in the Restricted Area (1964): "So the next year I went back in alone to where I first trapped that country, to Calamity Camp, and trapped those ponds north of Calamity up towards Promise, where we lived for a while in a small camp, then over to the West side of Arrow Lake by Tornado Lake and along a creek [Ahmoo Creek] heading towards Hudson Lake. That must have been my fourth year of doing it. There was an old Forestry trail that went from Arrow Lake, you had to make kind of a big detour around a big beaver pond [North of Arrow] and walk the beaver dam and got on that trail on the back [West] side of Arrow Lake. [Dad marked the beaver dam on a map at the north end of the northern-most of the three Arrow Lakes.] Near there is where I got my first otter on a small pond South of Tornado Lake.
Well, then I got smart and bought some maps, got a couple from Ed Nelson, and lo and behold, I discovered that the Hudson Road was a hell of a lot closer to where I was trapping and going in and out on the Hudson road was easier. There were some beaver dams right there and it was pretty nice trapping and from there I'd walk up and around to the East side of Arrow Lake and make that little route and camp at Calamity Camp site and then come back out that same way. Anyway, I could really sail out of there in a hurry [on the Hudson Road] - well, not in a hurry, it took a couple hours when you've got a big load of rough skinned pelts and traps.
But that last trip up there was a good one - I think I got 7 beaver that last trip. So that last trip out was quite a load. I think I had about 20 traps and seven pelts. Frank [Dad's brother] was living at Forest Center and logging up there and he said he'd meet me at the junction of the North Road and the road to Quadga, where he working at the time, and he'd pull me out. I'd ride the bicycle and hold on to the side of his car and he'd go slow. So, I met him there and I hung on to the back fender some how and he pulled me back to my car.
Then I gave up on going way the hell up there. Well, if you trapped one area too much there's not enough to reproduce, the season is short and the weather can be miserable, and if it would freeze at night the beaver wouldn't even come out.”
Here are some relevant images. Those are the moose antlers in the story. One of the pelts Dad is holding in that picture is the “jet black” one he caught. That map covers most of the territory Dad trapped.
12/18/2018 09:40AM
Jackpine, I sent that other email too early, my mistake. I was going to add another map but hit the wrong button. You might know how that goes:-(( 
I've sent a couple of maps here, there's some overlap involved but this might give you a better idea of some of your dad's travels on his trapline. You can see where one of the secondary haul roads came off the the main haul road, the Isabella North Road, just to the north of Pow Wow Lake and to the east of Calamity Lake. It was a good haul road for what looks like a couple of miles (I've only walked it once and never walked that far on it so not sure how it was further up) or so before it goes to a winter road. I'm guessing your dad would've walked this winter road for awhile before going west to pick up that old fire trail that crossed the beaver dam just north of the 3rd and northernmost of the Arrow Lakes, where he got the moose antlers. My map here shows this is the end of that winter road but then go due west from Arrow and you can see a very good road coming from the west, just south of Tornado Lake. This was an EXCELLENT haul road in 1971 and eventually went to just south of Hudson Lake. I'd be willing to bet your next retirement check that this is the way your dad would've gone to Hudson. On the other map you can follow this road west as it travels just below Insula Lake, comes to the fork just north of the Ahmoo Bridge crossing where continuing to go W/NW would take to to just south of Zitkala and Hudson Lakes. I've walked this road eastwardly to it's end just below Tornado Lake, good solid road that ended into a winter road & boggy area. About 1/4 mi. before it's end the Pow Wow Trail left this old road bed going east and went overt to the west side of Arrow, then going south until it met the North Road. Looks like the north end or Arrow and the end of this road below Tornado is less than a mile, there must've been a trail connecting the two that your dad used.
I've sent a couple of maps here, there's some overlap involved but this might give you a better idea of some of your dad's travels on his trapline. You can see where one of the secondary haul roads came off the the main haul road, the Isabella North Road, just to the north of Pow Wow Lake and to the east of Calamity Lake. It was a good haul road for what looks like a couple of miles (I've only walked it once and never walked that far on it so not sure how it was further up) or so before it goes to a winter road. I'm guessing your dad would've walked this winter road for awhile before going west to pick up that old fire trail that crossed the beaver dam just north of the 3rd and northernmost of the Arrow Lakes, where he got the moose antlers. My map here shows this is the end of that winter road but then go due west from Arrow and you can see a very good road coming from the west, just south of Tornado Lake. This was an EXCELLENT haul road in 1971 and eventually went to just south of Hudson Lake. I'd be willing to bet your next retirement check that this is the way your dad would've gone to Hudson. On the other map you can follow this road west as it travels just below Insula Lake, comes to the fork just north of the Ahmoo Bridge crossing where continuing to go W/NW would take to to just south of Zitkala and Hudson Lakes. I've walked this road eastwardly to it's end just below Tornado Lake, good solid road that ended into a winter road & boggy area. About 1/4 mi. before it's end the Pow Wow Trail left this old road bed going east and went overt to the west side of Arrow, then going south until it met the North Road. Looks like the north end or Arrow and the end of this road below Tornado is less than a mile, there must've been a trail connecting the two that your dad used.
12/18/2018 08:01PM
Tomahawk: " I've hoisted a few beers with Al Moser, Floyd Housey and Juel Foster at the Wanderer. I think it was Floyd who said he skidded the last loa of wood out of Calamity Lake."
Thanks for posting these maps Tomahawk. I can contemplate them for hours. They bring a lot of things back to life. I haven't seen Al Moser since we left Camp 6 in 1965. I used to sit and listen to Dad and Jule shoot the breeze about the old times. Very entertaining. I never had much opportunity to talk to Floyd much but sure enjoyed when I did. There sure were some great people living that life.
12/21/2018 10:44AM
Jackpine, sending along a picture of my hunting partner back in 1972. He is on the North Road as it ran next to Pow Wow Lake on one of those beautiful October days. I'm trying to remember who you said would fish here, was it Marion Tyler? This is very close to that very spot that you had marked on that map. 
12/22/2018 08:41AM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine, sending along a picture of my hunting partner back in 1972. He is on the North Road as it ran next to Pow Wow Lake on one of those beautiful October days. I'm trying to remember who you said would fish here, was it Marion Tyler? This is very close to that very spot that you had marked on that map.
Tomahawk, Thanks for posting the photo. It brings back memories. It was Marion Taylor that always fished there. She lived in Calamity Camp, nearby where you took that picture, with the husband Charles 'Lloyd' Taylor. She was Hank Knuth mother. Hank and his wife, Kathy, also lived in Calamity Camp.
12/22/2018 09:29AM
Thanks for setting me straight on Marion Taylor's correct name. That image of Pow Wow Lake also shows what nice shape the roads were in at the time, the small jacks are just stating to make their presence known. Sending another image taken in 1973, also on the North Road. This one was on that long straight stretch going east just after leaving the spot where the Insula/Hudson Road left the North Road. Wolf trackers with antennas on their trucks were still driving the road at that time, but much later on and even before the fire that part of the road became choked with alder and criss-crossed with windfalls, now it's near impassable and there's no evidence of a road even being there. Mother Nature hates a void. 
One of my partners here is walkng west, about a block from where the Insula/Hudson Road leaves the North Road.
One of my partners here is walkng west, about a block from where the Insula/Hudson Road leaves the North Road.
01/01/2019 10:15AM
Hope all out there had a nice Christmas and best wishes to all for a great 2019! It was really nice to hear all your comments and let me relive some of mine. Some of those were forgotten until some of you rekindled those memories with stories of your own.
I was looking through some old photos of those days of yesteryear and came across a real jewel. Most moose hunters had good, well-thought out plans but others didn't have a clue.
The picture was taken by one of my bird hunting partners of our limit of grouse in a wheel barrow. The picture needs a beginning, so here we go. Back in the 70s there were 3 of us that would hunt together at times. On this particular day, one guy went up toward Insula/Hudson and myself and another guy went up toward Maniwaki Lake. When we got to the spot atop the hill where the Insula/Hudson Road left the North Road, there was a tent set up. It was about 9 am and 2 older-aged moose hunters were standing around a camp fire. They told us that further up the North Road were 2 younger guys from their party, pushing a wheel barrow with a flat bottom duck boat atop it! No kiddin' I could never make this up. The older guys were madder than hell at what these 2 younger guys were going to get them involved in should they get a moose back that far. Where they were camped it was already about 3 1/2 mi. back in. The young guys had a plan, they'd push this wheelbarrow/duckboat up to the first beaver pond and paddle across the pond with them and the wheelbarrow in the boat. Getting to the other side they'd just start pushing the wheel barrow with the boat atop it once again until they got to the next pond. We walked around at least 3-4 beaver ponds and never saw them. There was a large pond (long straight stretch, of corduroy) just to south where a road branched off the North Road and went east toward Nuthatch and Ferne Lakes, and we found the duck boat on one end and the wheelbarrow on the other. Evidently they had enough of this foolishness at this point. We had gone up to Maniwaki and never saw them, on the way back we put our limit of grouse in the wheelbarrow just for a picture. I told my partner, we need a picture of this, we can't pass this up. On our way back the 2 older guys were gone somewhere, maybe had enough of all this and packed up their gear and went home for all we knew. On top of it all the wheelbarrow was illegal in the BW, that area was not authorized for wheeled transportation. We told the old guys this earlier that morning and they just shrugged their shoulders. I never heard what happened here, whether or not they got a moose, I hope not. It might've killed the older guys.
A couple of weeks later, we ran into a guy in the Isabella Lake parking lot and told him the story of the wheeled-duckboat. He never heard anything about it even though stories like that spread like wildfire, hard to keep something like that quiet. He had, however, heard of moose hunters up north of Ferne Lake that shot a huge bull that same weekend that the wheeled-duckboat was in service. That party had canoed in from Perent River and shot he bull just north of Ferne, not far off the old road that came from the North Road. It was an excellent place to see moose activity back then. But then they had to get the bull into the canoe that was at least 3 blocks away, canoe across Ferne to about a 1 mile portage, paddle down Perent River and across Boga Lake, take the 30-some rod portage into Isabella Lake, cross the Isabella Lake and then portage up to the truck in the parking lot. If I recall correctly, they thought they had walked 22 miles on the portages getting the moose out.
In all those years since the first moose season in 1971, we saw some real characters dressed up as moose hunters. Once, I had gone up to Superstition Lake and was on my way back just west of Quadga Lake. I came across an older guy hunting for moose about 8 mi. from the truck! I asked what he was going to do if he shot one this far back and he told me "We've got a lot of young guys we can call up back in the Twin Cities." How'd YOU like to be on the other end of THAT call?
Another year we had gotten to the berm at Isabella North Road just after legal shooting hours. It was still pretty dark and we weren't going to shoot anything yet but started walking anyway. Here coming down the North Road were headlights from an ATV pulling a boat trailer. The road then was in very good shape and an ATV/boat trailer were completely possible to use, only illegal. No motorized or wheeled vehicles allowed. The guys were very surprised to see us, I think they figured we might be wardens. We told them we weren't but there was a warden that sniffed around this area much of the time and he'd love to find them in their current state of affairs. They had shot a moose up near Marathon Lake (5 mi. in) and had been hauling it in all night. We told them about the legal issue which they seemed to not know anything about.
I recall another incident, also at Marathon Lake in which a young hunter had shot 2 bulls by mistake. He supposedly shot 1 and thought he'd missed as a second one very near the first had gotten up and he also shot that one. Supposedly as the father related the story to us, both bulls had been bedded down very near each other. The father was on the way out to find a warden. If I also recall how the story ended, the wardens were convinced it was a mistake but the party had to dress both animals out and carry them out the 5 mi. They lost the moose but I don't recall any fines or confiscations being issued.
I was looking through some old photos of those days of yesteryear and came across a real jewel. Most moose hunters had good, well-thought out plans but others didn't have a clue.
The picture was taken by one of my bird hunting partners of our limit of grouse in a wheel barrow. The picture needs a beginning, so here we go. Back in the 70s there were 3 of us that would hunt together at times. On this particular day, one guy went up toward Insula/Hudson and myself and another guy went up toward Maniwaki Lake. When we got to the spot atop the hill where the Insula/Hudson Road left the North Road, there was a tent set up. It was about 9 am and 2 older-aged moose hunters were standing around a camp fire. They told us that further up the North Road were 2 younger guys from their party, pushing a wheel barrow with a flat bottom duck boat atop it! No kiddin' I could never make this up. The older guys were madder than hell at what these 2 younger guys were going to get them involved in should they get a moose back that far. Where they were camped it was already about 3 1/2 mi. back in. The young guys had a plan, they'd push this wheelbarrow/duckboat up to the first beaver pond and paddle across the pond with them and the wheelbarrow in the boat. Getting to the other side they'd just start pushing the wheel barrow with the boat atop it once again until they got to the next pond. We walked around at least 3-4 beaver ponds and never saw them. There was a large pond (long straight stretch, of corduroy) just to south where a road branched off the North Road and went east toward Nuthatch and Ferne Lakes, and we found the duck boat on one end and the wheelbarrow on the other. Evidently they had enough of this foolishness at this point. We had gone up to Maniwaki and never saw them, on the way back we put our limit of grouse in the wheelbarrow just for a picture. I told my partner, we need a picture of this, we can't pass this up. On our way back the 2 older guys were gone somewhere, maybe had enough of all this and packed up their gear and went home for all we knew. On top of it all the wheelbarrow was illegal in the BW, that area was not authorized for wheeled transportation. We told the old guys this earlier that morning and they just shrugged their shoulders. I never heard what happened here, whether or not they got a moose, I hope not. It might've killed the older guys.A couple of weeks later, we ran into a guy in the Isabella Lake parking lot and told him the story of the wheeled-duckboat. He never heard anything about it even though stories like that spread like wildfire, hard to keep something like that quiet. He had, however, heard of moose hunters up north of Ferne Lake that shot a huge bull that same weekend that the wheeled-duckboat was in service. That party had canoed in from Perent River and shot he bull just north of Ferne, not far off the old road that came from the North Road. It was an excellent place to see moose activity back then. But then they had to get the bull into the canoe that was at least 3 blocks away, canoe across Ferne to about a 1 mile portage, paddle down Perent River and across Boga Lake, take the 30-some rod portage into Isabella Lake, cross the Isabella Lake and then portage up to the truck in the parking lot. If I recall correctly, they thought they had walked 22 miles on the portages getting the moose out.
In all those years since the first moose season in 1971, we saw some real characters dressed up as moose hunters. Once, I had gone up to Superstition Lake and was on my way back just west of Quadga Lake. I came across an older guy hunting for moose about 8 mi. from the truck! I asked what he was going to do if he shot one this far back and he told me "We've got a lot of young guys we can call up back in the Twin Cities." How'd YOU like to be on the other end of THAT call?
Another year we had gotten to the berm at Isabella North Road just after legal shooting hours. It was still pretty dark and we weren't going to shoot anything yet but started walking anyway. Here coming down the North Road were headlights from an ATV pulling a boat trailer. The road then was in very good shape and an ATV/boat trailer were completely possible to use, only illegal. No motorized or wheeled vehicles allowed. The guys were very surprised to see us, I think they figured we might be wardens. We told them we weren't but there was a warden that sniffed around this area much of the time and he'd love to find them in their current state of affairs. They had shot a moose up near Marathon Lake (5 mi. in) and had been hauling it in all night. We told them about the legal issue which they seemed to not know anything about.
I recall another incident, also at Marathon Lake in which a young hunter had shot 2 bulls by mistake. He supposedly shot 1 and thought he'd missed as a second one very near the first had gotten up and he also shot that one. Supposedly as the father related the story to us, both bulls had been bedded down very near each other. The father was on the way out to find a warden. If I also recall how the story ended, the wardens were convinced it was a mistake but the party had to dress both animals out and carry them out the 5 mi. They lost the moose but I don't recall any fines or confiscations being issued.
04/01/2019 02:22PM
LindenTree3: "JackpineJim: "Moosepatrol: " A link about Forest Center.|
Did you know my great grand parents? Dorothy and clarence bildeaux?
The link is from Ely Echo archives page, it is best viewed in full screen. There is also a search function, although not the best search engine. Also try Sawbill landing or Winton, etc ….. if looking for other logging info."
My Mom kept a magazine from 1963 with a couple of good articles about Forest Center.
You'll have to expand the photos to read the articles.
The horse was named Colonel - best horse ever!, I was told.
I worked with Oliver Thums (mentioned in the article) in the early 2,000's.
I ran the fire engine out of the USFS Isabella Work Station, Ollie was a SCEP employee.
Senior Citizen Employment Program. I also worked with a few other past people who lived at Forest Center.
I believe the building housing the current Stoney River Cafe in Isabella was moved from Sawbill Landing. A community similar to Forest Center."
06/01/2021 01:15PM
Jackpine,
I found an old map with the portage from Perent to Kawishiwi Lake marked on it. Claims the portage to be 582 rods................let's see..........if I recall correctly that's 320 rods/mi. making it around 1 3/4 mi. long. A friend that worked for Leustek Logging out of Ely back in the late 60s/early 70s was working on the Isabella East Road then, very near the end by Kawishiwi Lake. The East Road ran east from Forest Center and crossed the road (FR 354) going up to Kawishiwi Lake just below the lake itself then continued on up north to Polly Lake, Malberg Lake, etc. He happened to be working on a skidder when he saw a woman approach him, can't recall for sure now if she was just on a hike or had a canoe. But she was looking for the portage from Perent to Kawishiwi. The guy that was telling me the story was very surprised that this woman appeared pretty much out of nowhere and claimed to be looking for this portage. There was no evidence of any portage around that he could see nor was he told of any. I really don't think anyone knew about this portage the way it sounded and was well overgrown back then already. The guy got off the skidder and offered to help look but couldn't find any trail at all. Besides, where they were logging the area was all criss-crossed with tops and any trail that was there before would be impossible to find at this time. But she kept on going and never came back so he assumed she found what she was looking for.
I found an old map with the portage from Perent to Kawishiwi Lake marked on it. Claims the portage to be 582 rods................let's see..........if I recall correctly that's 320 rods/mi. making it around 1 3/4 mi. long. A friend that worked for Leustek Logging out of Ely back in the late 60s/early 70s was working on the Isabella East Road then, very near the end by Kawishiwi Lake. The East Road ran east from Forest Center and crossed the road (FR 354) going up to Kawishiwi Lake just below the lake itself then continued on up north to Polly Lake, Malberg Lake, etc. He happened to be working on a skidder when he saw a woman approach him, can't recall for sure now if she was just on a hike or had a canoe. But she was looking for the portage from Perent to Kawishiwi. The guy that was telling me the story was very surprised that this woman appeared pretty much out of nowhere and claimed to be looking for this portage. There was no evidence of any portage around that he could see nor was he told of any. I really don't think anyone knew about this portage the way it sounded and was well overgrown back then already. The guy got off the skidder and offered to help look but couldn't find any trail at all. Besides, where they were logging the area was all criss-crossed with tops and any trail that was there before would be impossible to find at this time. But she kept on going and never came back so he assumed she found what she was looking for.
06/01/2021 03:20PM
As long as I'm at it, here's another interesting post or at least I thought so. Earlier, I mentioned of my original hunting partner and myself with our stories back then. As naive as we were, we thought the roads that Tomahawk had put in back in the 50s/60s would always be there. When we first started grouse hunting there in the early 70s, the roads were in excellent shape, still driveable with a car, even better with a truck. For a long time they remained this way until finally they began to close in. Trees, brush, grasses all began to crowd the old roads and soon we both realized that Mother Nature was reclaiming what was hers. During more than one hunting trip, we'd walk from Forest Center up to Maniwaki Creek, we would've gone further yet but a culvert had been taken out there on the North Road and was pretty impassable as far as we could see. Besides, by that time our feet were already sore and we had to make it back, about a 20 mi. round trip. The boots back then were no comparison to the excellent boots available today.The North Road still remained in fair shape up to the fork that led off to the east toward Nuthatch Lake then down to Ferne Lake and then back to the North Road. We always referred to that as the Ferne Loop and was some of the finest ruffed grouse country. That portion of the North road that continued northward up to Maniwaki from that fork really began to grow in and beaver also made their presence. I recall lots of water running down the road after that fork and alders were coming in fast, the road was disappearing quickly when my hunting partner asked me if I wanted to take one last walk up to Maniwaki Creek before we could no longer do that. It was going to be a hot July day and I chose not to go. He did go and found his way all the way to Maniwaki Creek one last time. He showed me many pictures that he had taken of that last trip but the the most remarkable one was the one I've included here. Sometime from when we were there last in the early 70s and his trip in the later 80s, someone had been there and left their initials "T.K." with large rocks on the North Road and only feet from the creek. It would be interesting to find out if anyone ever makes it to that spot again to see if the rocks are still there. I imagine they're all overgrown with grasses, alders and even covered with windfalls. I'm assuming they'd be very difficult to find. 
09/26/2021 07:26AM
Loren was a soft-spoken gentleman, great person like his dad. The apple didn't fall far from the tree there. If I remember correctly, Loren was with the engineers at the FS in Ely, could be wrong about that. I had heard that he transferred to Aurora Ranger District after that but was never sure about that. I did hear, from a pretty reliable source, that he was recently working at he J & L Hardware store in Ely, just helping out. "Knobby" Norby, that I mentioned before as on one of the rock-raking crews up near Ferne Lake in 1967, worked at the Ace Hardware store in Ely (might not be doing that anymore), also just helping out. Both of those guys were great additions to both stores, I'm sure. Very knowledgeable.
Pinetree, where did your brother play basketball with Loren?
Pinetree, where did your brother play basketball with Loren?
09/26/2021 07:44AM
In an earlier email I said I had been going through piles of old photos I had taken when I first began grouse hunting the roads in 1971 that Tomahawk Timber Co. had put in back in the 1940s-early 1960s that later became the Pow Wow Trail system. These photos had no places or dates written on them because I figured I would never forget where or when they were taken. Sure. Well, now I'm not sure anymore but I will send the photos to the best of my recollection where and when they might have occurred. I tried sending the photos earlier but something was not working correctly that seems to be working correctly today. Let's see if I can keep it working, I have my fingers crossed.
Back when my hunting partner and I began hunting north and east of Isabella Lake, the roads were in excellent shape, actually they were in better shape than the Tomahawk Road was itself with all its graveled corduroy and potholes. The Isabella North Road and Isabella East Road were both closed to vehicle traffic but you could walk in there until you wore your boots out, which we came close to doing many times. The grouse hunting during the early 70s was phenomenal, the best I have ever seen it. I wouldn't take long to get a limit, after that we just walked to see how many moose we could see. The moose were there for sure, we'd see 3-4 each trip on average, once we saw 6. Some incredible bulls that were near Alaskan-Yukon in size. I guess the most remarkable part of the whole scenario was how great shape the roads were in. When we first hunted there, the main North and East haul roads were gravel from shoulder to shoulder and wide enough for 2 logging trucks to pass each other! We naively thought the roads would always be that way but then saw Mother nature begin to fill the void. Mother nature hates voids and the vegetation on the sides of the roads began to grow in. I never took any pictures of the roads in those earliest of years but then began to take pictures of just the roads as they began to grow in. For some reason I thought I'd like to look back at those someday and am glad I did. I hope to show some of you that may be interested how those roads transgressed into trails then nothing at all.
The image here shows the vegetation creeping in from the shoulders but was still wide enough for 2 trucks to pass. When the photo was taken, probably around 1974 or so, the road showed only tire traffic in one lane from minor logging that was still going on and from wolf trackers.
Hope you find this as intersting as I do, will send more in another posting.
Hope
Back when my hunting partner and I began hunting north and east of Isabella Lake, the roads were in excellent shape, actually they were in better shape than the Tomahawk Road was itself with all its graveled corduroy and potholes. The Isabella North Road and Isabella East Road were both closed to vehicle traffic but you could walk in there until you wore your boots out, which we came close to doing many times. The grouse hunting during the early 70s was phenomenal, the best I have ever seen it. I wouldn't take long to get a limit, after that we just walked to see how many moose we could see. The moose were there for sure, we'd see 3-4 each trip on average, once we saw 6. Some incredible bulls that were near Alaskan-Yukon in size. I guess the most remarkable part of the whole scenario was how great shape the roads were in. When we first hunted there, the main North and East haul roads were gravel from shoulder to shoulder and wide enough for 2 logging trucks to pass each other! We naively thought the roads would always be that way but then saw Mother nature begin to fill the void. Mother nature hates voids and the vegetation on the sides of the roads began to grow in. I never took any pictures of the roads in those earliest of years but then began to take pictures of just the roads as they began to grow in. For some reason I thought I'd like to look back at those someday and am glad I did. I hope to show some of you that may be interested how those roads transgressed into trails then nothing at all.
The image here shows the vegetation creeping in from the shoulders but was still wide enough for 2 trucks to pass. When the photo was taken, probably around 1974 or so, the road showed only tire traffic in one lane from minor logging that was still going on and from wolf trackers.
Hope you find this as intersting as I do, will send more in another posting.
Hope
09/26/2021 08:32AM
That image in the previous posting I believe was on the Isabella North Road just after the Quadga Fork as we referred to it. As the North Road crossed Isabella River it went nearly straight north for about 2 1/2 - 3 miles until the another road left to the west toward Quadga Lake. It was just after this intersection that I believe this image was taken. 
This next photo shows how the Isabella North Road had grown in to only a single lane of traffic. Taken in the late 70s, the wolf trackers were still using the road but all logging had ceased. The setting here is where the north road goes eastwardly after the Quadga intersection and this location is just after another intersection where another road went NW up to Insula/Hudson Lakes. 
The setting here is the Isabella East Road nearing Perent River. I'm guessing the year might be around 1985 or so, notice how the brush and trees are growing in from the sides and now there is vegetation in the center of the road itself. The east road was the last road for logging operations and I believe that ceased around 1974-74.
I'll post more later if I'm not boring anyone............:-)
This next photo shows how the Isabella North Road had grown in to only a single lane of traffic. Taken in the late 70s, the wolf trackers were still using the road but all logging had ceased. The setting here is where the north road goes eastwardly after the Quadga intersection and this location is just after another intersection where another road went NW up to Insula/Hudson Lakes. 
The setting here is the Isabella East Road nearing Perent River. I'm guessing the year might be around 1985 or so, notice how the brush and trees are growing in from the sides and now there is vegetation in the center of the road itself. The east road was the last road for logging operations and I believe that ceased around 1974-74.I'll post more later if I'm not boring anyone............:-)
09/26/2021 11:00AM
OK Airmorse, you asked for it. Glad you enjoy it as much as I recall those times through the images I've dug up:-) 
This image was taken on the Isabella East Road, just beyond Tomahawk Lake. Trees and brush off the road are really growing in and brush starting to fill the center of the road. It wasn't far from this exact spot where I went off the road once, about 10' back in to pick up a grouse I had shot when I stepped on something that moved and made a hollow, metallic noise. Really eerie when you're not expecting the ground to move and make noise after you step on it. Turned out it was the hood of a red car that I was on top of, buried there in its final resting place. I've asked so many people since I found that car that had a connection to that area and worked in it if they ever knew of the owner of that red car, so far no luck but I haven't given up yet. 
Next image is also up on the East Road but very near Chipmunk Creek. The partial road disappears to a mere trail around 1995 or so.
This next image is up off the Isabella North Road, more specifically on the road that ran below Insula Lake. This photo is interesting because it shows the road disappearing into a mere trail then not even that. You had to be very knowledgeable of this area if you were going to walk it. Since I had been walking these roads since 1971, I watched the roads grow over more each year so when they were disappearing into trails I always knew where I was. This photo was taken about a year or two (1999 or 2000) before a hiker was lost in that very area for 8 days. If you haven't read the book "Lost in the Wild" by Cary Griffith you should put that on your bucket list. Mr. Griffith tells a very well-written story about the hiker who was lost from this very trail, maybe close to this very spot. Mr. Griffith describes it so well in the hiker's words: the trail is easy to follow then disappears only to reappear before it disappears once again. Had the hiker looked up to the tree line he would've seen the road cut though the trees but he didn't.
More later..........................
This image was taken on the Isabella East Road, just beyond Tomahawk Lake. Trees and brush off the road are really growing in and brush starting to fill the center of the road. It wasn't far from this exact spot where I went off the road once, about 10' back in to pick up a grouse I had shot when I stepped on something that moved and made a hollow, metallic noise. Really eerie when you're not expecting the ground to move and make noise after you step on it. Turned out it was the hood of a red car that I was on top of, buried there in its final resting place. I've asked so many people since I found that car that had a connection to that area and worked in it if they ever knew of the owner of that red car, so far no luck but I haven't given up yet. 
Next image is also up on the East Road but very near Chipmunk Creek. The partial road disappears to a mere trail around 1995 or so.This next image is up off the Isabella North Road, more specifically on the road that ran below Insula Lake. This photo is interesting because it shows the road disappearing into a mere trail then not even that. You had to be very knowledgeable of this area if you were going to walk it. Since I had been walking these roads since 1971, I watched the roads grow over more each year so when they were disappearing into trails I always knew where I was. This photo was taken about a year or two (1999 or 2000) before a hiker was lost in that very area for 8 days. If you haven't read the book "Lost in the Wild" by Cary Griffith you should put that on your bucket list. Mr. Griffith tells a very well-written story about the hiker who was lost from this very trail, maybe close to this very spot. Mr. Griffith describes it so well in the hiker's words: the trail is easy to follow then disappears only to reappear before it disappears once again. Had the hiker looked up to the tree line he would've seen the road cut though the trees but he didn't.
More later..........................
09/26/2021 11:42AM
I just found 2 more images of the area where the hiker was lost below Insula Lake on his way to Arrow Lakes to the east. This was the abandoned portion of the Old Pow Wow Trail 
The road appear=s to disappear but if you look above you can see the road cut through the tree line. This road cut was usually very visible even if the trail was hard to follow. 
This next image was taken on the Quadga road, very near Quadga lake. The road descended down a hill along a big sand pit, at the bottom of the hill there was a huge juniper bush on the north side of the road. I remember a 5 gallon pail there once along with chrome trim from a car. I was in the Happy Wanderer once and asked Jule Foster, the owner, about the pit. He said after they used the gravel from the pit to build the road there were homes that went up there, built right into the side of the pit and stacked all the way to the top of the pit. Must've been quite a sight! He said it was called Quadga Village and there were more buildings up over the top of the pit to the north as well. It was a great area to find both ruff and spruce grouse. I remember coming across an old shovel blade and sidewalk ice chipper back in there from the days when folks lived there. Jule also said going further west, right where the present campsite was for Campfire Lake (Campfire Lake was just off the road to the north) in that huge grassy field, were the Quadga Horse Barns.
The last photo here is the intersection on the Isabella North Road where the Quadga Road goes off to the west. I've got a picture here of my two hunting partners after the Rice lake Fire of 1976 swept through the area. The picture might've been taken 2 or 3 years later.
The road appear=s to disappear but if you look above you can see the road cut through the tree line. This road cut was usually very visible even if the trail was hard to follow. 
This next image was taken on the Quadga road, very near Quadga lake. The road descended down a hill along a big sand pit, at the bottom of the hill there was a huge juniper bush on the north side of the road. I remember a 5 gallon pail there once along with chrome trim from a car. I was in the Happy Wanderer once and asked Jule Foster, the owner, about the pit. He said after they used the gravel from the pit to build the road there were homes that went up there, built right into the side of the pit and stacked all the way to the top of the pit. Must've been quite a sight! He said it was called Quadga Village and there were more buildings up over the top of the pit to the north as well. It was a great area to find both ruff and spruce grouse. I remember coming across an old shovel blade and sidewalk ice chipper back in there from the days when folks lived there. Jule also said going further west, right where the present campsite was for Campfire Lake (Campfire Lake was just off the road to the north) in that huge grassy field, were the Quadga Horse Barns.
The last photo here is the intersection on the Isabella North Road where the Quadga Road goes off to the west. I've got a picture here of my two hunting partners after the Rice lake Fire of 1976 swept through the area. The picture might've been taken 2 or 3 years later.
02/16/2023 09:06AM
JackpineJim:
Linden, Thanks for arranging the meeting with the Forest Service work station crew and fixing us up with a great campsite. Jay and I had a blast camping and bushwhacking with you and we both look forward to the next adventure up in the woods - still a couple locations to search for the bomber.
By the way, We just returned from canoeing the Phoebe and Louse rivers and had a blast bushwhacking to Camp 4 (Polly Camp), the Boze Camp and Malberg Fire Tower site - lots of artifacts found, including a car! I seem to recall a tale about a D6 Caterpillar left behind up there, that would be fun to find :)
We also ran across a group of Outward Bound folks that were going to do the Kawishiwi to Parent bushwhack portage, I would have loved to tag along on that one ;)
Jim
"
For some reason I thought I had already posted this photo, but I guess not. This photo of Forest Center at Isabella Lake is posted on the wall of the Isabella Work Center. Jackpine Jim's uncle used to live at Forest Center and is in some of the photos. 2nd pic is when I was camping with Jackpinejim and his friend Jay on Eighteen Lake near Isabella. JPJ is on the right.
02/16/2023 09:26AM
LindenTree: "JackpineJim:
Linden, Thanks for arranging the meeting with the Forest Service work station crew and fixing us up with a great campsite. Jay and I had a blast camping and bushwhacking with you and we both look forward to the next adventure up in the woods - still a couple locations to search for the bomber.
By the way, We just returned from canoeing the Phoebe and Louse rivers and had a blast bushwhacking to Camp 4 (Polly Camp), the Boze Camp and Malberg Fire Tower site - lots of artifacts found, including a car! I seem to recall a tale about a D6 Caterpillar left behind up there, that would be fun to find :)
We also ran across a group of Outward Bound folks that were going to do the Kawishiwi to Parent bushwhack portage, I would have loved to tag along on that one ;)
Jim
"
For some reason I thought I had already posted this photo, but I guess not. This photo of Forest Center at Isabella Lake is posted on the wall of the Isabella Work Center. Jackpine Jim's uncle used to live at Forest Center and is in some of the photos. 2nd pic is when I was camping with Jackpinejim and his friend Jay on Eighteen Lake near Isabella. JPJ is on the right.
"
Thanks, Linden-Love those photos. I just can't believe no one ever wrote a book on the Isabella center.
02/16/2023 10:49AM
TuscaroraBorealis, Your picture of the walking bridge at Isabella River prompted me to find images I had of its predecessor. When Tomahawk Timber Co. put in the Isabella North Road (later becoming part of the Pow Wow trail system) back in the 40s-50s, the spot where Isabella River left Isabella Lake and crossed the road was the area of 3 huge culverts. Some great rock work that was a real work of art surrounded each of the culverts but was later all dug out in 1989 and replaced by the bridge.
02/16/2023 01:10PM
Tomahawk: "
Attempting to send an image o the pulpyards and "The Hill" at the end of the tracks. This is where the current parking lot is located for Isabella Lake and the Pow Wow Trail. The Townsite is located just to the south and just off the Tomahawk Road"
I never realised Forest Center landing was so close to Isabella Lake, that area is where the trail to lake goes to the lake as you walk through that plantation of Red Pine that mostly survived the Pagami Fire and is within the present day wilderness..
There are still some cement footings up on that hill.
02/16/2023 03:02PM
This arial photo of Forest Center shows perspective on the layout of the town circa 1950. This must have been shortly after the railroad was put in as there is no pulpwood stacked in the woodyard.
Forest Center expanded toward the bottom and right of this photo and many buildings were added. I attended first grade in the old schoolhouse (the round topped building on farthest right)
I remember the woodyard being full of spruce and jackpine year around
Forest Center expanded toward the bottom and right of this photo and many buildings were added. I attended first grade in the old schoolhouse (the round topped building on farthest right)
I remember the woodyard being full of spruce and jackpine year around
02/16/2023 05:00PM
JackpineJim: "This arial photo of Forest Center shows perspective on the layout of the town circa 1950. This must have been shortly after the railroad was put in as there is no pulpwood stacked in the woodyard.
Forest Center expanded toward the bottom and right of this photo and many buildings were added. I attended first grade in the old schoolhouse (the round topped building on farthest right)
I remember the woodyard being full of spruce and jackpine year around
Was there much aspen or popular present?
02/16/2023 07:43PM
Pinetree: "JackpineJim: "This arial photo of Forest Center shows perspective on the layout of the town circa 1950. This must have been shortly after the railroad was put in as there is no pulpwood stacked in the woodyard.
Forest Center expanded toward the bottom and right of this photo and many buildings were added. I attended first grade in the old schoolhouse (the round topped building on farthest right)
I remember the woodyard being full of spruce and jackpine year around
Was there much aspen or popular present?"
Pinetree, There was lots of poplar around but I don't recall my dad ever cutting any until we moved to Wisconsin.
02/16/2023 08:09PM
gravelroad: "I have a long-term (so far unrequited) plan to construct a diorama depicting the operations of the Split Rock Lumber Company at the mouth of its eponymous river. Along the way, I acquired this book, which I can recommend without reservation to you history buffs interested in the topic:
Minnesota Logging Railroads
However, it does not include any info about Forest Center. I did find this nugget in a 1968 UMD master's thesis written by Robert Balach:
"The Duluth and Iron Range Railroad, in 1910, built the Eastern Mesaba Branch from the Mesaba Station, easterly to the Dunka River primarily to service the logging industry. This extension also serviced Argo Township wherein is located the present day taconite operations of the Reserve Mining Company at Babbitt.
A History of the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railroad "
Gravelroad,
The Tomahawk company started operating in the area between Babbitt and Forest Center in the early 1940's prior to the larger timber sale of 1945 that included a swath of what is now BWCA. My dad moved up to Tomahawk's Camp 1 with his aunt and uncle in the summer of 1943. Camp 1 was located on the rail line near Dunka Creek very close to Babbitt, where the Black Iron Rubber Company now has some buildings. You can see the old rail line in this satellite photo,
!$/aPicture from "Range Facts, January 27, 1949, pictoral supplement
This picture of Camp 1 is on the wall of the Isabella Ranger Station. LindenTree arranged access for me to obtain this and other photos - Thanks Lindy! Hope to see you this summer.
02/16/2023 08:21PM
Thanks for sharing the DM&IR pdf. This map was in there. The dot titled JC WH - I think this was the JC Whitney sawmill. Later purchased by Campbells and then ultimately by Hedstroms. Hedstroms has the sawmill off the gunflint and for a period of time in the 90's owned this one as well. I worked there from 1996 to 1999 while attending college in Duluth. I worked the night shift in the sawmill during the summers and weekend security during the school year.
Hedstroms closed down operations at the Two Harbors facility sometime in either 2000 or 2001. The RR tracks that run right through the back yard of that sawmill are still in operation.
02/17/2023 07:22AM
ellahallely: "Do you have any of the Basswood area? Thanks
Trygg map of area. I have others of NE Minnesota I can upload if anyone wants to see them."
02/17/2023 07:48AM
Welcome back Jackpine, it's been a while. Good to hear from you again and I have also found an image of the pulpyards. Interesting in this picture are the small Norways planted on the slope of "The Hill". They must've just been planted and now some are over 50' tall. Some are dead from the fire but it appears as though some have survived. Also a picture of the Bucyrus(sp.?) Erie crane that was used to load the rail cars at the landing as well as loading trucks out in the bush. The crane in the colored picture is located near Tomahawk's truck garage on top of "The Hill" where the office was located. That garage was still there not so many years ago, some of you will probably remember it. It was located where the Isabella East Road left Forest Center and went off toward Kawishiwi and Perent Lakes. 
02/18/2023 11:01AM
Tomahawk: "Yes, that road is the former rail bed for the rail line that came from Kelly Landing and Sawbill Landing. I believe the rail's were pulled out in the late 70s. After Island River it continued east toward Forest Center where it ended in the pulpyard there. There must've been at least 5 spurs that the line split up into where it ended in the pulpyard . Anyone recall how many spurs there were in the pulpyard at Forest Center? If you wander north beyond the current parking lot through what was the old pulpyard you can still see the raised rail beds back in there."
I have driven that old railroad bed the entire way from Forest Center to Cty Hwy 15 south of White Pine, you still have to be careful about cutting a tire on the sharp rocks that were used for the RR grade and are now used as the gravel road/rail bed. I still use the road/RR grade from hwy 15 to Hwy 1 at the section house as a short cut from Two Harbors to Isabella, it shaves off about ten miles rather that taking Hwy 2 all the way to hwy 1. Us locals called it the Stoney River Forest Grade. The bridge was replaced over the RR tracks from one lane that was the old original trestle, to a two lane bridge about 10 years ago in that area.
First pic is of the RR trestle over the Island River a couple miles before Forest Center. 2nd pic is the RR grade on the 379 road a couple miles south of the Tomahawk Rd at the canoe put in on the Island River.
02/18/2023 11:49AM
LindenTree: "Tomahawk: "Yes, that road is the former rail bed for the rail line that came from Kelly Landing and Sawbill Landing. I believe the rail's were pulled out in the late 70s. After Island River it continued east toward Forest Center where it ended in the pulpyard there. There must've been at least 5 spurs that the line split up into where it ended in the pulpyard . Anyone recall how many spurs there were in the pulpyard at Forest Center? If you wander north beyond the current parking lot through what was the old pulpyard you can still see the raised rail beds back in there."
I have driven that old railroad bed the entire way from Forest Center to Cty Hwy 15 south of White Pine, you still have to be careful about cutting a tire on the sharp rocks that were used for the RR grade and are now used as the gravel road/rail bed. I still use the road/RR grade from hwy 15 to Hwy 1 at the section house as a short cut from Two Harbors to Isabella, it shaves off about ten miles rather that taking Hwy 2 all the way to hwy 1. Us locals called it the Stoney River Forest Grade. The bridge was replaced over the RR tracks from one lane that was the old original trestle, to a two lane bridge about 10 years ago in that area.
First pic is of the RR trestle over the Island River a couple miles before Forest Center. 2nd pic is the RR grade on the 379 road a couple miles south of the Tomahawk Rd at the canoe put in on the Island River.
"
Yes, I got a flat tire there just after an 8-inch snowstorm, crawling underneath to get the spare tire loose, getting soaking wet.
02/19/2023 08:26PM
Back to my story:
My dad, Jim Lundberg, moved up to “The Woods” to live with his aunt Tress and uncle Ted Lundberg in 1943, when he was 8 years old. They lived in several Tomahawk Timber Company camps, both main camps such as Camp 1 near Babbitt, and Camp 2, just southeast of the intersection of the Tomahawk Road and U.S. Highway 1, and a couple small outpost camps on the Kelly Loop called Indian Camp and Duck Creek Camp, and another small camp east of the little Isabella River called Bear Lake Camp.
They were living in Bear Lake Camp at the end of the WWII, and in 1946 moved out to a camp at the intersection of the Tomahawk Road and FS387, known as Smithville. That camp was called Smithville because there were several members of the Smith Family living there at the time. Interestingly, they called the Tomahawk Road “The Highway”.
Dad went to grade school Camp 1, and in Camp 2 when they lived east of Highway 1 and 6th – 8th grade in Babbitt as the Camp 1 school didn’t teach the upper grades.
Here is a picture of Camp 2. Those of you who bird hunt this area have undoubtedly walked the road up that poplar ridge in the center of this photo :)
After finishing middle school in 1949, Dad moved back to Rhinelander, WI to go to high school stayed in Wisconsin through the high school years. He moved back up to The Woods in 1953, the year he finished high school and turned 18.
At the end of 1948, railroad tracks were laid to Lake Isabella and construction began on Forest Center (Camp 3), on the southern shore of Lake Isabella. In the 4 years Dad was in high school, (1949 -1953), Tomahawk Timber Company had established Forest Center as a thriving community and logging hub, and had pushed several high-quality roads into the Superior Roadless Primitive Area (SRPA).
The aptly named North Road (FS151 on some maps) left the Tomahawk Road at Forest Center, crossed the railroad landing, at what is today the parking lot for the Powwow Trail, north of Lake Isabella and turned east to Polly Lake. They established Camp 4 on the Phoebe River at the east end of the portage from Polly Lake. The road continued north across the Louse River and past the far northeast part of Malberg Lake, very near the BWCA campsite on the Kawashiwi river. A branch of the road continued north and ended very near Kivaniva Lake. Another small camp, Boze Camp, was located on this road just south of where it crossed the Louse River.
Tomahawk Timber Company also pushed the East Road from Forest Center, past Phoebe Lake and around the east side of Kawishiwi Lake. This piece of a 1994 USGS map shows the location of these and other main roads in the area.
(I had to lower the resolution of the map to upload it)
!$/a
My dad, Jim Lundberg, moved up to “The Woods” to live with his aunt Tress and uncle Ted Lundberg in 1943, when he was 8 years old. They lived in several Tomahawk Timber Company camps, both main camps such as Camp 1 near Babbitt, and Camp 2, just southeast of the intersection of the Tomahawk Road and U.S. Highway 1, and a couple small outpost camps on the Kelly Loop called Indian Camp and Duck Creek Camp, and another small camp east of the little Isabella River called Bear Lake Camp.
They were living in Bear Lake Camp at the end of the WWII, and in 1946 moved out to a camp at the intersection of the Tomahawk Road and FS387, known as Smithville. That camp was called Smithville because there were several members of the Smith Family living there at the time. Interestingly, they called the Tomahawk Road “The Highway”.
Dad went to grade school Camp 1, and in Camp 2 when they lived east of Highway 1 and 6th – 8th grade in Babbitt as the Camp 1 school didn’t teach the upper grades.
Here is a picture of Camp 2. Those of you who bird hunt this area have undoubtedly walked the road up that poplar ridge in the center of this photo :)
After finishing middle school in 1949, Dad moved back to Rhinelander, WI to go to high school stayed in Wisconsin through the high school years. He moved back up to The Woods in 1953, the year he finished high school and turned 18.
At the end of 1948, railroad tracks were laid to Lake Isabella and construction began on Forest Center (Camp 3), on the southern shore of Lake Isabella. In the 4 years Dad was in high school, (1949 -1953), Tomahawk Timber Company had established Forest Center as a thriving community and logging hub, and had pushed several high-quality roads into the Superior Roadless Primitive Area (SRPA).
The aptly named North Road (FS151 on some maps) left the Tomahawk Road at Forest Center, crossed the railroad landing, at what is today the parking lot for the Powwow Trail, north of Lake Isabella and turned east to Polly Lake. They established Camp 4 on the Phoebe River at the east end of the portage from Polly Lake. The road continued north across the Louse River and past the far northeast part of Malberg Lake, very near the BWCA campsite on the Kawashiwi river. A branch of the road continued north and ended very near Kivaniva Lake. Another small camp, Boze Camp, was located on this road just south of where it crossed the Louse River.
Tomahawk Timber Company also pushed the East Road from Forest Center, past Phoebe Lake and around the east side of Kawishiwi Lake. This piece of a 1994 USGS map shows the location of these and other main roads in the area.
(I had to lower the resolution of the map to upload it)
!$/a
02/22/2023 09:46AM
JackpineJim: "I have some information you folks will surely be interested in concerning the logging the Tomahawk Timber Company did around up as far as Kivaniva Lake. The story is much too long to put in one post so I'll break it into several posts. I'll preface the tale by sharing this short exerpt from a write-up of my first canoe trip From Kawishiwi Lake to our base camp at the Malberg Rapids in 1967.
The plan for that day was to canoe up to Boze Lake, which was a favorite fishing lake for Bob Lundberg, who lived in a small logging camp to the east of Boze Lake, and he logged strips near Boze and south of Frond Lake and just east of the shore of Malberg Lake.
In 1953, when Dad graduated from high school, he hired on with the Tomahawk Timber Company and moved up and lived in that camp in a shack with Bob for a time until he got situated.
As Dad told it: “So I hired on, worked and stayed in a shack with Bob, got a horse, etcetera. Put in a miserable winter. I used a cross-cut saw first, or a bow saw. Those old chain saws weren't what they are in this day and age.”
Anyway, the whole crew packed up their fishing gear and we struck out for the Louse River and Boze Lake. Bob was most familiar with this area from his logging days and he and Russel led the trek. The other canoes followed, and our canoe bringing up the rear.
Bob logged just off the east shore of Malberg Lake back in the early ‘50s and gestured at the tree-line a couple hundred feet off the shore. Bob also showed us the gravel road-bed that they would drive across the Louse River just a couple hundred feet up from where it empties into Malberg.
I remember vividly rather intimate and wild-looking country that the Louse passed through, and especially, the narrow channel between the black granite rocks to west of Frond Lake.
As we rounded into Frond Lake, we could see three of the canoes had pulled up to the southwest shore of Frond and the guys were up in the woods. There wasn’t enough space for us to pull up our canoes, so we just floated offshore and waited for them. I asked what they were doing and one of them said they were looking for a giant beaver dam that Bob remembered from his time logging in that area. Apparently, the beaver dam was notable enough that Bob thought it important to show the fellas.
As a curious soon-to-be 12-year-old kid, I wanted to get out and see the beaver dam myself but there wasn’t enough room to pull up another canoe. When they guys came out of the woods, they were talking about the impressive 10-foot-high beaver dam. They got in their canoes, pushed off, and we all headed for Boze.
We didn’t get to examine the beaver dam for ourselves. I guess Dad had already seen that beaver dam years ago and wanted to stay with the group and George didn’t seem very interested either. That episode stuck in my craw, as I wanted to see the big beaver dam. My memory of that is as clear as if it happened just yesterday.
We did the couple of portages into Boze Lake. There was a small green Duluth pack hanging high in a tree on the portage next to Boze but I didn’t notice any campsite near the pack and we saw no evidence that anyone was camped nearby.
We worked our way to the south of the lake, casting spoons and spinners toward shore. I remember the lake being perfectly calm and looking like a black mirror. There was a big beaver house in a bay on the eastern shore of Boze and Bob said he used to walk a short trail from a logging road and step out onto that beaver house to fish for bluegills.
We didn’t catch any fish in Boze, I don’t recall if any of the others caught any or not. And the return trip back to our camp on Malberg was uneventful.
For nearly 60 years I've thought about what it must have been like to live in the logging camps of that area. Looking at the older vintage McKenzie maps there were dotted lines marked, indicating where some of the old roads or trails were, but the newer maps I've seen of the area don't show the roads at all.
Time slips away... All the people on that trip have passed away except me and my cousin, Timmy. In all the intervening years there wasn't the opportunity or inclination to dig further into that past history when those who lived it were around to tell their story. More on that later...
"
Thinking about the Koma Area
I’ve done canoe trips out of Kawishiwi Lake up to Koma and beyond at least 25 times since my first trip as a young boy in 1967. That area holds a special place in my heart because of the family history there. I’ve always noticed the obvious locations of the no-cut boundary along the shores of Koma, Malberg, Fishdance, and the Kawishiw River and others, as evidenced by the clear line of second growth poplar trees a few hundred feet from the shorelines. One place these cut lines are especially noticeable is along the western shoreline of Koma. If you look to the west and north as you enter Koma Lake from the south there is a distinct line of 70 year old poplar trees that was the exact place my Dad cut his “strip” in 1954. A strip was the area you were assigned to cut.
On our many canoe trips to his favorite lake, we’d bushwhack up to Fantail Lake, just beyond the cut line, to trap minnows for bait. (These first 3 pictures are from Fantail Lake where we trapped minnows. I've included a picture of the old fire tower lacated on a high point a short distance west of the Malberg Rapids. the old road to this fire tower went through the middle of this beaver pond between Fantail and Koma Lakes)
Dad showed me the location where he would walk down to Koma and fish from shore for dinner near a Jackpine tree that still stands on the west shore of the inlet today. He told me he built a small raft in that exact location out of some cedar logs and hay wire so he could pole out closer to the river channel to reach the hot spot. (last picture)
Our canoe trips were always focused on catching fish and finding the next honey hole – and catch fish and find honey holes we did! Enjoying the spectacular scenery was a big part of the trips as well but, from the seat of a canoe, the scenery is so all-encompassing that it tends to fade into the subconscious mind. After all, if it didn’t, you’d never get anywhere, or catch any fish.
About 5 years ago, my focus shifted away from fishing and humping to the next lake or honey-hole. This shift in focus coincided with Tomahawk (Ed) starting the “Jackpine Jim” thread. The back-and-forth conversations with Ed on this thread, by email, and in-person, sparked a friendship. I learned that Ed and I (and many of you) have canoed, walked, hunted and traveled the same roads, routes and trails. We’ve tipped beers and ‘shot the bull’ with some of the same folks or folks cut from the same cloth.
Importantly, Ed gave me a copy of a map that filled a gap in my knowledge of my family’s history working for the Tomahawk Timber Company in the Superior Roadless Primitive Area and BWCA. “The Map”, more than anything, changed the way I canoe trip. I now focus on bushwhacking into the woods to locate old logging roads and logging camp sites and find artifacts left behind by the woodsmen and women who cut and chopped and bulldozed and hauled a living for their families out of “The Woods”.
Tomahawk is the perfect handle for Ed.
02/22/2023 10:38AM
During my grouse hunts on the road that went west toward Quadga Lake, there was an nondesropt spot that had a large area of thre oat grass that Jackpine Jim is refeering to here. It was on the north side of the road and there was n excavation pit just opposite on the soth side of the road, almost always hedl water in it. There was also an old road that left the Quadga Road here to the soth. Maybe some of you hikers and hunters out there know this spot. In that field of oat grass I found a number of what I later found out were called =Drey bunks, They were made of aroiund 1/2" steel and were very heavy. This oak grass field was between Diana lake and Quadga, like I said it wa spretty nondescript but hat's the best info i can give you on this. It was quite a way from Diana and I remember seeing one of these leaning against a rtree about a block or so from the lake,.\. Some one ws awefully ambitious to get it that far and it stayed there for a few year before disappearing. I found out that drey bunks were used to anchor the sled runners together to hold logs that were pulled out in the winter. There must've been 9 or 10 of these drey bunkd in a pile ther in that field.
02/22/2023 10:52AM
That last posting of mine got sent by mistake before I had a chance to proofread it. Please excuse that. Jackpine Jim mentioned the oak grass fields, here's something else I stumbled across in one of those oak grass areas. 
I had been on a grouse hunt up on the old road that ran south of Insula Lake. Later the road became known as the North Loop of the Pow Wow Trail system, later abandoned altogether. I had gone by this area many times in the past 40 or so years that I had hunted the area but never knew this object was there. That particular day my eye caught something off the road, just north of the fork that went to Pose Lake. I walked in the 30 yds or so to see what it was and had no idea what I had found. I took a picture of it, showed it to a logger and he knew right away it was a set vice. He said loggers would put the back of the saw blade on a sawcut atop that pyramid shaped object. At first from a short distance I thought someone had left a solid, pyramid shaped object stuck in a stump. Closer inspection told me the pyramid was all wood as well as the stump it was sitting on. All carved out of the bottom of a standing tree.
I had been on a grouse hunt up on the old road that ran south of Insula Lake. Later the road became known as the North Loop of the Pow Wow Trail system, later abandoned altogether. I had gone by this area many times in the past 40 or so years that I had hunted the area but never knew this object was there. That particular day my eye caught something off the road, just north of the fork that went to Pose Lake. I walked in the 30 yds or so to see what it was and had no idea what I had found. I took a picture of it, showed it to a logger and he knew right away it was a set vice. He said loggers would put the back of the saw blade on a sawcut atop that pyramid shaped object. At first from a short distance I thought someone had left a solid, pyramid shaped object stuck in a stump. Closer inspection told me the pyramid was all wood as well as the stump it was sitting on. All carved out of the bottom of a standing tree.
02/23/2023 07:54AM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine, with the timeline you provided earlier of Tomahawk Timber's history in the area and now the dates that all the camps were operational is just great! Lot of time and effort involved and compiling this all. I had figured Boze and Camp 4 were running about the same time and also suspected Bugo Camp and Camp 5 were running about the same time, this verifies that. Your dad shutting the lights off at Calamity before he left mutst've beeeb a lonely place to live if you were the last ones there. One of the Hosey boys told me once he skidded one of the last loads of logs out ot there at the end. I think I'm recalling that correctly, do I have the right name here?
I never heard of these camps on the Kelley Loop. Where abouts was Indian and Duck Creek camps?"
Tomahawk,
Here are the locations of the two camps on the Kelly Loop. Both are on the north side of the road. Indian Camp was in a gravel pit and been disturbed by logging activity at least a couple of times over the years. The Duck Creek Camp is relatively undisturbed.
02/23/2023 02:37PM
Tomahawk: " I just thought about quite a story as I thought about the guy and his son that would stay in that old school bus across from the former pulpyards at Forest Center. I'd run into him often back on the old roads that Tomahawk put in, one day on the East Road was a particularly memorable one. We talked for quite a while that day, he was an interesting guy to listen to. When anyone started to talk about their days living in the Tomahawk camps I was all ears. That one particular day the topic of our conversation turned to moose antlers. He saw a small shed tied to my backpack that I found and he told me of a shed he had found. The East Road was one of the last roads that was logged on, after Tomahawk left there were still some areas of the contract that were being logged off by Leusteck Logging of Ely. About 1973 was the time I had seen a new road being put in off the East Road, just before Perent River, it ran off to the south. It was an interesting looking road and I walked it a few times but never saw a bird back in there on grouse hunts. To me, it didn't have enough cover for birds after being logged so recently. That cover coming up right to the edge of the road was the type of 'bird road' I always looked for. Well, the guy from the bus told me he had done very well back in there on that recently put in road. As a matter of fact, he said, he found the largest shed antler back in there he had ever come across. He hunted with a 20 ga. and he told me he put his shotgun alongside the antler and the antler was 4" longer than his gun! He said this was at least a mile and a half off the East Road and he stashed the antler well off the spur road he was on, on top of a rock ledge that he had to reach up to set the antler on. He was convinced no one else would ever stumble across it where he left it. He said the antler was too heavy to carry out and was trying to come up with a plan to get it out. He figured it weighed at least 75 lbs., maybe more. I told him about that pack frame idea for the antler my partner had hauled out from Arrow Lake. He thought that was great idea and was going to do that he next time he was up. I never saw him after that and always wondered if he ever got the antler out. If not, maybe it's still sitting there atop that ledge, maybe still defying the hungry rodents unless the Pagami fire burned hot enough there to destroy it. I know that fire burned hot enough around Comfort Lake to melt glass and if I remember from my high school physics that's around 2700 F. Jackpine, you're a renowned physics guy, am I close with that temp?
I did run across the bus guy a few times when the bus was no longer there. I asked him about that and he said he couldn't keep up with the bus repairs, it was old when he got it. Do any of you remember that bus parked there? More great memories!"
That would lb about the right melting point for glass. Different types of glass. like borosilicate glass even higher, about 3000F.
I know where the bus parked. It's right behind where the Forest Service pip up a post with a sign that says 'Helicopter Landing Pad' or something similar. If fact where the bus parked is exactly where my Great Uncle, Ted, and Great Aunt. Tress lived in the two conjoined shacks on the right of this picture.
The long building on the lower left was the garage of the Heikenen Brother's Trucking. The heli-pad sign post would be on the very edge of this picture just above the snowy rooftop of the Heikenen Bros. Garage. The big round-topped building just above and to the left of Ted & Tress' shack was the cook-house Tress cooked at.
Did you all notice that a large portion of the pictures we have from up there are winter pictures with big snowbanks.
02/23/2023 02:54PM
JackpineJim: "Pinetree: "JackpineJim: "This arial photo of Forest Center shows perspective on the layout of the town circa 1950. This must have been shortly after the railroad was put in as there is no pulpwood stacked in the woodyard.
Forest Center expanded toward the bottom and right of this photo and many buildings were added. I attended first grade in the old schoolhouse (the round topped building on farthest right)
I remember the woodyard being full of spruce and jackpine year around
Was there much aspen or popular present?"
Pinetree, There was lots of poplar around but I don't recall my dad ever cutting any until we moved to Wisconsin."
Pinetree, I told you "There was lots of poplar around but I don't recall my dad ever cutting any". That being said, There definitely was poplar being cut, because I have this picture of a CAT pole-skidding poplar with a couple of piles of cut poplar in the background.
02/24/2023 08:15AM
I'm sure you've all missed out on another picture of the Forest Center pulpyards, especially a winter one:-) As a matter of fact I've sent this one before but it's to help better recall my story. Back around the mid 70s the tracks were still in at the Forest Center pulpyards, if I'm correct those tracks were taken out in 1978. It was on my first grouse hunting trip of that year to the East Road and as I was going up "The Hill" where Tomahawk had its offices. Something caught my eye to my left over toward the pulpyards. And there, at the end of one of the spurs, was part of a car body that I had not seen before on past hunting trips. I don't recall for sure if it had the wheels on or off but it was part of a car body. The engine compartment and everything forward of the firewall was gone but the rest of the car was intact. No broken windows or anything like you might expect but it also had a stovepipe coming out of the roof! This I had to see more of so I backed my truck up to where the road into the pulpyards left the Tomahawk Road and drove in. Closer inspection of the car did indeed show a wood stove inside and appeared as though someone was living out of it. I had no idea but I knew who might. Juel Foster. Jule was the kindly, heart-as-big-as-a-whale owner of the Happy Wanderer, my favorite watering hole at the end of a good grouse hunt. Well, any grouse hunt for that matter :-). He was also a logger so I knew if anyone knew it'd be Juel. Juel had the answer for me and even the name of the guy who was living out of it. He was working for a local logger, Leusteck Logging, and they were cutting the remains of the contract after Tomahawk pulled out in the mid 60s. Juel said the guy spent the winter out of that car body. The car was gone by the next season, evidently one winter was enough.
02/24/2023 01:06PM
JackpineJim: "JackpineJim: "I have some information you folks will surely be interested in concerning the logging the Tomahawk Timber Company did around up as far as Kivaniva Lake. The story is much too long to put in one post so I'll break it into several posts. I'll preface the tale by sharing this short exerpt from a write-up of my first canoe trip From Kawishiwi Lake to our base camp at the Malberg Rapids in 1967.
The plan for that day was to canoe up to Boze Lake, which was a favorite fishing lake for Bob Lundberg, who lived in a small logging camp to the east of Boze Lake, and he logged strips near Boze and south of Frond Lake and just east of the shore of Malberg Lake.
In 1953, when Dad graduated from high school, he hired on with the Tomahawk Timber Company and moved up and lived in that camp in a shack with Bob for a time until he got situated.
As Dad told it: “So I hired on, worked and stayed in a shack with Bob, got a horse, etcetera. Put in a miserable winter. I used a cross-cut saw first, or a bow saw. Those old chain saws weren't what they are in this day and age.”
Anyway, the whole crew packed up their fishing gear and we struck out for the Louse River and Boze Lake. Bob was most familiar with this area from his logging days and he and Russel led the trek. The other canoes followed, and our canoe bringing up the rear.
Bob logged just off the east shore of Malberg Lake back in the early ‘50s and gestured at the tree-line a couple hundred feet off the shore. Bob also showed us the gravel road-bed that they would drive across the Louse River just a couple hundred feet up from where it empties into Malberg.
I remember vividly rather intimate and wild-looking country that the Louse passed through, and especially, the narrow channel between the black granite rocks to west of Frond Lake.
As we rounded into Frond Lake, we could see three of the canoes had pulled up to the southwest shore of Frond and the guys were up in the woods. There wasn’t enough space for us to pull up our canoes, so we just floated offshore and waited for them. I asked what they were doing and one of them said they were looking for a giant beaver dam that Bob remembered from his time logging in that area. Apparently, the beaver dam was notable enough that Bob thought it important to show the fellas.
As a curious soon-to-be 12-year-old kid, I wanted to get out and see the beaver dam myself but there wasn’t enough room to pull up another canoe. When they guys came out of the woods, they were talking about the impressive 10-foot-high beaver dam. They got in their canoes, pushed off, and we all headed for Boze.
We didn’t get to examine the beaver dam for ourselves. I guess Dad had already seen that beaver dam years ago and wanted to stay with the group and George didn’t seem very interested either. That episode stuck in my craw, as I wanted to see the big beaver dam. My memory of that is as clear as if it happened just yesterday.
We did the couple of portages into Boze Lake. There was a small green Duluth pack hanging high in a tree on the portage next to Boze but I didn’t notice any campsite near the pack and we saw no evidence that anyone was camped nearby.
We worked our way to the south of the lake, casting spoons and spinners toward shore. I remember the lake being perfectly calm and looking like a black mirror. There was a big beaver house in a bay on the eastern shore of Boze and Bob said he used to walk a short trail from a logging road and step out onto that beaver house to fish for bluegills.
We didn’t catch any fish in Boze, I don’t recall if any of the others caught any or not. And the return trip back to our camp on Malberg was uneventful.
For nearly 60 years I've thought about what it must have been like to live in the logging camps of that area. Looking at the older vintage McKenzie maps there were dotted lines marked, indicating where some of the old roads or trails were, but the newer maps I've seen of the area don't show the roads at all.
Time slips away... All the people on that trip have passed away except me and my cousin, Timmy. In all the intervening years there wasn't the opportunity or inclination to dig further into that past history when those who lived it were around to tell their story. More on that later...
"
Thinking about the Koma Area
I’ve done canoe trips out of Kawishiwi Lake up to Koma and beyond at least 25 times since my first trip as a young boy in 1967. That area holds a special place in my heart because of the family history there. I’ve always noticed the obvious locations of the no-cut boundary along the shores of Koma, Malberg, Fishdance, and the Kawishiw River and others, as evidenced by the clear line of second growth poplar trees a few hundred feet from the shorelines. One place these cut lines are especially noticeable is along the western shoreline of Koma. If you look to the west and north as you enter Koma Lake from the south there is a distinct line of 70 year old poplar trees that was the exact place my Dad cut his “strip” in 1954. A strip was the area you were assigned to cut.
On our many canoe trips to his favorite lake, we’d bushwhack up to Fantail Lake, just beyond the cut line, to trap minnows for bait. (These first 3 pictures are from Fantail Lake where we trapped minnows. I've included a picture of the old fire tower lacated on a high point a short distance west of the Malberg Rapids. the old road to this fire tower went through the middle of this beaver pond between Fantail and Koma Lakes)
Dad showed me the location where he would walk down to Koma and fish from shore for dinner near a Jackpine tree that still stands on the west shore of the inlet today. He told me he built a small raft in that exact location out of some cedar logs and hay wire so he could pole out closer to the river channel to reach the hot spot. (last picture)
Our canoe trips were always focused on catching fish and finding the next honey hole – and catch fish and find honey holes we did! Enjoying the spectacular scenery was a big part of the trips as well but, from the seat of a canoe, the scenery is so all-encompassing that it tends to fade into the subconscious mind. After all, if it didn’t, you’d never get anywhere, or catch any fish.
About 5 years ago, my focus shifted away from fishing and humping to the next lake or honey-hole. This shift in focus coincided with Tomahawk (Ed) starting the “Jackpine Jim” thread. The back-and-forth conversations with Ed on this thread, by email, and in-person, sparked a friendship. I learned that Ed and I (and many of you) have canoed, walked, hunted and traveled the same roads, routes and trails. We’ve tipped beers and ‘shot the bull’ with some of the same folks or folks cut from the same cloth.
Importantly, Ed gave me a copy of a map that filled a gap in my knowledge of my family’s history working for the Tomahawk Timber Company in the Superior Roadless Primitive Area and BWCA. “The Map”, more than anything, changed the way I canoe trip. I now focus on bushwhacking into the woods to locate old logging roads and logging camp sites and find artifacts left behind by the woodsmen and women who cut and chopped and bulldozed and hauled a living for their families out of “The Woods”.
Tomahawk is the perfect handle for Ed.
"
The Map
Maps are wonderful things... I know, you folks reading this get it! Among other things, maps show you the lay of the land and lakes, the locations of campsites and the length of portages. Beyond these more obvious and practical things, maps inspire deeper thought about your relationship to that that piece of the world depicted. Ed’s map Inspired me ‘to see the world in a grain of sand’, so to speak. The heaven I see in that wild flower of a map is knowing the things I discover might have been left behind by my parents, relatives or folks that I knew. How cool is that? !!!
Section of "The Map" that shows Boze Camp and Camp 4 (Polly Camp)
02/24/2023 08:16PM
The Map
Maps are wonderful things... I know, you folks reading this get it! Among other things, maps show you the lay of the land and lakes, the locations of campsites and the length of portages. Beyond these more obvious and practical things, maps inspire deeper thought about your relationship to that that piece of the world depicted. Ed’s map Inspired me ‘to see the world in a grain of sand’, so to speak. The heaven I see in that wild flower of a map is knowing the things I discover might have been left behind by my parents, relatives or folks that I knew. How cool is that? !!!
Section of "The Map" that shows Boze Camp and Camp 4 (Polly Camp)
"Boze Camp and Camp 4
In early 2020 I was given photos of an old map of the Tomahawk Timber Company's logging roads north of Lake Isabella by Ed (“Tomahawk”, on the BWCA.com website). On this map Camp 4 (Polly Camp) and Camp 5 near Maniwaki Lake were clearly marked. Also clearly marked on this map was “Boze Camp”, located up the Louse River east of Boze Lake.
I had never heard my parents or relatives, or anyone else for that matter ever use the term “Boze Camp”. Given Boze Camp warranted the same type of designation on the map as Camp 3 (Forest Center), Camp 4 (Polly Camp) and Camp 5 (Maniwaki), which I know to have been substantial . Many other small camps I know of throughout this area weren’t designated on Ed’s map, not even with an “X” or dot. Surely, Boze Camp was more important than the average camp and I became engrossed with the idea of finding its remains.
Recall, when Dad moved back up to The Woods in 1953, he lived in “a small camp a couple miles north of Camp 4”. I firmly believe the place designated as Boze Camp on Ed’s map was the small camp they spoke of. Dad, mom and uncle John told several interesting and entertaining stories over the years about life in “that little camp north of Camp 4”. Looking at the timeline, its highly likely I was even conceived there.
Perhaps instinctively, in a salmon-like manner, I was drawn to travel up the Louse River to find the site Boze Camp, explore the surrounding area, and see what I could be found.
This quest was now possible thanks to Ed’s map.
02/25/2023 12:53PM
LindenTree: "Pinetree: "Been awhile since I have been thru Isabella. Is the cafe still open. I know he tried selling it for like a decade."
It is still open off and on, more off than on, not sure why it has not sold.
He had good food, it was a little overpriced but I guess that's what you pay for being in the sticks. The owner was not a fan of the BWCA, he jokingly called it the "Holy Waters". I had to walk a fine line working for the feds and eating there, he still tried to get under my skin, but was always unsuccessful.
Many of the town folk gave me grief when I first started working in Isabella for the feds. They soon gave up on giving me s--t and I became good friends with most of them.
Edit, the cafe building was moved from Sawbill Landing when the town was there."
LindenTree, Was it restaurant one of the buildings on the right side in this photograph (from 1967, I think)?
Interesting story: I surmize one of the houses on the north end of the east side of that street on the far right (east side ) of this photo belonged to the Meeks family. The reason being that a cross there now marks Arthur "Buster" Meeks' final resting place. Interestingly, I found Buster's final resting place while knocking around Sawbill Landing in early May of 2020. I surmize Buster himself prepared his special place as I see from his obituary that he died 3 months after I was at this spot.
I stopped back a year later to pay my respects and there were boot tracks in the fresh snow and a partial bottle of Canadian LTD whiskey on display. I walked back to my truck and dug out my bottle of whiskey and had a shot in his honor.
It turns out we are the same age and I did attend grade school in Sawbill Landing for a week or so one year when, for some reason, they started bussing us Camp 6 kids there instead of to Forest Center. I don't remember any of the kids from my short time there but it is almost certain that we sat in the same room.
RIP Buster!
Arthur "Bister" Meeks Obituary
02/27/2023 05:52AM
JackpineJim: "
The Map
Section of "The Map" that shows Boze Camp and Camp 4 (Polly Camp)
"
Camp 4
In May of 2020 my friend, Jay, and I took a canoe trip to Lake Poly did a bit of exploring around the site of Camp 4, which was located at the top of the portage trail out of Polly Lake, less than 50 yards from here the portage ends on Phoebe River. We walked - a better word is bushwhacked – the north bank of the river back down toward Poly and located the site of the bridge across the Phoebe River.
The edges of the old road to the bridge site on both sides of the Phoebe were thick with the balsam, spruce and jackpine that take root in the disturbed soil along the roads.
We found what, I assume to be a remnant of the bridge lying in the grass along the shore just to the left (north) of the portage trail landing on Polly. It is a beam with several large spikes sticking out of it and we had to be careful not to scrape the side of the canoe across the large rusty spikes.
At the Camp 4 site we found lots of artifacts; bottles, cans, bed frames, stove pipes, car parts, a Coleman Lantern in quite good shape, an old upside down car body, tires and such. It was great fun poking around this site.
When I was a child, I recall driving with my mom and dad to the site of Camp 4. This was after the whole of Camp 4 had been moved to a site on Maniwaki Creek east of Maniwaki Lake and renamed Camp 5. When we drove from the south, across the bridge and turned around. Seeing it now, we must have turned around right where the portage trail is. I recall my mom asking my dad where the camp was, and my dad said "it was right here, It's all gone now."
My dad thought the view up the river from the bridge across the Phoebe was one the most beautiful up in The Woods.
Dad also told me when he went into Camp 4 for groceries or gas he would walk down to the end of the portage trail to fish where the creek flows into Polly and throw rocks to try and hit the island, “just for the hell of it”, which he said he could do. That’s a fair distance so he must have had a good arm back then!
Picture of Poly Camp taken from deck of bridge circa 1954
Picture of Uncle Ted at Poly Camp. Trucks like the one here were used to haul water to the horse barns and to create ice roads in the winter.
After the Polly Camp site was abandoned, it was planted thick with pine that is now over 75 years old and there is the ever-present underbrush. I would say that it is impossible for anyone taking that portage trail to tell that they were walking through the site of a significant logging camp that had many buildings, including a store, bunk house, loggers shacks, garages, blacksmith shop, horse barns, power generator and cook house.
Ed’s map is the only map I’ve ever seen with Polly Camp (Camp 4) indicated. Alas, very few people are alive today that have a connection to this logging camp. I know of only one person, other than me and my buddy Jay, that has kicked around the Camp 4 site. His name is Tyke, and he also has family connections to Camp 4.
03/01/2023 08:43AM
Tomahawk: " Jackpine, a great recounting of your 2020 trip to Camp 4. On our way to Hazel and Phoebe Lakes in June 1967, I had noticed a spot on our maps marked as "Camp IV", asking a guy who was knowledgeable of the area at the time what that meant he said it was the site of an abandoned logging camp. I was interested then as I am now about old sites like this and looked forward to getting to "Camp IV". I was hoping to find some buildings there but all was gone. I did find a bridge timber with a spike in it, to the north of the portage at its east terminus on Phoebe Creek. Sounds like the very spot you were in Jackpine, it may have been the same timber. Walking north of the portage I found concrete footings for buildings, You didn't mention that in your writing and was wondering if you had come across those as well. Those may very well have been "erased" to accommodate a "wilderness setting" in the 50+ years between my trips through there and yours.
You mention your dad going to Camp 4 for groceries and gas, is that when he was living at Boze Camp? Your dad throwing that rock toward that island, he must've had a pretty good arm. Did he ever play baseball? His good friend, Juel Foster, was a heckuva baseball player, I had heard once he played semi-pro ball but don't know how accurate that was. I do know that there was a strong interest in playing sandlot baseball as well as softball among Tomahawk workers. As a matter of fact, they had a team at Forest Center that came to Ely to play in a fast pitch league when I was in high school, I played against a lot of
those guys, made some good friendships. Jule was on that team, great athlete. That's where I first met him.
I had never seen a picture of the back of a truck when they iced the roads. I
was always curious how they did that, now I know. Thanks!"
Tomahawk, I forgot you once told me you kicked around the Camp 4 site years ago. I have to update my write-up to say I know 2 people that know about this site whose names are Ed and Tyke.
I've poked around the site twice and did not notice any footings despite looking for them - especially the footings for motors of the light plant which must still be there. I know the exact location of the two light plant footings at Camp 6, are only 20 feet off the road, are a good 3 feet high and 4 feet long, are difficult to see in the tall grass and brush. I'll have to look for the footings again next time I'm up there.
Se did find an old car tipped up-side-down and buried in forest duff there. I just located this picture of it. Notice the front bumper's chrome is still near pristine after 70 years in the elements. We didn't spend any time to dig it out or see what was inside of it but I'd like to.
Dad was a hell of a ball player, as was Jule, and they played together on the Forest Center team in Ely. It was fun listening to their beer-fueled B.S. sessions when staying with Juel and Marylou. They talked about events and happenings from the old logging days and, inevitably, the talk would turn to memories of fishing, hunting and fast-pitch ball games.
I remember the most formidable pitcher from Ely at the time was named Ray Vessel (sp) - he had large biceps. Funny the things that stick in a young kid's mind...
03/07/2023 07:38AM
JackpineJim: "JackpineJim: "
The Map
Section of "The Map" that shows Boze Camp and Camp 4 (Polly Camp)
Camp 4
In May of 2020 my friend, Jay, and I took a canoe trip to Lake Poly did a bit of exploring around the site of Camp 4, which was located at the top of the portage trail out of Polly Lake, less than 50 yards from here the portage ends on Phoebe River. We walked - a better word is bushwhacked – the north bank of the river back down toward Poly and located the site of the bridge across the Phoebe River.
The edges of the old road to the bridge site on both sides of the Phoebe were thick with the balsam, spruce and jackpine that take root in the disturbed soil along the roads.
We found what, I assume to be a remnant of the bridge lying in the grass along the shore just to the left (north) of the portage trail landing on Polly. It is a beam with several large spikes sticking out of it and we had to be careful not to scrape the side of the canoe across the large rusty spikes.
At the Camp 4 site we found lots of artifacts; bottles, cans, bed frames, stove pipes, car parts, a Coleman Lantern in quite good shape, an old upside down car body, tires and such. It was great fun poking around this site.
When I was a child, I recall driving with my mom and dad to the site of Camp 4. This was after the whole of Camp 4 had been moved to a site on Maniwaki Creek east of Maniwaki Lake and renamed Camp 5. When we drove from the south, across the bridge and turned around. Seeing it now, we must have turned around right where the portage trail is. I recall my mom asking my dad where the camp was, and my dad said "it was right here, It's all gone now."
My dad thought the view up the river from the bridge across the Phoebe was one the most beautiful up in The Woods.
Dad also told me when he went into Camp 4 for groceries or gas he would walk down to the end of the portage trail to fish where the creek flows into Polly and throw rocks to try and hit the island, “just for the hell of it”, which he said he could do. That’s a fair distance so he must have had a good arm back then!
Picture of Poly Camp taken from deck of bridge circa 1954
Picture of Uncle Ted at Poly Camp. Trucks like the one here were used to haul water to the horse barns and to create ice roads in the winter.
After the Polly Camp site was abandoned, it was planted thick with pine that is now over 75 years old and there is the ever-present underbrush. I would say that it is impossible for anyone taking that portage trail to tell that they were walking through the site of a significant logging camp that had many buildings, including a store, bunk house, loggers shacks, garages, blacksmith shop, horse barns, power generator and cook house.
Ed’s map is the only map I’ve ever seen with Polly Camp (Camp 4) indicated. Alas, very few people are alive today that have a connection to this logging camp. I know of only one person, other than me and my buddy Jay, that has kicked around the Camp 4 site. His name is Tyke, and he also has family connections to Camp 4.
"
The day after exploring around Camp 4 we headed north to continue our quest to find location of Boze Camp. We headed toward Koma Lake, and I showed Jay the place where Dad showed me where one of the old roads crossed the Kawishiwi River - there was no bridge or culvert, you just drove across the river on the solid bedrock riverbed. He said he drove across the river all the time on his way to his strip or to go to Camp 4 for supplies.
Ed's Map
Zoom in of older McKenzie Map with my augmentations
Picture of old map Vehicle ruts in bed of river north of Lake Polly
Picture of Jay standing on the site of river crossing
the big Jackpine tree across the river is growing in the old roadbed.
When we got to Koma Lake we took our time fishing before heading north and took the campsite where the Louse River empties into Malberg. This would be our base camp for a couple of days, and we would head up the Louse River in the morning to try to Locate the site of Boze Camp.
While in camp, we pulled out my older McKenzie map of the area to plan the next day’s activities. This older map has dotted lines denoting the locations of the main logging roads used by the Tomahawk Timber Company that went north out of Forest center ("The North Road"), turned east just south of Maniwaki Lake, passed north of Baskatong Lake, crossed the Kawishiwi river north of Kawashachong, crossed the portage trail to Town Line Lake and then turning north to Camp 4 on the Phoebe and up to Boze Camp near the Louse River, crossing the Louse and going further north going nearly to the campsite on the Kawishiwi River north of Malberg Lake. Secondary logging roads pushed farther to Kivaniva Lake as you can see on Tomahawk’s Map. This primary road was designated as Forest Road 151. The newer McKenzie map I have of the same region does not show these roads.
03/09/2023 07:56AM
Arthur "Bister" Meeks Obituary
"really enjoying the old maps and history lesson. wonder if the usfs didn't intentionally drop that jackpine in the old road bed to deter people from crossing or eventually not even finding a crossing that once existed?
I wonder if this is the same Meeks family that has a presence in wisconsin rapids with a hotel and possibly something to do with the paper mill?
15 siblings !!! wow, don't see that much anymore.
03/11/2023 07:04AM
JackpineJim: "JackpineJim: "JackpineJim: "
The Map
Section of "The Map" that shows Boze Camp and Camp 4 (Polly Camp)
Camp 4
In May of 2020 my friend, Jay, and I took a canoe trip to Lake Poly did a bit of exploring around the site of Camp 4, which was located at the top of the portage trail out of Polly Lake, less than 50 yards from here the portage ends on Phoebe River. We walked - a better word is bushwhacked – the north bank of the river back down toward Poly and located the site of the bridge across the Phoebe River.
The edges of the old road to the bridge site on both sides of the Phoebe were thick with the balsam, spruce and jackpine that take root in the disturbed soil along the roads.
We found what, I assume to be a remnant of the bridge lying in the grass along the shore just to the left (north) of the portage trail landing on Polly. It is a beam with several large spikes sticking out of it and we had to be careful not to scrape the side of the canoe across the large rusty spikes.
At the Camp 4 site we found lots of artifacts; bottles, cans, bed frames, stove pipes, car parts, a Coleman Lantern in quite good shape, an old upside down car body, tires and such. It was great fun poking around this site.
When I was a child, I recall driving with my mom and dad to the site of Camp 4. This was after the whole of Camp 4 had been moved to a site on Maniwaki Creek east of Maniwaki Lake and renamed Camp 5. When we drove from the south, across the bridge and turned around. Seeing it now, we must have turned around right where the portage trail is. I recall my mom asking my dad where the camp was, and my dad said "it was right here, It's all gone now."
My dad thought the view up the river from the bridge across the Phoebe was one the most beautiful up in The Woods.
Dad also told me when he went into Camp 4 for groceries or gas he would walk down to the end of the portage trail to fish where the creek flows into Polly and throw rocks to try and hit the island, “just for the hell of it”, which he said he could do. That’s a fair distance so he must have had a good arm back then!
Picture of Poly Camp taken from deck of bridge circa 1954
Picture of Uncle Ted at Poly Camp. Trucks like the one here were used to haul water to the horse barns and to create ice roads in the winter.
After the Polly Camp site was abandoned, it was planted thick with pine that is now over 75 years old and there is the ever-present underbrush. I would say that it is impossible for anyone taking that portage trail to tell that they were walking through the site of a significant logging camp that had many buildings, including a store, bunk house, loggers shacks, garages, blacksmith shop, horse barns, power generator and cook house.
Ed’s map is the only map I’ve ever seen with Polly Camp (Camp 4) indicated. Alas, very few people are alive today that have a connection to this logging camp. I know of only one person, other than me and my buddy Jay, that has kicked around the Camp 4 site. His name is Tyke, and he also has family connections to Camp 4.
"
The day after exploring around Camp 4 we headed north to continue our quest to find location of Boze Camp. We headed toward Koma Lake, and I showed Jay the place where Dad showed me where one of the old roads crossed the Kawishiwi River - there was no bridge or culvert, you just drove across the river on the solid bedrock riverbed. He said he drove across the river all the time on his way to his strip or to go to Camp 4 for supplies.
Ed's Map
Zoom in of older McKenzie Map with my augmentationsPicture of old map
Vehicle ruts in bed of river north of Lake Polly
Picture of Jay standing on the site of river crossing
the big Jackpine tree across the river is growing in the old roadbed.
When we got to Koma Lake we took our time fishing before heading north and took the campsite where the Louse River empties into Malberg. This would be our base camp for a couple of days, and we would head up the Louse River in the morning to try to Locate the site of Boze Camp.
While in camp, we pulled out my older McKenzie map of the area to plan the next day’s activities. This older map has dotted lines denoting the locations of the main logging roads used by the Tomahawk Timber Company that went north out of Forest center ("The North Road"), turned east just south of Maniwaki Lake, passed north of Baskatong Lake, crossed the Kawishiwi river north of Kawashachong, crossed the portage trail to Town Line Lake and then turning north to Camp 4 on the Phoebe and up to Boze Camp near the Louse River, crossing the Louse and going further north going nearly to the campsite on the Kawishiwi River north of Malberg Lake. Secondary logging roads pushed farther to Kivaniva Lake as you can see on Tomahawk’s Map. This primary road was designated as Forest Road 151. The newer McKenzie map I have of the same region does not show these roads.
"
It is a fair trek by canoe from Malberg up to the Boze Camp area - one tricky beaver dam pull-over, through Frond Lake and then 3 portages into Boze Lake then 3 more to the place where the 151 road crossed the Louse. To travel that distance, bushwhack to find the location of Boze Camp, then travel back to our camp on Malberg looked to be quite a jaunt. We knew we had to get an early start in the morning.
We were up early, enjoyed our morning coffee and breakfast then began collecting the necessary gear. We planned to be back to camp before dark but prepared to spend the night out in the bush if things went awry. We packed a tarp and sleeping bags, camp stove and isobutane, two freeze dried meals, coffee, Cliff Bars, candy bars, string cheese and beef jerky for lunches, water bladder and filter, and our fishing poles and tackle boxes.
As we were loading the canoe to head up the Louse a solo tripper came up Malberg from the south and stopped just offshore to exchange pleasantries. It turns out he was headed up to Boze lake where he would be camping for the night. We had a pleasant but short conversation and told him of our plans to go past Boze and further up the Louse to do some bushwhacking to find the old roads and hopefully locate the old logging camp. He expressed interest in our endeavor before we bid each other adieu and he headed up the river. We gave him 15 minutes or so to get a good lead and we fished a bit more than originally planned so we could stay out of sight.
As we entered Frond Lake, I decided to bring closure to something that had been stuck in my craw for over 50 years.
As I mentioned earlier, in 1967 I was on a canoe trip to Malberg Lake and we took a day trip up to Boze Lake, which was near the logging camp where my dad and his cousin, Bob, lived in 1953.
... As our canoe came into Frond Lake, three canoes from our flotilla had landed on southern shore so Bob could show some of the fellas a huge beaver dam he knew of when he logged in that area. We paddled our canoe over to see what was up as 8 of the guys come out of the woods talking about the huge beaver dam up the creek. I wanted to get out and see it for myself, but my dad, having seen thousands of beaver dams, was uninterested and turned our canoe toward Boze Lake. ...
That episode crossed my mind every time I ruminated about my first canoe trip. I wanted to see that beaver dam then and, after waiting nearly 55 years, today was the day I would close that loop!
Jay and I paddled the canoe toward the spot I remembered and could hear the gurgling of running water as we got close. We pulled the canoe on shore and scrambled about 60 yards through the alders along the creek and emerged at the remnants of what once was a sizable beaver dam. Sure enough, this was It!
Picture of beaver dam near Frond Lake
After exploring the shoreline on both ends of the beaver dam for evidence of logging, we hiked back out to Frond and headed upstream towards Boze Camp.
When we got to Boze Lake, the fellow we had spoken with earlier was setting up camp on Boze Lake. We talked to him for a few minutes and learned he had canoed the Louse River and camped on Boze Lake many times over the years. We dug out our McKenzie map and showed him the old roads indicated by the dotted lines and pointed out where we expected Boze Camp was located. He had seen the dotted lines on his maps but assumed they were hiking trails, not old logging roads.
Close-up of Boze Camp area on McKenzie map
There are two portages along the Louse going east out of Boze Lake and at the site of the third portage, where the river turns sharply north-south was where the road 151 crossed the Louse and then went north almost to Kivaniva Lake.
There is a large plateau, covering about a section of area that was re-planted with red (Norway) pine after it was logged off in the early 1950s. I can envision that large plateau was the motherload of jackpine back in the day.
You can see clearly the ridge of pine from the end of the second portage Louse River.
Picture of ridge of planted pine.
I plan to go bushwhack the old roads north of the Louse and expect they might be fairly easy to follow through the plantation – if there is minimal blowdown.
03/13/2023 04:59PM
Close-up of Boze Camp area on McKenzie map
Continuation of previous post
We reached the portage at the site of the FR151 bridge crossing and collected our daypacks and went to investigate the old road. It was quite difficult to find where the old road crosses the portage trail - when they pulled out of the area after replanting it, they pulled the bridge or culverts out and bermed up or blocked the road with bulldozed stumps to discourage anyone from going in there. After combing through the thick balsams were found the old road, primarily by identifying where the Caterpillars had cut the banks, and followed it first east then south into the wilderness.
The woods were thick with the small dead and dying balsam trees that so often take root in the fresh tilled and disturbed soil of the old roads. We soon lost the road so kept a southerly track that crossed a thick swampy area. It’s tough walking in this type of terrain and we picked our way under, over, around and through the thickest of brush before coming to a very steep hill that ran in an east-west direction.
We turned east along the side of the hill and began finding the type of artifacts; bottles, cans, tires, carburetors, bed frames, etc. that are common on these old logging camp sites.
Picture of whiskey bottle
The camps were almost always situated on an area cleared and leveled by Caterpillars, and the shacks were typically lined up on the edge of the clearings. There were no formal dumps, and the loggers just disposed of their garbage over the bank behind their shacks.
We continued east along the bottom of the hill a short distance and Jay relocated the old roadbed. In short order he found the remains of an old culvert - two cedar logs, one on each side of narrow swampy creek. These culverts were typically decked with 6" thick planks nailed across the span and then covered with road gravel. The planks had long since rotted away but the big 12-inch or more spikes were still solidly embedded in the decaying cedar logs that had laid in that spot for 70 years.
Picture of Boze Culvert nails
Picture of old road in balsams
The old roadbed by the old culvert was lined with small balsams but obvious. We followed it up a shallow incline and around the edge of the hill we had been following. As we crested the rise we stepped into the most amazing clearing or meadow. It is grass-covered and roughly the size of a football field. There is one shorter jackpine and one spruce tree near a depression in the ground about 10 feet in diameter. Perhaps the depression was a root cellar of some sort or the location of an outhouse.
Picture of Boze Camp Meadow
We contemplated the reason this old logging camp site was not thickly grown over with 70 year-old balsam, spruce and jackpine like the dozen or so other camps I’ve located. Perhaps the soil was so shallow and disturbed that nothing could take root. Perhaps there was enough pine bark mulch ground into the site that seeds wouldn’t germinate or perhaps they used some sort of herbicide to keep the area clear of brush. I guess we’ll never know.
It was now late afternoon and overcast and rain was surely in the offing. We took a walk around the perimeter of the meadow looking for artifacts. After completing the circle, we stood in silence at the top of the rise where first we beheld the meadow and imagined what life must have been like there so long ago.
We turned and headed back north toward the site of the old culvert. Once at the culvert we took a compass reading and headed through the tangly brush-choked road but quickly lost it in a thick patch of spruce and balsam deadfalls.
When the skies are overcast and you can’t see the sun to orient yourself, it is easy to get turned around in heavy underbrush and deadfalls. After about 10 minutes of picking our way through the thick bush we stopped again to check the compass. Much to my surprise we were headed due south, the exact opposite way we intended. As a double-check, Jay brought out his compass and sure enough we were heading the wrong direction.
I did have my iPhone with me and had downloaded a Google off-line map specifically to use while bushwhacking on this trip. However, when we got to the landing at Kawishiwi Lake I turned on the Google Maps app and discovered the phone’s GPS function had quit working - it couldn't find my location.
The night before we left home I had updated to the latest version of iOS and for some reason the update had disabled the GPS function. No big deal, we’d get along just fine without using the GPS. In fact, I was 65 years old and had only used GPS while traveling by car or for tracking the distance of my bike ride or XC-ski route.
Anyway, while we were pondering our predicament down in the tangly swamp by Boze Camp, I took out my phone and attempted to get the GPS functioning again. I restarted the phone and turned the airplane mode off and on again but to no avail, the GPS was not functioning.
As an aside, after we got back to civilization, I Googled this issue and found it is not uncommon for iOS updates to disable the GPS function. One solution posted was to go into “Settings” and reset a switch in the Cellular Service menu. I don’t know if this fix would have worked down in that swamp without cell service, but the bottom line is that I had hoped to be able to use the off-line GPS maps with my iPhone for this bushwhack expedition and that didn't pan out.
I will admit, when we got turned around in the blowdown and deadfall in that swamp, getting ‘lost’ crossed my mind – could our compasses be unreliable in this spot due to the not uncommon iron deposits found in the area? Maybe! Could both our compasses somehow have had their polarity reversed, which has happened to two of my compasses over the years? Highly unlikely! These were uncomfortable but fleeting thoughts.
There are lessons to be learned from this happenstance - don’t count only on your iPhone with off-line Google map when you go off the beaten path, always carry a paper map, and carry a compass and check it before you step off the trail and often thereafter. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as the saying goes!
After this brief orientational respite, we decided to forgo trying to relocate the old road and, knowing the Louse River runs east-west, took a compass heading and started walking due north toward the river. After 15 minutes in the thickest of tangles we came to the river. The question were we east or west of the portage and our canoe? We walked about 50 yards to the east and that section of the river didn't look like anything we had traveled a few hours ago, so we turned and backtracked to the west. After about 150 yards we came to the portage trail around the rapids and old bridge site and walked the hundred yards or so back to our canoe at the base of the rapids.
Once we relocated the canoe it was too late in the day to try to find and walk the roads on the north side of the Louse as we had planned and we headed back to our camp on Malberg. We stopped at the Boze Lake campsite and talked to the solo canoer for a couple of minutes and as I was digging out my maps to show him our path, another canoe came down the Louse River and crossed Boze to the portage takeout.
Unfortunately, our conversation with the fellow was cut short as our canoe was blocking the landing and we hustled our gear across the portage trail. Once we got our canoe and gear across the portage we decided to move on towards our camp on Malberg.
To this day I regret not spending more time talking with that solo canoer on Boze Lake and telling him all about our tale of discovery. So, Solo Canoer on Boze Lake, if you happen to read this, I apologize for our hasty exit and hope you enjoy this story. Perhaps we will meet again.
We were thoroughly exhausted from the long day of paddling, portaging and bushwhacking and, as we pulled the canoe up in camp about a half hour before dark, we heard thunder in the distance. Too “bushed” to make dinner - pun intended – we dug out a couple of Cliff Bars and some string cheese and were nicely situated under the tarp with dry clothes, shoes and a nice dram of Glenfiddich when the rain began to fall.
Continuation of previous post
We reached the portage at the site of the FR151 bridge crossing and collected our daypacks and went to investigate the old road. It was quite difficult to find where the old road crosses the portage trail - when they pulled out of the area after replanting it, they pulled the bridge or culverts out and bermed up or blocked the road with bulldozed stumps to discourage anyone from going in there. After combing through the thick balsams were found the old road, primarily by identifying where the Caterpillars had cut the banks, and followed it first east then south into the wilderness.
The woods were thick with the small dead and dying balsam trees that so often take root in the fresh tilled and disturbed soil of the old roads. We soon lost the road so kept a southerly track that crossed a thick swampy area. It’s tough walking in this type of terrain and we picked our way under, over, around and through the thickest of brush before coming to a very steep hill that ran in an east-west direction.
We turned east along the side of the hill and began finding the type of artifacts; bottles, cans, tires, carburetors, bed frames, etc. that are common on these old logging camp sites.
Picture of whiskey bottle
The camps were almost always situated on an area cleared and leveled by Caterpillars, and the shacks were typically lined up on the edge of the clearings. There were no formal dumps, and the loggers just disposed of their garbage over the bank behind their shacks.
We continued east along the bottom of the hill a short distance and Jay relocated the old roadbed. In short order he found the remains of an old culvert - two cedar logs, one on each side of narrow swampy creek. These culverts were typically decked with 6" thick planks nailed across the span and then covered with road gravel. The planks had long since rotted away but the big 12-inch or more spikes were still solidly embedded in the decaying cedar logs that had laid in that spot for 70 years.
Picture of Boze Culvert nails
Picture of old road in balsams
The old roadbed by the old culvert was lined with small balsams but obvious. We followed it up a shallow incline and around the edge of the hill we had been following. As we crested the rise we stepped into the most amazing clearing or meadow. It is grass-covered and roughly the size of a football field. There is one shorter jackpine and one spruce tree near a depression in the ground about 10 feet in diameter. Perhaps the depression was a root cellar of some sort or the location of an outhouse.
Picture of Boze Camp Meadow
We contemplated the reason this old logging camp site was not thickly grown over with 70 year-old balsam, spruce and jackpine like the dozen or so other camps I’ve located. Perhaps the soil was so shallow and disturbed that nothing could take root. Perhaps there was enough pine bark mulch ground into the site that seeds wouldn’t germinate or perhaps they used some sort of herbicide to keep the area clear of brush. I guess we’ll never know.
It was now late afternoon and overcast and rain was surely in the offing. We took a walk around the perimeter of the meadow looking for artifacts. After completing the circle, we stood in silence at the top of the rise where first we beheld the meadow and imagined what life must have been like there so long ago.
We turned and headed back north toward the site of the old culvert. Once at the culvert we took a compass reading and headed through the tangly brush-choked road but quickly lost it in a thick patch of spruce and balsam deadfalls.
When the skies are overcast and you can’t see the sun to orient yourself, it is easy to get turned around in heavy underbrush and deadfalls. After about 10 minutes of picking our way through the thick bush we stopped again to check the compass. Much to my surprise we were headed due south, the exact opposite way we intended. As a double-check, Jay brought out his compass and sure enough we were heading the wrong direction.
I did have my iPhone with me and had downloaded a Google off-line map specifically to use while bushwhacking on this trip. However, when we got to the landing at Kawishiwi Lake I turned on the Google Maps app and discovered the phone’s GPS function had quit working - it couldn't find my location.
The night before we left home I had updated to the latest version of iOS and for some reason the update had disabled the GPS function. No big deal, we’d get along just fine without using the GPS. In fact, I was 65 years old and had only used GPS while traveling by car or for tracking the distance of my bike ride or XC-ski route.
Anyway, while we were pondering our predicament down in the tangly swamp by Boze Camp, I took out my phone and attempted to get the GPS functioning again. I restarted the phone and turned the airplane mode off and on again but to no avail, the GPS was not functioning.
As an aside, after we got back to civilization, I Googled this issue and found it is not uncommon for iOS updates to disable the GPS function. One solution posted was to go into “Settings” and reset a switch in the Cellular Service menu. I don’t know if this fix would have worked down in that swamp without cell service, but the bottom line is that I had hoped to be able to use the off-line GPS maps with my iPhone for this bushwhack expedition and that didn't pan out.
I will admit, when we got turned around in the blowdown and deadfall in that swamp, getting ‘lost’ crossed my mind – could our compasses be unreliable in this spot due to the not uncommon iron deposits found in the area? Maybe! Could both our compasses somehow have had their polarity reversed, which has happened to two of my compasses over the years? Highly unlikely! These were uncomfortable but fleeting thoughts.
There are lessons to be learned from this happenstance - don’t count only on your iPhone with off-line Google map when you go off the beaten path, always carry a paper map, and carry a compass and check it before you step off the trail and often thereafter. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as the saying goes!
After this brief orientational respite, we decided to forgo trying to relocate the old road and, knowing the Louse River runs east-west, took a compass heading and started walking due north toward the river. After 15 minutes in the thickest of tangles we came to the river. The question were we east or west of the portage and our canoe? We walked about 50 yards to the east and that section of the river didn't look like anything we had traveled a few hours ago, so we turned and backtracked to the west. After about 150 yards we came to the portage trail around the rapids and old bridge site and walked the hundred yards or so back to our canoe at the base of the rapids.
Once we relocated the canoe it was too late in the day to try to find and walk the roads on the north side of the Louse as we had planned and we headed back to our camp on Malberg. We stopped at the Boze Lake campsite and talked to the solo canoer for a couple of minutes and as I was digging out my maps to show him our path, another canoe came down the Louse River and crossed Boze to the portage takeout.
Unfortunately, our conversation with the fellow was cut short as our canoe was blocking the landing and we hustled our gear across the portage trail. Once we got our canoe and gear across the portage we decided to move on towards our camp on Malberg.
To this day I regret not spending more time talking with that solo canoer on Boze Lake and telling him all about our tale of discovery. So, Solo Canoer on Boze Lake, if you happen to read this, I apologize for our hasty exit and hope you enjoy this story. Perhaps we will meet again.
We were thoroughly exhausted from the long day of paddling, portaging and bushwhacking and, as we pulled the canoe up in camp about a half hour before dark, we heard thunder in the distance. Too “bushed” to make dinner - pun intended – we dug out a couple of Cliff Bars and some string cheese and were nicely situated under the tarp with dry clothes, shoes and a nice dram of Glenfiddich when the rain began to fall.
03/16/2023 07:13AM
Tomahawk: "I've crossed this portage with the bridge crossing back in ''67-'68 a few times on our way to Trail Lake but just don't recall it. I'm sure it was marked on our maps and whenever that happened I would investigate the road further but I just don't recall doing that there, 56 or 57 yrs. tends to do that to me.
Looks like that last gulp Jay took from that old whisky bottle was very satisfying. Must've been an aged whiskey that you hear so much about. Finding that old roadbed back in there and the site for Boze Camp had to have been exhilarating, it would've been for me. I'm guessing you might've placed yourself 60-70 yrs. prior when the camp was still operating. Maybe even trying to find where your dad's old shack was, the makeshift dentist office. Maybe if it was a quiet day you might've even heard screams of the past coming from that area when your uncle snapped off your dad's tooth. I've heard that some of those screams, if violent enough, never go away but just keep drifting around :-). From a friend who's visited the Camp 5 townsite came the same remark that the site was remarkably wide open with very few trees coming up.
Nearly all of that MN Arrowhwead country is iron bearing, some areas heavier that others. I've had a compass needle never settle down, it kept spinning. Others I've talked to have had the same experience. A nervous feeling if you need the compass to get you out.
Great story and pictures, Jackpine! Once again you move to the head of the class."
Tomahawk, I know I told you the story about the Boze Camp dentist office and will share that here as well, but first a short aside about Boze Camp itself.
An important aside:
About a year after this expedition, I was given a trove of pictures, including a couple of Boze Camp. I received this trove of pictures from Kathy Knuth. Kathy is a dear friend of our family and she and her husband, Hank, and their kids lived in the same camps we did. Many of the pictures were taken by Marion Taylor, Kathy’s mother-in-law. Marion and her husband, Lloyd Taylor, lived the Tomahawk Timber Company camps in what is now the Boundary Waters for many years.
Picture of Boze Camp
Picture of Lloyd Taylor
Picture of Boze Northern
Boze Camp remains somewhat of an enigma to me. I don’t know if the pictures of Boze Camp were taken from just after the clearing was made, how many buildings were there at its height, or the year it was created.
I know Forest Center (Camp 3) was created in 1949 and Camp 4 (Polly Camp) and Boze Camp between 1949 and 1953. Dad moved to Boze Camp in early September of 1953.
I do know that one summer during high school (1951 or 1952) Dad went back up to The Woods and spent the summer with Aunt Tress and Uncle Ted. At that time, they were living in a small logging camp where the road crossed the portage trail from Square Lake to Baskatong Lake. You can see the intersection of the road and portage trail on the older McKenzie maps of this area. Dad told me the portage trail went right through the middle of the camp.
Camp 4 (Polly Camp) was moved out to the Maniwaki site and renamed Camp 5 in late 1956. From my Dad: “… in the spring of 1957, they had moved the Poly Camp, the grocery store and the whole bit to Camp 5, on the East side of Maniwaki Lake by Maniwaki Creek.”
My assumption is that Boze Camp was decommissioned and the shacks moved out at the time Camp 4 was folded up and relocated in 1956.
03/19/2023 08:51AM
JackpineJim: "Tomahawk: "I've crossed this portage with the bridge crossing back in ''67-'68 a few times on our way to Trail Lake but just don't recall it. I'm sure it was marked on our maps and whenever that happened I would investigate the road further but I just don't recall doing that there, 56 or 57 yrs. tends to do that to me.
Looks like that last gulp Jay took from that old whisky bottle was very satisfying. Must've been an aged whiskey that you hear so much about. Finding that old roadbed back in there and the site for Boze Camp had to have been exhilarating, it would've been for me. I'm guessing you might've placed yourself 60-70 yrs. prior when the camp was still operating. Maybe even trying to find where your dad's old shack was, the makeshift dentist office. Maybe if it was a quiet day you might've even heard screams of the past coming from that area when your uncle snapped off your dad's tooth. I've heard that some of those screams, if violent enough, never go away but just keep drifting around :-). From a friend who's visited the Camp 5 townsite came the same remark that the site was remarkably wide open with very few trees coming up.
Nearly all of that MN Arrowhwead country is iron bearing, some areas heavier that others. I've had a compass needle never settle down, it kept spinning. Others I've talked to have had the same experience. A nervous feeling if you need the compass to get you out.
Great story and pictures, Jackpine! Once again you move to the head of the class."
Tomahawk, I know I told you the story about the Boze Camp dentist office and will share that here as well, but first a short aside about Boze Camp itself.
An important aside:
About a year after this expedition, I was given a trove of pictures, including a couple of Boze Camp. I received this trove of pictures from Kathy Knuth. Kathy is a dear friend of our family and she and her husband, Hank, and their kids lived in the same camps we did. Many of the pictures were taken by Marion Taylor, Kathy’s mother-in-law. Marion and her husband, Lloyd Taylor, lived the Tomahawk Timber Company camps in what is now the Boundary Waters for many years.
Picture of Boze Camp
Picture of Lloyd Taylor
Picture of Boze Northern
Boze Camp remains somewhat of an enigma to me. I don’t know if the pictures of Boze Camp were taken from just after the clearing was made, how many buildings were there at its height, or the year it was created.
I know Forest Center (Camp 3) was created in 1949 and Camp 4 (Polly Camp) and Boze Camp between 1949 and 1953. Dad moved to Boze Camp in early September of 1953.
I do know that one summer during high school (1951 or 1952) Dad went back up to The Woods and spent the summer with Aunt Tress and Uncle Ted. At that time, they were living in a small logging camp where the road crossed the portage trail from Square Lake to Baskatong Lake. You can see the intersection of the road and portage trail on the older McKenzie maps of this area. Dad told me the portage trail went right through the middle of the camp.
Camp 4 (Polly Camp) was moved out to the Maniwaki site and renamed Camp 5 in late 1956. From my Dad: “… in the spring of 1957, they had moved the Poly Camp, the grocery store and the whole bit to Camp 5, on the East side of Maniwaki Lake by Maniwaki Creek.”
My assumption is that Boze Camp was decommissioned and the shacks moved out at the time Camp 4 was folded up and relocated in 1956.
"
Some Boze Camp Stories:
Death from Cold Whiskey
Another story Dad told me from the days in Boze Camp. A small group of loggers was having a party of sorts - a drinking session - in one of the shacks on a cold winter night. As Dad relayed the story, the temperature was about 25 below. One of the loggers (I don’t recall if Dad told me his name or not) brought a bottle of whiskey but pushed it into the snowbank outside the doorstep to save for later for some reason.
After finishing off the booze and beer they had inside the shack, the old logger stepped outside to fetch the bottle from the snowbank. He stepped back into the shack, opened the bottle and took a hefty swig, then dropped over dead!
Dad said that kind of ended the party and he surmised that the shock of the about -20F whiskey “froze his esophagus” or was just too much for his system. (80 proof whiskey freezes around -17F)
Pulling Teeth
In 1953 or 1954, my uncle, John Roberts and his side kick, Clyde Keso, bought a couple “double headers“ of beer and a couple of bottles and took a road trip from Rhinelander to visit Dad shortly after he moved back up to “The Woods”. They left Rhinelander in the morning and made it to Forest Center where they asked at the office where they could find Jim. They got directions and somehow navigated to Camp 4 after dark.
He said they saw the lights on in one of the shacks, knocked on the door, and asked the fellow that answered if he knew where they could find Jim. The guy told him, “Follow the road north to the end and Jim lives in the last shack on the left.”
Somehow, they found their way and arrived at their destination. Dad and Uncle John were the best of friends and whenever they got together they enjoyed a few drinks, which always facilitated the BS sessions. It’s worth noting that BSing is a different level of communication than simply catching up on family things and recent happenings. BSing is more colorful, evolves in real time, and has a mind-meld character to it.
Dental hygiene in the period of history wasn’t what it is today, and some of Dad teeth were decayed and his front incisor teeth were causing him terrible pain, so they came up with a plan. Dad, the patient, took more than a couple of big pulls on the jug to numb the pain and build up his courage. Uncle John did the same to enhance confidence in his dentistry skills. Dad sat in a chair and tipped his head back and Uncle John straddled his lap and, with a pair of pliers they had laying around the shack, began the tooth extraction process. In short order, Uncle John snapped Dad’s tooth off at the gum line.
Dad said the tooth stopped hurting for the moment, but the pain came back and was pretty bad for remainder of the weekend. Come Monday he made the journey into Ely to get the remaining part of that tooth and the other teeth extracted. I only knew Dad to wear dentures and Uncle John had a lot to do with that.
Both Dad and John just shook their heads and chuckled when telling and retelling this story.
I mentioned earlier that remote logging camps had no dump site and the garbage was thrown over the banks behind the shacks. It is certain the whiskey bottle of the dead logger and that (or those) used by my dad and Uncle John for general anesthesia for dental surgery were thrown over the bank within yards of where Jay and I found this bottle. Could this be the dead logger’s bottle? My dad’s dental anesthetic bottle? We’ll never know but the odds are not that long!
03/19/2023 09:51PM
Tomahawk: "Jackpine, when Kathy Knuth passed those photos on to you she did a great service to so many of us out here that follow this thread. I personally cannot get enough of these photos. Seeing into this history just fascinates me, thanks Jackpine! I hereby unofficially deem you "The Great Keeper of Tomahawk Photos". Also, thanks to Kathy.
Great picture of Lloyd Taylor. His physique reminds me so much of your great Uncle Ted. They start from a set of wide shoulders and go straight down to the ground. Hard, tough, mountains of men. Of all the pictures you have sent in the past of the workers for Tomahawk, I haven't seen a single picture of a single person with a gut. No beer bellies in this crowd although I suspect they drank their share and possibly part of someone else's share. In an earlier posting you mentioned Marion Taylor fishing the small lake off the North Road that was right alongside of the road. Was this Pow Wow Lake by chance? They may have been living at Calamity Camp back then, not far at all from Pow Wow. Pow Wow might've had a different name back then or no name at all. If it was Pow Wow I was surprised that there were any fish in there at all, in my walks past there on grouse hunting trips it looked to shallow and appeared as though it'd freeze out easily."
Tomahawk, Marion Taylor liked to fish Powwow Lake where the road went very close to the lake when we lived in Calamity Camp which was along the road just to the north of Calamity Lake.
I like to put faces to the names - I found this picture of Marion and Lloyd Taylor taken in 1959 at Camp 6.
03/20/2023 09:34PM
LindenTree: "Jackpine Jim,
What are the red lines and circles with numbers inside for on your first map on 3/19?
In my world of firefighting they would indicate aerial checkpoints for fire detection, but they seem way too close together for that."
LindenTree, I really don't know what those red marks are - maybe Tomahawk knows. Here is a photo of the entire map Tomahawk so kindly let me take. The resolution and focus isn't the greatest but you can see clearly the entire area marked off in red. Interestingly, the area is roughly centered around the site of the old Arrow Lookout Tower, which is just west of where the Hudson Road branched off from the North Road. The Hudson Road ran northwest toward Hudson Lake and the North Road turned east toward Maniwaki Lake.
08/03/2023 09:17PM
Last month I came into possession of a bunch of aerial photos from parts of Lake County from 1973. There might be some from the area discussed in this thread. If there are, I’ll let you folks know, but it will be a couple months before I get to that.
However, I can immediately share this snippet from the Forest Center 15’ quad that was with the photos. Unfortunately I don’t have the next sheet to the east.
Topographic info is from 1956 aerial photos, field checked in 1957 according to the info in the collar:
However, I can immediately share this snippet from the Forest Center 15’ quad that was with the photos. Unfortunately I don’t have the next sheet to the east.
Topographic info is from 1956 aerial photos, field checked in 1957 according to the info in the collar:
04/05/2024 07:42AM
This message has had HTML content edited out of it.
TreeBear, a great trip report and the conditions were worse than I had imagined. Looking at aerial and topo maps I could guess that water levels during the past summer (sounded like that was when you went on your trip) would make it extremely difficult, even during wet years, but never really took into consideration the alders & balsams crowding everything out. Nightmare. I was on that portage from Baskatong to Andek and it was in good shape in the late 60s, too bad they let it go. You mention signs of past human activity in that area that didn't burn around Fungus, just a guess but it might have been from the East Loop of the Pow Wow as the trail went right through that area. For a very interesting read, Google Ahmoo Creek, Pow Wow East Loop Hiking trip October2001. It's an excellent writing from a daily diary of a hiking trip taken by Derek Passe in 2001, long after the East Loop of the Pow Wow was abandoned. He provided great info and photos, when I read it I knew exactly where he was on the trail and knew what was coming next. The East Loop was my favorite part of the Pow Wow and walked it many times, one of the best places to see moose back in the day.
I was hoping you'd find remnants of the old East Road (ER) where it crossed Chickadee Creek. That is quite a ravine and drop in elevation at that spot but just before we walked down toward the creek (coming from Tomahawk Lake), the East Road ran a steady NE atop the hill, just before the drop the Pow Wow Trail made a 90 and went north to Chickadee, Fungus and Whittler Lakes. When the ER went down that hill where the Pow Wow left the ER and went north, you needed to go up the next hill after crossing Chickadee Creek. The climb was a climb for sure, the first time we were there on a grouse hunt in 1973 we couldn't believe the rise in elevation for the next 1/4 mile or so. You said you walked ER for a short time, did you go toward Tomahawk Lake or Kawishiwi? After that the road still climbed but at a shallower grade, not quite as steep. Not far from the beginning of the shallower climb was a road running off the ER to the south. We could hear loggers working in there and went in for a visit. As a matter of fact, they asked how we got so far in. Where'd we park our truck and how far did we drive beyond the gate? Did we have a key to open the lock on the gate? Or, how'd we get the truck around the gate? When we told them the truck was back at Forest Center and we walked all the way from there they wouldn't believe us, one of them (there was a crew of 6) told us that was around 19 mi. away. I told him it's small world, that's exactly what my feet were telling me. We came back out to the ER and continued on up that shallower grade to the top of the hill, another 1/4 mi. We stopped at the top and the road leveled off, finally realizing how much we had climbed in elevation. When I got home I looked on a topo map, at the creek the elevation was 1600' but those contour lines were so close together that I nearly got a nosebleed. Where the road left the ER (where the loggers were) the elevation was 1725' and at the top of the hill it was 1750'. We were in a huge clearcut at that point, between Kawishiwi Lake to the north and Perent Lake to the south. The view was incredible, looking north we could also see Square and Watonwon Lakes, as well as parts of Baskatong and Kawasachong. To the east was Coffee Lake and south you could see parts of Silver Island as well as T Lake. From this point on we always referred to this as the P-K(Perent-Kawishiwi) Vista and returned there a couple of times after but that was the last time we ever saw loggers there. Another 1 1/2mi. would've taken us to where the ER connected up with FR 354 just below Kawishiwi Lake. The view rivaled one I remember from atop Jackpine Mountain just south off of the Tomahawk Road. Back in the 40s,50s they also had a lookout tower there with a cabin when they manned the tower, it was gone when I was there but the cabin was a larger image of the log outhouse
The Jackpine photos were taken in the late 70s and we went back up there not long ago. It was so overgrown you no longer had the view I show here. I fear the same outcome for P-K Vista, so overgrown you no longer have that view. the few times I was at P-K Vista. I never took a picture (kicking myself endlessly already of the P-K) but whenever we got there it seemed it was usually cloudy & overcast, always said I'd get a picture the next time I was there but it never happened. Incidentally, we figured P-K vista was around 20 mi. from the truck at Forest Center (one way) and we had another 20 mi. to get back and had considered walking the rest of the way (another 1 1/2 mi.) to FR 354 on the ER but figured at that point our tired feet told us it just wasn't that important. I always intended to go back to do just that, walk all the way to 354 but that never happened either.
When the FS and the conservation volunteers first put in the complete Pow Wow Trail system back in the 80s, both West and East Loops along North and Ferne Loops, they put out an excellent map with the accurate distances in mi/kilos.
If you look south of Maniwaki Lake to Nuthatch Lake, some of the early maps that came out had "Vista" marked on them next to the icon for a higher elevation. We had no idea what that meant for certain until one day we walked the Ferne Loop and just past to the west of Nuthatch (just above the 1.0 mi. marker on the map) was another incredible view. We realized we had been on higher ground since Ferne but it was so gradual that we were really surprised at the view to the north and Maniwaki (not much of a view in any of the other directions). It was nothing to rival the view from Jackpine Mountain or the P-K Vista but you could see for a long, long way just the same.
TreeBear, a great trip report and the conditions were worse than I had imagined. Looking at aerial and topo maps I could guess that water levels during the past summer (sounded like that was when you went on your trip) would make it extremely difficult, even during wet years, but never really took into consideration the alders & balsams crowding everything out. Nightmare. I was on that portage from Baskatong to Andek and it was in good shape in the late 60s, too bad they let it go. You mention signs of past human activity in that area that didn't burn around Fungus, just a guess but it might have been from the East Loop of the Pow Wow as the trail went right through that area. For a very interesting read, Google Ahmoo Creek, Pow Wow East Loop Hiking trip October2001. It's an excellent writing from a daily diary of a hiking trip taken by Derek Passe in 2001, long after the East Loop of the Pow Wow was abandoned. He provided great info and photos, when I read it I knew exactly where he was on the trail and knew what was coming next. The East Loop was my favorite part of the Pow Wow and walked it many times, one of the best places to see moose back in the day.
I was hoping you'd find remnants of the old East Road (ER) where it crossed Chickadee Creek. That is quite a ravine and drop in elevation at that spot but just before we walked down toward the creek (coming from Tomahawk Lake), the East Road ran a steady NE atop the hill, just before the drop the Pow Wow Trail made a 90 and went north to Chickadee, Fungus and Whittler Lakes. When the ER went down that hill where the Pow Wow left the ER and went north, you needed to go up the next hill after crossing Chickadee Creek. The climb was a climb for sure, the first time we were there on a grouse hunt in 1973 we couldn't believe the rise in elevation for the next 1/4 mile or so. You said you walked ER for a short time, did you go toward Tomahawk Lake or Kawishiwi? After that the road still climbed but at a shallower grade, not quite as steep. Not far from the beginning of the shallower climb was a road running off the ER to the south. We could hear loggers working in there and went in for a visit. As a matter of fact, they asked how we got so far in. Where'd we park our truck and how far did we drive beyond the gate? Did we have a key to open the lock on the gate? Or, how'd we get the truck around the gate? When we told them the truck was back at Forest Center and we walked all the way from there they wouldn't believe us, one of them (there was a crew of 6) told us that was around 19 mi. away. I told him it's small world, that's exactly what my feet were telling me. We came back out to the ER and continued on up that shallower grade to the top of the hill, another 1/4 mi. We stopped at the top and the road leveled off, finally realizing how much we had climbed in elevation. When I got home I looked on a topo map, at the creek the elevation was 1600' but those contour lines were so close together that I nearly got a nosebleed. Where the road left the ER (where the loggers were) the elevation was 1725' and at the top of the hill it was 1750'. We were in a huge clearcut at that point, between Kawishiwi Lake to the north and Perent Lake to the south. The view was incredible, looking north we could also see Square and Watonwon Lakes, as well as parts of Baskatong and Kawasachong. To the east was Coffee Lake and south you could see parts of Silver Island as well as T Lake. From this point on we always referred to this as the P-K(Perent-Kawishiwi) Vista and returned there a couple of times after but that was the last time we ever saw loggers there. Another 1 1/2mi. would've taken us to where the ER connected up with FR 354 just below Kawishiwi Lake. The view rivaled one I remember from atop Jackpine Mountain just south off of the Tomahawk Road. Back in the 40s,50s they also had a lookout tower there with a cabin when they manned the tower, it was gone when I was there but the cabin was a larger image of the log outhouse
The Jackpine photos were taken in the late 70s and we went back up there not long ago. It was so overgrown you no longer had the view I show here. I fear the same outcome for P-K Vista, so overgrown you no longer have that view. the few times I was at P-K Vista. I never took a picture (kicking myself endlessly already of the P-K) but whenever we got there it seemed it was usually cloudy & overcast, always said I'd get a picture the next time I was there but it never happened. Incidentally, we figured P-K vista was around 20 mi. from the truck at Forest Center (one way) and we had another 20 mi. to get back and had considered walking the rest of the way (another 1 1/2 mi.) to FR 354 on the ER but figured at that point our tired feet told us it just wasn't that important. I always intended to go back to do just that, walk all the way to 354 but that never happened either.When the FS and the conservation volunteers first put in the complete Pow Wow Trail system back in the 80s, both West and East Loops along North and Ferne Loops, they put out an excellent map with the accurate distances in mi/kilos.
If you look south of Maniwaki Lake to Nuthatch Lake, some of the early maps that came out had "Vista" marked on them next to the icon for a higher elevation. We had no idea what that meant for certain until one day we walked the Ferne Loop and just past to the west of Nuthatch (just above the 1.0 mi. marker on the map) was another incredible view. We realized we had been on higher ground since Ferne but it was so gradual that we were really surprised at the view to the north and Maniwaki (not much of a view in any of the other directions). It was nothing to rival the view from Jackpine Mountain or the P-K Vista but you could see for a long, long way just the same.
04/15/2024 01:07PM
Tomahawk: "For some reason the map I had wanted to include of the Chickadee Creek area did not post so I'll try again. Please bear with me..........."
It's neat to see it on an actual topo map. The road grade is pretty pronounced where it crosses Chickadee Creek. There's a beaver pond to the south and a spruce bog to the north so the roadbed sort of rises commandingly in the valley. We didn't look for the trail turn-off on our trip as we were trying to make Maniwaki for the night, but we did spend some time on the shore of Fungus looking for the old campsite and slight glimmers of the trail were visible in the undergrowth and some old cans and bottles. It is a spot I would like to get back into as I would really like to find the old fire grate at that one (if it's there, which a couple of people have given me pointers on where to find it since.)
04/15/2024 04:31PM
That campsite on Fungus Lake appears then to be marked wrong on the map. On his trip around the East Loop of the Pow Wow Trail in 2001, long after it had been abandoned, Derek Passe also could not find the Fungus campsite but he did find what appeared to be the site as he moved north up toward Whittler. He found what could've been a cleared site on the NW corner of the lake, where the trail left the lake and moved northward to Whittler. He also said the grate was no longer there, so if it was the actual site it had no grate. 
Looking at this map the site is marked about halfway up the west side of the lake, Derek sounds like he found the site up at the NW corner of the lake as the trail left the lake.
I hate to be the Monday morning quarterback with all the answers and possessing perfect 20/20 vision but there were a few things that I would've done differently had I gone on the same trip that Derek Passe went on. His diary of the trip (Google: Pow Wow Hiking Trip Site Ahmoo Creek Home) takes place during a time of the fall when it could either be very nice or very nasty. He encountered numerous snow squalls and cold weather, although he had a good Gortex rain jacket it seemed as though his pants were not waterproof. He's fortunate he wasn't hypothermic although he may just have been although he doesn't mention shivering. He certainly got wet and cold enough to be. He was also very fortunate at the spot of the 1/2 bridge, part was still standing and the other half was gone (collapsed) so he chose to put on sandals to avoid crossing and getting his boots wet. When the sun is shining (which it wasn't for him at that point) looking down into the dark, tannic water off the edge of the bridge where he would've had to walk are the remains of the bridge that is no longer standing, along with hidden, underwater rusty spikes that once held the bridge together. At this spot I'd put on light-weight collapsible hip waders that slipped on right over my boots. This is one of the 3 crossings on the East Road that Tomahawk Creek makes (Albino Creek also runs into the Tomahawk here) before it empties into Perent River. Derek's trip took place in 2001 and when he got past Nuthatch Lake and close to Powwow Lake he found hip deep water in places over the Isabella North roadbed. I was in that same area when we walked the Ferne Loop for the last time in 1986, the water was top of the boot high and in places over the top. Can't imagine what it's like now. Those things said about Derek Passe's trip, I commend him for making it all the way around, he's a better man than I.
Incidentally Treebear, when you got to the Isabella North Road on Maniwaki Creek, just before the road itself was the site of Tomahawk Timber Co's. Camp 5 on the east side of the Creek. It had a number of shacks for the loggers to stay in as well as a blacksmith's shop and company store where groceries could be bought. If I'm remembering this correctly, Jackpine Jim's Aunt Tess ran the store and lived at Camp 5 with Jim's Uncle Ted. Actually, I believe it was Jim Sr's. aunt and uncle. Jackpine Jim was a 1 yr. old newborn when he lived with his parents about 5 more miles to the north at Bugo Lake camp. Jim, I know you're out there reading these posts, you'll have to confirm all that for us.
Looking at this map the site is marked about halfway up the west side of the lake, Derek sounds like he found the site up at the NW corner of the lake as the trail left the lake.I hate to be the Monday morning quarterback with all the answers and possessing perfect 20/20 vision but there were a few things that I would've done differently had I gone on the same trip that Derek Passe went on. His diary of the trip (Google: Pow Wow Hiking Trip Site Ahmoo Creek Home) takes place during a time of the fall when it could either be very nice or very nasty. He encountered numerous snow squalls and cold weather, although he had a good Gortex rain jacket it seemed as though his pants were not waterproof. He's fortunate he wasn't hypothermic although he may just have been although he doesn't mention shivering. He certainly got wet and cold enough to be. He was also very fortunate at the spot of the 1/2 bridge, part was still standing and the other half was gone (collapsed) so he chose to put on sandals to avoid crossing and getting his boots wet. When the sun is shining (which it wasn't for him at that point) looking down into the dark, tannic water off the edge of the bridge where he would've had to walk are the remains of the bridge that is no longer standing, along with hidden, underwater rusty spikes that once held the bridge together. At this spot I'd put on light-weight collapsible hip waders that slipped on right over my boots. This is one of the 3 crossings on the East Road that Tomahawk Creek makes (Albino Creek also runs into the Tomahawk here) before it empties into Perent River. Derek's trip took place in 2001 and when he got past Nuthatch Lake and close to Powwow Lake he found hip deep water in places over the Isabella North roadbed. I was in that same area when we walked the Ferne Loop for the last time in 1986, the water was top of the boot high and in places over the top. Can't imagine what it's like now. Those things said about Derek Passe's trip, I commend him for making it all the way around, he's a better man than I.
Incidentally Treebear, when you got to the Isabella North Road on Maniwaki Creek, just before the road itself was the site of Tomahawk Timber Co's. Camp 5 on the east side of the Creek. It had a number of shacks for the loggers to stay in as well as a blacksmith's shop and company store where groceries could be bought. If I'm remembering this correctly, Jackpine Jim's Aunt Tess ran the store and lived at Camp 5 with Jim's Uncle Ted. Actually, I believe it was Jim Sr's. aunt and uncle. Jackpine Jim was a 1 yr. old newborn when he lived with his parents about 5 more miles to the north at Bugo Lake camp. Jim, I know you're out there reading these posts, you'll have to confirm all that for us.
04/17/2024 07:36AM
Pinetree, nope, that wasn't me you might've seen at the Perent River campsite. If I remember a conversation with Jackpine Jim correctly, I know he got as far as the river on the ER, not sure if he went much passed that point. Jim, if you're out there, maybe you can clarify. What a great campsite it was although I never camped there. Used the latrine more than once, however, and was very thankful it was there in the right place at the right time :-). In all the years I hunted the area I never saw anyone camped there and wondered if the campsite was ever used. A closer look a couple of times showed very light use so I could tell someone had been using it. It was always clean!
Pinetree, you must remember the road that had been put in by Leustek Logging in the early 70s, the last road ever put in off the East Road (ER) that I'm aware of. Just before the ER crossed Perent River (coming from the Forest Center direction), the road went north at that point. This newer road went off to the east off the ER not far from the river. I walked it a few times, didn't see much for grouse but saw a lot of moose tracks, wolf activity as well.
I hope I won't bore the seasoned veterans of this thread to this next part (I posted part of this earlier) as I would like to recall a story for some of the newcomers to this site. I would run into a guy often, all I can recall was his name was Dave who lived at Forest Center in his younger days. I mentioned this newest road that ran off the ER near the river to him and he said he found a shed antler that was enormous there, would've walked right by it as it was off the road a bit and hidden in the grass. He shot a bird off the road and went back to get it, the bird was laying right next to this antler. He carried a 20 ga. at the time and said the antler was 4" longer than the entire shotgun! He stashed it atop a ledge he said, off the road and in a place no one would ever find it. He was wondering how he would ever lug it out of there and I mentioned that my partner had found one up near Arrow Lake. Same scenario, he would've walked right by it but shot a bird off the road, went back in to get it and the antler was about 5' from his bird. He'd carry it out a little at a time on each trip because it was big and heavy enough not to carry all the way out. He finally stashed in a jack pine and off the ground to get it to dry out a bit (lighten it) and a poor attempt to keep it away from rodents. Each year we'd check it out and it would show signs of being chewed until I told him I had a pack frame to carry it out with.
The frame worked out great and Dave thought that was an excellent idea to get his antler out but I never saw him after that. I often wonder if he ever got the antler out or if he didn't, did it survive the fire because it was well within in the burn area. It may very well have survived it all and is still atop that ledge waiting for Dave to show up just where he left it but Dave impressed me as the kind of a guy that wasn't going to leave it there. 
The antler from Arrow Lake looks as it is now. 
Pinetree, you must remember the road that had been put in by Leustek Logging in the early 70s, the last road ever put in off the East Road (ER) that I'm aware of. Just before the ER crossed Perent River (coming from the Forest Center direction), the road went north at that point. This newer road went off to the east off the ER not far from the river. I walked it a few times, didn't see much for grouse but saw a lot of moose tracks, wolf activity as well.
I hope I won't bore the seasoned veterans of this thread to this next part (I posted part of this earlier) as I would like to recall a story for some of the newcomers to this site. I would run into a guy often, all I can recall was his name was Dave who lived at Forest Center in his younger days. I mentioned this newest road that ran off the ER near the river to him and he said he found a shed antler that was enormous there, would've walked right by it as it was off the road a bit and hidden in the grass. He shot a bird off the road and went back to get it, the bird was laying right next to this antler. He carried a 20 ga. at the time and said the antler was 4" longer than the entire shotgun! He stashed it atop a ledge he said, off the road and in a place no one would ever find it. He was wondering how he would ever lug it out of there and I mentioned that my partner had found one up near Arrow Lake. Same scenario, he would've walked right by it but shot a bird off the road, went back in to get it and the antler was about 5' from his bird. He'd carry it out a little at a time on each trip because it was big and heavy enough not to carry all the way out. He finally stashed in a jack pine and off the ground to get it to dry out a bit (lighten it) and a poor attempt to keep it away from rodents. Each year we'd check it out and it would show signs of being chewed until I told him I had a pack frame to carry it out with.
The frame worked out great and Dave thought that was an excellent idea to get his antler out but I never saw him after that. I often wonder if he ever got the antler out or if he didn't, did it survive the fire because it was well within in the burn area. It may very well have survived it all and is still atop that ledge waiting for Dave to show up just where he left it but Dave impressed me as the kind of a guy that wasn't going to leave it there. 
The antler from Arrow Lake looks as it is now. 
04/17/2024 03:23PM
Tomahawk:
Interesting mention of the old bridges. They still show some structure in the air photos. The decking and most of the support are long gone, but both the Zitkala and Ahmoo Creek crossings are still surely constricting their respective channels somewhat.
Zitkala Crossing
Second Ahmoo Crossing
As for your other mention. With the Fungus campsite, my thought of a grate came from someone on this site mentioning that they were sure there was a grate at Fungus and probably not one at Tomahawk. I had a different conversation with a guy from the Kekekabic Trail chapter who insisted he found a grate but that it was much further back in the woods than the maps said. Either way, it's interesting. I would have thought that if there was a grate at Fungus it would have been the very bottom of the list for ones the USFS would retrieve. Considering plenty of other old campsites still have theirs, it doesn't always seem their highest priority after closing. On our trip, we took it over Memorial Day weekend. Friday evening was spent on Perent. Saturday we headed through Cherokee Creek up to Andek and fought our way to Maniwaki for the night. Sunday we headed to Insula through the Hope chain and over to Fishdance where we circumnavigated the lake perimiter fishing and spent some time looking for the old Screamer portage. Then on Monday, we had a long (but maintained) trip out to exit at Kawishiwi Lake where we had parked a second vehicle.
Interesting mention of the old bridges. They still show some structure in the air photos. The decking and most of the support are long gone, but both the Zitkala and Ahmoo Creek crossings are still surely constricting their respective channels somewhat.
Zitkala Crossing
Second Ahmoo Crossing
As for your other mention. With the Fungus campsite, my thought of a grate came from someone on this site mentioning that they were sure there was a grate at Fungus and probably not one at Tomahawk. I had a different conversation with a guy from the Kekekabic Trail chapter who insisted he found a grate but that it was much further back in the woods than the maps said. Either way, it's interesting. I would have thought that if there was a grate at Fungus it would have been the very bottom of the list for ones the USFS would retrieve. Considering plenty of other old campsites still have theirs, it doesn't always seem their highest priority after closing. On our trip, we took it over Memorial Day weekend. Friday evening was spent on Perent. Saturday we headed through Cherokee Creek up to Andek and fought our way to Maniwaki for the night. Sunday we headed to Insula through the Hope chain and over to Fishdance where we circumnavigated the lake perimiter fishing and spent some time looking for the old Screamer portage. Then on Monday, we had a long (but maintained) trip out to exit at Kawishiwi Lake where we had parked a second vehicle.
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