back IN '81 TOOK MY FIRST TRIP TO THE BWCA ON BRULE LAKE,LILLY MULLIGAN AND THE CONES.. I RECALL PADDLING BY A CRUDE CONCRETE STATUE OF A WOMAN ON A VERY SMALL ROCK ISLAND IN BRULE LAKE PROBABLY NEAR CONE BAY. ANYBODY KNOW WHERE IT WAS, WHAT HAPPENED TO IT, OR WHERE IT CAME FROM?

What I heard is the guys that were in the Civilian Conservation Corps camp on Brule just after world war II built it (Wrong!). It was later removed because it was not a natural part of the wilderness setting. Now the seagulls are building their nests on that same rock, and the walleye are still biting near where it was.

Interesting, any other information on this. Why was it built???

There used to be a big resort on Brule... Which may have had something to do with it.

Duboly,

I think the CCC ended before WWII ended (July 1942 for CCC).
If CCC boys built it, it was before then.

Dan

Thanks for the heads up Dan. You are right on the date. My father was at Brule (after the war) with a buddy of his that had been in the CCC. That's where I got the info from. I hope it wasn't a fishing tale! Anybody else have any info on this?

Can you recall where it used to be?

Yes, it was toward the middle of the North side of the island that campsite 952 is on. Out from that island on a very small island. You can go to the maps section of this website, on Brule, hold your mouse over the campsites and it will give you the campsite #. I was going to pin a point of interest, but the interest is no longer there, just the rock. We were by it on our June 07 trip and also we day tripped there on our way back home from Saganaga in August. The forest service (or whoever removed it) even hauled the cement out of there, so if you never had seen it you would never know it had been there. If you went to the cones, or North bay, that's when you most likely saw it.

Thanks for the info. I"ve been to Brule 7-8 times since. I heard that it was removed but since it was such a long time since I had been there, I could not remember where it was. I will try to wet a line for wallygators next time I get there.

Steve

We were told a dentist that had a cabin on Brule, had the statue built in honor of his indian maiden companion. We began going to Brule in 1957. I was surprised to learn that it had been dismantled.

Hi,

I have some more information about this Sculpture. I just found out that my Grandmother was the Sculptor. Her name was Eleanor Söderlind by she was known as Nona Soderlind. She died in 1950, I never knew her. I'm not sure when it was completed, I have a link to a photo that was taken in 1950:

I'm very sad to hear it was removed. I wonder what became of it?

Thanks,
Gunnar
Brule Lake Sculpture

quote GSoderlind: "Hi,

I have some more information about this Sculpture. I just found out that my Grandmother was the Sculptor. Her name was Eleanor Söderlind by she was known as Nona Soderlind. She died in 1950, I never knew her. I'm not sure when it was completed, I have a link to a photo that was taken in 1950:

I'm very sad to hear it was removed. I wonder what became of it?

Thanks,
Gunnar
Brule Lake Sculpture "

Welcome aboard Gunner. Looks cool, to bad it was not left there but I understand why. I'll bet they just pushed it into the water, it would be way too heavy to move it anywhere. It must have weighted a ton.

There are lots of things up there that are "not a natural part of the wilderness setting". It's a shame that they didn't leave it.

quote Savage Voyageur: "

quote GSoderlind: "Hi,


I have some more information about this Sculpture. I just found out that my Grandmother was the Sculptor. Her name was Eleanor Söderlind by she was known as Nona Soderlind. She died in 1950, I never knew her. I'm not sure when it was completed, I have a link to a photo that was taken in 1950:


I'm very sad to hear it was removed. I wonder what became of it?


Thanks,
Gunnar
Brule Lake Sculpture "

Welcome aboard Gunner. Looks cool, to bad it was not left there but I understand why. I'll bet they just pushed it into the water, it would be way too heavy to move it anywhere. It must have weighted a ton. "

You are correct SV. It was busted up and became smallmouth habitat.

quote PortageKeeper: "There are lots of things up there that are "not a natural part of the wilderness setting". It's a shame that they didn't leave it."

A lot of history in the Brule lake area was destroyed. I love the BW and all but it would have been neat to see more of the historical artifacts left. There used to be a logging camp on Vance Lake that was burned.

Hi Everyone,
So I called my Dad last night and asked him about the Statue to see if he remembers my Grandmother creating it and to see what he knew about it. He had tons of information. So, I’m going to just tell the story:
The idea for the statue was actually my Grandfather’s. Ragnar Söderlind. He was a physician and loved the outdoors. He often would travel with his companions for hunting and fishing trips. He was friends with a guy who worked for Pure Oil. My Dad seemed to think he was one of the top executives at Pure Oil. And they would often travel to Brule Lake for camping and fishing.
I guess just getting there was quite an adventure. You needed to drive up an old abandoned rail-road track to a little boat. Then you would take the boat to this island where the statue was. They would camp on the island and fish.
Well my Grandfather (he was about 44 at the time) loved to play little jokes with people and since his wife Nona was a sculptor he came up with the idea that there should be this grand statue landmark when you arrive to the island…kind of a little joke for when this guy from Pure Oil so that when he arrived to their island here was going to be this huge statue. So, my Grandfather ordered a bunch of Cement from Duluth and he, Nona and my uncles (Daniel, 17 and Bror, 16) and my Dad, 10 hauled all the cement out to the island. My Dad said they had to load the little boat with Sand which he said nearly sunk a few times in the process! So the 5 of them built the statue right there on the island.
Now, my Grandfather loved to shoot film. He had a hand-windup 8MM camera and was always shooting film. So my Dad actually has the film which has now been put on DVD’s of him and my Uncles and Grandparents building the Statue. My Grandfather loved to use color film, so I'm hoping he was using color for that trip.
The Statue was hollow, built with an internal structure surrounded with a mess and then they smeared concrete and shaped the statue. They didn’t really build it to last “forever”. My Dad heard that it was pretty much falling apart in the 80’s so I think it basically fell down and probably just got pushed into the water. My Dad was born in 1934 so it was constructed in 1944. I don’t think they thought it would last all that long so that it lasted 40+ years were probably longer than they expected. I’m going to see my Dad next month and I’ll see if I can get the video of the construction posted on you tube and I’ll post a link to it. I think it will be fun to see it being built.
Anyway, mystery solved! Now you know the “rest of the story”.

I had always assumed that it was some drunk lumberjacks who came up with the idea to build the statue.

Great story and excellent information GSoderlind! Thanks for sharing that.

It's nice to know the real story for sure. Thanks for "the rest of the story" G Soderfind. We fished many times by that statue before it was removed and often wondered what the real story was. Welcome aboard!

That's probably the coolest thing I've ever heard

I love when these old threads resurface. Mystery solved...

What an amazing story! So cool that you were able to fill in all the missing pieces, Gunnar.

Thanks for the great read!

Thanks for sharing & I would love to see the video. Just like all the pictographs, probably put there by jokers 200 years ago...LOL