Category Archives: Minnesota Resorts

You Can’t go Straight to Crooked Lake

I recently received some old photographs of the Crooked Lake Fishing Camp, located in the boundary waters area near Ely, Minnesota. The camp was dependent primarily on float planes to transport tourists and supplies from Lake Shagawa, at Ely. In … Continue reading

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Will we hear your tree when it falls?

“The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard.” –Barbara Tuchman, American historian and author As we grow older we discover that the past becomes more important to … Continue reading

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Austin Page Turners Author Series

I recently had the pleasure of presenting a program in the Ruby Rupner Auditorium at the Hormel Nature Center at Austin, Minnesota. It was sponsored by the Austin Page Turners as part of a vacations theme for their 2015 citywide … Continue reading

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Inconsistencies in old maps

If you’re interested in resort history, maps can be a valuable resource for finding information. Early tourists relied on them not only to show how to reach a resort, but to know what amenities were offered. The maps were usually … Continue reading

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Postcard Images Donated by Lyell Henry

I want to thank Lyell Henry for his recent donation of postcard photos viewed in the “Share your History” of this website. Lyell shares a varied background and a common interest in early tourism, especially as it relates to motels, … Continue reading

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Douglas Lodge: Classic Blue Ribbon Resort #5

One of my all-time favorite places to visit is the historic Douglas Lodge, located on Lake Itasca at Itasca State Park in north central Minnesota. (Lake Itasca is the official source of the Mississippi River.) While few log structures built … Continue reading

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What would you name your resort?

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (Sunday, August 10, 2014 edition) contains an article written by columnist James Lilek in the “twin cities + region” section under “around the state.” If you still have the newspaper, you can find it on page … Continue reading

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Postcards donated by Darryl Hensel

Darryl Hensel helped me immensely in gathering resort information from the Park Rapids–Itasca Park–Mantrap Valley areas. He unselfishly contributed many early resort images from his collection for my book, The Early Resorts of Minnesota. Now Darryl has offered all the … Continue reading

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Postcards Donated by Steve Muckala

Steve Muckala grew up in Bagley and worked in the Itasca State Park area for several years. He has a passion for history and has accumulated a nice collection of Clearwater County items. His postcard collection contains some 200 cards … Continue reading

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Grand View Lodge: Classic Blue Ribbon Resort #4

In October, I had the pleasure of presenting a program on early tourism at the 2013 Minnesota Resort and Campground Association Fall Conference and Expo held at Grand View Lodge’s Gull Lake Center. It is interesting to see how a … Continue reading

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