Stories and legends from early days in the Kabetogama and Ash River  areas provide colorful and historic  tales and experiences. 

Boots” Nelson relates his boyhood  experiences on Lake Kabetogama.   Rich  with  humorous and revealing  anecdotes about skinning bear and talking toilets, and how many beers does it take to  get help  moving an old red painted saloon piano into the cabin.   What do you do with a floating island that land on your shore?   The legendary bars, Barnie and Oscar’s,  run  by two women and the  Nightingale  with its rich history of mischief and mayhem.   Boots is a great source of stories about spending his boyhood summers at the cabin built by grandfather and father and maintained to this day by Boots and his wife, Marcia.  He shares his perspective on physical, economic and cultural changes that have had an effect on the area and its people.    Boots is a very talented man, a man who made a career in advertising.  

Contact: Boots Nelson Minnetonka, Minnesota  (Summer resident of Lake Kabetogama

 Phone: (952)933-7854

 Thor Herseth is a man whose father built the first resort on Lake Kabetogama .   Thor can share stories about the first non-Native American citizens in the area,  stories of the prohibition  days  and tales of exploding homemade liquor stills in these woods.   What was it like when visitors to the area had to ride the train from Orr, Minnesota, north eight miles t and then back track the eight miles on a primitive dirt road to reach the lake?  He can share his many stories with enthusiasm a great detail including his experience as a young  firefighter  and a lad who made extra cash hauling buckets of water for fires  and earning a  nickel to get the church warmed up before service.    What was life like when the closest sheriff lived in  Orr and there was no road from Orr to the area?    Thor and his son, Lee, continue to run the Tomahawk Resort that was started by his father, a Norwegian immigrant with an Olympic silver medal in rowing.   

Contact: Thor Herseth  Kabetogama Lake, Minnesota

 Phone: (218)875-2507

 Mike Williams is a descendent of the early owners of Kettle Falls Hotel.   The Kettle Falls Hotel’s  history  is well documented in books, videos and pamphlets.   However, as a young man growing into adulthood on the property, Mike has priceless memories to share of people and events  not published  in  these  pieces.    He will share  tales that will make one wonder how anyone survived  the  somewhat harsh realities of living in one of the most remote areas  of northern Minnesota in the early day of logging and throughout the hotel’s history as a departure point in the lives of its guests and other visitors.  Be sure to ask about the bear that frequented the outhouse, and on one occasion as it was occupied by a citizen of the hotel.

Contact:  Mike Williams  International Falls, Minnesota

Phone: 218-286-3591

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