Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener - 2000 "If he builds it...it will float." Butch Eggen is one of a handful of people who can turn a birch tree into a useable, water-tight canoe. As well as a longtime Northwoods guide, Butch has constructed many birch bark canoes in his years as a resident of Crane Lake, Minnesota. He constructs his canoes in much the same fashion as did the early Native Americans that inhabited the boundary waters of Crane Lake. Birch bark canoes were once a common form of transportation on these waterways and they symbolize an interesting part of Crane Lakes history. Contact: Butch Eggen 218-993-2909 -30- Sandpoint Santas Teri and Marge Smith have become Crane Lake "collectibles"...or, at least their artistry has ! Teri and Marge of Sandpoint Lodge are one of many local crafters in the Crane Lake community. Between their many resort chores and during the quiet times...everyone's out fishing or the snow is blowing...Teri and Margecreeate and paint Santa figurines. So popular, have the Sandpoint Santas become, that visitors to the Crane Lake area now put in orders for the unique items. Contact: Teri or Marge Smith - 218-374-3891. -30- He has Framed a lot of People John Klaysmat doesn't set out to frame people, but he usually ends up doing just that. John puts a new twist on classic picture framing by using local rough lumber in creating fine picture frams and museum quality matting for limited edition art. John's craftsmanship not only adorns homes throughout the country, but hangs in several Crane Lake area businesses including Sandpoint Lodge, Voyagaire Lodge and the Wildwood Escape. Contact: John Klaysmat - 218-993-2379 -30- Greening the Laurentian Forest Growing anything in the Laurentian shield is no easy task, but Crane Lake boasts at least two premiere Northwoods gardeners who annually demonstrate that "stuff" can grow in rocks. Jacque (Jacki) Eggen and Shelly Ward are talented "green-thumbers". Jacque amazes visitors to Nelson's Resort with a picturesque vegetable garden...and, Shelly is likewise artistic in creating an unbelieveable flower display at Voyager Lodge. Contact: Jacque Eggen - 218-993-2295 Shelly Ward - 218- 993-2333 -30- Homesteading the Wilderness John Neil left Iowa in the 1920's and homesteaded the shores of Crane lake. "Junior" still lives on lives on the family homestead and once operated a small tourist camp. Besides a homesteader, John has spent several years as a wilderness guide and a trapper. "Junior" has a wealth of North Woods tales that delight, amaze and maybe even "scare" some visitors who sit at his knee to hear him recant stories of..."way back when" on the shores of Crane Lake. Contact: John Neil - 218-993-2247. -30- Gold in Them Thar Hills Crane Lake has its share of interesting people...not the least of which is a former gold miner, among other things. Eight-nine year old Lew Wheeler has tales to tell about his diverse experiences as a gold miner, trapper, trailer camp owner and bush pilot. Those careers were not enough for Lew's lifetime, he has also worked as a sled dog handler on a military search and rescue team since settling in Crane Lake, decades ago, from his native Ohio. Any one of Lew's careers would be enough to fill most peoples lives, but Lew still believes that just one career is not enough. Contact: Lew Wheeler - 218-993-2272 -30- Picture This...in a Rock People have been leaving behind records of their existence since time began. Ancient residents of the Crane Lake area are no different. Early residents and visitors to the area have left messages for those who follow in the form of pictographs on the rocky shorelines. The meanings of the pictographs is still open to personal interpretation but the Vermillion hand prints and animal shapes will not fail to make you wonder what the picture stories are trying to convey. Crane Lake area pictographs are found in two locations...the Namakan Narrows and the famous "painted rocks" of Lac la Croix. Contact: Voyagers Natl. Park 218-283-9821 -30- Portage by Rail Early settlers in Minnesota's North woods found the "going was tough" and developed many methods to ease the burden of water and land travel. There are any number of portage aids that have been used to assist travelers in moving canoes and boats across rugged trails between lakes. However, none of these devices were more ingenious that the "rail portages" along the Loon river route between Crane Lake and Lac la Croix. The rail portages utilize old railroad tracks, mechanical winches and a boat trailer on train wheels to transport more than a thousand boats around scenic rapids each summer...easing the burden on area visitors who prefer to enjoy fishing and camping in the vast expanse of Lac la Croix. Contact: Fred Erkkila - 218-757-3358 -30- Road Across the Water Known locally as the "Shortcut to Lac la Croix" the Dawson portage is a two and one/half mile road cut through the woods between the shores of Sandpoint and Lac la Croix which bypasses the Loon River route. Dawson portage bears the name of a Canadian engineer who first hacked out the passage in the mid 1800's when Canadian troops needed to deploy to Winnipeg to quell the Riel rebellion. Colonel Dawson continued his work in Western Canada and later gave his name to Dawson City and the famous Dawson Trail in the Yukon territories.. Contact: _________________________ -30- One if by Land, Many if by Air Most modern day travelers can list a dozen busy airports between major cities in the world. Crane Lake boasts two of the busiest international seaplane bases in the Northern United States. There has been a U.S. Customs office in Crane Lake for about 100 years and the community's central location in the heart of the Northwoods lake country makes it a popular stop for floatplane pilots traveling between fishing cabins or northern resorts and their homes. Several Crane Lake commercial floatplane services also use the inland lake area as a port-of-entry for "fly-in" fishing excursions. Another extremely busy seaplane base in the Crane Lake area is Sandpoint Lake. This base is the Canadian Customs checkpoint. Between the two seaplane bases there are more than five-thousand takeoffs and landings each year. -30- "Dance Like No One is Watching" Crane Lake lies in the heart of a natural wilderness playground. It is surrounded by millions of wilderness and near-wilderness acres of land and water. Crane Lake is sandwiched between the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) on the east and Voyagers National Park on the west. Crane Lake is only a few miles from Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park...to the north. Combined...these Northwoods areas offer almost limitless experiences as destinations and vacation locations....for the rugged adventurer or the pampered relaxer. Contact: VoyagersNational Park - 218-283-9821 U.S. Forest Service 218- 666-5251 -30- The Next Step is Canada In one area of Minnesota you can step across the might Mississippi at its headwaters....in Crane Lake, Minnesota you can step into another country. Seeing an international boundary is exciting to many people. Many of these small forged markers can by found in locations along the waterway known as the Voyager's Highway. The markers "lack of stature" is as much a wonder as is the fact that one step on either side puts you in another country. Minnesota's border with Canada does not have the fences found between other nations in the world. One special border area in the Crane Lake locale is the Kettle Falls Hotel between Namakan and Rainy Lakes. The hotel was originally built to provide shelter for loggers, miners and travelers. The Kettle Falls Hotel has a colorful history and is purported to be the ONLY place in the continental United States where you can look "SOUTH" into Canada. Contact: _________________________ -30- Even a Wilderness Has an Emergency A wilderness experience can quickly loose its allure when an emergency happens....and, emergency responders can have a difficult time treating and evacuating people from remote campsites.....Unless ! Members of the Crane Lake Volunteer Fire Department are experienced in taking care of people in unusual locations. There are only eight miles of roads in the department's 100-square mile protection area. This means CLVFD members are likely to respond to emergencies by truck, boat, snowmobile or floatplane. Some of their "special" equipment includes a 23-foot high-speed fire boat and a special snowmobile rescue sled which was designed locally and has since been copied by Northwoods rescuers as far away as Quebec. Contact: Kalie Klaysmat - 218-993-2379 -30- "First" has a Special Meaning Crane Lake is home to Minnesotas First Firefighter of the Year. Kalie Klaysmat is the driving force in building emergency medical response systems in the Crane Lake area and is involved in developing several "first responder" units along the "edge of the wilderness" between Ely, Minnesota and Lake Kabetogema. Kalie has more than 20 years of experience as a wilderness emergency medical technician and was invlved in creating Minnesota's EMS Regulatory Board. Contact: Kalie Klaysmat - 218-993-2379 -30- Wood everywhere...Let's Use It! When the world around you is wood, you learn to fashion it into your lifestyle. Carole Scott left a modeling career in the Twin Cities several years ago to marry a Crane Lake resort owner and make a life in the northwoods. Carole is artistically gifted and has modeled a new career out of natures gifts. Carole creates had painted ceramic tiles and wooden crafts for residents and visitors to Crane Lake. A stop to visit Carole and scoop up her latest designs has become a "MUST DO" for many visitors. Down the road from Carole (because everyone is either down the road or up the road in Crane Lake) is one of the youngest craftsmen in Crane Lake. Rob Wheeler turns the areas "tall timber" into "low riders". Rob creates unique log furniture in his shop on the "Gold Coast" of Crane Lake. Many people take home one of Rob's "this-once-was-a-forest" materpieces to adorn their homes. Contact: Carole Scott - 218-993-2341 Rob Wheeler - 218-993-2401 -30- Necessity...the Mother of..... Around every corner in Crane Lake...come to think of it there aren't any corners IN Crane Lake...there is another artisan. While most of the community craftsmen work with natural resources, one resident just won't put up with any "soft" materials in his design. Dave Adams is into "heavy metal".. like iron and steel Dave builds unique all-terrain vehicles that fit the needs of people in the northwoods. Dave invented the "Brut" which has been used for a number of off-road projects and is especially useful in wet or swampy areas. Contact: Dave Adams - 218- 993-2401 -30- Mush them dogs....Carve them Trees.." When winter hits the Minnesota north woods area, one of the moods of transportation is by dog sled. Crane Lake resident Pete Redmond is a sled dog racer and has called Crane Lake his home for more than 25 years. Although Pete still races and raises sled dogs, he recently took up the craft of chain-saw carving and creates and sells numerous 'larger-than-life' art works each season. Petes art work is displayed in the yard of the "Pumpkin Shell"...a log craft show he built for his wife and named for the nursery rhyme. Contact: Pete or Linda Redmond; 218-993-2352 -30- " Backyard Bears...." Black bears, in the wild, are commonplace in the Crane Lake area of Minnesota. But, if "three's a crowd" what would thirty wild black bears in one area be considered? Many years ago Vince Shute of rural Orr, Minnesota began putting out food for bears that might visit his backyard. Today scores of black bears partake of his generous morsels every day. Vince's "back yard" is now the Vince Shute Bear Sanctuary and it provides a single, safe, location for the public to view the bears in a wild setting. The sanctuary is very near Crane Lake and gives visitors a "non-zoo view" of black bears in the wild. Contact: Shawn McGrath; 218-757-0172 -30- " Getting to school is not your average bus ride for these wilderness students..." While most youngsters are complaining about their bus ride to school each day, there are two Crane Lake students who find their trip to the classroom a daily adventure. Travis Smith, who lives with his family at Sandpoint Lodge in Ontario, has spent every day of each school year trekking to school. Travis begins his daily 10 mile trip by boat or snowmobile (depending on the season) before catching a school bus in Crane Lake for a one hour ride to Orr, Minnesota for the days classes. Reverse the schedule for the trip home. Now in high school, Travis frequently makes the journey alone but during his grade school years, his mom or dad would make the journey with him. Contact: Ted, Terry or Travis Smith; 218-374-3891 "there's more........ Katie Handberg also goes to school in Orr, Minnesota and, like Travis, her home is in Canada just across the water and woods from Crane Lake. Because Katie's home is on Lac La Croix, it is too far for her to make the daily trip via boat from her house to school. Katie and her family solved the problem....she stays in Crane Lake during the part of the school year when snowmobile travel is not possible. But, when the lakes freeze over and the portage trails become snow-covered, a daily 45-minute snowmobile ride and a stop at the US Customs office in Crane Lake becomes her pre-bus routine. Contact: Kathy or Katie Handberg 218- 993-2361 -30- "Pine Point Sally...the toothless behemoth..." Pine Point Sally stretches six feet or more and weighs in at about 100 pounds with no teeth. "Sally" regularly frightens visitors to the Crane Lake area with her unpredictable leaping antics. Sally was last spotted during the summer of '99 as a shore fisherman at Pine Point Resort hooked into the giant sturgeon. The powerful fish threatened to stip all the line from the man's reel until the resort owner put the man on his pontoon boat so they could follow beast as it coursed around the bay. They played the fish for nearly an hour, bringing it to within three feet of the boat before "Sally" whipped her tail and broke the line...allowing her to tantalize another fisherman on another day. Sturgeon are a gourmets delight whether they are smoked or boiled. In fact, the children of commercial fishermen in the Crane Lake area back in the early 19-hundreds enjoyed sturgeon row sandwiches much like today's children enjoy peanut-butter and jelly. Contact: Cathy Erickson 218-993-2311 John Knox 218-993-2333 -30- "You caught what...on what..." We've all heard the fish stories and responded with a..."yah right !" But, here's a true story about a "two-fer" that became a "three-fer". Nearly everyone has a story about catching a fish that was 'taken' by another fish as it was being reeled in. A couple of years ago a group of fishermen out of Nelson's Resort at Crane Lake were fishing for walleye. One man hooked a nice one and as he was bringing it to the boat it was latched on to by an aggressive northern. Quick netting captured both the fish. As the catch was being untangled from the net the fishermen discovered a piece of broken line wrapped around one of the fish. As they pulled in the line they found it was attached to a reel...and on the other end of the line was a hook with a crappie still trying to wriggle to freedom. Now, that's a "three-fer". -30- "Some days they'll bite on anything..." A couple of summers ago a pair of fishermen were enjoying a day of fishing on a portage lake in the Crane Lake area when a wind came up and forced the pair to the lee side of an island while they waited for a boat to pick them up. They had used up all their bait except for one minnow which was lost when it was stuck by a big northern. With nothing to do but wait for their ride, one man left his baitless hook dangle in the water. He was surprised minutes later when the rod bent over and line started spooling off his reel. He set the empty hook and reeled in a 10-pound walleye from four feet of water. Contact: John Klaysmat 218-993-2379 -30- [ FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THESE AND OTHER CRANE LAKE STORY IDEAS, CONTACT: CURT JOHNSON MINNESOTA OFFICE OF TOURISM 651-297-3488 curt.johnson@state.mn.us