Mike Hanson

Big Sam Bjerre, Loman, Minn. Chapter 2 “Big Sam” was still a teenager when he immigrated to America choosing it over Africa because of a political revolution.

Chapter 1 “The Danes have to stick together.” Those words were often heard by the folks living in Loman, Minn., and most heard from Sam Bjerre. By the late 1940s Mr.

George and Mary Loman were pioneers but very progressive for their means and how they operated in those early days without funds was viewed as a real accomplishment to the local historians. One can postulate why the community was eventually named after the Lomans and apparently just being one of the first homesteaders in the area along with a stellar reputation became the basis for its affirmation.

56654 became their zip code and they indeed earned it The folks who talked about George Loman used reverential tones; held in high esteem by his neighbors. Historical portrayals described him at various times as “beloved,” “no man in the country round has been held in higher respect,” “a man of God,” “an honorable man,” “all that he saith cometh surely to pass,” “a good husband, a loving father and faithful friend.” George was born in Pennsylvania in 1851, he married his wife Mary in Ohio in 1874, from there they moved to Kansas where he was engaged in the newspaper and drug business.

I’ve ruminated about Mrs. Ham since I read about her 30 years ago. Mrs. Ham lived in Fairland, Minn., an isolated hamlet in Northwest Koochiching County. It would be a long walk from Baudette: make sure you go left when you get to the Fiero Truck Trail because it’s a long way to Big Falls. From International Falls, it’s 20 miles to Loman and then west on The Black River Road. Originally it was named Feldman for one of its first settlers but later referred to as Fairland where a Post Office was located until 1936. There were so many folks and commerce in the Fairland area at one time that some sketchy historical accounts claim there was consideration given to Fairland when the Koochiching County seat was established.

Chapter 19 The Kielczewski family trap line was 16-miles long and 12-miles wide, covering 192 square miles, the size was the reason that they needed multiple cabins. They took 900 beaver a season from six area lakes; they all had populations of muskrat houses.

The Kielczewski’s Pipe Lake cabin was at the headwaters of the Pipestone River;there were signs that a big bear had been there. Floyd had left a tar pail on the roof that he had been using to patch it and found that the bear had knocked it off, he got up on the roof to see if there were any damages. There was no damage, but he noticed that the bear had only stood on its hind legs and put paw marks on it. He thought he had to be above 7-feet tall, and he reckoned that it was about 8- or 9-feet long from the tip of his nose to the tail. Brother Frank summed it up by saying “that’s a big bear” and he is going to ruin the cabin if we leave him.

It was the twelfth of May, it was warm out, the grass was green, and folks had already been mowing it when36 inches of snow fell on the banks of the Pipestone River. Floyd left home at 7 a.m. in a canoe on its maiden voyage up to their Marsh Lake Cabin 14 miles away to meet his brother Frank. On the way he checked traps and picked up 18 beaver and at least 40 muskrats. He skinned nine of the beaver on the riverbank. He testified that it took him about nine minutes to skin a medium sized beaver and about 15 minutes for a large one.

Floyd and brother Frank were out 16 days counting beaver houses for the government and at night they would use a three-gallon galvanized steel water pail with some hay and kindling in it to create a smudge to keep the mosquito’s out of their cabin, leaving the door open to filter the smoke. They had a gal lon of lard outside the cabin and one night Floyd half-way woke up in the middle of night and in kind of in a daze he watched as a big bear tried to enter through the cabin doorway, he finally uttered some thing like “a bear is coming in” and the bear bolted. Frank slept through the episode and didn’t believe him and thought that Floyd had been dreaming until he went outside and saw a big bite taken out of the lard bucket.

Violet’s Floyd Chapter 15 Living in a remote area such as the Kielczwski family, a main method of transporting nearly anything was to pack it out. Floyd’s first pack sack was a burlap gunny sack that cut through his shoulders, so he had to put mitts under the straps.