Mike Hanson

Chapter 13 Floyd thought that his brother Orrah was the best under-the-ice beaver trapper he ever saw. He could make sets and seemingly knew exactly where the beaver would put its foot and could get a beaver to go right into it.

Chapter 13 The Kielczwski’s relied on dogs to travel. Floyd had “Lassie,” a border collie, and “Sandy,” an English collie, as his lead dogs and he opined that they were both really smart.

Chapter 12 One day Floyd’s dad Orrah was tending traps when he came upon a set and all he could see was the tip of a bear’s nose; the bear jumped up and Orrah instinctively shot. The bear was only stunned because the bullet ran up along the skull but didn’t penetrate it and it was then that his dad saw that it was only a cub and he had caught it in a wolf trap by the nose.

1946: According to Floyd, life wasn’t all roses during the war because they didn’t have much to eat as everything was rationed including sugar. He remembers putting lard on his bread seasoned with salt stating that fat was a commodity back then. He also recalled that later they had gotten a gallon of corn syrup and it was so extravagant that in his words “they thought they had the world by the tail,” they put it on their bread for jam.

Chapter 10 Floyd was a tad nervous about checking his traps near the river where he had seen the big bear tracks so his dad offered to check them. Floyd’s advice to his dad was “it’s big, you better take a big gun,” he took a 30-40 Craig.

Chapter 9 They were up Beaver House Creek; it fed Seward Lake. It was maybe 100 years earlier that the beaver had created it and the proof was a jackpine growing up in the middle of the beaver dam.

Violet’s Floyd Chapter 8 In the fall, the Kielczewski family-built doghouses on the trap line; they had hay beds and hung burlap over the doors. Floyd testified that five dogs made a nice team; they made dog food out of bran shorts, fat and fish then froze it to take along on the trap line.

In 1941 Floyd’s dad Orrah got a permit from J. A. Mathieu’s in Fort Frances to pick logs on the U.S. and Canadian border. Floyd was 13, World War II just ended. Mr. Mathieu had a new houseboat built and his original for sale; it was a beauty made from knotty pine. It was two stories

Chapter 1 Floyd was the third child of Orrah and Violet Kielczewski, he was born in a cabin on Stokes Bay which is on the northeast end of Rainy Lake. Floyd’s dad, Orrah, was born in Bryant, Wis., in July of 1900.

The Final Chapter Violet mulls and cogitates about the adventures she had and personal family events. She particularly enjoyed looking back at family gatherings.