Tag Archives: Carlton County

Junior historians, unite!

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Stop being bored on weekends and get smarter in the process.

The Carlton County Historical Society is recruiting members between ages 12 and 14 for the Junior Historian Club. Orientation is 1 p.m. today at the museum at 406 Cloquet Ave. in Cloquet.

Museum director Rachael Martin and youth board members Abbi Parenteau and Josh Dowell will be there to show you around. Bring a parent in order to sign up. The club includes monthly programs, newsletters, volunteer reward chances, plus an end-of-summer sleepover at the museum.

Today’s orientation is free and will feature a tour of exhibits, a look at the behind-the-scenes areas not open to the public, a short movie and information about triskaidekaphobia — the fear of the number 13.

Annual membership dues are $10 and include a book and unlimited admission to the museum. Call the museum at (218) 879-1938 for more information.

Ode to rotary phones

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Remember land lines? The Carlton County Historical Society sure does. And don’t even get them started about pay phones.

Some say they can’t live without their cell phones. Now go back to a time when everyone did.

The museum in Cloquet is opening the exhibit “Before Cell Phones” at noon today at 406 Cloquet Ave.

Expect to see phones with cords, calculators, clocks, calendars, cameras, typewriters, maps, radios, phonographs and handwriting samples.

The movies “Hymn of the Nations,” featuring a performance by Arturo Toscanini, and “Moonlight Sonata,” featuring Ignacy Jan Paderewski, will be shown, and refreshments will be served. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children younger than 12 and $5 for families. Museum members get in free.

Check out the exhibit in person before someone makes an app for it.

Yeti Tour delayed

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The Northland’s lack of snow has forced organizers to delay the snowmobile portion of the Yeti Tour — an annual event benefiting the March of Dimes.

The planned two-day, 200-mile trail ride from Sunset Bar & Grill to Black Bear Casino and Resort had been scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The trail ride will be rescheduled, weather permitting.

Other events planned for Sunset Bar and Black Bear will be held as scheduled Friday and Saturday.

This is the second year a lack of snow forced the delay or cancellation of the snowmobile portion of the event. The Yeti Tour raised $15,000 in 2012.

Rummage sale at Carlton County museum

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Museums often are full of old items, but usually not ones that can be taken home. That changes Friday when the Carlton County Historical Society hosts a rummage sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at its museum at 406 Cloquet Ave. in Cloquet.

Coffee and tea will be available for consumption while browsing through books, magazines, tools and other household items.

Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for kids younger than 12 and $5 for families. Are you a member of the Carlton County Historical Society or a kid younger than 5? Then you get in free.

Call (218) 879-1938 for more information.

Become a junior historian

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The Carlton County Historical Society is starting a Junior Historian Club for students ages 12-14.

The orientation meeting will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday in Cloquet at the museum at 406 Cloquet Ave.

Find out about the monthly programs, newsletters, volunteer reward opportunities and the end-of-summer sleepover at the museum. Take a tour of the museum exhibits and behind-the-scenes areas not open to the public. See a short movie and learn about triskaidekaphobia.

There’s no admission, but there are an annual membership dues of $10 to be a junior historian. Kids interested in signing up, bring a parent. Call the museum at (218) 879-1938 for more information.

Check out exclusive flood photos

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During the historic June flood, most of us couldn’t get near Jay Cooke State Park.

But photographer Allen Anway, who was raised in Cloquet and is an avid hiker in the park, was allowed in to document the devastation with his large-frame camera.

Anway will share the results in a slide show at noon Friday hosted by the Carlton County Historical Society at 406 Cloquet Ave. in Cloquet. Admission is $1, and free for historical society members and children younger than 12.

For more information, call the historical society at (218) 879-1938.

Pheasants Forever

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A Duluth-based Pheasants Forever conservation project has been selected as one of seven finalists for SportDOG’s Future Forward Fund Grant Contest. Online voting will decide which conservation project will receive a $25,000 grant. Supporters can vote once a day until Nov. 30.

The project, called “Habitat for Homecroft,” was initiated by the St. Louis/Carlton County Pheasants Forever chapter. The chapter will purchase one acre of tax-forfeit land adjacent to Homecroft Elementary School, re-establish natural habitat and create an outdoor classroom where students can learn about wildlife ecology, conservation and biology.

“We’re going to try to get this done one way or the other,” David Lood, youth director for the local Pheasants Forever chapter, said. “The grant would allow us to get it done by 2013, rather than waiting until 2014 or 2015 to get it done.”

Lood said the Pheasants Forever chapter hopes to acquire land near other schools in the area to provide outdoor learning opportunities for students.

We got beef

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People examine a bacon cheeseburger measuring 10 feet in diameter and weighing more than a ton on Sept. 2, 2012, at Black Bear Casino Resort in Carlton. The burger weighed a world-record 2,014 pounds. (Black Bear Casino Resort / Associated Press)

You might know by now that the crew at Black Bear Casino in Carlton cooked up a Guinness world-record cheeseburger that weighed in at more than 2,000 pounds. What you may not know is comedian and “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon made a joke about it in one of his recent shows.

Former Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson is a backup for the Buffalo Bills. (2008 file / Associated Press)

He said the burger was supposed to be divided up between the customers, but “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got to it first.”

Black Bear’s Chuck Androsky called up Eh? to add that former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson was lending his new-found talents by asking the governor, “Would you like fries with that?”

Nice try, Chuck. But old T-Jack still has an NFL job as backup quarterback in Buffalo. Maybe next year, though.

Conjoined branches rare but explained

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Earlier this week, Eh? asked readers if they knew how two trees could join together by one branch. We ran a photo of two box elders that appeared to be connected by a common branch on the property of Vickie and Dennis Berg of Carlton.

It’s called grafting, St. Louis County forester Bill Hakala said. It’s common in nurseries and especially among fruit-tree growers to graft hardy trees with trees known for good fruit. But it also happens in nature, Hakala said. He sees it occasionally in his job in the woods.

So does Bob Olen, St. Louis County Extension agent. The two tree experts said the branches, especially when young, can rub together in the wind, scraping off the external bark and exposing the reproductive tissue inside the branch. Once joined, the branches heal back up.

“It’s not common, but it certainly happens out there,” Olen noted.

Many trees do the same thing all the time — graft on to one another — only through the root systems underground, where they can’t be seen, the tree gurus noted.

Now you know.

Conjoined trees

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In a backyard somewhere in Carlton, there’s a pair of trees so close that they’re connected at the trunk.

The box elders are made into one by a single branch connected to the trunks.

“The branch connecting the two trunks together is growing leaves, too,” property owners Vickie and Dennis Berg said in an e-mail. “No one we know has ever seen this before.”

The Bergs found it unusual and want to know if there’s a term for it and how common it is for other trees. So, faithful Eh? readers, do you know? Shoot us an e-mail at news@duluthnews.com if you do.

Update: Here’s the answer.

These box elders in Carlton, Minn., are connected by one branch.