Research Catalog

Title

A wonderful country : the Quetico-Superior stories of Bill Magie / collected and edited by David Olesen ; illustrations by Bill Nelson.

Author

Magie, Bill, 1902-

Publication

Ely, MN : Raven Productions, 2005.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Olesen, David
• Nelson, Bill

Description

ix, 200 p. : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

"When Bill Magie began taking canoe trips in the wild country along the Minnesota-Ontario border, there were places where the lakes were so crowded with logs heading to the mill, that his group put their gear on a horse-drawn wagon to portage to a spot where they could paddle. There were other places where they could travel for two or three weeks and see no except an occasional Indian family. Bill's stories originate from the Canoe Country -- today's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Voyageur National Park, and Quetico Provincial Park. But they are not the dry facts of the past. (Some would argue that there are few facts to be found in these stories!) Instead, they are full of the elements that still draw us to this wilderness area today -- wolf howls, sparkling water, storms, solitude, stillness, adventurous undertakings, relics of bygone days, campfires and camaraderie. Take this book on your next canoe trip, and imagine Bill has joined you, spinning tales of lumberjacks and trappers, surveying the border, flying bush planes when flying at all was a novelty, camping before nylon and plastic and freeze-dried food, hunting and fishing when you succeeded or went hungry. Find stories about the places you visit: Curtain Falls, Prairie Portage, Granite River, Knife Lake, Basswood, Saganaga -- and so many more. And know that the spirit of those who have loved this place lives on as today's paddlers discover what a wonderful country this is"--Front flap.

Subject

• Magie, Bill, 1902- > Anecdotes
• Quetico-Superior Country (Ont. and Minn.) > History > Anecdotes

Genre/Form

• Anecdotes
• History

Note

• Previously: Sig Olson Environmental Institute, 1984.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• Foreword -- Introduction -- [pt. 1]. Early days -- Autobiography -- First trips to canoe country -- A night in a moose -- Blackstone's last walk -- Partridge eggs -- Joe Murphy, game warden -- Fugitive in Quetico -- The biggest fish -- A bad day for Stanley -- [pt. 2]. The survey years -- The start of the survey -- Survey flying days -- A midnight visitor -- Wolves on the trail -- Pine beef -- A close call -- The missing lemon extract -- Stream gauging -- The demise of Big Fred -- John Linklater and Wolf -- The hunter from D.C. -- A canoe country cow -- A lost canoe -- A close call on Northern Light -- Water level "adjustment" -- Lost tourists -- Blizzard bound -- Bear cubs for sale -- Kashabowie caribou -- Dusty Rhodes, outlaw pilot -- [pt. 3]. A wonderful country -- Four-bottle McGovern -- Joe Hoffman -- Depression deer -- Wilderness shopping spree -- C.C.C. shoplifting -- Meeting the Powells -- Saganaga gold rush -- Buried treasure -- Moonshine and speeders -- The La Croix connection -- Wolf kills.
• [pt. 4]. Friend of the wilderness -- The Thye-Blatnik Bill -- The air ban -- Resolution 20 -- The Port Arthur resolution -- The Wilderness Act -- [pt. 5]. Canoe country scrapbook -- Publisher's note.

ISBN

0967705789 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2004022275

OCLC

56752729

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library