collage || opulence
A handful of private families own the only tract of old-growth forest in Minnesota. | BY ALYSSA FORD
I
n November 1921, a fearless Englishman named Thomas G. Winter camped on a piece of land in Lake County that took his breath away. Around him was a thick stand of oldgrowth forest, heavy with white pine, cedar, birch, balsam and spruce. On either side stood grand, sweeping cliffs. In the valley between ran a cold trout stream that tumbled into a 40-foot waterfall. Half a mile farther down the river was another 20-foot plunge. Winter followed the water as it danced over a series of rock ledges before emptying into a bulrush swamp and then finally out to Lake Superior. Winter was so overtaken by the beauty of the place he immediately posted a letter to some friends. “Through this magnificent woods flows Encampment River, a beautiful trout stream cascading through a rocky gorge, leaping in several falls down the hillside, with here and there deep pools where the trout lie,”
72 Artful Living
| Summer 2013
photography by Christian Dalbec
Exclusive Encampment
Academy Founder Charles W. Ames and 14 he wrote enthusiastically. “There are many partridges, and wildlife abounds, including others. Knowing full well the land was out of his price range, Winter, a midlevel grain deer and moose.” He wasn’t the only one who had noted the dealer, proposed a kind of cooperative, where each man (and one woman) would particularly stunning tract of land. In 1925, put in roughly $1,000, and the rest would be geological surveyor Dr. George Schwartz wrote in his report that the piece of Lake borrowed from the bank. In just a few short County had “the best stand of trees along the coast of Lake Superior.” In November 1921, a fearless The land was owned by the county attorney, John Olson, but Englishman named Thomas G. Winter Winter was determined to raise the camped on a piece of land in Lake money to purchase it. He started a furious letter-writing campaign County that took his breath away. to his most monied friends: civil engineer Francis Shenehon, bank president Edward Decker, Edina developer months, the deal was done. In 1929, the group paid $27,500 for 1,575 acres. Sam Thorpe, manufacturing magnate Edwin Elwell, insurance executive Walter Leach, In a way, it was kind of a miracle the lawyer Joseph Kingman, architect Edwin land existed at all. Commercial loggers had Hewitt, Minnesota State Bar President H. V. been working over Minnesota’s old-growth forests since 1839. By 1900, the year of peak Mercer, surgeon Arthur Strachauer, St. Paul