COUNTRY
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015 VOL. 32 NO. 24 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
HIGHWAY 97: MNDOT making improvements. PAGE 3
Historic hand pumper will soon have home BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
Wood fell to the ground and a generator buzzed as workers pried parts from the front entrance of the Brookside Bar & Grill in the first days of October. A vestibule is to replace the existing entryway – but it’s the renovation of the next-door garage that’s noteworthy, said Brookside co-owner Matt Miller. That’s because the garage will house the antique Rumsey & Co. Fire Pumps hand pumper, which Marine residents used to fight fires at the turn of the 20th century. “We’re adding a vestibule to the building, but
the garage is the real story,” said Miller. “It’ll be a showcase with an all glass garage door, windows and skylights. The idea is for people to see it from the outside, but they needed to be able to take it out for events like parades and the art fair too.” Supporters of the horse-drawn, hand-powered pump had planned to build a garage for the pump on Fifth Street behind the Stone House Museum, until Miller offered the garage next to the Brookside. Funds for the renovation come from a grassroots effort led by MATTHEW KARIS, HAF
SEE RENOVATION, PAGE 2
A 3-D rendering of plans for the hand pumper garage and changes to the Brookside’s front entrance.
St. Croix Valley author uncovers hidden history “then started ripping stumps out. Cutting the trees down was the easy part, imagine these huge stumps, so he had Between the high bluffs of historical a team of mules he’d use to pull them fact and modern fiction sits “Eureka out.” Valley – Grandfathers’ Grandfathers,” Doerr – who grew up on a farm west a novel true in its telling of settler histoof the Twin Cities and moved to Polk ry in the St. Croix Valley. The tale’s hisCounty about 15 years ago when her torical characters are men who settled husband started a job with the river’s in Scandia and Cushing, their stories National Park Service – had filed Johnfleshed out through research by author son under her list of people to write Lisa Doerr. about someday. Lisa Doerr A journalist by training, Doerr’s cuShe came upon the book’s second anriosity was initially piqued by her huscestral character, Lycurgus Bell, while band’s family tree. researching a lake near her home in northern Polk “My husband’s great-great grandfather was a County. Swedish settler in Scandia in the 1850s,” she said. “Just north of us is Alabama Lake,” she said. “I “They called him Wood John because he cut down was wondering why there’s an ‘Alabama Lake’ in most of the trees in Scandia, particularly hardwood northwest Wisconsin.” to use for firewood.” A bit of research uncovered Bell, who had traveled Once felled, Scandia’s trees made their way from Alabama to Wisconsin with his own family through Stillwater and on to St. Paul, where they and five others after the Civil War. stoked wood stoves. SEE AUTHOR, PAGE 2 “He cleared Scandia Township,” continued Doerr, BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
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A hundred mile pilgrimage, timed BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
When May Township resident Jason Husveth started racing long distances – as in 100 miles journeys – in his 20s, his goal was the finish line. These days, says the five-time Superior 100 Mile finisher, it’s more about the journey. “For me, the 100-mile distance is a pilgrimage of sorts,” he says. “Almost 20 years ago, it started out as something for me to conquer, an athletic pursuit that would somehow define me. Now, it is simply a joy. A privilege. An offering. Something to be savored and enjoyed fully.” Husveth completed
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the Superior 100 the fifth time Sept. 12, making him one of about two dozen with five or more finishes in the trail race. He finished in 33 hours and 33 minutes, his fastest time by almost an hour and a half. The actual feeling? “Well, it’s the feeling we all get when we find our center,” says Husveth. “It’s that feeling of letting go, of focusing on one thing, of singleness of purpose and being connected to the larger Whole. The feeling of Being.” That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Husveth has finished the race five times, SEE PILGRIMAGE, PAGE 7
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