Don Johnson Letters and Journals
Part 74
• Don talks trees, logging and pulpwood
• Wayne Judy upset over outsiders fishing in North West Bay

1/26/57 Damn diet has me befuddled — and mad. We have a dozen calorie charts and by carefully studying same, we have eaten exactly 1000 calories a day. My weight is exactly what it was a week ago! I am going to give it one more week try and then, if no results, try to get like MacKellar.

1/27/57 Had considered going to Hibbing but blizzard conditions scared us out. I took a couple of hours of real exercise by cutting down old dead poplar and cutting it into fireplace wood.

1/28/57 Cut down, and up, another poplar. It sure feels good to let off steam that way, however, I would sure be kidding myself if I said I would want to go back to that method of getting fuel. Maybe one reason I enjoy it so much is in the knowledge that I don’t have to do much of it. Judy in an uproar over Mpls people fishing in NW Bay. For years, that has been his private preserve in the winter. Now Jack Conner has publicized it to the point where it is like 5th Avenue.

1/29/57 Finished reading Cruise's “LaVerandrye.” A most excellent account. The trouble I have found in books of that nature is that the authors seldom have both style and knowledge of subject matter. Cruise has both and I have a much clearer picture of LaVerandrye and his times.

1/30/57 We have neglected to take care of Social Security for island help and now are a bit worried. We tried to get some satisfaction out of writing Internal Revenue but all we get is forms. Today, we went to see Usiak — and hope we got it straightened out. Mary Bowen called to say that Emil in hospital. We went out to get Ober who in turn called Dr. Walter. So far they are not sure how serious he is. Took the longest snow shoe hike of the season. Walked steady for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Interesting and stimulating.

1/31/57 -30 Layna sick as a rabbit this morning. Headache and sore in every joint. Called Dr. Chermak who came out and gave her some medicine. Still feeling mighty tough when I got home from work. She doesn’t mess around when she gets sick, it really puts her down. 339 loads of wood yesterday for 2200 cords. A season record.

2/1/57 Layna almost in stupor all day but showed signs of improvement in evening. Bartholomews loaned me “Indians of Americas” by National Geographic Society. Most interesting. More of this later. Bernice here keeping house. She sure is a dandy.

2/2/57 Layna showing steady improvement. Head stopped aching. She even got up and sat around for a bit. Karen read out loud to her from “Every Woman” magazine article on growing old. Went thru “menopause and sexual relations after 50” without batting an eye! Hard to tell how much she understood. Layna much better when I came home at 11 p.m. from work.

2/3/57 Layna got up and dressed! She wasn’t too strong so didn’t propose a dance but in good spirits. Bernice and Jack here for steak dinner. Moes came out at 1 p.m. and we went for drive. To Loman, Littlefork, Ray. Cliff & Lou and I got off at end of Van Lynn Road and hiked home. One hour and 40 minutes of steady going. A most beautiful day for it.

2/4/57 Sally’s birthday — and my head full of details concerning the times as they were in 1932 and as they are now. We — mostly Layna — were a tough pair in those days. Carl brought mother and child (two weeks old) as far as Tilson in old Buick and Herman Weberg hauled them across with horse drawn stone boat. Well, it is funny now that it has quit hurting — or did it at the time?

2/5/57 Layna fully recovered so we made up for lost square dance by inviting Houskas, Moes, Seegerts & Swenson. A good time had by all.

2/6/57 Some pulpwood statistics. Today we got a load of spruce from C. L. Barden Camp. 8.62 cords - 43 sticks on average of 5 sticks per cord. 20” average diameter. 23,000 cords of truck wood in Jan. 19,000 cords of rail wood in Jan. From Nov. 1, 1955 to Nov. 1, 1956 100,000 cords by rail and 177,000 cords by truck. We get an average of 300 truck loads in 16 hours.

2/7/57 Jim and I out for hike. We were going to go from Larsons pit to Brown’s pit but lost trail. Got mixed up in swamp and came north to Colony road just at dark. Near calamity when Jim’s glasses flew off as he passed under low hanging limb. I found them about 10 feet from trail.

2/8/57 Byrne & Jane home at 9 p.m. Much to talk about — up till 1 a.m. He is still much interested in job, and apparently doing well. It is a challenge, for sure, and he is willing to accept it. The baby (Etta) is a honey. Cries very little and cute as a doll.

2/9/57 Square dancing at Fort and seriously doubt if we will do it again. However, went to Kirks for lunch after dance and spent most enjoyable evening. They are fine people — in more ways than one.

2/10/57 An eventful day. Byrne and I walked to island and got pump for Lawrence. Then Moes and Collins joined us for ride to Locator Lake. Had wiener roast on shore of Kabetogama. On to Hibbing by 8:30. Ma waiting for us as we had called in morning. She has her small problems which we try to minimize. They really are not serious, and maybe are good in that they give her something to think about.

2/11/57 Stayed with Ma until 11 a.m. and off for home. I think we did her some good. She sure seems to be well satisfied with her present setup. I figured out her monthly expenses at $56.00. She gets $65.00 for rent. Incidentals of course not included. We are in a position to help and it will be no burden unless she gets sick. Buck on job at 3:30.

2/12/57 Out to look over Melvin Johnson Camp south of Black Bay. Very interesting. Saw a new method (to me) of loading big wood on drays. Skidder making about $20.00 per day (and earn it). Cutter said he made $5.60 on one tree. Not all trees, however! Interesting talk with Gerald on Masonic Dance. They have worked for years to get in the swim and now wish to hell it had never happened, at least wish they were out of it.

2/13/57 Buck & I pulled a minor bollix. He took his sled up lake and I drove car to pick him up. I went to Carlson’s and he went to Bancroft. It gave me a chance to talk to Gilbert and made myself happy in knowing I don’t have to listen to much of that. I finally picked up Buck at 9:45 so he almost made it to work on time.

2/14/57 Started to give Layna a small hand at cleaning out drawers in basement and ended up by spending all morning there. We even cleaned out sump — what a smell. Oiled & cleaned furnace blower. Cleaned humidifier. A good stroke of business, all in all. Judy almost came to blows with Minneapolis fisherman and wrote a hot letter to Charlie Johnson about it. I wonder what kind of repercussions he will get out of it.

2/15/57 Worked with Bud & Wagness — a great pair. Their backgrounds have little in common — I doubt if Bud got thru grade school while Gerald is a college graduate. However, both sharp as tacks and unexcelled at repartee.

2/16/57 I was supposed to work nights but at 8:30 the trucks had slowed down and as Wagness & Scholta did not seem to object, I took off for the square dance. After regular dance was over (which was fun) we (8 couples) stayed over and danced for another hour and a half. It was a dilly of a performance. Home — not too bushed — by 1:30.

2/17/57 Johnson, Moes and Collins off for Pine Island at 10 a.m. Snowing quite hard but we went anyway. What a thrill. We saw mile after mile of black spruce, which we thot was practically extinct and then on to the big pines. It was truly awe inspiring. Many of them were more than 100 feet high. We built big fire, cooked coffee, heated stew, and had real feed. Home by way of Big Falls, Sturgeon River & #65 to Littlefork. A full day.

2/18/57 Started a real project. Ever since we built house, we knew something had to be done to make sewing easier for Layna. I am now started on a job that will put 11 drawers around her built-in sewing machine. It feels good to get going on the power tools again. Buck started scaling. Sure hope, and expect, that he will get along.

2/19/57 We missed dancing during week last week because I was working nights so had gang over tonight. Stuarts, Wildes, Burnells, Moes. Some real, fancy, strenuous dancing. Much fun.