Jim
Hermes GRI, CRS
RE/MAX Results
612-221-0768
The History of Big Lake, Minnesota
edited by:
Cliff
Buchan, editor, "The Forest Lake
Times"
 Authors from left to right: Dick Johnson and Paul Wahlquist |
Three years later Dick Johnson and Paul Wahlquist are nearing the end of
an exhaustive but rewarding effort which will result in a book on the history
of the Big Lake community of Washington county. The book, "Pioneers of
the Big Lake Community," may go to print sometime late in the year.
The book has become a labor of love for the two men. Johnson, 65, of Lake
Elmo, is the great grandson of John and Anna Dalin. Wahlquist, 64, of Los
Angeles, is the grandson of Fredrik and Justina Wahlquist. The Dalin and Wahlquist
families were early pioneers who helped settle the Big Lake area near Big
Marine Lake. The two men have remained friends over the years even though
their careers took them in different directions. Johnson, a 1953 Forest Lake
graduate, and Wahlquist, a 1954 graduate, were college pals and roommates
who earned chemical engineering degrees from the University of Minnesota in
1959. Wahlquist moved to California in 1969 and has remained there. Johnson,
after working in Ohio for a time, returned to Minnesota and had 11 years of
service with 3M. Both are now retired.
With direct family ties to the Big Lake area, both men have mutual interest
in the area they still call home. As a youth, Wahlquist never strayed too
far from the Big Lake area; Johnson's parents made their life on a farm in
the southeastern corner of Columbus Township. As they began exploring family
histories in 1997, both recognized the fact no comprehensive history of the
Big Lake community had ever been made.
"It was Dick's idea," Wahlquist said of the Big Lake history book.
"He said, 'Let's write one.'"
"We both felt strongly it (the history) needed to be put down,"
Johnson said.
Although a distinct but somewhat loosely defined neighborhood for the better
part of a century, the Big Lake community always seemed to be the forgotten
area, the two men said. When histories of the Forest Lake, Scandia and Marine
areas were written, there were only brief references to the Big Lake area.
"There are no distinct boundaries," Wahlquist said. The community
actually includes parts of four townships: Scandia, May, Oneka (now Hugo)
and Forest Lake. In terms of definition, the Big Lake community is bounded
on the east by Big Marine Lake, on the south by the Maple Island Farm (Kelly
Farm), on the west by Corrie's Swamp and on the north by a distance of one
mile north of TH-97.
Now, after three years of digging through newspaper files, searching government,
church and school records and interviewing many of the remaining direct descendants
with memories of the early days, the book is nearing completion. Expected
to be near 200 pages, the history will be the first comprehensive report on
the area from 1861 to 1950, its people and way of life.
And the book isn't coming any too soon, the men said. "People are dying
who remember any of it," Johnson said.
Courage, respect
Both men have long had deep pride in their ancestors and community, but the
many hours of research and writing have increased their respect for the courage
and determination of the early pioneers who left Sweden for a better way of
life.
"The respect for the pioneers and the hardships they faced," Johnson
said, explaining what he gained from his work. "They had to work damn
hard. It's the respect for people who endure hardships and carved out a place
in the forest. It took more courage than of a lot of us would have (today).
They had to have courage to do this."
Wahlquist said he now has a "better understanding of what his grandparents
went through" in helping settle the area. Over the years growing up,
Wahlquist said he often heard "bits and pieces" of the area's history.
"I found (more about) these bits and pieces of things I'd heard. They
started to make sense," he said. And the more he researched, the more
he was impressed with the determination of the pioneers "to get here,
survive here and build a successful community."
Many from Sweden
The settlement of the Big Lake area followed a natural progression for the
area of northern Washington County. As settlers moved north along the St.
Croix River from the Stillwater area in 1850s, land near the river was first
claimed. It was 1855 when the first settlement of Swedes settled in the central
part of Scandia.
Farms gradually began springing up to the west. In 1861 the Abram Cronk family
became the first to put down roots in
the Big Lake area west of Manning Trail. They were not Swedes, however.
It was 1866 when brothers John and Peter Dalin were the first Swedes to buy
land from speculators and begin their new lives in the Big Lake area, 5000
miles from their homes in Sweden. Elizabeth Dalin, the second child of Peter
and Louisa Dalin, born on June 30, 1867, is likely the first Swedish child
born in the Big Lake community.
Peter was the oldest of the Dalin brothers. John Dalin played a prominent
role in encouraging and assisting other Swedes in making the move to Minnesota.
Fares for the six-week journey by ship and train ranged from $5-15 and those
arriving from Sweden were assigned work as payment for their fare.
By the time Fredrik and Justina Wahlquist arrived in 1881, the population
of the area was about 130.
The early days
For the early settlers, life meant carving out an existence on 160-acre farms
and living in log homes. Most of the farmers had 20-30 dairy cows or beef
cattle and grew enough corn and oats to feed the livestock. Milk and beef
were the main commodities they sold.
Fish and game were plentiful and large family gardens helped supplement the
flour, sugar and other staples they would buy at general stores in Scandia,
Marine and eventually the Kuno Store, the community's general store which
was built around the turn of the century. There was also trading with Indians
who still populated the area.
In the winter many of the men went off to work in the woods as lumberjacks,
leaving the farm duties and family raising to the women. In the spring, they
would be back to start the cycle again. Men like John Dalin would walk 10
miles to work in the saw mill at Marine.
For Dalin, it was a year-round job. During the winter he could cut two miles
from his walk by crossing the ice of Big Marine. But families existed and
prospered. They established social clubs for entertainment and used cooperative
efforts at harvest time. For religion, most of the Swedes made the journey
east to Elim Lutheran Church.
"The parishes in Sweden were pretty large. They didn't think much about
it," Wahlquist said of the distance from the Big Lake area to church.
"It was a time for socialization and to catch up on the local gossip,"
Johnson said.
For education, the Big Lake school district was started in 1877. In 1878,
the first school session met in a home and had 22 students. By the fall of
1880, the Big Lake School, which is no longer standing, was constructed on
the corner of what is today Manning and Meyberry Ave. N. It operated as a
grade 1-6 one-room school until 1952, two years after its consolidation with
the Forest Lake district. It closed in 1952 only to reopen in 1954 for use
by one grade level of students for the next three years. In 1957, its doors
were closed for the last time.
Why the demise?
Like all segments of American society, the Big Lake community was not immune
to change. Although self reliant for the better part of a century, the landscape
started to change in the years following World War II.
As more people gained access to cars there was less local reliance for goods
and services. The fabric holding the community together for years was slowly
tearing apart.
"Everybody shopped at Kuno Store for everything," Wahlquist said.
"There were supermarkets coming into Forest Lake and Stillwater. People
were driving."
The people who at one time found local drama plays and singing outings as
key social outlets were now going elsewhere for recreation, or turning on
the TV. In his research, Wahlquist said he has read every Big Lake News column
written by his mother, Judith Wahlquist, now a resident of Birchwood Health
Care Center here. She wrote nine years for the Forest Lake Times and the Stillwater
newspaper and her columns often captured the unique social flavor of the Big
Lake community, he said.
In co-authoring their book, Johnson and Wahlquist hope to set down a solid
information base to help other descendants in their quest for family history.
It may eliminate the roadblocks they found three years ago, the two said.
But more, the book will provide a detailed history of the area never before
compiled. And it comes at a time as documents are fading and the few remaining
people with links to history are passing away.
"There aren't that many people left to interview," Johnson said.
"The paper records are disintegrating."
The efforts of the past three years will be followed by the task of finding
a way to get the book in print. "I don't know how we're going to fund
it," Johnson said.
The men hope to have the book endorsed by the Washington County Historical
Society. They continue to seek funding sources for the first printing of 500
to 1000 copies. A publication by fall would come in time for the Christmas
season when the book would make a good gift, the two said.
For more information on the book, contact Johnson at 8896 Lake Jane Trail,
Lake Elmo 55042 or call 651-777-2933. Johnson's e-mail is dickjohnson@usfamily.net.
Wahlquist can be reached at his Los Angeles home by e-mail at pewahlquist@compuserve.com.