Family reunion

On a day when bicycle riding was a definite go I instead yielded, with pleasure, to family obligations. A family grouping from my mother's side of the family met on the old family farm for a bit of a reunion. This is special fun for all of us because on the piece of land farmed by my grandfather from 1907 to 1957 and for a bit longer after that by my Uncle John McCune, it has been established that a historically significant trading post existed for at least a couple of years in the very early 19th century, probably 1802 and 03. The old homestead is now an historic site operated by the Burnett County, Wisconsin Historical Society. There is a visitor's center, a reconstruction of the trading post and of a native village that probably existed next to the post for the years that it was in existence. There are interpretive tours as well.

There is a display inside the visitor's center of the Anderson family who owned the farm and lived on the land for almost all of the years when it was a family farm. The display includes a photo taken in probably about 1954 of the entire, at that time, family. This photo includes all of the people present today who are pictured in the 1954 photo, a couple of younger cousins, and one special guest. Family members will be able to, without difficulty, make all of the identifications.The interloper is a welcome one, the husband of a cousin pictured in the 1954 photo but not today, who has written a book featuring the travels of the family patriarch, my great grandfather, from Norway to Wisconsin and stories about life in Wisconsin. We met today to celebrate the publication of the book and to have Terje Nordberg, a native Norwegian, sign copies of his book for family members. Terje is at the camera right on the bench, John McCune on camera left, that's Charlotte in the middle.

We also met to commemorate the placement of a Minnesota granite bench. Funded by the family, the bench is in what Uncle John identifies as part of the corn field. It recognizes the family and the family's role in stewardship of this piece of land in the period between fur trading post and historical site.Here are two proud sons of this tiny piece of land standing behind a piece of granite which will for a long, long time into the future commemorate their attachment to that land.Almost immediately upon arrival I got a moment with Uncle John and he had a great story about the day when they moved the old log cabin from its original construction site to the place where we usually knew of it in the family homestead area. I recounted the story to my brother and he, slightly older than I, remembered that day. I got the three of us together and made Uncle John tell the story again.

The story involves a stump puller, peeled popple logs for skids, two sets of power to move the cabin, a team of horses on one side and a small John Deere tractor on the other. Both sources of power were necessary because Grampa and Uncle John did not think that either one acting alone would not be enough to make the move possible. Grampa stood on a plank across the skids at the front of the cabin, intending to control the horse team. Uncle John rode on the tractor. It had snowed about three inches the night before the move and in a slightly downhill move the cabin moved on the skids like a sled. The problem was that the horses, urged to start the pull by Grampa Richard, looked back to observe a house following them and spooked, running out of control down the slope. Uncle John stated that not only did the tractor not actually help but that it was being pushed along by the momentum of the horse team and the cabin. He said that he thought about bailing out because he feared that his position had become dangerous and untenable.

Instead he hung on and Richard did his best. The horses led the procession towards the area where everyone wanted the cabin to end up but also towards what had before the move been viewed as a tricky move between standing mature trees. The horses, Babe and Toots for those who know, much to the amazement even at this late date of Uncle John, pulled the cabin between the trees to more or less the area where it was intended to be and then stopped as if they knew that what they had done was what was intended all along.

Here is a photo of the reconstruction of the fort as it existed in those now more than two hundred year ago winters.The university researcher who rediscovered the fort did so on the basis of an extensive written record of life at the fort. However, a certain amount of luck was also involved. The searchers had narrowed the search down to an area where they hoped to find the fort. Without any physical evidence they were at the point where they were just walking through the woods in a area which they viewed as particularly promising. A neighbor across the river observed them and asked what they were doing. When informed of the quest the neighbor suggested investigation of a known to people in the area pile of rocks. The rock pile was unusual in an area of predominately sandy soil. The pile of rocks proved to be the remains of the fireplace at the fort. Investigation in the immediate area turned up charred timber. A full scale archeological expedition followed and the area is now a historic site.

Here is a reconstructed building outside the walls of the fort, part of the reconstructed native village.Eventually the group photo on the wall inside the visitor's center called out to us all and we took a group photo of all of current family members present, some sitting on the family bench.That's all of the cousins and spouses and even an errant creature that we were instructed to refer to as a rabbit. There we all are, acting like a family, which is, of course, what we are.