Area History

The receding glaciers of ten thousand years ago scoured and shaped the landscape we see in our border lakes region today.
Beginning with the Paleo-Indian people and flowing from culture to culture and generation to generation, the lakes and forests
have provided sustenance to area inhabitants and visitors.

Kabetogama Lake and the adjacent chain of lakes including Namakan, Crane, Sand Point and Rainy Lakes, have a rich history of
habitation and development. Early indigenous populations including the Cree, Monsoni, Assiniboin followed by the Ojibwa Sioux
populated this area for many generations. Local place-names including Kabetogama, Namakan, as well as Chief Woodenfrog Island,
Rottenwood Island and Nashata Point remind us of their history and cultural contributions to the area. The expanding fur trade
of the early 1700's brought the first Europeans to "Voyageurs Country." Prospectors used Gold Portage to access Rainy Lake and
the short-lived gold rush in the 1800s.  Bowman Island, Torrie Island, and Slatinski Bay all gain their names from early
commercial fisherman.

Beginning in the 1880s, events unfolded that would shape the course of the area and its people to the present day. The first land
survey of the area was completed in 1881.  Information from the survey about vast acreages of pine saw-timber stumpage
reached a hungry timber industry to the south and east. Backus and Brooks, Virginia & Rainy Lake and Weyerhaeuser are some of
the larger timber companies that led the industry into this region. With them they brought the lumberjacks to work the camps
and to build the railroads that moved the logs from landings and waterways to mill sites in Duluth, then Virginia
and eventually to International Falls. As the pine groves disappeared, the pulp and paper industry grew in its place around the vast
stores of spruce pulpwood that was unutilized by the earlier sawmills. Backus built the first paper mill in International
Falls, taking full advantage of the now dammed and regulated water flow through the chain of lakes to efficiently produce the
electricity needed to power the mill. Boise Corporation now owns and operates the mill and is the major employer in the area.

The railroads eventually brought settlers north as well. The tracks reached Ray in 1907 and with them came some of the
first settlers. With an opportunity to homestead land that the timber companies abandoned after harvesting the pine,
these early settlers, mostly Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian, left the siding at Ray and completed their journey with a
10 mile cross-country trek to Kabetogama Lake and their new home.  Manninnen, Lehto, Wouri, Peterson, Star, Sipi,
Stone, Fors, Bradley, McCaw, Komback and Gappa are some of the names of the families who founded the
Kabetogama community. Vestiges of the fields they cleared of stumps and stone remain today. While it was the
produce from these fields along with the game and the fruits of the forest that provided for their subsistence,
it was the timber camps that provided jobs and the paycheck needed to purchase the goods they couldn't grow
and the means to raise their standard of living.

In the 1920s and early 1930s, the beginnings of a new enterprise in the community begin to grow - tourism.
Spurred by the completion of connecting roads to the south, more reliable transportation and fed by the desire by an
ever increasing urbanized society to "get away" to enjoy the good fishing and the rustic, natural environment of the lake,
a few rental cabins and a Hotel at Gappa's Landing grew into the thriving resort and tourism industry that exists today.

The end of the 20th century has brought new challenges and opportunities to Kabetogama. There are two distinct
developments, which have occurred over the last 25 years that have had a profound effect on the socioeconomic
fabric of the area. These will continue to influence the destiny of our community into the future.  The timber industry,
which for generations provided stable, though in some cases seasonal, employment both in the woods and in the mills,
went through a period of upheaval which saw the closing of Boise Cascade's Insulite plant in International Falls
and with it went 400 good paying jobs. On the heels of this closure came an expansion of the paper mill which greatly
increased its output, but because of new technologies, created few new jobs. A similar transition was taking place in the
woods. The number of loggers also decreased when Insulite closed.  With the expansion came a vastly increased
demand for wood. Instead of more loggers, an expanding fleet of mechanized logging equipment has been employed
to maintain the needed supply of wood to the mills. The net result has been that even though the industry grew in
terms of output and value, fewer people were required to produce those goods. For the Kabetogama community,
this has meant a shrinking number and diversity of goods, services and employment opportunities available locally.
It means our children attend schools with declining enrollments. When they graduate, few find full time employment locally.
The authorization of Voyageurs National Park in 1971 and its creation in 1975 began a new era for Kabetogama.
With its establishment the park became a considerable influence on the economic and social pinning of our community.
While the park's inception altered the economic base and future use of the area, it also created new possibilities and
opportunities to explore and develop. It assured the preservation and protection of the landscape and scenic waterways
that have sustained generations but spawned some issues and uncertainties regarding the shape and direction of the
community's socioeconomic future. The community and the park have many mutually beneficial goals
as both work toward their development potentials.

Town History from Kabetogama Community Action Plan, December 2002

A Woodcarver's Tale