Part one of a series Ice cream attracted a crowd. When store owner Reinhold “Rein” Albert Wolter made his weekly Thursday trip from Houston County to La Crosse for merchandise, the last stop would be at the ice cream supplier. The summer best seller was packed into a metal cylinder two feet high and 10 inches in diameter, then encased in a thick insulated container with an … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – New Families, New Homes for “Take-In” Kids
“Well, we were all in the same boat,” was a common reply when asked about living in Houston County’s Winnebago Creek Valley during the Great Depression of the 1930s. “There was no one nearby with which to compare their circumstances. We had plenty (of) food to eat, and the rest didn’t matter.” Unlike city dwellers, mostly self-sufficient farm folks did not need to earn money to … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – The First Worship Service and the Most Famous Person to Live and Die in Houston County
Part five of a five-part series The Swedes who settled the area still known as Swede Bottom, were the first and probably the only group of Swedish Baptists to leave their homeland solely for religious freedom. In 1853, they were led to North America by F. O. Nilsson, who in September 1848, had organized the first Baptist congregation, the first successful “free church” in … [Read more...]
Spring Grove Trap is State Runner-Up; Miner Excels for Kingsland
Correction: In last week’s coverage, it should have stated that Spring Grove placed third at the Class 4A state championships. Spring Grove brought home the (all classes) state runner-up trophy from the 2025 MSHSL State Clay Target Championships at Prior Lake on June 20, the nation’s only clay target tournament recognized by a state high school athletic association. With five … [Read more...]
Spring Grove Shooters Advance to MSHSL State Tournament
Spring Grove, among the 11 Journal-area trap teams, had the most successful trip to the state championships conducted by the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League (MSHSCTL) at Alexandria. Every member of every team, regardless of their regular season standing, is eligible to compete against all teams in their class as each of nine classes (1A through 9A) crowns a state … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Ben’s Mother Had Been Baptized
Part four of a series Indians, in the 1850s, did not live around the village of Houston but were downstream toward the Mississippi, noted Ben Benson. “They often came up the Root River in their canoes on hunting trips.” As a senior citizen, Benson wrote about his childhood as one of the earliest white settlers in Swede Bottom. Although for completely different reasons, all … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Life and Death that First Year in Swede Bottom
Part three of a series on Swede Bottom They constructed small log barns for the oxen and covered the roofs with wild slough grass, cut with, “old-time scythes.” There was no “tame grass” for many years, according to Ben Benson, who in 1853, at age eight, was one of the first Swedes to settle in what became known as Swede Bottom, just east of present-day Houston in Houston … [Read more...]
Knights, Burros, Cougars, Hurricanes Capture Conference Trap Titles
Houston and Kingsland were both repeat champions, joined this spring by Lanesboro and Mabel-Canton, all four winning clay target/trap shooting conference crowns. Spring Grove was conference runner-up; Rushford-Peterson and LeRoy-Ostrander each finished fourth. Thus, seven of 11 Journal-area schools finished among the top half of their conference. Three area shooters earned … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Those Iowa Oxen Did Not Understand Swedish
Part two of a series on Swede Bottom Ben Benson turned eight years old on the Atlantic Ocean shortly after leaving Sweden with his family, among five families, on the way to the Root River Valley in Minnesota Territory. As a senior citizen, Ben left a written account, the basis for this series, which began last week with their arduous three-and-a-half-month immigration … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Bound For Swede Bottom: Storms, Sweet Tea and Two Blind Horses
Part one of a series It has long been called “Swede Bottom,” in honor of early settlers and reflecting on the agriculturally-rich bottom land where the South Fork of the Root River flows near the town of Houston. On August 18, 1853, a group of five immigrant families from Halland Province, Sweden arrived to become significant citizens in Houston County. They were already … [Read more...]