Second in a series What Chris Gerhard got was ice, not what he wanted. But ice comes from water; was water what he sought when sinking a 40-foot shaft into a hillside near Brownsville, Minnesota in the early 1860s? Most thought it was a water well; some later oral history indicated otherwise. Two young teenage boys, James Gunderson and Don Rohrer, were photographed in 1947 … [Read more...]

I’m an apex predator hunting for radishes, vital ingredients in a radish sandwich.  I picked a couple of cucumbers while I was at it.     No, I didn’t have a cat that needed scaring. I’ve never known a cat that was frightened of cucumbers.   I like cucumbers. I share them with my neighbor Crandall, who  misplaced his glasses and planted a packet of M&M’s instead. I was a … [Read more...]

A roving newspaper reporter from the Twin Cities, Earl Chapin, stopped one night in Caledonia during the summer of 1947. He borrowed from the local newspaper publisher the “History of Houston County,” by Rev. Edward D. Neill, published in 1882. While reading that night, he came upon this item: “About 1861, Mr. C. Gerhardt sunk a well and at the depth of 40 feet, water flowed … [Read more...]

About 1861, at the depth of 40 feet, water flowed into a drilled well and froze, filling it with solid ice to within a few feet of the top. Summer ice was still found in it many decades later. Eventually, the opening filled in naturally. That was the most amazing well in far southeast Houston County, but not the only remarkable one. Early white settlers lived near springs or … [Read more...]