JUL - AUG 2020 Vol. 10, Number 6

Sartell Community Center 850 19th St S | Sartell, MN 56377

The Sartell Community Center is now open!

Our new summer hours for the walking track and open gym activities are Monday-Thursday 8am - 7pm and Friday 8am - 4pm Saturday 8am - 12 noon.

At the time of this publication the library and senior center are not open. We are hoping to open them soon. SARTELL CONNECTION JUL - AUG 2020 2 Meet City of Sartell Employees Scott Saehr Anna Gruber Assistant City Administrator and City Administrator Director of Community

Development

Prior to her role as City Administrator, Anna served on Scott joined the City of Sartell in May of Sartell’s Economic Development Commission. 2020. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree

A typical day as administrator involves both internal and in Entrepreneurship from the University of external management of projects, partners and people. Saint Thomas, in St. Paul.

Every day is different which is what she loves about this Prior to working for City of Sartell, Scott was career. Her favorite part of this position is having the involved in both the private and government opportunity to positively impact and serve communities. sector. He worked in city administration, local It is the community she lives in, invested in, and is raising government cooperative purchasing, sales and her family in. Making a positive impact and service marketing, as well as owned a private busi- becomes even more important because of it. ness. Scott also provided consultant services Anna and her husband, Nick, have been married for 12 for local cities within Region 5 as an interim years. He’s an RN-BSN and manages surgical services clerk/administrator. In city administration, he for CentraCare Monticello. They have 3 children - Jayce managed the overall operations for the city, (9), Colsyn (4), and Ayleigh (3) and have lived in Sartell including finance, development, planning and since 2006. zoning, human resources, marketing, and Anna and Nick have many sports interests. Anna loves events. He was also active in the football, wrestling and baseball. Nick played on the St. communities he served with their Chambers, Stephen Steve’s team so town ball is always a summer boards and committees, and volunteer activity for them. Nick is also the head youth wrestling opportunities. coach for Sartell and an active coach in the youth foot- ball and baseballs leagues. Scott currently lives in Pierz, MN with his

Anna and her husband were drawn to Sartell for several wife Emily, son Derek, and dog Dixie. He is reasons. Nick’s aunt lives in Sartell and is very active in his local community where he is important to them. They also knew that at some point part of the Fire Department and Area First they wanted to start a family and heard the school Response Team, Board Member for Morrison district in Sartell was one of the best. They actually County Soil and Water, as well as an Assistant bought their first house in Sartell when they were Coach for the Pierz Pioneer Football Team. sophomores at SCSU. Outside of the city, Scott appreciates personal

Looking forward Anna is excited to continue the tradition development, outdoor activities, and spending of making Sartell the best place to live, work and play. time with his family.

Declutter, Donate and Decompress! Your Trash May Be Our Treasure With the great success of the Sartell Historical Society’s Holiday Market, SHS and Sartell Senior Connection have teamed up to bring you the summer sale. While you’re at home staying safe this would be a great time to declutter those closets, cupboards and maybe even the garage. You can donate items that are in good working condition to the Sartell Historical Society and Sartell Senior Connection. ( Sorry...no clothes or shoes will be accepted due to space limitations.)

Donations will be accepted at the Sartell Community Center starting Monday, August 10 SALE DATES: Wednesday and Thursday, August 12 and 13 SARTELL CONNECTION JUL - AUG 2020 3 Library Corner Hello Book Lovers,

It’s been a while since we have all been shelving and sorting books at the Sartell Community Center library since it is still closed due to the COVID-19 virus. However, Ann has been putting out a book cart every Tuesday and Thursday from 10-6. The cart sits right outside the front door of the center, weather permitting. We are restocking the book cart to be put out on Tuesday morning and prepping one for Thursday. Ann takes the cart inside at 6:00 and puts it out again on Thursday. There are adult and children’s books on the cart and it seems to be well used! A big thank you to Cathy, Joy and Cleo for helping with the book carts! NO DONATIONS during this time that the library is closed. Thank you.

Books can still be requested online from GRRL and picked up at the lockers in the community center. I’m sure many of you are reading some wonderful books during this time. Please share some of these books by writing a short book review for the newsletter. Send your book review to Ann at [email protected].

Some mystery authors I read this summer:

Brian Freeman, author of psychological suspense novels, featuring detectives Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial. Many of these books take place in Duluth. His new book is Thief River Falls.

Frank Weber, a forensic psychologist from Pierz, MN, uses his experience to write his crime novels. It’s fun to read all the local Minnesota references in his Murder Book, I-94 Murders, Last Call, and available in Sep 2020 - Lying Close. ...submitted by Gayle Smoley

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COUNTRY MANOR 1.800.333.2433 Senior Housing Call Senior LinkAge Line® 320-253-8450 Sartell, MN for telephone assistance or to meet in-person with the Senior Advocate www.redefiningseniorliving.me at the Whitney Senior Center For ad info. call 1-800-950-9952 • www.4lpi.com Sartell Senior Connection, Sartell, MN A 4C 2-0998 SARTELL CONNECTION JUL - AUG 2020 4 Sartell: Where Rivers Merge by Bill Morgan

“We took the River for granted. It was just always there, in every season and in many guises, al- ways in sight, always appealing, always beckoning and always fulfilling in many ways. It provided us with scen- ery, it gave us fishing and all that implies and presented us with numerous spots for swimming. It developed into an almost endless sheet of ice in the winter for skating and ice boating and, when it was covered with snow, a still endless expanse of surface for skiing, in either the cross-country manner or by being towed at the ends of long ropes behind cars. Of course, that was above the dam.” ...Thomas Sartell, Sartell Centennial History, 113.

Thomas Sartell’s evocative boyhood memory of his hometown underscores the importance of the Mississippi in the lives of people in Sartell, Minnesota. Historian Stephen Ambrose calls the Mississippi “both the spiritual heart and economic backbone of our country.” Two more streams are part of Sartell’s river history - the Watab and the Sauk. (continued on page 7) The mouth of the Watab River near the site of the dam. Photo thanks to the Tom Herbst family of Sauk Rapids. The mouth of the Sauk River near the Heim Mill.

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Fourth of July Poem Independence Day

Wave on high grand old flag For the sake of all who care; You’re the symbol of our freedom, The answer to our prayer.

You give us strength to hold our ground Against the brazen few Who would test our mettle, Our fortitude, dedicated to you.

Your colors stand for more Than what we learned in school; They blend together, Form a wrapper, for the golden rule.

You guide the way we carry on When faced with a mighty test; Each minute and hour of every day We resolve to do our best

To stand as one before the terror That violates nature’s laws, To protect the rights of all Who pledge allegiance to your cause.

Wave on high, grand old flag, It’s you we loudly cheer; You radiate a wondrous spirit, That helps us conquer fear.

When hope, care, and promise Are the world’s greatest need, You shine bright from way on high A banner to take the lead.

— American Banner by C.K. Roshong

Category Color Blue

1. Jake (John Belushi) and his brother, Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) are known as ______2. An animated children’s TV series premiered on Nickelodeon in Sep 1996. ______3. These mountains are a part of the larger Appala- chian mountain range. ______4. A 1972 hit song by Neil Diamond. ______5. A 2013 movie staring Cate Blanchet about a rich Identify these baseball caps: 1.______Manhattan socialite who falls on hard times. 2.______3.______4.______5. ______6. An American food company based in Texas that 6. ______makes ice cream. ______See page 6 for answers. SARTELL CONNECTION JUL - AUG 2020 6

Answers Baseball Caps:

1. Houston Astros 2. Milwaukee Brewers 3. Cleveland Indians 4. Atlanta Braves 5. Pittsburgh Pirates 6. Kansas City Royals

Answers Color Blue: 1. Blues Brothers 2. Blue’s Clues 3. Blue Ridge Mountains 4. Song Sung Blue 5. Blue Jasmine 6. Blue Bell Creameries SARTELL CONNECTION JUL - AUG 2020 7

Cont. from pg. 4 The Upper Mississippi has been utilized for a wide variety of enterprises. Native Americans used the river for travel and trading and its shores for camping and hunting. The river today is primarily a site for recreation and aesthetic enjoyment. For pioneer entrepreneurs like Sartell’s first settler, Joseph B. Sartell, the Mississippi provided power for his cluster of mills.

The Ojibwe named the Watab River for the slender roots of the tamarack and jack pine that were dug, split, and used as threads to sew birch bark canoes and wigwams. Following the terms of an 1825 treaty the Watab marked the boundary between the warring Ojibwe and Dakota nations. Peace Rock, a large outcrop in Benton County’s Watab township, stands as a symbol of that treaty at the boundary’s western end. (See article on pp. 8 & 9)

The village of Watab was approximately eight miles north of Sartell. For a brief time in the mid-to-late 1850’s the thriving community also served as Benton County’s seat of government. In 1906, following the construction of the Sartell dam, water covered what was left of the village.

Between 1805 and 1853, explorers made their way up and down the Mississippi, where they passed by Sartell’s future site. Few human footprints are left for contemporary historians to study.

The Sauk River, which begins in Lake Osakis in Todd County, meanders its way across Stearns County for 125 miles before emptying into the Mississippi. Named for a Dakota band that once inhabited the area, the banks of the Sauk contain three-billion year-old outcroppings.

In 1905, construction began on the Watab Pulp and Paper Company and the Sartell Dam. These projects were completed between 1907 and 1908. Seven workers died during the dam’s construction. One of the most interest- ing uses of the river was its role as a conduit for floating logs from the north to sawmills down river. Thomas Sartell says that from the 1870s to the early 1920s the family owned lumbering camps in Morrison County and used the Mississippi to float logs down to the mill for “cutting into lumber, curing, finishing, and sale.” In 1866, 18 million logs ”passed through town by water.”

A longer version of this article is available from the author at [email protected]

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Nature and History Meet at Peace Rock ...by Bill Morgan Except for the distant chattering of crows, a deafening pinkish-gray surface. The crystalline granite-like silence penetrates the area beneath Peace Rock - the formation is an outstanding example of a place where huge stone outcrop nature and history connect. Native Americans un- in Benton County’s doubtedly held Peace Rock sacred because explorers Watab Township have discovered pictographs - prehistoric paintings - that one writer atop the rock’s crest.

called the sleeping In 1825, Native Americans and government officials giant. gathered at Prairie du Chien in present-day Wisconsin Now standing on to sign a treaty that established a line across future private property, Central Minnesota as a peaceful hunting ground for the stone for- the warring Ojibwe and Dakota peoples. Early maps mation rises 75-90 feet above the eastern shore of the show Peace Rock as a landmark near the western edge , a few miles north of Sartell. Today, of that line. the best view of Peace Rock is from a boat or canoe. Explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft passed Peace Rock Approaching Peace Rock, I shuffle through a blanket in 1832 on his way south after discovering and naming of damp oak leaves that partially hides remnant oxcart Lake Itasca. Schoolcraft is also given credit for naming tracks from the day when noisy caravans passed by Peace Rock. Schoolcraft, who married a woman of this familiar landmark. British and Ojibwe descent, mastered the Ojibwe

After a somewhat hazardous climb, I arrive at the top language and wrote extensively about tribal legends.

of the rock where I discover a snow mound that remains In the summer of 1836, French explorer, and mapmaker intact because of our mild winter. In contrast to the Joseph N. Nicollet passed by Peace Rock on his way snow, patches of bright green moss cling to the rock’s (cont. on page 9)

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seen remnants of an active past.” Between 1845 and 1870, the area around Peace Rock and Watab witnessed traffic from oxcart caravans In a 1964 letter, local author Glanville Smith said that plying their way to and from St. Paul and Winnipeg. people should visit Peace Rock before it became The wooden carts and their colorful French-Canadian closed to the public. “This lofty hill of granite,” he drivers were the major purveyors of goods in the wrote, “still miraculously free of beer cans and signs Upper Mississippi region before the arrival of the of picnic fires, affords an unrivaled view of an enor- railroad. A few oxcart ruts from the Woods Trail mous area down to the Veterans Hospital and off to stand near Watab as symbols of this rich chapter in the spire of St. Stephen.” Minnesota’s history. In a recent phone interview, retired SCSU geologist, A trading post and hotel were established in 1848 near George Shurr, said he feels that the history of Peace Peace Rock. During Minnesota’s Territorial Period. Rock is more important than its geological significance. Watab was considered the most important commercial The pictographs and the treaty line define the area as a site northwest of St. Paul. “keepsake place,” he told me.

In 1906, the Sartell dam inundated what was left of Watab. The 1.8 billion-year-old rock is a testament to geologic In 1907, when he was a boy, Watab resident, Willard time, a symbol of Native American culture, and a F. McCrea, sat beneath Peace Rock “on balmy summer tribute to more recent historic events.

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CT-0000389423 For ad info. call 1-800-950-9952 • www.4lpi.com Sartell Senior Connection, Sartell, MN E 4C 2-0998 SARTELL CONNECTION JUL - AUG 2020 10 Biking in Minnesota and Wisconsin - Summer of 2020 …Pat McNeal

Green Lake –Spicer MN

Tràil of Trolls - Mount Horeb, Wisconsin

Lake Wobegon Trail - Longest Covered Bridge in MN

Bend in the River Park

Dipping our bikes in Little Rock Lake on our Irish Ramble Ride

If you would like to vote by mail this year, all you need to do is request an absentee ballot. You can either apply online or download the form needed to get your ballot at www.mnvotes.org. You can also request one by calling 1-877-600-vote (8683). When you receive your ballot you’ll need a witness (must be a registered Minnesota voter) or sign it in front of a notary. Here are some important dates: Primary Election Ballots sent starting - Friday, June 26 General Election Ballots sent starting - Friday, September 18 Recommended you apply before Friday, July 10 (Primary) and Friday, October 2 (General) Deadline for ballot to be received: Primary Election Day Tuesday, August 11 General Election Day Tuesday, November 3 You may also cast an absentee ballot at your local elections office starting 46 days before Election Day. Visit www.mnvotes.org for hours and locations. SARTELL CONNECTION JUL - AUG 2020 11 Can you identify this statue Theatre Performance - A BENCH IN THE SUN and where it is located? DayTrippers Theatre - Bloomington

Friday, September 25, 2020 The first person to Joined at the arthritic hip, Harold and Burt, residents of Valley call with the View Gardens and longtime friends, spend their days on a name of this bench in the garden bickering. A once famous actress has just statue and moved in, giving them something new to argue over. When where it is they learn that the home is about to be sold and they will have located will to find a new residence, the three join forces to prevent this receive a upsetting development. Think the Odd Couple, Sunshine Boys gift card to and Grumpy Old Men - ”Very wise, very moving, and most of House of all, very funny!” ...Mel Brooks.

Pizza. TIME: 10:30 am Depart from Sartell Community Center Give Ann Return: approximately 5:00 pm a call at COST: $69.00 - includes: motor coach, 258-7324. ticket, buffet meal, dessert & coffee. Hint: REGISTER: Call Ann at 43 ft. tall 320-258-7324 by September 18

For ad info. call 1-800-950-9952 • www.4lpi.com Sartell Senior Connection, Sartell, MN F 4C 2-0998 Sartell-St. Stephen Ind District 748 Sartell Senior Connection USPS Marketing Mail 212 3rd Avenue N U.S. Postage Sartell, MN 56377 PAID Permit No. # 8 Sartell, MN

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Directions to the Sartell Community Center

www.sartellseniorconnection.com

Sartell Senior Connection Board members - left to right: Ann Doyscher-Domres, Sartell Community Center Pat McNeal, JoAnn Olson, Mary Degiovanni, Jeremy 850 19th St S Snoberger, Janine Farnell, Rose Schulte, Lynn Fitzthum, Sartell, MN 56377

Dave Cook, Ron Hurd For more information, contact Not pictured: Maggie Kraemer Sartell-St. Stephen Community Education 320-258-7324