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SPRING 2021 NORTHERN WAKE CONSERVANCY’S NEWSLETTER

EXPLORE IT. SHARE IT. KEEP IT WILD. LEARN MORE AT VOYAGEURS.ORG

Mandy Fuller

The Voyageurs Conservancy is the official nonprofit partner of ’s Voyageurs . In partnership with the , the Conservancy works to preserve the wild character and unique experience of Voyageurs by funding projects and programs that will sustain it for generations to come. LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The changing world around us has given us time to reflect on the work we do in partnership with the National Park Service and our member community. To reflect our expanding vision and commitment to the park, we underwent a major rebranding effort in 2020 to become the Voyageurs Conservancy. This change helps us grow our collective of park advocates. Now, more than

ever, we must engage new voices, new Larry Sang Jr. visitors, and the next generation in the Debra Bernard SUMMER 2021 stewardship of our lands and waters to ensure a vibrant and sustainable National Park. LETTER FROM VOYAGEURS PARK PROGRAMS & FACILITIES 2021 PHOTO CONTEST CHECK OUT VOYAGEURS.ORG/EVENTS FOR THE This year brought unique challenges as NATIONAL PARK SUPERINTENDENT Voyageurs experienced monumental LATEST CONSERVANCY EVENTS & PROGRAMS The annual Voyageurs Photo Contest we navigated a global pandemic and, as We’ve heard it often over the last year, but assistance and cooperation, we achieved visitation numbers in 2020 and that trend opens in June! Submit your photos a result, unmatched visitation numbers. I will state it again... What an unprecedented Dark Sky Park certification in December 2020. is expected to continune with the public The Voyageurs Conservancy is developing safe and engaging and favorite Voyageurs memories time. At the park, our goal has been to assure Our partners and the ways to connect individuals and families to Voyageurs Our community stepped in as a dynamic seeking nature and outdoor recreation to earn exclusive prizes, and help and forward-thinking organization, the health and safety of our team, neighbors, Area Wilderness more than ever. Park campsite reservations, National Park. The Conservancy will be offering outdoor, protect and support your national and visitors. We did a pretty good job, even also achieved dark sky area recognition. Due lodging, and houseboat accommodations socially distanced events at the park, as well as virtual park. Learn how to enter and find responding to the ever changing needs with a large increase in visitation. We expect to this collaborative effort, Voyageurs is now are filling up for the 2021 season at record learning opportunities. Check the website and sign up for our more information at of our park. Through virtual programs, this trend to continue as more families and a part of one of the largest dark sky regions pace. e-newsletter to learn more. voyageurs.org/photocontest. the Conservancy connected individuals individuals find solace in our natural spaces in the world. This has been an outstanding and families across the nation to this summer. In turn, the National Park Service opportunity for us to share with the world one For the most up-to-date information on park . Members will continue to prioritize the health and of our spectacular resources - an unhindered operations this summer, please visit nps. of the Voyageurs Conservancy helped safety of our communities. As pandemic and natural night sky. The Voyageurs Conservancy gov/voya and voyageurs.org/visitorinfo. vaccination trends allow, we plan to increase was essential in obtaining this certification support environmental education, our visitor access to public facilities by by funding park lighting modifications and Subject to change, visitor centers will be dark sky preservation, land and water reopening visitor centers, providing services hosting public education programs required open at 25% capacity with masks required. conservation, and more. Additionally, at the , and offering limited for the application. Limited-capacity boat tours will be offered the Conservancy worked internally to tour boat opportunities. Additionally, the pandemic required us to at the Visitor Center beginning evaluate how our organization can better In 2020, overnight camping reservations rapidly evolve our education programming. June 23 through August 25. Boat tours increased by close to 40%. Due to its To connect people to the park we offered will not be offered at the promote equity and inclusion within our staff, leadership, and volunteers. It expansive waters and isolated campsites, remote distance learning opportunities in Visitor Center this summer. Reserve your people recognized Voyageurs National cooperation with the Conservancy, even tour at www.recreation.gov. is our responsibility to promote equity Park as a refuge to recreate in the outdoors serving students out of state for the first time. in opportunity and access to nature, while social distancing. With the increased Many of these students may never visit the Additional outdoor ranger programs, learning, and enjoyment in Voyageurs visitation, we also saw more human-caused park, but now through distance learning, they including night sky programs, will be National Park. In turn, we will continue impacts on park resources. As park stewards, have a better appreciation and understanding offered, with a full schedule at nps.gov/voya. Ryan Hunter to build authentic relationships and an our main philosophy should be, “leave no of why Voyageurs is protected for everyone. trace.” In essence, leave the place better than With the Conservancy’s support, several inclusive community. We have a long you found it so the next visitors can enjoy the historic preservation and trail maintenance way to go, but are committed to the same untouched beauty. I’m confident we can projects will be completed by working with VOYAGEURS SPRING THAW RAISES FUNDS FOR VOYAGEURS CONSERVATION & EDUCATION work and the journey. Thank you for your all do better this year. youth organizations this summer. These Thank you to everyone who was able to join the Voyageurs Spring continued support as we listen, learn, act As always, I want to thank the members projects provide a platform for young adults Thaw! Together on April 8, we (virtually) celebrated the park’s Dark in innovative ways, and partner with new of the Voyageurs Conservancy for their to be exposed to conservation careers, an Sky Park certification and raised funds for environmental education, communities. dedicated support. Through your generous experience that could have a major impact on land and water conservation projects, trail work, and more. their relationship with public lands. Our generous Conservancy community - over 300 households May the waters, skies, and It is an unprecedented time. During times from over 30 states and - helped us raise $50,000 to sustain forests of Voyageurs bring you joy like this one thing is clear for many, nature priority projects at Voyageurs National Park. Thank you to everyone this summer! provides us solace, escape, and a place to who purchased a Park Pack, participated in our silent auction, Thank you, decompress. I hope you continue to find that donated, or purchased a bottle of Voyageurs Five Grain Whiskey escape at Voyageurs National Park. from our partner Tattersall Distilling. In addition to Tattersall Distilling we would like to thank our other lead park champion Christina Hausman Rhode sponsors REI, Delta Dental of Minnesota, Room & Board, Bizal If you missed the live program with Diana Pierce and special Executive Director Bob DeGross Built, Fredrikson and Byron P.A., Miir, David & Debra Strike, Janette speakers Dr. Kevin Hainline and Dr. Anton Treuer, we encourage Voyageurs Conservancy Superintendent Sweasy, and Caroline Pflueger. you to watch the recording at voyageurs.org/springthaw Voyageurs National Park YOUR GIFTS AT WORK IN 2020 COMMUNITY STEWARDSHIP & ENGAGEMENT LEAVE NO TRACE The Conservancy produced The Conservancy created a LOVE Park-it-at-Home resources ‘How to Camp in Voyageurs’ and virtual programs to video. This video educates connect individuals and campers on proper Leave No families to Voyageurs during Trace principles and reduces the pandemic. This included the their human impact. The video YOUR Night Sky Explorer educational has already been viewed over series which drew over 820 live 2,000 times, helping to protect attendees from across the nation the precious flora and fauna of and its recordings received the park as visitation rises. PARK hundreds of additional views.

Jonathan Bayer NEXT GENERATION VOYAGEURS CLASSROOM INITIATIVE KEEPING VOYAGEURS WILD Cuts to the park’s environmental education program VOYAGEURS INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY presented the opportunity for the Conservancy to WOLF PROJECT PARK CERTIFICATION step in and support the park with youth education in The Conservancy In December 2020, a much expanded way. Though the pandemic greatly provided grant Voyageurs National Park limited youth trips to the park, the Conservancy support to the obtained the prestigious shared education resources with teachers and families Voyageurs Wolf International Dark Sky and developed both prerecorded and live virtual Project which Park certification from the education programs to connect young explorers to continues to International Dark-Sky the park’s ecosystems. These efforts reached over study the summer Association. The Conservancy 2,000 children. To expand this work even further, predation and was a critical partner in starting in 2021, VC was recommended for $348,000 reproductive habits making this a reality. They in funding over three years from the Minnesota of wolves in the PROTECTING 16 ACRES funded data collection, Environment & Natural Resources Trust Fund for the Greater Voyageurs Through the assistance of the Voyageurs lighting fixture improvements Voyageurs Classroom Initiative. Ecosystem. The Conservancy, the National Park Service to minimize excess light Voyageurs Wolf added two parcels of land to Voyageurs pollution, and necessary Project released National Park totaling 16 acres in 2020. Bruce McKee education programs that groundbreaking, The sites are located on Rainy Lake and FIELD FELLOWS PROGRAM LAUNCHES continue to pay dividends. The Voyageurs Field Fellows program offers nationally- Sand Point Lake. This land will serve as stipend-paid internship opportunities for recognized It’s really vital for National Park protected habitat for wolves, black bear, undergraduate and graduate students to 2020 publications Service sites, like Voyageurs moose, otter and eagles. Support for develop professional experience in Voyageurs including novel National Park, to have such a strong these projects was made possible by the National Park. The Conservancy welcomed Acres of land protected research on how partnership with their nonprofit Wallace C. Dayton Voyageurs National its first Environmental Education Field Fellow 16 wolves alter partner. The VC, they’re really vital Park Legacy Fund and the National Park in 2020 who enhanced National Park Teen wetlands. in helping me do my job. They’re Foundation. Ambassador programming and developed helping me get funds that we need Acres of wetlands restored new distance learning dark sky curriculum. to get kids in the park and to get 25 connected to youth in different WETLAND RESTORATION Virtual programs attendees Voyageurs National Park, the Conservancy, and many communities in northern Minnesota and even beyond. 915 other partners launched a 10-year plan in 2016 to restore Melissa Panter, Summer campsite reservations cattail-invaded wetlands. In 2020, the project restored Having a partner like the Voyageurs Voyageurs National Park approximately 25 acres of wetlands through (40% increase from 2019) Conservancy is huge. They raise Interpretive Ranger 2,050 the removal of invasive cattails and reseeding efforts. This important project is increasing money, it’s well spent. Whether it’s Students served through the biodiverse habitats for , marsh birds, working on trails, introducing kids 2,116 Voyageurs Classroom Initiative native fish, and more. to the park, they’re at the forefront. But the park needs care… All YOUTH CORPS HELP BUILD NEW TRAIL Feet of new trail built visitors need to become the partner The Voyageurs Conservancy sponsored two of the Voyageurs Conservancy and Student Conservation Association (SCA) 7,286 help support their efforts for years young adults crews. SCA members learned Park visitors to come. trail-building and conservation skills within 263,091 Bill Dougherty, the park’s boreal landscapes, while adding Rainy Lake Houseboats owner, 2.7 miles to the Mukooda Hiking Trail. This Voyageurs Conservancy new loop trail, accessed from Sand Point Voyageurs Conservancy’s 2020 member Lake, weaves through a variety of landscapes including dense forests, rocky ridgelines, Annual Report available online: Photo credits: Allison Charnin, Matthew Moses, Colin Willemsen, Tom Gable, Andrea Hynes and alongside pristine waterways. Voyageurs.org/2020 Awe-Inspiring: FAMILY REFLECTS ON TRIP TO VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK by Ellery McCardle, art of S’more making. They were our kids can look back and say ‘Oh Voyageurs Conservancy member and volunteer endlessly entertained making I went there as a kid, I want to go Mark and Robin Oram love to be boats out of logs and leaves and back,’ and have it be just as pristine outside with their kids. The more racing them in the wind. We and wonderful as it is,” says Robin remote, the better. So, in August of kayaked to various small islands Oram. 2018, they drove from their home, (some just a rock or two) and the The family is no stranger to kids pretended to conquer new near Peoria, , to Voyageurs the National Park System. Every worlds,” says Robin Oram. National Park. summer, they visit a different The family spent one week on The Orams took hundreds of park. They’ve visited Arches and a houseboat and enjoyed fishing, photos on their trip. This year, Canyonlands in Utah, Olympic in hiking, campfires, taking photos the Orams were among a few Washington and in of the wildlife, like loons and deer, winners in this year’s Voyageurs . Voyageurs ranks in their Conservancy Photo Contest, after and enjoying time away from a top two. submitting a photo of their son smartphone. They took in as much Basil proudly holding up a fish that “The dark skies were amazing. quiet time as they could. they had just caught. Moments We started taking pictures at For their kids, Basil and Oliver, like that are exactly why this family night.”, says Mark Oram. the park allowed them to let their supports Voyageurs Conservancy. The family hopes to return to imaginations run wild. “It’s an area we want to see the park soon, to take in more of “They learned how to roast preserved and hopefully preserve the dark skies, and hundreds more marshmallows and mastered the it for future generations so that pictures, too.

Colin Willemsen SHARING THE WILDERNESS ABOVE OUR HEADS VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: Bob King enough for sharing his talents and “ASTRO” BOB KING knowledge with the Conservancy community to support dark sky preservation. You could say volunteer Bob King has had “I love the night sky (daytime too!) so the an astronomical effect on the Conservancy and Night Sky Explorer program offers a wonderful Voyageurs National Park. “Astro” Bob volunteers opportunity to help others better appreciate with the Conservancy by hosting free Night Sky what’s over our heads. The sky is as precious and Explorer webinars. These bi-weekly programs important as any wilderness on Earth and equally teach individuals and families basic astronomy worthy of protection. Even simple measures like and skywatching skills, helping viewers experience turning off unnecessary outdoor lighting can help the magnificence of our night skies from their own preserve starry skies. Becoming more familiar with backyards. the stars helps us make another connection with However, Bob’s work had an even greater the natural world. The more we know nature, the impact on Voyageurs National Park. To achieve better we know ourselves,” - Bob King International Dark Sky Park certification, the park Bob King is an amateur astronomer, author, and was required to host dark sky public education passionate educator. He served as a photographer events. Through the Night Sky Explorer webinars, and photo editor at the Duluth News Tribune for 39 the Conservancy was able to fulfill this important years and taught at the UMD planetarium. Learn component and help secure the certification more and watch his previous Night Sky Explorer Mark Oram for Voyageurs National Park. We cannot thank webinars at www.voyageurs.org/nightskyexplorer. Five of the park’s 26 interior lakes support cold water fish species with three supporting Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush. In this photo, Minnesota DNR staff use a helicopter to access Little Trout Lake to stock the lake.

DONOR SPOTLIGHT: LUCIA WATSON State of the Park: Voyageurs Conservancy Member & Award-Winning Chef

Having spent all of my summers at our STRENGTHENING OUR INTERIOR LAKES family cabin on Rainy Lake, I can safely by: Laura Beck, Outreach Coordinator design management strategies based on how say that I love Voyageurs. My father used to want to get to our island home just as Dan Foster the population continues to adapt to changing conditions. soon as the ice went out. I remember more Each of Voyageurs National Park’s 30 lakes has its than once the cold sound of crushing ice own unique character, but have you gotten to know As we continue to learn more about our as our boat made its way through the bay SHORE LUNCH WITH some of the unique characters that call these lakes coldwater fish friends, it is up to us to help maintain to the island, probably one day earlier home? One of Voyageurs’ 26 interior lakes (smaller a healthy habitat for Lake Trout and all the critters than we should have been there! Some TARTAR SAUCE & OVERNIGHT COLESLAW lakes upstream of Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, or and plants that call Voyageurs home. Jaime LeDuc, of our family traditions included (and still Assemble the ingredients the night before and pack into a cooler with your cold beverages. Sand Point lakes) will be getting a boost in their cold Aquatic Biological Science Technician at Voyageurs, include) picking blueberries, excursions to water-loving residents. reminds us that there are actions we can take that Kettle Falls, stargazing from the canoe at Tucked just east of the Grassy Bay Cliffs, the will keep Voyageurs’ water healthy. LeDuc says, “I night, hiking the Cruiser Lake Trail, and of SEASONED FLOUR MIX OVERNIGHT COLESLAW DRESSING: Lake Trout of Little Trout Lake are working hard to think we can meet the needs of both humans and course a lot of fishing for walleye. FOR ABOUT 4 FILETS • 1 bay leaf keep their population going against pressures wildlife if our freshwater ecosystems are carefully • 1 cup all purpose flour • 3/4 c. red wine vinegar managed and protected.” It can’t be a coincidence that one of from the climate and their neighbors. Lake Trout the most esteemed fish of the culinary • About 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper • 2 tbsp. brown sugar depend on a band of cold, highly-oxygenated Ficke, A.D., C.A. Myrick, and L.J. Hansen. 2007. Potential • 1 teaspoon garlic powder impacts of global climate change on freshwater fisheries. world - the venerable walleye - happens • 1 clove garlic, crushed water called an oxythermal habitat layer. This layer Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. 17:581–613. to be caught in some of the most beautiful • 1 teaspoon paprika • Dash of Tabasco naturally fluctuates throughout the year - widest places in the world, and there is no place • Pinch cayenne • Salt and pepper to taste in northern Minnesota’s long, cold winter months, find food. Aquatic Ecologist Ryan Maki describes more beautiful than Voyageurs National Combine all ingredients into a zip lock the lake as a two-story fishery - the cold, Lake Trout- and narrowing through spring and summer. Think Park. The quiet, meditative endeavor of bag. Place the above ingredients in a saucepan about swimming in the lake and how deep you filled zone below, and the warmer zone inhabited KEEPING OUR walleye fishing is so rewarding in itself. It and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and have to swim to hit the cold spot in June compared by other species above. seems complete when sitting on the shore After catching and cleaning your fish, allow the liquid to cool. Strain then whisk in: to August - this cold zone is where Lake Trout thrive. Fisheries Biologists and Resource Managers LAKES HEALTHY of a northern lake, listening to spring dredge each filet in the flour mixture, • 2 tbsp. caraway seed, toasted With summer weather getting warmer and from the National Park Service and Department of • Use environmentally friendly and loons, with smells of the campfire and the gently shaking off any extra. Place in a hot • 1 tbsp. honey lasting longer, that oxythermal layer is at risk Natural Resources are working together to monitor biodegradable soaps and cleaning products rustle of wind in the , while eating a skillet with a generous coating of oil or of becoming increasingly narrow, and even these Lake Trout and allow them to reestablish a when out in the park and at home. well prepared fresh walleye. • 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard bacon fat. Cook over medium high heat for • 3/4 cup vegetable oil disappearing altogether. The park’s aquatic ecology self-sustaining population. Since recent surveys • Do not overfish. Remember to follow This menu was created so a majority of about 3-4 minutes per side. Serve with the • Salt and pepper to taste team and others monitor this coldwater habitat have shown that the native Lake Trout population Minnesota State fishing laws and the preparation can be done in advance following tartar sauce and coleslaw. to help fisheries managers understand current in Little Trout Lake has declined and is likely no guidelines and Voyageurs National Park to maximize fishing and relaxing time. conditions and climate stress that may affect these longer present, park and DNR staff are working regulations on interior lakes. However, don’t restrict this recipe to solely TOSS DRESSING WITH: to reestablish Lake Trout using a stock that the • 1/2 head red or green cabbage, or a populations. The good news is that predictive • Diligently clean any lake/boat/fishing gear outdoor cooking. Though the ambiance EASY TARTAR SAUCE DNR has available in one of their fish hatcheries, models indicate Little Trout Lake’s coldwater habitat and follow local regulations to prevent the may not be the same, this is delicious at Combine: combination, thinly sliced is likely to persist longer than that of most lakes in with the hope of developing a strong, sustainable • 1 c. mayonnaise • 1 small red onion, thinly sliced 1 spread of aquatic invasive species. your dining room table too! Minnesota , indicating that habitat suitable for Lake population. • 2 tbsp. sweet gherkin pickles, chopped • 1 grated carrot • Reduce fossil fuel and electricity use About Lucia Watson: Lucia is the author Trout to establish a population will likely be present. In the late 2000s, a DNR study in Mukooda to lessen carbon emissions into the of Cooking Freshwater Fish and a co-author • 1 tbsp. capers This makes Little Trout Lake one of only three Lake found that the well-adapted, genetically • 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard Marinate overnight. interior lakes in Voyageurs and about 100 lakes in atmosphere. of Savoring the Seasons of the Northern unique native Lake Trout were maintaining a • 1 tsp. fresh parsley, chopped Scott Mason Minnesota that support Lake Trout. • Reduce single-use plastics - microplastics Heartland with writer Beth Dooley. Lucia population on their own without stocked fish was knighted by the French Government • 1 tsp. fresh tarragon, chopped contributing to reproduction. By preserving water very often end up in waterways. Yet the native Lake Trout population has declined in recognition of her work in agriculture (or 1/2 tsp. dried) in Little Trout Lake, perhaps due to competition quality and preventing the introduction of invasive • Consider how water drains off your and cooking. Now retired, Lucia serves • 1 tsp. lemon juice from other hungry predators such as Walleye and species, NPS and DNR staff hope a similarly hardy land and if any products like fertilizer on the board of the Nature Conservancy Smallmouth Bass. These species are adapted to population will establish itself in Little Trout or gasoline could be leaching into the • Salt and pepper to taste and The Raptor Center and is a Voyageurs Combine all ingredients, then taste and warmer waters and have more room to roam and Lake. Teams will continue monitoring efforts and groundwater. Conservancy member and partner. adjust seasoning. VOYAGEURS AND THE MUKOODA UNDERWORLD by: Erik Ditzler, National Park Service not become aware of them. Since they Many people come to Voyageurs sold alcohol illegally, they needed to National Park to explore some of the explain their ill-gotten revenue. Cash most beautiful lakes in the United slot machines could help do that, States and find peace in the boreal and more. Filben laundered all sorts forests of Northern Minnesota. Others of dirty cash through his slot empire may be looking for recreation or and became a prominent banker wildlife viewing. Camping, fishing, to the underworld. Cash stolen in boating, and hiking are all popular brazen bank robberies would be reasons to come to this remote and turned over to him, reported as slot wild location on America’s northern machine revenue, and put back into border. Whatever the reason, solitude circulation. In fact, it was noted at the and privacy are high on many people’s 1933 Minnesota Bankers Association NEW MUKOODA TRAIL lists in a place like Voyageurs. annual conference that 21% of all During the Prohibition era (1920- bank holdups in 1932 took place in READY FOR HIKERS 1933), this place attracted visitors the state. Filben and his operation Thomas Filben (right) NPS photo of a different sort all together. was at the heart of it all. Lace-up your hiking boots, the new Mukooda The passage of the eighteenth Through his lucrative slot Tom Brown, who happened to be a St. two-story structure constructed with Hiking Trail is complete! The Voyageurs Conservancy amendment outlawed the sale of machine business Filben fostered Paul police detective and later Chief balloon framing and designed with provided funding for two young adult crews that alcohol in the United States, but the close connections with some of the of Police, also had a cabin nearby. horizontal log siding, large windows, contributed 2,058 service hours. These crews, demand only increased, leading most infamous gangsters of the day. They would offer the remote cabin and a wrap-around porch supported alongside a dedicated National Park Service team, to a boom in organized crime in He was associated with the likes of to outlaws that needed a safe hide on heavy posts. A notable feature larger cities centered around the “Babyface Nelson” and “Shotgun out – for a price. This north woods of the cabin was the substantial completed the trail late in 2020 adding the only hiking distilling, transportation, and sale George Ziegler”- one of Al Capone’s protection racket provided Filben and stone and masonry “basement”, an trail east of Ash River in the park! This project increases of illegal booze. The illegal trade hitmen. With friends like those…who Brown a large degree of influence aboveground, bunker-like room. The recreation access for thousands of park visitors who became known as bootlegging and needs enemies! His most notorious over the twin cities underworld. main floor consisted of a kitchen, love exploring the Crane and Sand Point Lakes area. Minneapolis and St Paul were not friend, however, was certainly the This was still a very remote area great room with a brick fireplace, a As you explore the Mukooda Hiking Trail, we hope you immune. Soon, there were gangsters, bank robber, murderer, and two-time in those days. Automobiles were just washroom, and a room that served enjoy the dense pine forests and rocky ridgelines that bosses, and two-bit hoods looking for prison escapee John Dillinger. When starting to allow for travel to places as a pantry or storage space. An open make Voyageurs National Park so unique. Thank you hide-outs where they could get away Dillinger or his gang needed to ditch like Voyageurs, although most of staircase led to the second floor, which to our members, the National Park Foundation, and from prying eyes in the cities and do a a car, Filben was their guy to sell them was one large space with no defined the roads to get here were unpaved. REI Co-op for their generous support of this project. little bit of recreating themselves. a new one. Filben was even suspected To get to his cabin, Filben and his rooms. One Minnesota mobster that to be personally involved in several St guests would drive to a fishing lodge Filben retired from his many found privacy, and opportunity on Paul murders. on Crane Lake where they would criminal enterprises and moved these lakes was Thomas Filben. He Gangsters like Filben made their then take a boat. It was a thirty-five- away from Minnesota as a wealthy was known as the “Slot Machine King fortunes in the cities, but they still mile trip by water, another overland man. He sold the “St Paul Club” on of Minnesota”, and his “one armed craved solitude and privacy at places , then a second five mile Mukooda Lake and settled in Palm bandits” had an important role to play like Mukooda Lake. He purchased a boat journey to Mukooda Lake (then Springs, California before the FBI during Prohibition. Because bars and cabin from another outlaw who was named Trout Lake). The journey was could pin him with anything that saloons were shut down, a new sort serving time for mail theft on the east half the charm of the place. How would stick. The cabin changed hands of establishment was coming into end of the lake which would come to could the FBI possibly raid the cabin a few times, eventually ending up its own. Speakeasys were so named be known as “the St. Paul Club”. Filben without first being noticed? within the boundaries of Voyageurs because patrons were expected to had used the cabin on vacations As remote as the Filben cabin was, National Park. By the 1980s, it was speak quietly about such places in with his wife, but also brought his guests found a comfortable retreat. in a dilapidated state and was mostly public, in the hopes that police would girlfriend to the property. His partner It was extravagantly furnished, and removed, although it’s foundations Discover DIY Trail Activities even featured a player piano that was still remain. Visitors may find it’s ruins Voyageurs.org/mukoodatrail painstakingly transported through the while exploring, but don’t expect to woods and across the lakes. meet any outlaws. Few people came to this place, It is important to preserve but that didn’t mean you would never and protect cultural landscapes. see another soul. Local residents Through historic preservation, we reported seeing gangsters in the look at history in different ways, woods “hunting with Tommy guns”. ask questions of the past, and learn A game warden encountered two new things about our history and known bank robbers out hunting ourselves. Historic preservation is deer. These residents knew the type an important way for us to transmit of people who came here to lay low. our understanding of the past to At least one of them was even hired as future generations, even when we a lookout, warning of any car or boat are considering outlaws, or negative that approached the cabin. historical themes. Voyageurs National Park maintains these resources in the Although the “St Paul Club” is hopes that future generations will be no longer standing, it was quite able to learn something positive from impressive in its day. It was a 28’ x 49’ Filben cabin NPS photo the past. Non-Profit Org. 144 Glenwood Ave, Suite 120 U.S. Postage Minneapolis, MN 55405 PAID Return Service Requested Twin Cities, MN Permit No. XXXX

Name First Last 12345 Anywhere Street NW City, MN 55555

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