Living on the Edge

Living on the Edge. . , "One could gather biographies of senior citizens around Lake Superior and find that nearly every individual engaged in multiple occupations in order to survive." , - Family Managed Commercial Fishing in the Apostle Islands, NPS Special History Study , Fishing is just one of many risky professions that helped area residents eke out a living along Lake Superior in the early to mid-20th century. How similar are your efforts to make ends meet? , For example: Eskel, Leo, and Roy Hokenson... , ...began operating a dairy farm about two miles south of Little Sand Bay in 1910. Limited success and the death of several animals in the 1920s helped persuade the brothers to diversify. Eskel's wife Florence noted, "Farming wasn't going too well for three families," When Eskel got his pension for being a World War I veteran, Florence told him, "You're going to use it and we're going fishing." , ...harvested trees from their property, milled the lumber in their sawmill at the farm, and used it to construct the TWILITE and their fishery buildings at Little Sand Bay in the 1930s. , ..risked Lake Superior's unrelenting power for more than 30 years as commercial fishermen. Before they built the TWILITE, the brothers went out to their nets in an open pound net boat. Florence recalled, "That's when I got my first gray hair. I'd see them come in and just disappear in those waves." , Caption: Red Cliff tribal member Gus Cadotte cleans fish at Hermie Johnson's Little Sand Bay fishery in 1959. The cost of equipment and difficulty of obtaining a commercial fishing license from the state meant that tribal fishermen often worked for the local commercial fishing companies.