In this bonus episode of the North Country History with Rob Burg podcast, I am presenting the story of my late uncle, Dudley Foster and his experiences as a sailor in the U.S. Navy at the Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.

Dud and his wife Ang, my dad's older sister, retired to their own North Country retreat on the banks of the AuSable River just outside of Grayling, Michigan in the mid-1970s and lived out the remainder of their lives along the river. Dud kept a diary of sorts of his experiences during the Normandy Invasion, and it has been passed down to my cousin Caroline Foster, Dud's granddaughter, who was kind enough to share it with me.

Although this was the only time that Dud was in combat, his World War II service neither began nor ended with the Invasion of Normandy on the shores of France. Before he could be drafted, Dud enlisted in the United States Navy Reserve and until he was called to active service, he and Ang were employed at Henry Ford's Willow Run Bomber Plant, producing the B-24 Heavy Bomber, the first mass produced airplane. When Dud was sent on active duty, Ang and their young son Mike (Micky) returned to their hometown of Chelsea, Michigan (mine as well). I believe this was sometime in 1943 and Dud was assigned to an LST (Landing Ship Tank) and sent to Great Britain to prepare for the opening of a second front in Western Europe to defeat Hitler's Nazi Germany.

After the Invasion, Dud eventually returned to the United States and was transferred to the Pacific Theater where he would begin training for his next assignment, the Invasion of Japan. He was training as a crewman on a Rocket Barge that was a floating artillery battery that was to support the landings on the Japanese home islands. It was while he was in training that the Atomic Bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan that ended World War II.

In this episode, I read the passages of his diary about D-Day, which gives all of us the perspective of a young sailor in the fight of his life.

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In 2014-2015 long before I became a podcaster I briefly had a blog called "A Taste of the North Country." In it I explored the food found in the North, both historic and contemporary. At the time I was only working as a freelance historical presenter and writer, so I was doing as much economizing with food as possible, including foraging wild food (mostly wild berries), and doing my own canning. I was looking at this with the eye of the historical perspective. It also got me to think about some of the food that was historically eaten, such as in the logging camps.

We have all seen the "Lumberjack Breakfast" on menus at diners and greasy spoons throughout the North Country. And even elsewhere where no lumberjack ever roamed. It is a breakfast meal with eveything on your plate. Did you ever think of where the name came from. In this blog post, I talked about the origin of this meal going back to the logging camps. For this bonus episode of the podcast I am sharing that blog post with you.

Can you still find "A Taste of the North Country?" Why yes you can! Although I stopped writing it when my work situation improved in 2015, first working as the winter caretaker at the Wellington Farm U.S.A. historic agricultural museum, where I took care of the livestock for the winter, then I was hired as the museum director for the Lovells Township Historical Society; if you google the title, you will find it. However, as I tried to just bring it up while typing this, it won't connect on my laptop, though I have it on my phone.

Here is the link if you want to try:

atasteofthenorthcountry.wordpress.com

Vinegar Pie Recipe

This is the recipe we used at the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum.

One Pie Shell

1/4 Cup of Butter

1/2 Cup of White Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar

3 Tbsp of Vinegar*

1/4 Cup of Flour

1 Cup of Water**

Dash of Nutmeg to taste (or can use cinnamon, cloves, or other spice of your choice)

In a large bowl, blen white sugar, brown sugar, flour, and nutmeg with fingers until no lumps remain. Stir in vinegar, eggs, butter, and water until well mixed. Pour into pie shell and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Notes

*Try a variety of vinegars. Distilled white vinegar may give the pie a taste similar to pecan pie filling (minus the pecans); Apple cider vinegar may give the pie an apple taste. Both of these would be historic adaptations.

**The recipe calls for 1 cup of water, but at Hartwick Pines we found that when cooking on coals on a fire, that this makes the pie a little soupy. We have adjusted it to 1/2 cup of water and it is much better.

Episode Sources

Ellis, Charles. Among the Michigan Pines. The Current. Chicago: 1885, Vo. III

Fitzmaurice, John W. The SHanty Boy or Life in a Lumber Camp. Cheboygan, MI: Steam Democrat Press, 1889.

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One of the greatest extinction events happened in the forests of the Great Lakes region and Eastern North America: the Passenger Pigeon. Kyle Bagnall, the Park Naturalist for the Mackinac State Historic Parks joins me as my guest to talk about this bird, that was once the most populous bird species on the planet and how it came to being extinct in the early 20th Century.

Kyle, a fellow environmental historian, and I discuss the life and history of the Passenger Pigeon, its impact on the environment, and the impact of human relations with the bird. Through loss of habitat, over hunting, and small birth numbers, the population of these great birds declined dramatically until "Martha," the last Passenger Pigeon died in captivity in 1914.

Kyle is the park naturalist for the Mackinac State Historic Parks, which includes Mackinac Island State Park, Fort Mackinac, Colonial Michilimackinac, and Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park. Kyle has been in this position since 2021. Prior to this, he was the historian for the Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, Michigan for 22 years and also at the Whiting Forest, Dow Gardens, also in Midland.

Kyle mentioned two new books available through the Mackinac State Historic Parks:

Wonders of Mackinac: A Natural History of Mackinac Island https://www.mackinacparks.com/books/wonders-of-mackinac-a-natural-history-of-mackinac-island

Arch Rock: Unsurpassed in Nature’s Handiwork. This one is not currently available online, but can be purchased at the Mackinac State Historic Parks.

Episode Resources:

Mershon, William B. The Passenger Pigeon. New York: The Outing Company, 1907. It is available online through Google Books.

Sharkey, Reginald. The Blue Meteor: The Tragic Story of the Passenger Pigeon. Petoskey, MI: Little Traverse Historical Society, 1997.

Other Recommended Sources:

Greenberg, Joel. A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction. New York: Bloomsberg Publishing, 2014. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/feathered-river-across-the-sky-9781620405352

From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction. (Documentary Film) You can currently stream it free on The Bryan Museum (Galveston, Texas) YouTube page: https://youtu.be/sjwyO5BGluI?si=GxiBx-wOSZ69K8aG

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From July 31-August 16 I went on my first official North Country History Podcast Tour to the Northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, and Northeastern Minnesota. I visited numerous places, learned a lot of new information and met many great people.

In this final episode of the second season of the podcast, I recount my tour, visiting the numerous places that I stopped at. Many of the places that I visited and the information that I learned will be included in Season Three of the podcast, tentatively to be launched in January 2026.

Places that I Visited on the 2025 Podcast Tour

• Frederic Community Library, Frederic Michigan. I presented my "Deward: Michigan's Last Lumber Boomtown" program. https://www.crawfordcolibrary.org/
• Pigeon River Country State Forest https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/places/state-forests/prc https://pigeonriverdiscoverycenter.org/
• Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park https://www.mackinacparks.com/attraction/historic-mill-creek/
• Birch Lodge, Trout Lake, Michigan https://www.birchlodge.com/
• Fiborn Quarry https://mkc.caves.org/preserve_fiborn.html
• Kitch-iti-kipi, "The Big Spring," Palms Book State Park https://www.michigan.gov/recsearch/parks/PalmsBook
• Peshtigo Fire Museum, Peshtigo, Wisconsin https://peshtigofiremuseum.com/
• Cathedral Pines, Chequamegon-Nicolet, National Forest https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/chequamegon-nicolet/recreation/cathedral-pines
• Lumberjack Steam Train and Camp 5 Museum, Laona, Wisconsin https://www.lumberjacksteamtrain.com/
• Pioneer Park Historical Complex, Rhinelander, Wisconsin https://rhinelanderpphc.com/
• St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin https://www.nps.gov/sacn/index.htm
• Snake River Fur Post, Pine City, Minnesota https://www.mnhs.org/furpost
• Hinckley Fire Museum, Hinckley, Minnesota https://hinckleyfiremuseum.com/
• Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post, Mille Lacs, Minnesota https://www.mnhs.org/millelacs
• Forest History Center, Grand Rapids, Minnesota https://www.mnhs.org/foresthistory
• Ely, Minnesota https://www.ely.org/ https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/superior/offices/kawishiwi-ranger-district
• Gooseberry Falls State Park https://www.exploreminnesota.com/profile/gooseberry-falls-state-park/8224
• Drummond Woods, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/regions/eastern/DrummondWoods/index.shtml
• Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, Ashland, Wisconsin https://nglvc.org/
• Ottawa National Forest Visitor Center, Watersmeet, Michigan https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/ottawa/recreation/ottawa-national-forest-visitor-center

Contact Rob Burg and the North Country History with Rob Burg Podcast: rob.northcountryhistory@gmail.com

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Happy Labor Day! To conclude this three part series on the Labor of Logging, we look into the work at the saw mills and in the milltowns. In 1885 it was reported that there were 50,000 men working in the lumber industry in Michigan, with 20,000 employed in saw mills. As I like to say about the lumber industry, it was to Michigan in the 19th century as what the automobile industry was to the state in the 20th century. It was the major industry that drove the state's economy. And it was the individual men that worked in the forests, on the rivers, and in the mills that carried this industry on their backs.

All areas of the lumber industry included dangerous work and the saw mills were no exception. This week I will discuss the working conditions, wages and hours, and the growing labor movement in the saw mills in the 1880s. I then follow this with the labor of various other populations in the milltowns, including African Americans, women, and children.

Episode Sources:

Ellis, Charles. Among the Michigan Pines. Chicago, IL: The Current, Volume III, 1885.

Fitzmaurice, John W. The Shanty Boy: Or Life in a Lumber Camp. Cheboygan, MI: Democrat Steam Print, 1889.

Kilar, Jeremy W. Michigan's Lumbertowns: Lumbermen and Laborers in Saginaw, Bay City, and Muskegon, 1870-1905. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1990.

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In this second part of the Labor of Logging, I look at the labor involved with the Spring River Drives and the use of Boom Companies. The labor was the most important part of the log drives, without the men working the rivers, the logs would have never made it down the rivers to the sawmills. The drives could be very dangerous, with many men seriously injured or killed. I share a first-person account of Elmer Nolan about the danger of breaking rollways and river driving on the Tittabawasee River in the 1880s. Then we take a look into the workings of a log boom company that would control the entire driving operations on a river. Using the Menominee River Boom Company of Marinette, Wisconsin as an example, we learn of the stratification of a river drive operation and how the various jobs were broken down and performed. Last, we look at one of the most popular lumberjack songs, "The Jam at Gerry's Rocks" and how the loggers and river drivers kept the memory alive of their friends who were lost on the river drives.

Episode Resources:

Burke, Fred C. Logs on the Menominee: The History of the Menominee River Boom. Menasha, WI: Banta Publishing Co., 1946.

Nolan, Herbert. Logging the Tittabawassee: In Memory of Camp Sixteeners. 1939. Reprinted in 1970 and by Printer's Devil Press, Tawas City, MI in 2005.

Rickaby, Franz. Pinery Boys: Songs and Songcatching in the Lumberjack Era. Originally published by Harvard University Press, Boston, 1926. Revised edition by University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI, 2017.

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In this first of two parts episodes in honor of Labor Day, we learn about the work that was done in the woods through the memories of John J. Heilala, who was a sixteen year-old boy who went to work in an Upper Peninsula logging camp, Ferguson's Camp 33, in 1904. John Heilala shared these memories 48 years later in an article of the same title in the March 1952 issue of Michigan History magazine.

We hear of some of the work that was done through this first person account. John Heilala went on to a career as a mining engineer and surveyor in the Upper Peninsula. He wrote this account when in his sixties.

I discovered this article about twenty years ago and used it as a teaching tool at the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum for many years. When working with schoolchildren, it was great to find something with experiences from someone close to their own age.

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Episode Resources:

Heilala, John J. In an Upper Michigan Lumber Camp, Michigan History Magazine, Vol. 36, No. 1, March 1952.

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Like Paul Bunyan and his companion, Babe the Blue Ox, agropelters, side hill gougers, and squonks, the Hodag was a mythical being found in the forests of the North Country. The Hodag was "discovered" by Eugene Shepard of Rhinelander, Wisconsin in 1896 and aided in its creation by Luke "Lakeshore" Kearney, a skilled woodcarver and storyteller. Like many of these tall tales and mythical beasts, the hodag was ferocious and always hungry. And in Rhinelander, much beloved. I encountered my first several hodags in Rhinelander on my recent visit on my 2025 Podcast Tour. If you find yourself in this former lumbertown on the banks of the Wisconsin River, see how many hodags you might encounter. And visit the Pioneer Park Logging Museum, which has been preserving Rhinelander's lumber heritage since 1932, making it the oldest lumber museum in the United States.

Episode Sources:

Cox, William, Henry Tryon, Lake SHore Kearney; compiled and edited by Matt Lake. Hodags and Billdads and Squonks. Parnilus Media: Media, PA. 2021.

Kortenhof, Kurt. Long Live the Hodag: The Life and Legacy of Eugene Simeon Shepard, 1854-1923. Hodag Press: Savage, MN. 2023 (second edition).

Places to Visit:

Pioneer Park Historical Complex, Rhinelander, Wisconsin https://rhinelanderpphc.com/

To Support the Podcast, go to this link: https://northcountryhistorywithrobburg.buzzsprout.com/2422296/supporters/new

To leave a comment, send me a text here.

Support the show