When Genie and I were May through October residents at Beaver Lake, Carol Anderson of rural route Ellendale (formerly flower’s by Carol) contacted me to be the program speaker for bus tours stopping in Ellendale. Carol was an employee at the Austin Chamber of Commerce with the job of helping book bus tours in the immediate area. The Ellendale tour buses were interested in Jessie and Frank James Gang when they camped out at Beaver Lake before and after robbing the bank in Northfield, Minnesota. The bus tours were also interested in the history of Beaver Lake.
The new owner of the bus tour company from Jefferson city, Missouri contacted me to see if I would do bus speaker programs for her local tours. The tours would be mainly Minnesota history related. I let her know I would but they would be fact or fiction. Her reply set me back as she said, “that’s exactly why I’m contacting you, I was on the tour at Ellendale when you did the program before with fact or fiction and that’s what I want.
She wanted to know what my fee for speaking would be for three buses as they planned on attending Jessie James day in Northfield for the enactment of the James Gang riding in on horses to find the locals knew they were coming. I said the fee would be the same as before – “Nothing.” I then let her know there was one catch, “Any non-refundable cancellations would be replaced free of charge by my choice. She said, “Ok.” I was to send her details of the program. The following is what I sent:
The first recorded white person seeing Beaver Lake was John Goodness, a 24 year old Englishmen in the early 1600’s. He became more than friends with the only child of the Sioux chief that had control of all the land for about six miles around Beave Lake. The name of the 23 year old maiden, only child of the chief was Omi, pronounced, “Oh my.” John asked the chief for her hand in marriage. The chief said yes and hopefully there would be a male heir to take the place of the chief. John explained that as was the English custom, he wanted a dowry.
No problem, the chief gave them control of the farms currently in the Hanson and Grunwald families as long as they or an heir of their family lived there. Sadly about a year later, Omi Goodness died trying to give birth to male Siamese twins that were stillborn. This was too much for John so he went back to England, thus control of the land went back to the chief.
The chief wanted Omi to be remembered forever so he went to the medicine man. The medicine man cast a spell on the land for about six miles around Beaver Lake that the chief had control of. The spell was “any person who has walked on the land for ten steps or more upon replying to anything unusual would say “Omi goodness.” (Thus you know the history behind the popular reply of the English, “Oh my goodness.”)
P.S. the Sioux name was “Lake of the Beaver.” The English translation became “Beaver Lake.” (A beaver is not a common thing but is seen occasionally swimming in Beaver Lake.)
(Read this column next week for the details of the Frank and Jessie James Gang robbing the Northfield Minnesota Bank.)
— — —
Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in New York. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.