Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The Unwanted Watches That Built a Billion Dollar Company

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/02/03Mar23-Sears-Birthplace-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)There was a problem at the rail depot in North Branch, Minnesota.  A box of watches had arrived, but the…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

From Telegraph Operator to…?

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/02/02Mar23-Sears-Birthplace-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Richard was born in Minnesota.  His father died while he was a boy and he got a job as a…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

Loading the Largest of Ships

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/01/27Jan23-Two-Harbors-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)They are some of the largest boat docks you’ll ever see.  Not mere spots on a lake from which to…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

Two Harbors

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/01/26Jan23-Two-Harbors-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today Duluth, MN and Superior, WI are major shipping points on Lake Superior.  However, turn back the clock a century…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

Bright Paint for an Exclusive Club

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/04Nov22-Nanibajou-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Pick a paint color or new carpet for your home and it will probably fade over time.  However, the paint…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

Naniboujou Lodge

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/03Nov22-Nanibajou-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey were members of this exclusive club, yet they may have never set foot here.  It’s…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The Halloween Capital of the World

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/31Oct22-Anoka-Minnesota-Halloween-Parade-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The town of Anoka, Minnesota can make quite a claim.  That title traces its history to a twelve year old…

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Taming the Outhouse Tippers

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/28Oct22-Anoka-Minnesota-Halloween-Parade-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Anoka, Minnesota had a problem.  Every Halloween the local kids were pulling all kinds of pranks – tipping outhouses, turning…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The Birch Bark Canoe

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/07Oct22-Grand-Portage-4.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today you can find many canoes made from aluminum or fiberglass, but you don’t see many constructed of Birch bark. …

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Too Far To Pay Taxes?

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/06Oct22-Grand-Portage-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Normally companies who operate illegally do so by carefully hiding their activities.  This company made no such move to operate…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The 16-Week Paddle – To Where?

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/05Oct22-Grand-Portage-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine paddling a canoe for eight weeks, reaching your destination, and then turning around and paddling eight weeks back home. …

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The Most Important Commodity?

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/04Oct22-Grand-Portage-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)What is the most important commodity in the world?  There are a variety of answers you might get to that…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The Upper Midwest’s Destination for Grain

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/15Sep22-Duluth-Harbor-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Most farmers think of New Orleans as being a major grain handling port – and rightly so.  However, for those…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

One of the Busiest Ports in North America

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/14Sep22-Duluth-Harbor-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s one the largest and busiest ports in North America.  That’s saying something when you consider ships can only reach…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

Heroes of Hinkley

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/01Sep22-Hinkley-Minnesota-Fire-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine a fire that could consume about 500 square miles in just four hours.  Such a firestorm has not been…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The Race to Save the People of Hinkley

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/31Aug22-Hinkley-Minnesota-Fire-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It sounds like the script of an action adventure movie.  A wall of fire approaches a city as townspeople rush…

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Literal Firestorm Building

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/30Aug22-Hinkley-Minnesota-Fire-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)We’re all familiar with Smokey Bear and his warnings to prevent forest fires.  But imagine a fire with fuel that…

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The Yellowstone Trail

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/10Aug22-Yellowstone-Trail-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today we don’t think much of hoping on an interstate to zip from one location to the next. But a…

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Posted in American Countryside Minnesota

The Amazing Life of Michael Dowling

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/09Aug22-Yellowstone-Trail-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)You’ve probably never heard of a man named Michael Dowling who spent most of his life in southwester Minnesota in…

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The Minnesota Machinery Museum

http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/08Aug22-Minnesota-Machinery-Museum.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The school closed in the small town of Hanley Falls, Minnesota in the late 1970s.  Many people wondered what to…

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