Date of Award
5-2001
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
History: M.A.
Department
History
College
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
Richard Rothaus
Second Advisor
Lee Simpson
Third Advisor
Debra L. Gold
Keywords and Subject Headings
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, The Depression
Abstract
The Great Depression brings to mind the Dust Bowl, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the New Deal, or even the increase in suicides. This shouldn't be. The many stories of triumph and survival and the many different ways people survived should be the focus of the Depression Era. These stories far outnumber the tragedies.
The foci of historians writing on the Depression and the New Deal have changed over the years. From looking at the politicians and the programs that were created by the New Deal to looking at how those programs affected regions of the country and how peoples lives were changed during the Depression. However, the highly rural area of central Minnesota still remains largely unstudied.
The Mille Lacs area has had inhabitants for almost 10,000 years. In the 19th Century when the area was opened up to homesteaders after the logging companies removed great amounts of the white pine that covered the land. When the forests disappeared, so did some of the towns that had developed, but people continued to live in the area and try and farm off of the land.
The Kvale Homestead is just one example of how families tried to survive on the land during the Depression. Because of the hardships of the economy, the Kvale's were forced to live off of a piece of land near the shores of Mille Lacs Lake that they never owned. This homestead and family are great examples of what it was like to struggle and survive during the Depression.
The Albert Mattson Farm, owned by Carlton College, was a piece of property that explicates the history of the financial struggles in the area during the Depression. Starting out as an investment, the property never amounted to much and was eventually sold off, then abandoned.
Jim and Anella Cunz and Neva (Welty) Williams all lived in the Mille Lacs area during the Depression but all grew up and survived in different ways. Their stories represent what it was like living during the Depression, but they also show that there was no two stories on surviving the times that were the same.
Recommended Citation
Green, Dennis R., "Life in the Mille Lacs Kathio State Park Area During the Depression" (2001). Culminating Projects in History. 34.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/hist_etds/34
