When Bob Dylan wrote the Girl of the North Country, he might have been thinking about Ely, Minnesota. Laetitia brought her group to the former coal-mining town of 3,800 inhabitants, which is now one of the gateways to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) Wilderness. Tipples, head-frames, and other remnants of the eleven mines that once operated in the area can still be seen, but tourism is what the town is about today. There are numerous outfitters providing canoes, clothing, and gear for those who have come for a Boundary Waters excursion.
Laetitia took her group to the International Wolf Center and the North American Bear Center. Afterward they went to the Dorothy Molter Museum. Dorothy was a nurse who came to what is now the BWCA in the 1930s to work at a resort. She ended up staying and, when the owner died, operated the resort until 1975. When the BWCA was created, her property was condemned, and the law required that she leave, but as a result of massive public protest on her behalf, she was allowed to stay until she died in 1986. She was known as the “Root Beer Lady,” because she offered root beer made from concentrate and lake water to BWCA visitors who stopped at her cabin.
From the Dorothy Molter story one can imagine that the women who live around Ely are somewhat unique. There were also the Chainsaw Sisters, Michele Richards and Marlene Zorman, who started a saloon by that name 18 miles from Ely in what some might describe as the middle of nowhere. The named derives from the fact that both at one point previously worked for the Forest Service using chainsaws to clear trees. Their saloon was very popular with groups on the way to the BWCA, snowmobilers, and with visitors who drove out from Ely to have a drink in a unique place. The saloon was in business for 20 years, but is now closed.
After arranging to meet at a designated restaurant for dinner, Laetitia stopped at a local bar. She distilled the afternoon’s gossip into the limerick of the day about a local woman who epitomized the adventurous spirit of the women of the north woods.
A lass from the village of Ely
Is well known for giving love freely
Adrift in canoes
On a bed wearing shoes
Or a Harley while doing a wheelie.