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Vernon Bailey, "The Making of a Naturalist: Field Work of A Biologist," in
<br />"The Hiram Bailey Family: Pioneers of America and Early Settlers of the
<br />Middle West," typescript, SCHS, 36-7.
<br />Between 1910 and 1913, a Norwegian named Gunder Skoog and his son lived in a Iarge fish
<br />house near Eagle Lake. They caught and sold crappies to Archie Larson at his store in
<br />Orrock. Larson purchased the crappies for five cents apiece, packed them in ice in apple
<br />barrels, and then shipped them to Eisenmingers' Meat Company in St. Paul. (Dori Northrop,
<br />"Orrock in Transition," Masters Thesis, St. Cloud State University, 1978, 22—This story
<br />should be checked, as Gunnar Skoogs was a brick mason and had a family of twelve children
<br />in Orrock Township, according to Ella Kringlund in "Greens Come True," p. 3. Are they the
<br />same person?)
<br />Trapping in Sherburne County
<br />The lakes, streams, marshes, and bogs of Sherburne County teamed with forbearers.
<br />Sherburne County had attracted major fur traders by the 1700s, and most of the beaver were
<br />long -gone by the time white settlement began in the 1850s. Nevertheless, large numbers of
<br />other forbearers offered a supplemental income to farmers eking a living out of the stingy
<br />Sherburne County soils.
<br />Most general storekeepers in Sherburne County purchased furs between World War I and II
<br />as part of their business. Orrock Township contained what were perhaps some of the poorest
<br />soils for agricultural production in Sherburne County, so farmers naturally looked for ways to
<br />supplement their income. They were lucky that the township also contained many bodies of
<br />water: Johnson slough, Big Mud Lake, Lake Josephine, Lake Ann, Eagle Lake, and the St.
<br />Francis River, as well as many smaller marshes and wetlands, particularly in the northern
<br />sections. Many farmers found that trapping was a good way to supplement their incomes.
<br />As early as 1902, Orrock businessman Tom Larson bought furs from area trappers by driving
<br />through the countryside with a team of horses and bobsled. The Larson Store and the
<br />Knowlton Store in Orrock continued purchasing furs and selling to dealers through the early
<br />20'' century, but the fur market was not well organized at this time, and the volume was
<br />small and profits were irregular.
<br />Demand for furs increased in the 1930s and fur companies began purchasing furs from fur
<br />buyers instead of directly from individual trappers, as they had previously. To ensure that the
<br />furs were handled properly, fur buyers bought unskinned, whole animals from trappers. The
<br />buyers skinned, stretched, and dried the furs before selling them to the fur companies.
<br />After about 1930, local fur buyers had a guaranteed market, and companies began advancing
<br />money to buyers to purchase fur -bearing animals from trappers. In one instance, the Twin
<br />City Furriers Manufacturing Company advanced Archie Larson $5,000 to buy muskrats. In
<br />1941 Larson purchased more than 22,000 muskrats from local trappers.
<br />Muskrats composed the bulk of the local fur market, followed by raccoon and mink. But
<br />local trappers also captured wolves, beaver, fox, rabbits, weasel, skunk, and other furbearers.
<br />Sherburne County Historical Society Heritage Center Interpretive Plan, April 21, 2005, page 36
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