BWCA ? - Root Beer Lady

Wilderness Tripping
#1

A friend was showing me a picture taken many years ago: it showed her and the Root Beer Lady from Knife Lake.



I’m remembering several portages were required to get onto Knife Lake. Am I incorrect?



So, a question for those steeped in BWCA history. How did the Root Beer Lady feed herself?



~~Chip

#2

Yes a few ports. For us more
we did a circle route. Dorothy Moulter died in 1986.



Without knowing that and plenty hot and thirsty we arrived at where her place used to be in 1989…to find it dismantled. DOH.



http://rootbeerlady.com/



Diet…probably fish and potatoes and fiddleheads. I don’t know.

#3

She Brought Her Provisions…
…in by canoe, she had a small outboard she used before it was illegal. She went out to the west of Knife to Ely. In winter, snowmobiles opened op the country for easier travel. In her later years, the USFS and friends would bring her provisions. For years, like most of the old timers up there, she “Put up ice.” So they had refrigeration year round.



Unfortunately, we paddled right by Pine Island in 1984 and I never knew about her until after she was gone. Bob Cary wrote a book years ago about her, “Root Beer Lady.”



Actually, a long day could get you from Sag to Knife, especially if you got a tow to American Point on Sag. I’ve only been to Knife in that direction. Sag to Swamp, Ottertrack, Ester, Hansen, then Knife as I recall. Never been there from Ely.

#4

Knife L

– Last Updated: Jan-12-13 7:23 PM EST –

I was in the BWCA in 1985, and had planned to stop and see Dorothy. The weather was really windy the whole week and we had trouble staying on our schedule given to us by an outfitter. We passed on Knife L which has always been a disappointment. We came from Ely and went as far as the "Big Current" via the Horse River.

#5

Knife L
I was in the BWCA in 1985, and had planned to stop and see Dorothy. The weather was really windy the whole week and we had trouble staying on our schedule given to us by an outfitter. We passed on Knife L which has always been a disappointment.

#6

Thanks
I had a down day in Ely last month and now I wished I stopped in at the museum. It didn’t seem impressive at the time, but after my friend showed me the photo and I realized it was Knife Lake, it seemed much more impressive that somebody lived out there on a permanent basis.



Thanks for the insights.



~~Chip