It’s one of those brilliant late summer days with a few puffy clouds forming over Shagawa. The muffled sounds of the skip at the Pioneer B shaft is dumping a load of hematite into one of the hundred rail cars queued up on the tracks three blocks north. Saint Anthony’s chimed out a dingdong, ding-dong. It’s September 1963 and you and I are standing at the intersection of Central Avenue and Chapman Street in vibrant Ely, Minnesota.
To our northwest is Pete’s Garage, Ely’s Plymouth and Dodge dealer and one of five auto dealers in town. To our left is Ely Co-op, one of eight places in town to buy groceries.
Let’s walk up the hill a bit on the north side of Chapman.
Next to Co-op is Maki Clothing, one of five stores in town to buy men’s shirts, slacks, and socks. Next is Cyko Art and Record Shop. Let’s stop in to see if The Beatles “She Loves You” 45 has arrived.
We move up the hill and get a whiff of heated steel as we pass Trembath Welding and Machine Shop then peer through the window of the tiny barber shop on our way east. Gopher State Telephone Company has just built a big block structure to house their automated phone exchange equipment. There’s a phone booth in the foyer, we note. A bit farther is Kangas Jewelry, one of four jewelry stores in town -- a place to buy a watch or to have one repaired. A log-faced curios shop was next some time before, but it’s gone now as the new JC Penney store dominates the corner of First and Chapman. Upstairs is the Jugoslav National Home with its big dance floor and Sunday refreshments for cardholders.
We cross south to Ace Hardware, one of four hardware stores in town, and admire the display of trophy fish mounted in the window showing off local record catches. Moving west now, down the slope, we pass the Sears Catalog store where every December we pick up the gifts we ordered from their Christmas catalog.
And then comes the most interesting business in town. Wilderness Outfitters. A DUKW pulls in alongside the building where canoe trips are planned and Mercury outboards are sold. The DUKW loads day trippers and lodgers heading for Basswood Lodge via Ely streets, US 169, Fall Lake, the Four Mile Portage, and the big waters of Basswood. (Yes, there was once a score of thriving resorts on Basswood Lake and a convenient way to get to the biggest one.)
If you aren’t a Mercury outboard fan, you could shop for an Elgin at Sears, a Sea King at Wards up the street, a Scott Atwater just a block north on Central, an Evinrude at Forest Chevrolet, or a Johnson at Fisherman’s Headquarters.
The DUKW is loaded and some passengers are anticipating their ride as much as their stay on Basswood while others will return after their tour and lunch at the lodge.
We linger while admiring the logistics that allows visitors, young and old, fit and slowed, to access the beauty of the whole area.
West bound again we pass Nannie’s Dress Shop, one of several in town. We glance into Edna’s Cafe. The men at the counter are sipping coffee and analyzing world events, the condition of Highway 21, and the Twins prospects for next year. All drinking from mugs except Matt Luthanen who received his coffee, without asking, in a cup with a saucer underneath with which to cool the fresh brew.
Finally at the corner we see Ellis Standard service station. Or was it Klemola standard in 1963 -- you may be asking too much of my memory.
Our time machine safely returns us to 2026. We look east up the hill and listen. The mine is still. And there are no DUKWs. Wilderness Outfitters is gone, replaced by a drive-thru bank -- and that now sits idle.
Painful reminders that there are no time machines.
Doug Luthanen grew up in Ely and graduated from Memorial High School in 1967. He wrote a weekly viewpoint column for the Northwest Arkansas Times for four years and is an occasional contributor to The Ely Echo.
