History mystery

We think we've solved last week's History Mystery item.

Northeastern Saloon and Hotel owner Bert Whittington shared the photo partially shown above with the Pine Knot News. He bought the photo at a Cloquet American Legion auction when the Legion was moving out of its longtime home on Cloquet Avenue. He believed the men in their unusual capes may have been part of a group called the "woolies" or "woolly bullies" from the Wood Conversion Company, which made balsam wood insulation at its Cloquet plant.

He didn't think the photo was taken in Cloquet, because it would have been after the 1918 fire and the trees are too big and healthy.

An analysis of the cars placed the date of the photos in the early or mid-1920s.

An online search of newspapers across the country, using the newspapers.com site, revealed that the float was part of the huge parade in St. Paul for the national convention held in 1924 for the American Legion. The parade took place on Sept. 16, traveling along Summit Avenue and through downtown St. Paul.

On Aug. 31, the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis reported on the preparations being made in Cloquet for more than 100 Legion members to accompany the float, which was chosen as the top float in a state Legion parade earlier in the year. The article said that the Wood Conversion Company indeed played a part, putting in an "order for attractive capes to be worn by the marching club, and a special hat."

It wasn't clear if the capes were made of the wood fiber insulation that the company made.

A look at the Pine Knot newspaper in the files at the Cloquet Public Library reveal that the impressive float was designed by Wesley Bartikoski, a young window dresser at Alstad-Johnson Mercantile Company. Red poppies and "doves of peace" adorned the float with people playing the part of the goddess of liberty guarded by a marine, soldier and sailor.

The Pine Knot reported that more than 300 people from Cloquet went to St. Paul for the convention. At the time, the local post was known for its enthusiasm in recruiting members for the national organization that formed just six years earlier after the end of World War I. The Cloquet branch played a large part in the restoration of Cloquet after the 1918 fire. Members were lauded for their perseverance after the war, coming back to a place that looked nothing like home.

The Cloquet float was expected to be honored as the top float in the St. Paul parade. It made an impression but was beat out by an entry from a Wisconsin post.

Send your History Mystery item to [email protected]. It can be a photo or question about the past in Carlton County. We have one lined up for next week - it's the fireplace that seems so out of place without a building around it in the woods just east of the playground on the east side of Hilltop Park in Cloquet. Know anything about it? Let us know.