Canoe Country Outfitters

History

Canoe Country Outfitters (CCO) was formed in 1946 as Bill Rom's Canoe Country Outfitters in Ely, Minnesota to provide canoe trip outfitting services for Quetico Provincial Park and Superior National Forest and what was to become the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. At times they have been dubbed to be the largest canoe outfitter in the world. In an overview of larger outfitters in the US, a 1976 New York Times article dubbed Bill Rom and his CCO operation as the "canoe king" based on keeping 600 canoes in operation with its customers throughout the canoeing season. "A 1960's article by Argosy magazine dubbed Bill the "Canoe King of Ely" and for good reason. Canoe Country Outfitters was the largest canoe outfitter in the world and the largest Grumman canoe dealer in North America" with 400 canoes in use. In 1966 Motor Club News magazine identified them as "the world's largest outfitting company". with 450 canoes in use. In 1975 the Ely Echo newspaper described them as having 500 canoes in use with 35 employees and said that they had been "rated as the largest such enterprise in the world". During its early years, CCO was the only canoeing outfitter in Ely. In 1958 Sports Afield magazine dubbed them the largest outfitter in Ely. By 1963 they had switched to using all aluminum canoes; previously they had used canvas canoes but dropped them because they weighed 20 lbs more, were harder to carry, and didn't handle as well. Rom's son, Bill Rom Jr. worked for him and started guiding canoe trips professionally at age 14. Historical Society copies indicate that in the early 1950's CCO distributed and utilized Calvin Rutstrum publications and a pamphlet designed for canoeing outfitters.

In their Lynda Plays it Cool article, The Milwaukee Sentinel Newspaper covered a trip outfitted by CCO and guided by CCO employee Stan Germek by Lynda Johnson, daughter of then-president Lyndon B. Johnson.

Charles Kuralt visited the Moose Lake location in his television series. He profiled employee Bill Magie, and their outfitting of and participation in his trip and their visit to Dorothy Molter on her island in Knife Lake. He subsequently also covered this in his book "Charles Kuralt's America". John Perushek worked for CCO for 40 years.

Bill Rom

Bill Rom's parents immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia in the late 1800s. Bill Rom was born in 1917 on the edge of the wilderness in the Ely, MN area. Except for short periods when he was in school and the military, he lived there all of his life. He started Canoe Country Outfitters in 1946. Rom associated with then-dean Sigurd Olson when we went to college and credited Olson with "inspiring his passion for the preservation of wilderness".

Rom and his friend (and later employee) Bill Magie were outspoken activists for the preservation of the BWCAW. Rom incurred the wrath of many for taking positions for banning or reductions of motorized access and cans and bottles in what is now the BWCAW. During the debate over airspace reservation, an explosive was set off near the Rom's house as a scare tactic. During the motorized and snowmobile BWCAW use debates of the 70's, snowmobiles circled the Rom's house at all hours of the night. In 1974 Rom testified in Washington against motorized access. In 1975, during the important fishing opener and Memorial Day weekend, persons unhappy with his efforts blocked the entrance to his business with logging trucks. Upon his death, his daughter, Becky Rom, a conservation attorney, said: "He felt the wilderness was the best economy for Ely, because it was forever. Rom died in 2008. Usage of the area has grown. When Rom started the business in 1946 it didn't seem possible that the BWCA wilderness could ever be crowded. In a 1993 interview by Men's Journal magazine. Bob Olson Sr. said: "There were a few people who like going back there with a canoe to fish.....but we never figured on crowds. Now you have to get a permit."

Transfer to the Olsons

Rom sold the business in 1975 to Bob Olson Sr. who had already worked there for 25 years. "His whole family, in fact, worked for me, and they're still working in the business and doing very well. We had no problem turning it over to him, and he has no problem taking it over." The Olsons continue to own and operate Canoe Country Outfitters. Bob Olson Sr. has been with CCO since 1950 when he went to work there as a canoe trip guide. Rom credited their success to an emphasis on high grade service and high grade and innovative equipment.

Bill Magie

Bill Magie, based at their Moose Lake base, guided canoe trips and ran that base when not guiding. He retired in 1979 at age 77. In 1949 he founded the Friends of the Wilderness, forerunner organization to the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. Amongst the celebrities that he guided on canoe trips were Hubert H Humphery, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and anthropologist and author Margaret Mead. He was amongst the first pilots in Minnesota, his pilot's license was issued by Orville Wright, then chairman of the National Aeronautic Association. He helped establish the first air mail service between Duluth and Port Arthur, Ontario (now Thunder Bay). He had a license suspension "when he flew his Curtiss Jenny biplane "in a half-loop and 180-degree twist" under Duluth's Aerial Bridge on a $50 bet." Starting in 1925, for 5 years he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "on the first extensive survey on what was to become the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The work continued year-around and during the deep of winter Magie often traveled alone by dog sled."

Bob Olson Sr.

Bob Olson Sr. was born February 12th, 1933 to Mayme and Elno Olson. In 1939 or 1940 his family moved to Winton, MN. When he was 13 or 14 he would hang out at Border Lakes Outfitting in Winton, then managed by Sigurd Olson. Sig would give them leftover food from returning groups and then Bob Olson and his friends would take trips into the wilderness which ended when the food ran out. Bob started working for CCO the first summer after his high school graduation. He has been married to Pat Olson since July 1952. Starting in 1953 he then worked at the Pioneer mine in Ely, MN and then accepted the position of manager of CCO in 1964. Bob bought the business in 1975; he remains at Canoe Country Outfitters but his sons run the operation.

Olson's tenure in Quetico pre-dated many of the current regulations. In an article about canoe races in Quetico, Don Beland quipped that him and Bob Olson had completed the Hunter Island loop (where only canoes are allowed) in under 24 hours, much faster than the then-current record of 33 hours and 38 minutes but "with a three horse motor".

Operations

Canoe Country Outfitters operates from 2 locations. One is their headquarters and other buildings in downtown Ely, Minnesota, and the other is their facility on Moose lake (a lake about 20 miles East of Ely) which serves as a base for trips launched from that lake and also has cabins, docks, a bunkhouse and a campground. Moose lake is the most popular entry point into the BWCAW / Quetico wilderness, with the BWCA beginning 3/4 mile by water from their Moose lake facility. As of 1975 they had 500 canoes for rent. They provide outfitting services for trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park and the Superior National Forest. In addition to customary canoeing outfitting services, they provide tow and livery services, lodging and a campground. Lodging offerings include cabins at their Moose Lake location, bunkhouses at both of their locations and motel lodging at their Ely location.

BWCA and Quetico entry points

CCO provides outfitting for BWCA and Quetico entry points as well as entry points on the Gunflint Trail and northern Quetico Provincial Park entry points in the vicinity of Atikokan Ontario.