It took Mads and Olena Gilbertson three days to travel by team and wagon from St. Anthony to the wilds of Ham Lake in 1866. The Norwegian farmers and their six children were the first permanent European settlers of this Anoka County city.
Amateur historian Mel Aanerud has compiled the story of the city in a new photo book, and one of the first images is that of the stoic-looking Gilbertsons in their Sunday best.
Aanerud worked on "Images of America: Ham Lake" for more than a year and used photographs from nearly 30 sources, including family collections, church archives and the Anoka County Historical Society.
"Nearly everyone was very cooperative and eager to let me use their prized possessions. Those photos are family histories," Aanerud said.
The book is 128 pages long and contains hundreds of photos. Extended captions explain the area's history.
The region is rooted in farming, and its first settlers experimented with different crops that would grow in the sand plain and peat that make up the terrain.
"Originally, they were trying to grow beets and corn, but they found this soil is much better for potatoes. For awhile, we were the potato capital of Minnesota," Aanerud said. "This land grows good sod as well.
Ham Lake became the largest producer of sod in Minnesota."
