A Justine Story...

Careful route planning is essential for camping in the BWCAW.

Writing the First Book

In the early 1950’s Justine started writing a column for the Cook County News Herald. She was also writing a newsletter for guests at Gunflint Lodge. These two venues gave her experience writing. Justine began to have people ask when she was going to write a book. Another push towards a book came when she sold Gunflint Northwoods Outfitters to Bruce and Sue. Now she did not have a business to run for the first time in about 40 years, which meant she needed a project.

In fact, the book everyone was urging her to write sounded pretty good. Justine started writing stuff down long hand on a yellow pad of paper. She typed out some stories on the typewriter. The problem was getting an error-free, neat copy of an entire manuscript in the early computer era.

One day in the early 1980’s, Justine drove to Duluth and came home with a brand new Apple IIE and printer. It was the first one we had seen. Everyone was in awe of this miracle machine. The word processor was very basic but the real problem came from Justine herself. Computers require that every process be done in specific steps in a specific order. Justine’s mind didn’t work that way. She could just as easily do steps 2, 5, 1, 3, 4 as steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Eventually with a little technical support from Sue (whose mind goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), a completed manuscript was produced.

Now Justine needed a publisher. She made contact with the University of Minnesota Press. One editor was interested, but wanted the book completely rearranged. After doing all that, the Press decided they were not interested. No publisher in Minnesota seemed interested except a small one-woman company in Grand Marais owned by Jane Lind.

Jane and Justine were kindred spirits. At first both were a little nervous about the arrangement, but they quickly got over that. Each had something to give. Justine supplied the text and Jane did the galley proofs. Jane found a cover designer and Justine found a photo. Jane needed illustrations and Justine drew them. Jane drew up a marketing plan and Justine gave talks to execute it. The result was an attractive book titled Woman of the Boundary Waters. It sold 20,000 copies before being sold to the University of Minnesota Press. Both women were proud of the accomplishment.

After a very few minutes, everyone eating dinner was aware of the drama going on out the window. Most of us could hardly stop watching. After carving for someone, Bruce would turn around a watch across the ice. I came over to the windows when there weren’t any guests to seat. The wait staff kept glancing in that direction. News of the drama spread. Ron and his staff wandered out to see what was going on. Bruce’s mother, Justine, was called to come down with her binoculars. Of course, we were all cheering this moose on.