This interview took place on March 8, 1974 in the kitchen of the Gruben homestead on Lake Vermilion, Tower, Minnesota. Ike Gruben was 94 years old at the time. His younger brother Paul, age 75, was also present. Ike Gruben came with his parents from Norway as a child to homestead virgin property on Lake Vermilion. He was in the Marines, a guard at Alcatraz, and a drill rig foreman, drilling for minerals across Canada, the USA, and South Africa. Here is first hand audio stories of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
I ended up owning this property for 15 years.
I'd like to thank the audio restoration engineer Richard Hess for his technical expertise in recovering the original cassette tapes and converting them to permanent digital media. For me it was a miracle.