Carlton County, Dontcha Know: 125 years of papermaking, graveyard volunteers, conference champs and more

A black and white photo construction underway on a hillside. — The Northwest Paper Co. paper mill in Cloquet under construction in 1898. The mill, now owned by Sappi, will celebrate its 125th anniversary this year.

By Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten

May 19, 2023 at 8:00 AM

CLOQUET — Cloquet High School held its Award Convocation May 10. Students received awards and scholarships during the ceremony. Congratulations!

Here are some more headlines for your consideration:

125 years and counting

Man leads tour of pulp dryer. — Keith Halvorson, pulp dryer superintendent at Sappi in Cloquet, leads a tour in the drying building Monday, May 15.

Sappi opened the doors of its Cloquet Mill to members of the media on Monday, May 15, to highlight the adaptations the facility has made over its 125-year history.

Keeping history alive

woman documents gravestones — Laurie Kelley, of Cloquet, uses a small broom to gently brush debris away from a headstone before photographing it at Old Calvary Cemetery on Thursday, April 27, in Cloquet.

Volunteers throughout the region, including Laurie Kelley of Cloquet, pictured above, spend time finding and photographing graves for the website findagrave.com.

Kelley also cleans up the graves she documents using a brush or a small shovel so that when she photographs a stone, the words on it are clearly visible.

"For a lot of people, this is the only photo they've ever seen of their relative's grave," she said.

Conference champs

Runners turn corner. — Cloquet’s Alexa Shepherd and Hermantown’s Liv Birkeland run stride for stride during the 400 meter run at the LSC championships in Superior on Tuesday afternoon, May 16. Shepherd took first and Birkeland second.

You'll have to bear with me on this one -- click the link and scroll down to the subhead "Shepherd’s ‘kick’ lifts Cloquet."

Once you get there, you'll read how Alexa Shepherd, pictured above on the left, and Miles Fischer helped the Lumberjacks boys and girls teams sweep the Lake Superior Conference meet.
Elsewhere in the local sports world:

The 'Jacks softball team handed the Moose Lake/Willow River Rebels a rare loss.
The Minnesota Wilderness are headed to Blaine to play for the national championship.

A few more stories to check out:

A K-12 bill moving through the Minnesota Legislature would, with a few exceptions, bar public schools from using American Indian mascots. If approved, it would mean schools like Esko would have to change their nicknames.
The Wrenshall School Board is negotiating a contract with one of its superintendent finalists and is close to balancing its budget.
In Carlton, the school board on Monday, May 15, approved a new strategic plan that will focus on giving students "real-world opportunities," which officials hope will attract more families to the district.

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