The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-05-10
On This
Occasion
Just few thoughts by the Editor on things
Material and Immaterial

We received a postal card from
friend j. j. Opsahl of Bemidji last
week in which he told of a trip he
made to the Gunflint colsEtIy via. The
North Shore road and Grand Marais.
He said he was sore while at Gunflint
TO find that the trail to Ely had not
been opened as yet and said Ely is
missing a lot Of tourist travel on this
account and closes with the admoni-
ton to wake up and build that road
soon"
Mr.. Opsahl is probably right in
claiming that Ely is losing traffic by
not having this road build. We will
say however, that we are saving our
self whole lot Of trouble by not adj
vocating this road too forcefully as the
Ohio and Indiana bunch have decided
that ''posterity" viii be better served
by not building the Gunflint Trail.
They also decided that the Ely-Buyck
Trail was a menace to ''poSterity."
However the Forest service and others
charged with the task of keeping fires
out Of the forest, find considerable
satisfaction in both the Gunflint and
Ely-Buyck Trails insofar as they have
been completed. We may wake up
some day and find that the roads have
been built notwithstanding some Of
these belated %posterity" champions
who have succeeded in accommodating
considerable of the lake shore property
in the meantime.
President Hoover was one of the
first to congratulate his late political
opponent, Alfred E Smith, when he
was presented with the Laetare medal
Of the Notre Dame University to the
Catholic layman who in his partic-
ular field Of endeayor has achieved
such distinction as reflects glory upon
the Catholic faith" In his letter of
congratulation President Hoover re-
ferred to Governor Smith as a dis
tinguiShed American and great pub
lie servant" The awarding of the
medal and the letter of President
Hoover conclusiveIy proves both big
men much more so than many of the
political followers of either who at this
late day after the heat of the cam
paign fail to love one another"
The ranges again demonstrated to
the world that something more grows
here besides iron ore and taxes, in the
result of the song-writing contest
sponsored by the American Legion for
q state Legion song. Out of several
dozen submitted, four were selected,
two Of which were written by range
writer's and given in another place in
this paper Now that the words have
been accepted, it is up to some range
musician and composer to write a
score for it and we suggest that a
Sou1-stirring Sousa like march be
composed typical Of this virile, pro-
gressive section in which the words
were born
The spring edition of the Trails of
the Northwoods" contains well writ
ten and very interesting story of a
fishing trip to Snowbank Lake where
the lake trout grow to immense pro-
portions Illustrations showing the
author with a 22A pound specimen
and Of a bear which disported itself
among the packs at the camp en-
bellished the story. Sig Olson Of the
Ely schools is the author and his skill
as writer Of outdoor tales was at
tested to by the interest created in
the story We hope to see other arti-
eles from his versatile pen in the near
future.
The Legislature did not adopt the
proposed amendment to the traffic
law requiring pedestrians on the high
ways to walk on the left side. It IS
a good safety rule, nevertheless. Per-
sons walking on the right side can
not see approaching vehicles, and the
driver often does not know what the
pedestrian is going TO do. If the driv-
CT turns out to pass them, he runs
the risk of collision with cars COM
ing the other way. If he cannot turn
out, the pedestrian may be hit. Walk
ing on the left side enables the pedes-
TRAN to see approaching cars and pro-
tect himself. In refusing to enact
this rule into law, the Legislature did
not mean to imply that it was not a
good rule, but the members simply
felt that matters of this kind can be
handled better by education than by
passing law.
In our opinion the fish law passed