Vermilion Range Old Settlers Association and Picnic
The Vermilion Range Old Settlers Association was organized in 1914 to honor the old settlers who emigrated to the Vermilion Range to work in the mine. The association sponsors the annual Old Settlers Picnic, which is held at McKinley Park on Lake Vermilion on the third Saturday in July.
The Picnic.
Originally sponsored by the Oliver Mining Company in 1916 as a summer outing for its employees, the Old Settlers Picnic has now become a community-wide celebration that attracts people from all over. This popular summer event celebrates the Soudan Mine’s history and the heritage of the old settlers who emigrated to the Vermilion Range from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Austria, Yugoslavia and many other countries in the late 1800s to work in the Soudan Mine.
At one time, the Old Settlers Association Picnic hosted over 1,000 people when cars would line the road all the way up to the Soudan Community Store, and the township would run buses back and forth to ferry people to and from the park.
The Old Settlers Picnic has met every year but one—2020—the year of the Covid-19 pandemic. While originally open only to the descendants of the miners and settlers – folks born or living on the Vermilion Range, which stretches from Tower-Soudan to Ely – participation opened up to everyone years ago.
Booyah—The Main Attraction!
“Booyah”, the main attraction of the Old Settlers Picnic, has been the traditional fare for over a century at the get-together. Booyah is a lumberjack stew of meat and vegetables, cooked outdoors overnight over a fire in vintage cast iron kettles. The antique booyah kettles are coveted treasures of the past, and have been used through the years to cook the stew.
A volunteer team of cooks prepares the Booyah using a traditional recipe that has remained unchanged over the years, except for the sources of ingredients. Back in the “old days” the pork and beef were from a local farm, as were the potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, celery, tomatoes, green beans, and peas.
Everyone is Welcome!
Mark on your calendar the third Saturday in July for the picnic gathering at McKinley Park.
The Old Settlers Picnic is open to everyone, and registration for the annual booyah is available during June and July, or at the time of the picnic. Participants are encouraged to pre-register by contacting a volunteer committee member, or they can purchase a ticket at the Train Depot Museum in Tower. Ticket purchase and pre-registration helps the booyah crew prepare enough booyah so it is available for all who come.
Those who attend bring their own pot and soup bowls, eating utensils, as well as their own picnic fixings. It is a tradition for local folks to gather every year to honor their ancestors and the pioneers who settled in the area. Those not originally from the Vermilion Range come to participate in a nostalgic and fun local experience
A Monument is Dedicated
The 50th anniversary of the first shipment of iron ore from the Breitung Pit of the Soudan Mine was historically recorded and commemorated on July 30, 1934, by the Vermilion Range Old Settlers Association by dedicating a monument to “that industrial event, and in remembrance of those sturdy pioneers who made it possible.”
The monument, called the First Iron Mine monument, is located along the Highway 169 wayside rest area in Breitung Township-Soudan. The monument features a shaft made of jasper and chunks of iron ore from the Soudan Mine. Visitors can see the Soudan Mine headframe in the background when viewing the monument.
