Canoe Country Outfitters was formed in 1946 in Ely, Minnesota, to provide canoe trip outfitting services for Quetico Provincial Park and Superior National Forest and what was to become Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Bill Rom started the business and then sold it to Bob Olson Sr. (who had already worked there for 25 years) in 1975. At times they have been dubbed to be the largest canoe outfitter in the world. They operate from two locations, one in downtown [ Ely, Minnesota, the other on Moose lake, about 20 miles east of Ely.
Many key CCO personnel became well known in their own right. Bill Rom was an outspoken activist for the preservation of the BWCAW and also an author.
Their current area of outfitting operations includes all entry points of Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Superior National Forest & Quetico Provincial Park, with a focus on those typically accessed from Ely, Minnesota.
History
Canoe Country Outfitters (CCO) was formed in 1946 as Bill Rom's Canoe Country Outfitters in Ely, Minnesota, to provide canoe trip outfitting services for Quetico Provincial Park and Superior National Forest and what was to become the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.https://www.kerntzfuneralhome.com/notices/Barbara-Rom Barb Rom Obituary Kerntz Funeral Home Retrieved 4/13/17 At times they have been dubbed to be the largest canoe outfitter in the world.The New York Times newspaper Sunday, August 8, 1976 edition For Starters, Paddle Someone Else's Rig In an overview of larger outfitters in the US, a 1976 New York Times article dubbed Bill Rom and his CCO operation as the "canoe king" based on keeping 600 canoes in operation with its customers throughout the canoeing season. "A 1960's article by Argosy magazine dubbed Bill the "Canoe King of Ely" and for good reason. Canoe Country Outfitters was the largest canoe outfitter in the world and the largest Grumman canoe dealer in North America"Bill Rom, the "Canoe King of Ely" By Alissa Johnson Wilderness News magazine Published by The Quetico Superior Foundation Fall 2007 editionBill Rom - the Canoe King of Ely By Alissa Johnson (similar to the 2007 Wilderness News article by her but different) Canoeing.com retrieved 4/20/14 with 400 canoes in use. In 1966 Motor Club News magazine identified them as "the world's largest outfitting company".A Wild Time in the Wilderness by Barc Wade July–August 1966 issue. with 450 canoes in use. In 1975 the Ely Echo newspaper described them as having 500 canoes in use with 35 employees and said that they had been "rated as the largest such enterprise in the world". During its early years, CCO was the only canoeing outfitter in Elyhttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2250&dat=20080202&id=ucc1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=6RAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1787,1649813 Celebrities, politicians and bigwigs visited, fished and lived to tell the taleby Anne Swenson Saturday, February 2, 2008 edition Section 2 although Sigurd Olson's Border Lakes Outfitters was already in operation in nearby Winton. In 1958 Sports Afield magazine dubbed them the largest outfitter in Ely.Quetico-Superior Canoe Trip by Erwin A. Bauer Sports Afield magazine July 1958 issue, pages 28, 29, 30, 31 By 1963 they had switched to using all aluminum canoes; previously they had used canvas canoes but dropped them because they weighed 20 lbs more, were harder to carry, and didn't handle as well.I took the family canoeing Woman's Day magazine by Fletcher D. Slater August, 1963 issue Pages 50,51, 77, 78, 86, 87, 88 Rom's four children: Bill Jr., Rebecca, Larry, and Roger began working for him and started guiding canoe trips at as young as 12, and Bill Rom Jr. did so professionally starting at age 14.Why One Young Man Chose the Wilderness By Henry & Vera Bradshaw Dodge News magazine October 1964 issue Volume 29, number 10 pages 12, 13, 14 & 15
Historical Society copies indicate that in the early 1950s CCO distributed and utilized Calvin Rutstrum publications and a pamphlet designed for canoeing outfitters.Calvin Rutstrum, His Published Works Outdoors Magazine Published March 17, 2004 The business also provided lodging. One author described the lodging operations circa 1956 as a motel behind the business.My First Canoe Trip -1956 by John Dailey The Boundary Waters Journal magazine Winter 2018 issue
In their Lynda Plays it Cool article, The Milwaukee Sentinel Newspaper covered a trip outfitted by CCO and guided by CCO employee Stan Germek by Lynda Johnson, daughter of then-president Lyndon B. Johnson.Lynda Plays It Cool by Marian McBride July 26th, 1965 edition Part 1 Pages 6&7
Charles Kuralt visited the Moose Lake location in his television series. He profiled employee Bill Magie, and their outfitting of and participation in his trip and their visit to Dorothy Molter on her island in Knife Lake. He subsequently also covered this in his book "Charles Kuralt's America".Charles Kuralt's America by Charles Kuralt Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons New York 1995 Pages 145 & 146http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=kuralt&f=all&c=all&advanced=1&p=2&item=T:54671 Paley Center for Media listing and synopsis for On the Road With Charles Kuralt: Set 3 Television showOn the Road With Charles Kuralt: "Set 3" DVD Television show episode. Amazon description at Retrieved 4/25/14 John Perushek worked for CCO for 40 years.http://www.kerntzfuneralhome.com/obits/obituary.php?id=282680 John Perusek obit
In 1958 Delbert "Dub" Ehret began taking groups to Canoe Country Outfitters for canoe trips into the BWCA. This began a long-standing relationship with Bill Rom and his family. Ehret's trips continued, introducing 650 persons to BWCA trips.Article Dub by Robert Fast Boundary Waters Journal magazine Fall 2018 issue
Bill Rom's daughter Becky worked as a guide. She appeared on the TV show "To Tell the Truth" and stumped the panel because none thought that a young teenage girl could be guiding wilderness canoe trips.
Bill Rom
Bill Rom's parents immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia, now Slovenia, in the late 1800s.Interview of Bill Rom by the Minnesota Historical Society Interview with William Rom by Margaret Robertson Minnesota Historical Society April 2, 1987, Retrieved April 20, 2014. Bill Rom was born in 1917 on the edge of the wilderness in the Ely, Minnesota, area. Except for short periods when he was in school and the military, he lived there all of his life.Bill Rom And His Canoe Country by Steve Overholt Boundary Waters Journal magazine Spring 1992 edition Pages 20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28 After serving in the Navy during World War II, he married Barbara Berlin of Kent, Washington, and together they started Bill Rom's Canoe Country Outfitters in 1946. Rom associated with then-dean Sigurd Olson when he went to college and credited Olson with "inspiring his passion for the preservation of wilderness".
William N. Rom published Canoe Country Wilderness in 1987 Rom William N. MD, Canoe Country Wilderness Voyageur Press, Stillwater, MN 1987 chronicling his ventures to all of the 1200 canoeable lakes in the Quetico Provincial Park and additional 1200 lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He was a professional canoe guide from 1959 to 1968. He also canoed the border route to Lake Superior along the 9-mile Grand Portage, canoed around Hunter's Island in 40 hours, and completed the Ely-Atikokan 100-mile Canoe Race through the wilderness in a best time of 19 hours. He was a guide for a Hudson Bay canoe trip down the Albany River, paddled 1517 miles from the Peace River, Alberta, to Fort Chipewyan across Lake Athabasca and down the Churchill River to Hudson Bay, and canoed 300 miles of the Back River in Northwest Territories (now Nunavut).
Rom and his friend (and later employee) Bill Magie were outspoken activists for the preservation of the BWCAW.http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P1354.xml Minnesota Historical Society Charles Dayton's papers Retrieved 4/22/14 Rom incurred the wrath of many for taking positions for banning or reductions of motorized access, cans and bottles in what is now the BWCAW. Both Rom and Magie were avid seaplane pilots however they advocated for noise controlling legislation that regulated seaplane altitudes. After a valve replacement, Bill Rom hiked the Kekekabic Trail, a 46-mile hike, in a few days to prove his fitness to the FAA and retain his pilot's license. Later he also had a fly-in camp on Lake Harris in southern Ontario.
He testified with Sigurd Olson against logging in the Superior Roadless Area in 1964 at the Selke Commission in Ely, MN. He organized a 1970 Earth Day Symposium at Northrup Auditorium at the University of Minnesota including Bill Magie and Clayton Rudd (editor, The Naturalist) on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. In 1978, he testified for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Bill on the impact of canoe outfitting on the regional economy.
During the debate over airspace reservation, an explosive was set off near the Rom family home as a scare tactic. During the motorized and snowmobile BWCAW use debates of the 70s, snowmobiles circled the Rom's house at all hours of the night. In 1974 Rom testified in Washington against motorized access. In 1975, during the important fishing opener and Memorial Day weekend, persons unhappy with his efforts blocked the entrance to his business with logging trucks. Upon his death, his daughter, Becky Rom, said: "He felt the wilderness was the best economy for Ely, because it was forever.http://www.checkmylake.org/lake/news/?subsec=3&id=309 Bill Rom, Conservation Hero by Conservation Minnesota Retrieved 4/23/14 Bill Rom died at the age of 90 in 2008. He was survived by his wife, Barbara Rom, four children, and seven grandchildren.http://www.twincities.com/ci_8048844?source=rss Canoe outfitter, BWCA advocate By Dennis Lien Pioneer Press TwinCities.com January 23, 2008 Retrieved 4/22/14http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/obituary/id/104965/ Duluth News Tribune January 23, 2008 et Bill and Barb were recipients of the 2006 Friends of the Boundary Waters Conservation award. Barb Rom died March 25, 2017, at age 96. Usage of the area has grown. When Rom started the business in 1946 it didn't seem possible that the BWCA wilderness could ever be crowded.Canoeing the Boundary Waters Men's Journal magazine July–August 1993 issue page 92
Gerald R. Patterson
Gerald R. Patterson (1926-2016), subject of the book "A Guide's Tale", guided for CCO. Prior to that he guided for Sigurd Olson's Border Lakes Outfitting Company. Prior to that he was a swamper (and then a guide) for the just-opened BSA Region 10 Canoe Base (now BSA's Charles Sommers national canoe base) on Moose lake.A Guide's Tale 2009 By Gerald R. Patterson https://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?n=gerald-roy-patterson&pid=181259735 Gerald R. Patterson obituary
Bill Magie