12/27/2023 0 Comments Boundary waters outfitters![]() ![]() 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 professional canoe guide from 1959 to 1968. Rom published Canoe Country Wilderness in 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. Rom associated with then-dean Sigurd Olson when he went to college and credited Olson with "inspiring his passion for the preservation of wilderness". After serving in the Navy during World War II, he married Barbara Berlin of Kent, Washington, and together they started Canoe Country Outfitters in 1946. ![]() Except for short periods when he was in school and the military, he lived there all of his life. Bill Rom was born in 1917 on the edge of the wilderness in the Ely, Minnesota, area. Bill Rom īill Rom's parents immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia, now Slovenia, in the late 1800s. 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. īill Rom's daughter Becky worked as a guide. Ehret's trips continued, introducing 650 persons to BWCA trips. This began a long-standing relationship with Bill Rom and his family. In 1958 Delbert "Dub" Ehret began taking groups to Canoe Country Outfitters for canoe trips into the BWCA. John Perushek worked for CCO for 40 years. He subsequently also covered this in his book "Charles Kuralt's America". 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. Ĭharles Kuralt visited the Moose Lake location in his television series. 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. One author described the lodging operations circa 1956 as a motel behind the business. Historical Society copies indicate that in the early 1950s CCO distributed and utilized Calvin Rutstrum publications and a pamphlet designed for canoeing outfitters. did so professionally starting at age 14. 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. 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. In 1958 Sports Afield magazine dubbed them the largest outfitter in Ely. During its early years, CCO was the only canoeing outfitter in Ely although Sigurd Olson's Border Lakes Outfitters was already in operation in nearby Winton. 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". In 1966 Motor Club News magazine identified them as "the world's largest outfitting company". Canoe Country Outfitters was the largest canoe outfitter in the world and the largest Grumman canoe dealer in North America" with 400 canoes in use. "A 1960's article by Argosy magazine dubbed Bill the "Canoe King of Ely" and for good reason. 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. At times they have been dubbed to be the largest canoe outfitter in the world. 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.
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