CRANE LAKE — As he speeds out of Crane Lake into Sand Point Lake, Butch Eggen narrates.
“That far shore is all Canada,” he says, pointing.
“The border goes to the south here into Little Vermilion Lake and just a quarter, a half a mile from here is the entrance to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to the east.”
He’s already passed the “old man in the narrows,” the profile of a face in the rock. Say “hi” on the way by, Eggen says, and you’ll have good luck fishing. Say “thank you” on your way out, and you’ll be sure to return.
Does it work?
“Well, you sure don’t want to flip him the bird on your way out,” he says. “Let me just put it that way, OK?”
Eggen is a lifelong Crane Laker. His dad and uncle were guides, and he started helping when he was 12 or 14.
He’s 72 now. He says, “You do the math.”
His gray-blonde hair blows in the wind as he speeds across the water, a matching mustache capping a cheeky smile. His milky baby blues are protected by black sunglasses.
He points out more sites: the Canada Customs seasonal port of entry and Ingersoll Island, home to a summer estate before Voyageurs National Park was created.
That intersection — of the border, the park and the Boundary Waters and its Canadian sister, Quetico — is what makes Crane Lake unique, Eggen says.
“Crane Lake, being as small as we are and always promoting themselves in the best interest of the community, has had a tough time making decisions to jointly advertise,” he says, meaning they haven’t gone all in with the International Falls or Ely chambers of commerce.
Eggen’s always been pro-tourism. He caught flak from Explore Minnesota some years ago when he was chairman of the Arrowhead Tourism Association. He made pins in the shape of the Explore Minnesota logo.
“But you see, it says, ‘The real Minnesota: Arrowhead,’” he says. “ ... When people far and wide think of Minnesota, they think of this. They don't think of agriculture. That’s Iowa.”
Eggen has other relics to show off: more pins, a governor’s fishing opener hat signed by Jesse Ventura, and a fringed leather vest and knit voyageur cap he and others wore in the ‘60s.
“And I thought, ‘Well for the opening ceremonies or whatever, I’m going to wear this,’” he says. “What do you think?”
Voyageurs National Park’s Crane Lake Visitor Center opened that afternoon. Eggen did wear the getup.
The opening makes one visitor center in each of the park’s gateway communities, just in time for the park’s 50th birthday.
A gaggle of local and state politicians spoke of the importance of the visitor center and the role it will play in the community. But not all Crane Lakers wanted the visitor center. Not everyone even wanted the national park.
The creation of the park led to the closure of some local resorts and cabins. Eggen says resentment lingers.
“I recall a park ranger saying early on that it will take a generation or two to be socially accepted,” he says. “And by God, it has, and those hard feelings will still continue. But it’s in the best interest of the public that it became a national park, and that was always my position.”
A lot of the division was political, Eggen says. The 8th Congressional District was represented by DFLer John Blatnik when the park was created. So, a lot of Republicans opposed it.
Eggen briefly slows down his boat as he nears his destination, the Grassy Bay Cliffs. Three pontoons filled with state legislators, park officials and others in town for the visitor center opening sit waiting, taking pictures with the backdrop of the cliffs.
Eggen comes in hot, before slowing down a touch and gliding just feet from the rock, then he circles the pontoons.
“Right in the middle of your photo op, I come in like a hot dog, right? Showing off,” he shouts to one of the pontoons.
“Soon as I saw him I said, ‘That’s Butch,’” replies recently retired Park Superintendent Bob DeGross.
Eggen greets the politicians by name, teasing former state Sen. Tom Bakk and asking Rep. Roger Skraba, a guide in Ely, about the fishing.
Soon he’s gliding across the water, back to Nelson’s Resort, his home base.
He allows a brief detour to check out the Customs cabin up close. While waiting, he pulls a carton of Winstons out of his shirt pocket and puts a finger over his lips with a soft shush.
Later over lunch at the resort, Eggen and the waitress tease each other, and he tells more stories, of wild skating and downhill skiing in his youth. Selling Eggen skis, coincidentally named, out of his Bemidji State dorm as cross-country skiing came onto the scene.
He says his customers always ask, “Who’s the most important or most famous person you've ever guided for?”
He says he’ll point at the family who is with.
“Is that your grandpa?” he’ll say. “He’s the most important person today.”
It's a lifelong wisdom Eggen learned from his mother: Everyone wakes up the same every morning, he says, “and no amount of money is going to make you feel any better or any worse.”
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