One of the more colorful aspects of Northwoods history is that 1930s-era gangsters such as Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger spent time in the region. But they were just visitors. One famous gangster from that era found the Northwoods so appealing that he made it his permanent home. Al Capone was the crime boss of Chicago during the Prohibition era and remains one of the most recognizable names in Chicago gangland history. Nevertheless, while Al was the most notorious of the Capone

Here is an old story and a new story. Unfortunately, both involve the death of some of our favorite birds because of complications resulting from aquatic invasive species. Maybe you have heard about loons dying in Lake Michigan due to a tangled story about the lake’s food web. Lake Michigan has been hugely taken over by quagga mussels, a bivalve that by now covers almost the entire floor of Lake Michigan – nearly shore to shore. Like zebra mussels, the quaggas filter water, consuming all the

In this episode of Wildlife Matters, the Masked Biologist looks at a news story from the west coast that involved bears, dogs, people, and at least one bad decision. If you were watching television or cruising social media at all last week, you may have seen a story and video clip about a teenage girl who drove off a bear that was engaged in a scuffle with her dogs. Now I don’t normally tear stories from the headlines, but when I saw the commentary from reporters and comments from the public at

Hans Breitenmoser Jr.’s mother and father came to northern Wisconsin as Swiss immigrants, searching for the American Dream. “My parents started here in 1968. I was born in 1969. They made their career of this farm,” Breitenmoser said Wednesday. “They started out with 20 cows.” The Merrill-area farm grew, and so did the family’s passion for the land, the career, and each other. “My father just passed away in February at age 82. He’s buried right over there,” Breitenmoser said, choking up as he

An equilibrist is an acrobat who performs daring feats of uncanny balance. This includes tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, tumblers, or any sort of skilled human balancing act. A daredevil is a recklessly and often ostentatiously daring person. When the two are combined you get Rhinelander’s own Daredevil Dault. Adelard and Victoria Dault moved to Rhinelander from Merrill around the turn of the century. Their son, Albert Henry Dault, was born in Rhinelander in January 1902. Albert was a fun

Visitors to the shop floor at AirPro Fan in Rhinelander are greeted by a wall of sound and activity. Forklifts dart here and there, welders send sparks flying, and industrial fans are moved from one place to another by ceiling-mounted lifts. “What you’re going to see is all sorts of things going on, welding, machining, all sorts of things,” said AirPro’s Lori Miller on a recent tour. One worker was slathering thick grease on a fan, applying the finishing touches. “Just greasing the coupling,

Memorial Day was established to honor those who have died in American wars. There are many images that people look to when remembering those who served, but few images are more iconic than the Marine Corps War Memorial that depicts the flag raising at Iwo Jima in 1945. For many years it was thought an Antigo native was part of that photo, but was he? John Bradley was born in 1923 in the town of Antigo. He began his schooling in Antigo, but when he was nine his family relocated to Appleton. After

Although still somewhat unusual, sightings of sandhill cranes in fields, meadows and wetlands of the Northwoods are increasingly common. Sandhill cranes are currently a nongame species, but could that change? Generally speaking, sandhill cranes are a familiar sight—and sound—in much of Wisconsin. They are less concentrated in the Northwoods, but you can find them in rural areas as well as locations like Woodboro Lakes, Thunder Marsh, Powell Marsh, and many shallow wetlands and wild rice beds.

Walk into any restaurant in downtown Minocqua or Eagle River, and chances are it’s understaffed. “If you drive around town, you’ll see pretty much every business has a ‘We’re Hiring’ or ‘Need Help’ sign out there,” said Stephen Coon, whose family owns Coontail Market in Boulder Junction and stores across Northern Wisconsin. Coon is struggling to find enough employees this season. “It’s always hard just because of the nature of seasonal business, but this year seems especially hard,” he said.

Many people in the Northwoods have gotten vaccinated against Covid-19, but a significant minority continues to resist vaccination. The reasoning against vaccination usually revolves around uncertainty for health and safety, and for reasons of civil liberties. These are old arguments, and not so different as those used during the smallpox epidemic. Our ancestors had to cope with the specter of disease and the possibility of death in ways that most of us cannot comprehend. There was a near