APPLETON, Wis. — Author Bob Dahl’s first book on the Apostle Islands, ‘The Islander,’ mixed local history lessons with personal anecdotes.
What You Need To Know
- 'Sand Island Sagas' follows Dahl's previous work, 'The Islander.'
- The new book focuses on personal antecdotes from growing up on Sand Island.
- PDahl's ancestors settled on Sand Island in the 1890s to fish Lake Superior waters
- No running water or electricity on the island
His follow-up book, ‘Sand Island Sagas,’ takes a more intimate look at stories from his childhood.
“Writing was not that hard, because I feel so emotional about the area,” explained Dahl. “It makes it a lot easier. This is true of any writer. Write what you know but then you’ve got to make it interesting to someone who doesn’t know.”
Dahl found plenty of rich material to draw from. His Norwegian ancestors first arrived in the 1890s and fished the nearby Lake Superior waters.
Dahl’s family lived on Sand Island, about three miles from Bayfield, Wis. The book begins with his family heading back home from the mainland, shortly after his birth.
“It starts with my family going across the ice in 1943,” said Dahl. “I was a month old at that time.”
Dahl’s family were the last full-time residents of Sand Island. Readers of his first book enjoyed Dahl’s personal anecdotes of island life, so he responded.
“Chapter four in the book called, ‘Near Watery Grave’, is where I almost drown, and my brother saved me. I was about five, and he was maybe seven. He barely knew how to swim.”
Dahl said he returned the favor later in life. The family wintered in Bayfield where they had access to electricity. One night, he smelled smoke coming from his brother’s room. Dahl entered and saw an electric blanket had caught on fire, while his brother was sound asleep.
“I got payback,” said Dahl. “He saved me. I saved him. Twenty years, but I got even finally.”
Besides the lack of electricity, there was no running water on the island. Entertainment for kids was only limited by one’s imagination. Dahl and other island kids, many of whom were siblings and cousins, would put on a show for residents.
“People from the island came over. We made like a dollar and thirty cents. It was a big deal,” said Dahl.
His area of the island was dominated by boys. But he included a chapter about what the experience was like from a girls’ perspective.
“The only girls in East Bay were my sisters. I had five cousins, all males, and my brother and me,” said Dahl. “There were a lot of males, but not a lot of females. I wrote a story about their adventures on the island.”
Dahl now resides in Florida but tries to make it back to the area as often as possible. He doesn’t expect to get rich from his stories. Seeing one of his books on a coffee table or a bookstore shelf is enough for him.
“It’s a labor of love. I love the area, always have, probably always will. Even though I've lived in Florida for 50 years, I consider Bayfield my home,” said Dahl.
His books are available for purchase, here.