Harry Oveson Fish Camp

Harry Oveson Fish Camp is a preserved commercial fishing camp on Rainy Lake and a day-use destination for boaters in Voyageurs. It makes the most sense as a stop on a lake outing: there is no road approach, and the camp is about seven miles by water from the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. The site has a dock, interpretive displays, picnic table, fire ring and seasonal restroom, and is for day use rather than overnight camping. You can look into the icehouse and stop for a shore lunch. For a photo, include the dock and some water with the camp buildings so the boat-based setting comes through.

Harry Oveson built the camp in 1959. He would leave before dawn in a 16-foot Alumacraft to lift and reset his nets, then return around 10 a.m. to clean and pack the fish. A good catch could mean about 300 pounds of whitefish and 50 pounds of walleye. The buildings make more sense when you picture them as a worksite where a long day on the water turned into packing and shipping fish.

The icehouse was about 16 by 10 feet and six feet high. Oveson cut ice from the lake and insulated the blocks with cedar shavings and sawdust; it could last through two summers. That supply let him keep the catch cold before it went to local buyers and, at times, as far as Chicago.

Oveson was among the last commercial fishermen on Rainy Lake. Family fishing had once supported dozens of licensed operations around the lake; in 1910, as many as 48 were licensed. Minnesota ended commercial walleye fishing on the lake in 1985 and compensated Oveson and two other remaining fishermen for surrendering their licenses. He closed the camp, retired to Arizona and died in 1990, aged 84.