Dorthy Molter "The Roor Beer Lady"

The Root Beer lady lived on Knife Lake on the Isle of Pine in the BWCA. She moved there from Chicago to care for a friend Bill Burgland. Dorthy would make home made root beer to sell to canoest during the summer. During the winter with the help of fur traders and trappers she would cut out large sectins of ice and store them in sheds covered with moss and saw dust. That ice would last most of the summer and it was used in the root beer. People from far and wide would tell stories about seeing the Root Beer lady and her cabins. She made fences out of broken canoe paddles and planted flowers in old row boats. *** click on the cabin picture ***



The cabins were built in 1925-27 by Bill, a trapper,guide, game warden and lumber mill worker. After Bill's death in 1948 his family signed the cabins and islands over to Dorthy.



As a result of the wilderness act,Dorthy's property was purchased by the United States government but because her many friends circulated petitions she was granted a lifetime tenancy in 1975. Dorthy lived in the cabins until her death in 1986.

Harold Dewinter a guy that lived next to my Dad in Des Plaines Knew Dorthy and would have a drink with her whenever she visited Chicago.

A legacy of wilderness life.