Transcripts

CATHERINE WINTER: Someone I know referred to you as Chisholm's shadow government [CHUCKLES] and said, if you want something done, you don't go to the city council, you don't go to the mayor, you go to Veda Ponikvar.

And it is true that you have backed and brought to be any number of enormous projects, the Iron Man, Iron World. You were instrumental in the creation of the Boundary Waters Canoe area. I can't even begin to count how many projects many people believe would not be here today if you hadn't been here. Do you think you had that much influence?

VEDA PONIKVAR: I think I helped. And the newspaper, if it really assumes its full responsibility, can play a key role in doing good for an area, good for a community or a school district.

On the other hand, if a newspaper does not assume its proper role and its total responsibility, it can destroy communities, it can destroy school districts, it can destroy a region.

CATHERINE WINTER: So a newspaper has a responsibility as almost a community booster, then?

VEDA PONIKVAR: Absolutely.

CATHERINE WINTER: And you certainly have been that. Many, many of your editorials waxed rhapsodic about the virtues of Chisholm and its inhabitants. What do you think makes the Iron Range and the people who live there so special?

VEDA PONIKVAR: First of all, the whole Iron Range is unique because it was from the very beginning made up of immigrants, the whole population just sort of fused together because they had to understand each other. They worked side by side, and they helped each other. And I think the whole tapestry and fiber of the Iron Range is what makes it so beautiful.

CATHERINE WINTER: Was there a best of times on the Iron Range?

VEDA PONIKVAR: I think the best of times and the worst of times was the depression. There was something about that depression that gave us a direction. It made us stronger. It left us with a great determination to achieve and to do better, and to make a difference in the lives of people.

CATHERINE WINTER: Given how much you have loved Chisholm and the Range and how hard you've worked on all these projects, does it look today the way you hoped it would 50 years ago?

VEDA PONIKVAR: Well, when I started in-- came out with the first edition in 1947, there were things that troubled me from the standpoint that I had come out of the service, and already I could sense that something was happening.

I would stand on the edge of the Glen and the Pillsbury, and it was at that time that I said to myself when I looked at those pits, something needs to be done in this area to recognize, understand, and pay tribute to the iron ore miners.

I didn't know what it would be, but the idea was there. Nobody said anything to me. But in the back of my mind was, what is going to happen when this natural iron ore is gone? And it wasn't long afterward that we began to see the effect of all that.

As time went on and there were upheavals again on the Iron Range and there were strikes and so forth, I realized in 1960 that we had to do something. And my total mission in that time was to help with the passage of the Taconite Amendment.

CATHERINE WINTER: Even with the Taconite Amendment and the various projects that have come to the Range, I think sometimes people who don't live here view the Range as an area that's economically depressed.

And there are any number of towns that have lost population, have lost businesses, that sort of thing. Do you think that's an unfair characterization of the Range, though?

VEDA PONIKVAR: Yes, I do. I think that, first of all, the Iron Range has made a tremendous contribution to the whole state of Minnesota. It has made it to the City of Duluth and also to Minneapolis Saint Paul. And the sooner that the moguls understand that, the better off we're all going to be.

I think we need to all work together. We need the Metropolitan sector for many things, but they need us even more. Economically, they need us.

The thing that is really encouraging at the moment is that industry and business have begun to realize that the Iron Range has a great deal to offer, and we are very fortunate and very grateful that Northwest Airlines has built the reservation center in the Iron Range corridor. There are other industries that are moving into the area. And as time goes on, I think there will be many more.

CATHERINE WINTER: When you mentioned iron mining's importance to Minnesota, I think it's true that mining no longer makes up the portion of the state's economy that it once did and has slid behind other industries in.

VEDA PONIKVAR: It has slid behind other industries from the standpoint that-- as everyone knows, we went into a period where there was a great deal of import of, first of all, the raw iron ore, then also the taconite pellets.

Unfortunately, after the war, business made and the corporates made a great big mistake in that we poured a great deal of money into not only Germany, but we poured it into Japan. And what we should have been doing is taking care of our steel mills, which we didn't. That has somewhat turned around. All of the mining companies are upgrading their operations.

What we need to remember is that labor communities, municipalities, the state government has to work with this industry. It still is a very key industry in the state of Minnesota and certainly here on the Iron Range.

CATHERINE WINTER: What made you finally sell the newspaper?

VEDA PONIKVAR: Catherine, I had it for 49 and 1/2 years, and I began to realize that the time has come when I'm not going to live forever. And, of course, none of us know from today to tomorrow whether we will be here. We could fall asleep, we could be in a horrible accident. And it was just time to bring the whole thing together and get it over with, because I'm not going to be here forever.

And right now, I would say that I have the best of two worlds because I'm still writing. I still do feature stories, which I love to do, writing about people, communities, and so forth. The schools, I still write editorials. And as you know, it's like a field of wheat or flowers in a garden. They don't last forever either.

CATHERINE WINTER: What will you do now?

VEDA PONIKVAR: I'm thinking very seriously about writing a book. I would love to write a book about the Iron Range and about its people. That this little piece of fragile Earth within the whole universe has made a difference and has made a contribution that is pretty hard to beat.