Last Look: A Boat of Their Own

By John Esh, Collections Archivist / Photos courtesy of Macalester College Archives

In a canoe dubbed “Mac I,” purchased in 1940, professor of physical education Ruth Schellberg began teaching canoe and water safety classes for Macalester both in the college pool and on the St. Croix River. That following June, after hearing about the popular extracurricular course, the Minnesota State Tourism Department contacted Schellberg to participate in an eight-day journey by canoe, accompanied by students Floreine Kelly Echternacht ’41 P’68 ’70 and Norma Penschuck, alongside two guides and a photographer from Life Magazine. After the trip, disappointed at being relegated to bow paddling, washing dishes, and carrying gear, Schellberg made plans to become a wilderness guide herself.

The next year, and every following summer from 1942 to 1946, female students who had successfully completed the requisite courses could request to join Schellberg’s trips to the Boundary Waters of northeast Minnesota. A large network of waterways and boreal forests that straddles the Minnesota and Ontario border to the west of Lake Superior, the Boundary Waters (also called the Quetico-Superior Country) were—and remain—a popular destination for outdoor recreationists.

Over those five years, Schellberg led fourteen groups of women, both students and colleagues, on week-long expeditions, teaching them outdoor survival and camping skills. She showed them that contrary to popular opinion at the time, they didn’t need a man along to ensure their safety and success. In the summer of 1946, her last year at the college, the Chicago Tribune flew in a photographer to document her final trip for Macalester alongside her largest group ever of twenty-one students.