To say the colony was remote would be an understatement, at the end of the Apostle islands in wissconisn its 16 from the nearest land and anything even resembling a town. this was the rural end of the state and the islands were even further out.

In order to get to the colony to conduct my interview i had to take a boat from duluth minnisota, we tied up on a small crudely built dock at outer island. and then we took a mile long hike through dense woods until we broke out into a clearing and to my suprise i felt like i was back in colonial days, there were people working and tending feilds outside what could pass as an original blockhouse fort from the frontier days. butter was being churned. women were tending chickens and i could hear men in the forest chopping trees. As i sat across from the "mayor" i had to observe that he couldnt be older then 40. we sat in a 19th century stlye log cabin. it had a simple dirt floor, a earthen fireplace in the back a matteress in the rafters made out of bear pelts.The mayor is a man name Kenny Schlegel and he was the islands original citizen









Who woulda though ai could be a mayor? eh. I was in Duluth when the great panic hit, i was working at a Raytheon Plant nearby. Making new radars, i had done my 6 in the navy and decided to get out while i still had a life, damn good thing too, i heard the sailors in san diego where i was stationed had it rough*

**The pacific fleet was under siege at san diego for 1 month before the goverment finaly let them put to sea**

When i started hearing about the zombies and everyone heading west i got it in my head that mabey i shouldnt be following everyone else because thats where the zombies would go too.
I got in my car and went to a walmart that was already being knocked off, stupid people were stealing TVs and jelwrey. i was the only one in the camping section. i grabed a camping pack and just started filling it, i got a tent, fishing pole, bait , lures, axe, hachet. knifes, rope,saw. Walrmart hunting rifle,ammo. i got water purifiers, medicine of all kinds and plenty of dehydrated food and Books. god i needed books

He gestures to a hand make book self crammed with books, old frontier novels, camping books, hunting books, fishing guides, history books

I didnt get those all at once, but god knows i coulda used them early on, i didnt know anything. i took all my stuff and drove to a marina in duluth, i swiped a sailboat, thank god i took those sailing lessons back in the navy. i saild outa duluth into lake superior. i hugged the coastline at first, but then when i got to wissconin's apostle islands i had to dart from island to island, making camp everynight night. when i got to outer island all i saw was open water, i was too afraid to try for canada so i beached my boat and headed inland. This town is actualy built on the spot on my original camp.

You said you stole tents, but where did these cabins come from?

We built them of course. well i built the first one, that tiny looking one in the back of the town. shes a nice little cabin, i still cant belive i did it, it most of been my second week out here and i got bored, i was still the only one here and i was still living off fish and dehydrated food and i had nothing to do. so i used my axe and chopped down a tree. i picked a meduim sized one, i didnt want to so thick and heavy i couldnt move it, it was a pine, probaly about 10" diameter. pine is a nice light wood, i chopped in down into 15ft sections and dragged them over to my clear spot. the bottom logs were easy. i cut notches into the ends and layed them across each other. i felt like a little kid playing with linclon logs.
It got harded after the cabin got taller. i used my rope and had to use other logs as ramps to roll the top logs up into place, it took me a couple days worth of experimentings on how to build the roof but i finaly got it. the fireplace was added later near winter. thats when they all showed up



The other survivours?

He nods

It was november. there was a huge storm on the lake, apparently this lake is famous for her fall and winter storms. i was in my cabin hunkerd down by my fire, apparenty they stole a passegener ferrey outa duluth. they were a buncha bussiness men and their families, and a couple normal people who saw them getting the boat ready and bummed a ride. Apparently they were gonna try to head to canada. stupid idiots didnt even know how much fuel they head, they made it past my island chain just before they ran outa gas. the storm ran them aground on the north end on the island, which is probaly why we didnt meet for at least a couple days. they stumbled onto my cabin while scouting the island, it scared the shit outa me.