Boundary Waters Legends: The Lasting Legacy of the Root Beer Lady
In the 1940s if you were to ask someone to name a hero, they would likely have named a man. This was especially true if you asked them to name a wilderness hero. However, there were many exceptional women living during this time who deserve recognition, and Dorothy Molter stands out above the rest, man or woman, as a true wilderness legend. Dorothy visited the Boundary Waters for the first time at age 23. One time was all she needed as she fell in love with the Knife Lake area and never looked back. She was determined to make the Northwoods her home, so in 1934 she began helping out at the Isle of Pines Resort, and by 1948 she was the sole proprietor.
Dorothy was not following the life trajectory that was typical of a woman in the 1940s, and that was perfectly alright with her. She had always been a fiercely independent woman with an unwavering strength, and was once quoted as saying, “If I can ever find a man who can portage heavier loads, chop more wood, or catch more fish, then I’ll marry him.” No man ever met these qualifications, which left Dorothy to live by herself sans electricity and running water, and to be solely responsible for cutting wood and performing maintenance duties on cabins and boats on the resort.
Although she lived on her own, Dorothy was never alone. Despite her isolated location, she was once visited by 7,000 people in a single year, in no small part due to the attention her homemade root beer attracted. The business of making root beer began when Dorothy discovered the plethora of empty pop bottles on her property, and like the innovative woman she was, decided to give the bottles purpose again and filled them with her homemade root beer. Her root beer was especially popular with visitors who had drank nothing but lake water after spending days in the Wilderness. In fact, Dorothy’s root beer was so sought after that she couldn’t always keep up with the demand for it and had to limit the number of root beers per person. Summer was her busiest season and in the height of her fame she was filling around 10,000 bottles per summer. Thus, the famous nickname of “The Root Beer Lady” was born.
Dorothy also holds a certain notoriety for her fight with the U.S. Forest Service. The Wilderness Act of 1964 made it so Dorothy was no longer allowed to live in the Wilderness she had come to call home. However, area residents took this up with the federal government by petitioning that Dorothy be granted the right to stay, and after much interest generated by the media and a lengthy legal conflict, she was awarded the right to stay there for the duration of her life. With that, Dorothy became the final non-indigenous resident of the Boundary Waters. To this day, Dorothy Molter inspires all of us at the Campaign with her admirable ability to live simply, and with the utmost respect for the wildlife and environment surrounding her. She was a force of nature, living peacefully within it, and for that she will always be a Boundary Waters legend.
