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Last Friday, Maple Lake had a visitor from California. Gary Nolan is the son of Michael Nolan who lived in Maple Lake from 1916 to 1918 on the Joseph and Helen Cavanaugh farm in Corinna Township. Michael and his brother Walter were orphan train riders from a New York Foundling Home at 68th Street and 3rd in Manhattan run by the Sisters of Charity. They were placed in the Cavanaugh home on Thanksgiving Day in November of 1916.
Gary wanted to see where his father had stayed and visited the town of Maple Lake to literally walk in his father’s foot steps. He brought a cousin, Bob Kolasa, from Golden Valley, to spend the day here. I had already done some research for Gary on the Cavanaugh family and, of course, Gary really wanted to see the Cavanaugh farm. With a little research it was plain to see that no farm structure remained since the land Joseph and Helen owned was now a part of the Corrinna Wild Life Refuge on County Road 7. With the help of Dick Klemz, Duane Fobbe, Jeff Sylvester and myself, we tromped through the refuge to find evidence of the home. Duane found the foundation and we were able to give Gary and Bob a location to walk to when they arrived on Friday.

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