By David Zalk
It would be easy to assume that the two bells at Camp Nebagamon (the one by the rec hall that we hear multiple times a day, and its rarely used twin, the “fire bell” by the back corner of the Big House) are leftovers from the time when Camp’s property was a Weyerhaeuser lumber mill. In fact, they were gifts to Camp from the family of an early camper.
Charles Zalk, of Duluth, Minnesota, was a camper at Nebagamon in the 1930s. His father, Louis Zalk, was president of Duluth Iron & Metal Company, which was in the business of shipping scrap iron down the Great Lakes from Duluth to be used in the steel mills in Gary, Indiana and elsewhere. Camp’s bells had originally been installed on large railroad locomotives, back in the days of steam engines. When those two locomotives came into the possession of Duluth Iron & Metal Company for purposes of being scrapped, Louis Zalk salvaged both bells and gave them to Muggs Lorber for use at Camp.
Undoubtedly, Louis would be pleased to know that his gift has proven so enduringly useful, being partly responsible for waking up Camp and keeping it running on time all day every day for nearly 100 years, but a more important legacy that would please him is that his great-great-grandson, Julian Zalk, is now a fourth-generation camper.