Bullwinkle of Moosylvania
The iconic cartoon character came from Lake of the Woods
You might be surprised to learn one of the most famous historical figures from Lake of the Woods is Bullwinkle.
Bullwinkle the Moose and Rocky the Flying Squirrel were a popular cartoon duo for most kids of my generation. For decades, Saturday mornings were dedicated to television programming for children. This cartoon universe provided a shared media landscape for most babyboomers.
Slipping out of bed before the sun came up, I used to tip-toe down the hallway and into the den to turn on the TV with the volume set as low as it would go. The Indian head test pattern appeared on the screen until cartoons came on at 6 am. I prepared my own Cap’n Crunch for breakfast and watched Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle the Moose.
When we got a miniature dachshund as a puppy, we named him Rocky because his ears looked like the flaps of the aviator hat on the flying squirrel’s head.
ABC first broadcast The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle in 1959, a year after I was born. The show aired at 4:30 pm every Tuesday and Thursday following American Bandstand. In 1961, it aired Sunday evenings right before Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.
Rocky and Bullwinkle moved to Saturday mornings in the summer of 1964 when I was five years old. It is in this final season of Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle where Lake of the Woods is the setting for the story arc which spans several episodes.
Viewers learn early on that while Rocket J. Squirrel lives in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, Bullwinkle hails originally from Moosylvania, an uninhabited island in Lake of the Woods on the border between Canada and the US.
In 1962, when the show’s creator and producer, Jay Ward, first came up with the idea of Moosylvania, he sent his film editor Skip Craig — originally from Minnesota — to go find an island in Lake of the Woods and buy it. Craig couldn’t find any property for sale on the US side of the border, but he leased an island for three years, according to media historian Bill Scott in The Moose That Roared (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2001). I have yet to learn which island or from whom he leased it.
“Hokey Smoke!” said Rocky to Bullwinkle.
Definitely a popular cartoon at my house, especially with my four younger siblings. I'll have to revisit an episode. I'm sure being more than a decade older than you I saw it from a different perspective. I'm going to share your back story with my son who without reservation I would call a cartoon-addict.
Count me as one of their biggest fans.
The next step after ID'ing the island was Ward and Craig trying to make Moosylvania an actual state! They attempted to get the White House on their side, but they ended up coming at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and were turned away.