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fabric of the Johnson family, one that’s made a little smaller with fun memories.

For example, Adolph was always in bib overalls and a Pabst was often in his hand. He was always willing to help a neighbor and in fact, felt it was his duty to do so.

A bench will be dedicated to Adolph and Ruth in front of the log cabin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 20. Doug made the plaque that will be attached to the bench, which was built by their cousin Jason Johnson.

Family history

Adolph grew up on the family farm in Spring Lake township before the family moved to a farm in Eau Galle township near Wildwood. Ruth hailed from Bemidji, Minn. They met one weekend when Ruth accompanied her roommate home to Spring Valley from the Twin Cities for a visit. They were married on Feb. 22, 1953 in Woodville and resided on the farm in Wildwood, where they raised their six children.

“Dad lived there 78 of his 88 years,” Diane said.

They farmed 350 acres (later reduced to 40 acres) and later, Adolph hung up farming and helped build the Spring Valley Dam in the late 1960s. He worked a variety of jobs after that, including driving truck and cat for Helgeson Trucking and Nick Brooke Excavating. He even helped build the Spring Valley Golf Course and dug many basements for local homes.

Ruth was a homemaker until Dale was 5 or 6, after which she went to work at McMillan Electric in Woodville for 18 years.

“She was always feeding people,” Diane recalled. “We threw her a 60th birth- day party and after the first couple people arrived, she asked us ‘How many people did you invite?’ She was always feeding the family and if someone stopped in, she could adjust.”

He and Ruth bought the log cabin from Ernie Siefert’s children in 1992 at auction, along with a house across the road. They wanted a cabin to relax in as a second home, and according to a Spring Valley Sun-Argus article from a few years ago, Adolph was worried someone else would buy the cabin and dismantle it or move it.

The bar had no plumbing and no indoor toilets (it still doesn’t), so it was never able to secure a liquor license after the Johnsons bought it from Siefert, but it has been open for special occasions such as fishing opener week end, deer hunting camp and of course, El Paso Days.

“Dad used to say, it’s open if there’s a vehicle in front,” Dale said.

Adolph and Ruth became enamored with the small hamlet and were heavily involved in the Community Club. Adolph was known as the top ticket salesman and public relations expert, the siblings said. Money raised at El Paso Days goes into the Crisis Fund, which is used to help El Paso residents in need, whether it’s a house fire, a death in the family, or an illness.

"Dad was a firm believer in the Crisis Fund,” Diane said. “He wanted to turn it down when he had a knee infection, but we told him that’s what its’ for. When he passed away and they sent us the money, I sent it back.”

The Johnsons’ Wildwood neighborhood was pretty tight-knit, Doug said. Neighborhoods were close back then, in El Paso too. Adolph took every chance he could to go to “cabin down south” where he felt welcomed by the community.

The couple’s legacy includes their six children, 13 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. Grandson Jason shared a favorite memory of his grandpa from a long-ago horse pull. Apparently, rumor was the annual horse pull at El Paso Days was going to fold up, due to lack of volunteers. Adolph would have none of it. “He got on a loudspeaker and said there will be a horse pull next year,” Jason said. “People get burnt out, people get older, there’s a hard time recruiting younger ones. But it got bigger and bigger after that.”

Adolph’s love of horses lasted his entire life and lives on in the horse pulls held behind the log cabin in “Ruth’s Arena.” He used them in hay mowing, raking, logging and cooking maple syrup.

When asked what the honor of being grand marshals in memory of their parents means to them, the siblings present had a tough time putting their thoughts into words.

“You’re going to make me cry,” Diane said as she shared a locket with her parents’ photos. “We were very blessed to have the upbringing we had.”

Doug, who wore a shirt with Adolph in his bibs emblazoned on the front, said he loves getting to visit the cabin still, while Dale summed up their feelings in a nutshell. “They were very important people,” he said. “We’re honored.”

Bar history

According to the July 22, 1933 Pierce County Herald, the log cabin was moved from up on the hill in El Paso down into the valley where it stands today on County Road G. It was made into an oil station and tavern called the Log Cabin Inn. The bar served beer and liquor, but eliminated liquor in the 1940s when the township banned liquor.

The book “Badger Bars and Tavern Tales” says that Cooney Bjornson owned the bar from 1933 to 1937, and leased it to brothers Lewis and Cricket Bowen. Fred Raehsler operated the establishment after the Bowens; he also oiled horse harnesses in a dipping tank in a corner of the bar. Soon Cricket Bowen returned to run the bar, the books says.

In May 1937, Ernie Siefert from Lost Creek bought the bar and a house across the road. The deal stated that Siefert had to leave the bar looking exactly as it was as long as Bjornson was alive, which he did. For a time, he changed oil at the premises and patched tires, as a way to bring in extra income.

Siefert owned and operated the bar for more than 50 years before the Johnsons bought it in 1992.

Adolph and Ruth Johnson, who bought the Log Cabin bar from Ernie Siefert in 1992, were beloved in the El Paso community. Photo courtesy of Johnson family

Adolph and Ruth Johnson with their six children (not in order) Dale, Doug, Debbie, Diane, Darla and Dennis. Photo courtesy of Johnson family