In the broader world of maple syrup making, Minnesota has always been viewed as something of a backwater, with obvious reasons. There are far fewer maple syrup makers in that state than most of the rest of the maple producing region and the size of operation and volume of syrup made is considerably less.
However, being on the periphery and outside of the core of the maple world can have the advantage of not being as conditioned by or concerned with conventional approaches, thus freeing one up to think and act a little differently. One example of that from occurred in Minnesota in the 1940s and 1950s, where one man, Sherman Holbert, took a few risks and decided to try a different model for making maple syrup.
I was able to interview Holbert in 2002 at his Mille Lacs Lake home when he was in his late 80s to learn more about his maple operation and how it came to be, and just as quickly disappeared.
The article I wrote telling this story was recently published in the July 2018 edition of Minnesota History magazine. I am happy to share a PDF version of the article at this link here or by clicking on the image of the article above.
Print copies of the article and magazine can be purchased from the Minnesota Historical Society website.