23 Rare Photos Taken In Minnesota During The Great Depression

Minnesotans are known for their toughness, which today means the ability to thrive in freezing temperatures for a few months each year. But during the Great Depression, one of the most difficult times in American history, being "Minne-so-tough" meant facing an entirely different and daunting set of challenges, on top of the brutal winters we experience today, and without all the luxuries we have to get through them. From the Twin Cities to the countryside, here's a rare glimpse into the past of what some of your families may have experienced in the 1930s.

1. This Beltrami Island Forest cabin was actually mounted on a sleigh to bring children to and from school in 1936. They had to mount a stove on the inside to protect the children from the elements, and the kids only missed one day of school during an entire winter, even though it was a 2 hour trip.

2. Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe, always a part of MN history, are the stars of this roadside stand near Bemidji in 1939.

3. This is Mrs. Howard in 1939 bringing a milk can into her home. She and her daughter built the one room home themselves in Aitkin County.

4. This homeless man killed a turtle to make soup with in Minneapolis in 1939.

5. The Minneapolis Gateway District in 1937 is where you might find transient workers like this man.

6. These 70-year-old and older men are residents of the Northern Minnesota Pioneers' Home in Spooner in 1939.

7. Everyone pitched in to get the work done in this potato field in 1937 near East Grand Forks.

8. Men resting during their lunch hour at a tractor factory in Minneapolis in 1939.

9. These buyers prepare to bid for a better future at the Grain Exchange in Minneapolis in 1939.

10. These ladies live in a rooming house in St. Paul in 1939.

11. This milker of Brandtjen Dairy Farm in 1939 lets his lucky cat drink some milk directly from the cow.

12. Men hanging around the Minneapolis Employment Bureau in 1937.

13. This group of children is watching the 1937 S.W. Sparlin sale in Orth.

14. In August of 1937 in Minneapolis, a man rests on a sack of scratch seed in the park. You can see others behind him doing the same.

15. Loaders on the job at the Pillsbury Flour Mill in Minneapolis, 1939.

16. These farm children are helping out and carrying the supplies in Northome in 1937.

17. A man looks around at the Goodwill Store and Mission Church in Minneapolis in 1937.

18. This young girl is topping beets near East Grand Forks in 1937.

19. In 1937 Minneapolis, a man stands in front of a secondhand clothing store.

20. These lumberjacks are rolling logs into the river near Littlefork.

21. Even the little ones help out. This young girl is bringing the firewood in on a farm near Northome in 1937.

22. Clover that was too poor to harvest for seed had to be burned in 1937 near Littlefork.

23. Despite all the hard times, this lumberjack takes a minute to blow off some steam, and do a handspring near Littlefork in 1937.

Even in the toughest of times, Minnesotans found ways to keep in good spirits. What stories have you heard from your family about the Depression?