The Arnesen family has inhabited Rocky Point, Minnesota since the site was homesteaded in 1897 by Bernhard (Barney) Arnesen. Barney’s parents, Berent and Kristine, later joined him at Rocky Point. Barney married Agnes Lambertson whose family was also homesteading in the area. The primary occupation of the family was commercial fishing. The family fished with sail-powered boats and pound nets for sturgeon. The roe was processed into caviar on location and then picked up by steam-powered boats that would transport it north to Kenora, Ontario. From there, a rail link shipped the caviar to the eastern fish markets. Unfortunately the sturgeon population became over-fished and the market for this fish crashed.

With the decline of the sturgeon, the family switched species and gear and began fishing for walleyes with gill nets in the fall and summer. During the winter, they pursued burbots using fyke nets. Eventually they developed ways to use gill nets under the ice by using a machine called a jigger board to run a line that was used to pull the gill net behind.

Danger was a constant element the family faced. As a result, many tragic deaths happened during the early days at Rocky Point. Two of Barney’s brothers, Benjamin and Conrad Arnesen, and two of his and Agnes’ sons, Harold and Arthur Arnesen, all drowned on the lake at a young age. Another son, Bernie, was severely injured by a sail boom and died tragically young as well. Agnes was horribly burned trying to rescue two daughters, Grace and Clara, from a house fire. Unfortunately, she failed and the two young girls perished in the fire.  Another son of Berent and Kristine’s, John, died in a hunting accident.

Although commercial fishing was dangerous, it was an excellent source of wealth and an occupation that one could pursue in Northern Minnesota in the late 1800’s and throughout most of the 1900’s. It was commercial fishing, and a lot of hard work, that allowed the family to prosper and stay in the area.