​In the 1930s, people from all across the nation flocked to Cokato to be healed by a man named Earl Tracy. Although many would claim he was a good man and a talented healer, others saw him a womanizer and a con artist.  

As the house lights slowly dimmed in the Richard Slocumb Theatre on the campus of San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas, the crowd quickly hushed. A feeling of anticipation crackled in the humid October air—that something magical was about to happen.
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A lone spotlight illuminated a stone archway. After what seemed like an eternity—though in reality was only a couple seconds—a solitary figure strode in to the light. Dressed in a black suit coat and pants, crisply starched white shirt, and fedora, he lingered for a moment, drawing the audience’s attention to his presence. Then he began to speak.

“My name’s Earl Tracy,” he said. “Maybe you’ve heard of me.”

​And so for the next 2½ hours, we watched and listened as a group of Texans—a cast that ranged in age from preteens to senior citizens—told the story of a man whose activities created a myriad of emotions amongst the people of his hometown. The words, the songs, the dance sequences, the visuals, and the evocative monologues of the man who portrayed Earl, made all of us realize that his life was a journey few of us could have imagined.

​Oliver Johnson. "Timber Harvesting," In The Midst Of, Cokato Historical Society (Winter, 1992) vol. 12 no. 1.

The Cokato area was almost in the heart of the region in Minnesota which was known as the Big Woods. It was a triangular area which started a bit northwest of St. Cloud, extended south to the Minnesota River, east to the Mississippi River, and then went diagonally back to a point which was a little northeast of St. Cloud. The timber in this area consisted of hardwoods such as oak, ash, elm, maple, butternut, hickory, basswood, etc. The Big Woods area was surrounded by prairie on the south and west, and mainly coniferous trees to the north and east.

​My father often talked about the many sawmills in the area. The native lumber was used extensively for buildings at first. Later the railroad provided a market for railroad ties and maple cordwood to fire the steam locomotive. My father told of hauling cordwood with oxen to Smith Lake where the trains would take on the cordwood for fuel and the farmers would earn a few dollars. I believe he said they earned one dollar for a cord of hard maple.