Ham Lake is a six-mile-by-six-mile township as prescribed in the Northwest Territories Act of 1787. One of the area's major lakes looks exactly like a slice of ham, with an island as the ham bone, thus the name. In 1856, a town named Glen Carey, Scottish for "Beautiful Valley," was formed southwest of the lake. Seven or eight homes were built, but a prairie fire burned them out. In 1866, Mads Gilbertson, a native of Norway, was the first permanent settler; other Scandinavians followed. Early settlers found the soil well suited for farming and developed churches, schools, and commercial...