Source: Globe Gazette - May 3. 2022
Twenty-two years ago, Jim Eckoff of Meservey was canoeing on Lake Cherokee in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeast Minnesota.
After spending the day canoeing and walking through portages, Eckoff, his best friend, his son-in-law, and his nephew came across an island on Lake Cherokee where they could camp. Exhausted from carrying their canoes and paddling miles throughout the day, they set up camp on the little island.
The next day, Eckoff was drinking coffee when his friend spotted a piece of trash under a bush. Litter being extremely rare in the Boundary Waters, he picked it up. He had found a bidding ticket, Wiemann's Meservey number on it. That meant the bidding number itself had to be at least 26 years old, as Gordy Wiemann moved to Clear Lake in 1996.
Gordy Wiemann and his father, Gary Wiemann, held auctions throughout North Iowa for years, holding charity auctions as well.
There were some frequent buyers at Wiemann Auction Service who kept the same number. Wiemann said each bidding number ticket cost him five cents, and they started giving people permanent numbers so they wouldn't waste tickets to save some money.
Eckoff had hoped bidding number 116 was one of those numbers, and they would be able to trace it back to the owner through Wiemann's memory. The ticket had traveled more than 400 miles to make its way into Eckoff's hands, and he brought it home.
When Eckoff got back from the trip, he told Wiemann's daughter he had found an old bidding ticket. Wiemann's daughter, Marcy Hyde, worked with Eckoff in Meservey at one point in time, and they were friends.
"He told me about it years ago but I had moved," said Hyde.
So the bidding number sat packed away from about August 2000 until April 2022. A few weeks ago, Eckoff uncovered the old bidding number in his things.
Eckoff was going into town shortly after rediscovering the bidding number and decided to bring it to Hyde. Eckoff also brought a map to show Wiemann exactly where the bidding ticket had ended up.
On Good Friday this year, Hyde delivered the old bidding number to her father. It was a surprising reunion for Wiemann, who said he was amazed the number had stayed intact all these years.
"What are the odds of it being in the water and still being okay," Wiemann said. "How it got there I just don't know."
Wiemann was amazed the old ticket had come back to him, imagining how it had traveled all the way to the Canadian border. He knew it couldn't have been purposeful. He's never been to the Boundary Waters and was amazed his work had ended up there.
Ultimately, Wiemann didn't remember who held that permanent number, but it brought back different memories.
The bidding number was written in his wife's handwriting. She died 15 years ago around Easter.
"He was a little choked up about it," Hyde said.
He was holding on to a memory. That small ticket, which traveled hundreds of miles and was decades old, brought Wiemann back to the times spent working with his father and spending time with his wife.
