Production credits, 
Cast  and Crew List,  and Bios
 are all still under construction! 

Be sure to check back for 
updates as we grow.

Sonny Mitchel Johnson 
as Makoons-- "Little Bear" 
 "Living History" and Our Cast and Crew
Glenn Sandiford  as David Thpmpson
Glenn Sandiford as David Thompson
Amos and Jim Miller as William Morrison
Michael Meuers as Governor Lewis Cass
Danielle DerAsadourian
as Countess Julia deMedici
Jeremiah Liend as Giacomo Beltrami
William Tanner 
as Ozawindib
Reed Olson as 
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
Norwood Hall as Joseph Nicollet
Chris Keenan as Willard Glazier
Greg Gasman as Jacob Brower
Danniell McCallister as Mary Gibbs 
Chris Ripkin as Zebulon Pike
Sarah Jane Einerson
as Mrs. McGillis
Shep Wilimek as
Hugh McGillis
Max Bowman as Metis furtrader
Edward Bredon as Lt. James Allen
Wallace Douglas, Minnesota Attorney General
Casey Peterson as
Sgt. Kimmerer
Lisa Boulay with sled dogs Shasta and Lola
Sam Larsen, 
Pike's survey party 
Martin Drop, 
Pike's survey party
Aubrey Ripkin, 
Pike's survey party
Additional Credits
Lisa Ripkin as
 Anishinabe Ikwe
Project Crew
Screenwriter and Scene Director:  

Norwood F. Hall  II

Research and Production :             

Janet C. Rith-Najarian, Ph.D.
 Film Crew:  
                      Jim Miller
                      Jon Blessing
                      Jeremiah T.S. Liend
                       Michael Bredon

                       

Set Crew:   Sarah Jane Einarson, 
Anita Marocco and Lisa Ripkin
Project Supervisor:  David Lanegran, Ph.D.
Soundtrack:  Norwood Hall and Jim Miller
Administrative Assistance:  Laura Kigin
David Bates Douglass,
Cass Expedition botanist
Click on thumbnail images in each frame below to open up full sized images
Mark Carter as 
Chenogowesic
Anita Marocco,
Metis furtrader's wife
Scott Merschman, 
Cass survey party
Kevin Williamson as Alexandre-Jean Martin
Gerald Illies as voyageur and 
Tom Jessen as Rev. Boutwell
Our  Cast of Characters
Click here to find out all about  how we do our reenactments and film production! 

When you click on this link, you will be taken to a photo gallery on our Facebook Info page.  Be sure to click on the first photo of the gallery, then click on the arrow to the right of that photo to scroll through the slide show.
Illustration of Schoolcraft's arrival at lake Itasca, 
by Seth Eastman, 1851
From W. Glazier's Down the Great River
Sue Swartz as schoolteacher, and 
students and parents from St Philips' School, Bemidji,
as townsfolk
Portius Deming, Minnesota legislator
Newton Horace Winchell, Minnesota State Geologist
Ron Brown as  town bandleader  
and Roy Booth as mayor 
Lisa Boulay, Patty Lester and Pat Grimes
as townsfolk
Florence Bramhall, Minnesota Forestry Commission 
 Lawrence Taliaferro,
Fort Snelling Indian Agent 
REIS  HALL  (1923-2003)

was a founding member of the Bemidji Mississippi River Revival,  
and was an adventurous outdoorsman who, over the course of 
his lifetime,  paddled many of the miles of streams and lakes throughout the Headwaters region.  He came to know these waterways better than most anyone else in northern Minnesota.

His journeys also inspired his son Norwood to take part in this project, after he had grown up to become a river explorer himself.  
JIM MILLER  (1947-2013)

Jim took on many roles in our project, working on the film crew for landscape and wildlife shots, researching the music that was popular during the lives of our different explorers, and composing ballads to tell a bit of each explorer's story. Jim, along with his son Amos,  also reenacted the role of  explorer William Morrison, the little-known fur trader who claimed to be the first European-American to see Lake Itasca. 

Jim passed away during the course of our production, 
and  is sadly missed by our crew. 
This film project is dedicated 
to the memory of 







       Reis Hall  &  Jim Miller 



"The Source"
Educational
Resources
Resources  for the modern day river explorer
Virtual Journey
 to the Headwaters
River's Edge
Geographics
Our Cast of Characters
Explorer Expedition Timeline & Maps
MN Alliance for Geographic Education 
Adrian Liberty as
Aysh ke Ba ke Ko Zhay--"Chief Flatmouth"
Terry McGibbon as President James Monroe
Max Kelsey as 
Jacques Desiret
Derrick Houle as 
 Francois Brunet 
Peter Hajinian as
Napoleon Bonaparte