Richard “Dick” Swenson invented the Sven-Saw in Minnesota after a trip to the Boundary Waters. Dick and his daughter, Linnea, visited Grand Marais in February 2024. Photo by Joe Friedrichs
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Minnesota Organization Celebrates Decades of Success Introducing Youth to the Boundary Waters
By Joe Friedrichs
When Richard Swenson saw something that didn’t make sense, he went practical.
Such was the case in 1960 on a portage trail in what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
“My brother and I met two men on their way out,” Swenson said. “One had a bandaged foot. He had cut his foot badly with an axe and was on his way back to the Ely hospital. I thought to myself, ‘There has to be a better way.’”
Indeed there was. And it came in the form of a saw.
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