John Wesley Speelman was one of the early promoters of Verndale, arriving in the village about 1882 from Nebraska. He had a tree nursery at Verndale and also strated the Verndale Sun newspaper in 1894. Mr. Speelman sold the Verndale Sun to H.M. Henderson in 1895. This is when Speelman left Verndale for the new settlement of Menahga and then soon moved on to Beltrami County where he was one of the driving forces to establish the community of Buena Vista there.

John Wesley Speelman was a man of extraordinary energy and fertile mind. He came to Bemidji from Verndale and Menagha, Minnesota, where he had been an editor and active community booster. He began the Beltrami Eagle newspaper almost as soon as he arrived in Bemidji, "Bermidji" as he and the Post Office spelled it. It was a most appropriate outlet for his energy and civic mindedness. In 1896 Speelman built the Summit Hotel at Buena Vista. By 1897 the town had at least LaBrie's Turtle Lake Hotel and store, Worth's sawmill and store, N.T.Forthun's St. Paul Cheap Cash Store, Simon Stangland's store, Speelman's Summit Hotel, Dickinson's Mile Post Store (R.H.Dickinson, was Speelman's son-in-law), Speelman's homestead locator service, a post office, a school (the first was a log schoolhouse), and several residences. In 1897, Speelman had hoped to make Buena Vista the county seat of Beltrami county, but lost out to Bemidji. By 1904, the community numbered 250 souls. Today it is a ghost town.

"Without Careful Consideration": Why Carp Swim in Minnesota's Waters

A typical Minnesota carp enthusiast was Wadena County's John Wesley Speelman. In the railroad town of Verndale, Speelman had a tree nursery that he had started upon his arrival from Nebraska in 1882. In that state he had sold trees to farmers who needed to plant them on their "tree claims." (Under provisions of the Homestead Act, claimants who planted 10 acres in trees could get a second 160 acre homestead.) In Minnesota, Speelman sold fruit trees-apple, crab apple, plum, and cherry—to help farmers diversify their farms. One variety he favored was the Russian mulberry tree, a foreign import that he thought could improve the fruit-growing prospects of Wadena County. If a Russian tree could grow in Minnesota, he reasoned, surely the German carp could also flourish in the waters near Verndale. This would diversify the fish populations of local rivers and lakes and help settlers reap a bounty of fish. A tinkerer by nature, Speelman also raised different breeds of chickens in order to find the fowl that could best adapt to local conditions. The logic of discovering the best fruit trees, chicken breeds, and fish stocks for Verndale was elementary to a man who worked closely with nature.

In the spring of 1884, Speelman explored local rivers, including the Shell and Crow Wing, to determine the feasibility of launching a steamboat enterprise. At the same time, he discovered places that seemed suitable for stocking German carp into the watershed, and he ordered his first shipment of twenty from the state.

In 1885 Speelman, described in the local newspaper as a "good and reliable" man, secured 40 more carp from the fisheries commission for further distribution around Verndale. His carp were a small part of a total of 3,105 stocked in the state that year. Two other varieties—mirror and leather—carp, also appeared in the commission's annual report of stocking activities.