“We have a majority and what is the use of letting the old
fellows run the House?” Michael J. Dowling Speaker of the
Minnesota House There is no question that the story of former
Speaker of the Minnesota House Michael J. Dowling’s life is one
of the most inspiring stories about overcoming the adversity of
a disability. Dowling’s early years were extremely challenging;
with the loss of his mother at a very young age, he drifted
alone through the upper Midwest from the age of 10 working on
steamboats, lumber camps and farms. One fateful day in 1880,
just outside of Canby, Minnesota, the 15-year-old farmhand was
riding on the back of a wagon when he and his companions were
assaulted unexpectedly by a gigantic Minnesota blizzard. He was
accidentally thrown from the back of the wagon and because of
the wind and blinding snow was lost by his companions to
presumably perish in a 50° below wind-chill. Fortunately for
Dowling, he happened upon a hay mound while groping in the
driving snow. He burrowed in for the eveni