While I don’t want to turn this blog into a northern Minnesota tourist guide, I know many of you have family members who couldn’t care the least about our fine feathered friends. Thus, I like to add an occasional post about things one might do to the entire clan happy when visiting / birding northern Minnesota. Today’s topic is “Logging in Days of Yore!”
It is definitely worth a stop at the Minnesota Historical Society’s Forest History Center in Grand Rapids. The “center” is an old logging camp built on the shores of the Mississippi River. The folks you will find at the Forest History Center are primarily Minnesota Historical Society employees who believe passionately in helping you learn the history of the region. Northern Minnesota was essentially clear cut in the early part of the 1900’s.
Take the time to watch this short video about the last log drive on the Little Fork River (a bit north of Grand Rapids). This log drive took place in 1937 not too far from my cabin. My thanks to the Minnesota Historical Society for posting this video a few days ago to their YouTube channel. (video link for blog email subscribers)
Also a bit north of Grand Rapids is the only remaining Civilian Conservation Corp Camp in the Lower 48 which is in remotely good shape: Camp Rabideau. All the hiking trails I use near my own house were built by the CCC in the 1930’s. If you would like to read about the logging industry in northern Minnesota, here is a great overview from the Minnesota Historical Society. The picture is theirs, not mine.
As a fyi … Molly and I returned from Iceland last night, and given the time change I have been up since 3:30 am. More Iceland posts will be coming once I work through my backlog of photographs!
This post is reworked from a similar effort I wrote many years ago. The new edition is driven by the log drive video becoming available.
