Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake 1.8 square miles in area. It is notable for being the headwaters of the Mississippi River, is located in southeastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota; the lake is within Itasca State Park and has an average depth of 20 to 35 feet, is 1,475 ft above sea level. The Ojibwe name for "Lake Itasca" is Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan, it is one of several examples of pseudo-Indian place names created by Schoolcraft. It is the primary source of the Mississippi River. There are several tributaries that flow into the lake, one of which, by most modern definitions, as with the Nile River and Amazon River, would be considered the actual source, though less dramatic than the lake's outflow. Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the river's primary source in 1832, he had been part of a previous expedition in 1820 led by General Lewis Cass that had named nearby Cass Lake as the source of the river. The western arm of the lake is fed by two streams on its south end.

Nicollet Creek starts in a nearby spring. Another small stream leads into Itasca from Elk Lake; the Ojibwa called the stream Bekegamaag-zaaga ` igan and Bekegamaag-ziibi, respectively. In 1887 Williard Glazier promoted a campaign to consider Elk Lake, which he called Glazier Lake, as the true source of the Mississippi, its longest tributary originates at Little Elk Lake, 100 ft higher in elevation and 11 km upstream from the Lake Itasca outflow, at 47.158 N 95.224 W and in the Mississippi watershed. Jacob V. Brower, a land surveyor and president of the Minnesota Historical Society, after spending five months exploring the lakes, claimed that the lakes and streams further south of Lake Itasca were not the true source of the Mississippi because they were "too small." Modern explorers and geographers, have used the tiniest trickles of water to determine the source of the Amazon and other rivers. Brower was to campaign aggressively to save the lake from logging. On April 21, 1891, the Minnesota Legislature made it a state park by a margin of one vote.

Brower is now called the "Father of Lake Itasca" and the visitor center is named in his honor. The channel of the Mississippi as it emerges from the lake was bulldozed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, to create a more "pleasant experience" for visitors; the project included the draining of the surrounding swamp, the digging of a new channel, the installation of a man-made rock rapids. The lake is home to the University of Minnesota's Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories campus, which offers spring and summer courses and field research work year-round; the campus was established in 1909. Some of these buildings date from the 1930s and 40s, while others, including the largest building the Biome Center, were built more recently; the current Director of the biological station is Jonathan Schilling. The Lake Itasca region claims a unique location, not only at the headwaters of the Mississippi River and amidst 25% of the old growth forest of Minnesota, but at the juncture of the three great habitats of North America: the Great Plains, the Deciduous Forest of the south, the Coniferous Forest of the north.

Remnants of all three may be observed in the park. The unique geography of the Lake Itasca region has found its way onto the classical music concert stage. Composer Ferde Grofe depicted the birthplace of the Mississippi River and the Native Americans who reside there in his popular classical epic the Mississippi Suite. List of Minnesota lakes USRC Itasca USCGC Itasca Lake Itasca

Here's to You, Rachel Robinson is a 1993 young adult novel by Judy Blume, the sequel to Just as Long as We're Together. It is an allusion to a real person, Rachel Robinson, the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Mrs. Robinson"; this book is written from the perspective of Rachel Robinson, thirteen years old and the youngest child of three. She is regarded as an overachiever and perfectionist, but explains throughout the book that she finds it difficult being intellectually gifted, uses her perfectionist behaviours as a coping mechanism to deal with problems with her family and with her insecurities regarding her friendships, her immediate family consists of her mother Nell, a high-achieving lawyer and judge, her father Victor, a teacher with a gentle nature, her older sister Jessica, who suffers with cystic acne and the discrimination that comes with it, her older brother Charles, expelled from boarding school and makes their lives a misery. Rachel feels Charles gets all the attention in her family if it is negative, that he is driving their parents to breaking point.

She resents that her brother gets so much attention from teenage girls her friends and Alison. In the book, Rachel has to deal with her crush on Charles' tutor, Paul Medeiros, her worries that Stephanie and Alison prefer each other to her, her frequent invitations to join high-achieving school societies, the fact that the best looking boy in ninth grade, Jeremy "Dragon" Kravitz, may be interested in her. Through family counseling and a trip to Ellis Island, the Robinson family begin to learn how to put aside their differences and become a closer family; the novel's title is a reference to the Simon and Garfunkel song "Mrs. Robinson". Judy Blume's website

The VH series consists of 4.1 and 4.5 litres engines built from 1989 to 2001 by the Nissan Motor Corporation. The design consists of a 90-degree V8 with an aluminium cylinder block that features a closed upper deck and a deep skirt; the cylinder heads are aluminium with a DOHC 4 valves design and pentroof combustion chambers. The production blocks and production head castings were used in various forms of racing including the IRL; the VH45DE is a 4.5 litres V8 developed by Nissan for use in the Infiniti Q45 sport luxury sedan, released in November 1989. The engine was used in the Japanese market Nissan President limousine which debuted in late 1990; the VH45DE generates 278 hp at 6000 rpm and 292 lb⋅ft at 4000 rpm with a redline of 6900 rpm. Some of the pertinent features of the VH45DE are forged steel crankshaft, forged steel connecting rods, 6 Bolt main bearing caps with studs, full-length main bearing girdle, floating pistons with molybdenum coating, sodium-filled exhaust valves, cross-flow cooling system, hydraulic lash adjusters, single-row silent timing chain, coil-on-plug ignition system, lifter buckets ride directly on cams to reduce friction, redline of 6900 rpm, compression ratio of 10.2:1, bore and stroke of 93 mm × 82.7 mm, dimensions: 890 mm x 740 mm x 725 mm.

The 4.5 L VH45DE featured variable valve timing known as VTC, from 1990 until 1995. This was during the time that the "Gentleman's Agreement" between Japan's automotive manufacturers was in effect, requiring all cars sold in their home market to produce no more than 280 bhp. Nissan got around this by publishing the hp rating without VTC, meaning its actual power rating is closer to 310 bhp and 330 lb⋅ft. of torque. Due to tightening emissions regulations in the US market, the VTC feature was dropped from the 1996 Infiniti Q45. In the following year, the VH45DE was no longer available in any US market vehicles; the engine continued on in the Japanese market until 2002 in the Nissan President limousine. VH45DEs made before 1994 used plastic timing chain guides, over time these have been known to fail; this results in a noisy valve-train and parts of the plastic guides can end up in the sump and oil pickup, resulting in engine damage. Nissan changed to metal backed chain guides from 1994 onwards.

This engine was used in the following vehicle: 1990-1996 Infiniti Q45, 278 hp, 294 lb⋅ft 1990-2002 Nissan President, 278 hp, 294 lb⋅ft The VH45DE became a popular engine swap for other platforms due to being low cost to source and able to be adapted to a Nissan manual transmission when using an aftermarket adapter plate. The VH45DE is used in a variety of motorsports ranging from drifting to drag racing, boat racing, dirt track sprint cars; the VH41DE is a 4.1 litres V8, based on the VH45DE. The bore of 93 mm remained but the stroke was shortened to 76 mm. Power output for the new engine was 268 hp at 5600 rpm and 278 lb⋅ft at 4000 rpm; the VH41DE used a double row timing chain, compared to the VH45DE that used a single row timing chain. Its alternator is located at the top of the engine which creates an overall narrower engine package which can be handy in engine conversions where it may otherwise foul on the chassis rails; the 4.1 L VH41DE was used in the following vehicles: 1997-2001 Infiniti Q45 266 hp, 278 lb⋅ft 1992-1996 Nissan Leopard, 270 PS, 278 lb⋅ft 1991-1996 Nissan Cima Y32, 266 hp, 278 lb⋅ft 1996-2001 Nissan Cima Y33, 270 PS, 376 N⋅m Nissan VRH Racing Engines List of Nissan engines