Lake Bemidji
Lake Bemidji is a small glacially-formed lake 11 square miles in area, in northern Minnesota in the United States. Located less than 50 miles downstream from the source of the Mississippi River, it both receives and is drained by the Mississippi. Lake Bemidji got its name because "Bemidji" refers to the Mississippi River, how it flows across the lake from west to east; the word Bemidji means "Lake with crossing waters" and in its native Ojibwe it is Bemidjigamaag. The lake is located in southern Beltrami County, near the city of Bemidji, which sits on its southwestern shore. Due to the shape of Lakes Bemidji and Irving, according to folk legends, Lakes Bemidji and Irving were formed in Paul Bunyan's footprint; the Ojibwe described the Lakes Bemidji and Irving collectively as a single lake being a bimijigamaa, thus the Ojibwe name the lake as Bemijigamaag-zaaga'igan, since the lake is considered to traverse the Mississippi River. On occasion in Ojibwe, the city of Bemidji is called Wabigamaang, since part of the city is situated on the Lakes Bemidji-Irving narrows, located on the south end of Lake Bemidji.
Lake Bemidji resides in the upper Mississippi River drainage basin. Over 396,000 acres of the Upper Mississippi watershed drain into Lake Bemidji; the lake has 15 miles of shoreline. The littoral zone of Lake Bemidji covers 28% of the total lake area. There are no invasive species known in the lake as of 2017; the water clarity ranges from 2.5 to 21.0, with a maximum reading obtained in early summer. Transparency declines through August; the transparency rebounds in October after fall turnover. This transparency dynamic is typical of a northern Minnesota lake; the lake has been classified as eutrophic by the Beltrami County Soil and Water Conservation District. There are many fish species that inhabit Lake Bemidji, including: black bullhead, black crappie, brown bullhead, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, lake whitefish, largemouth bass, Lepomis sp. muskellunge, northern pike, rock bass, walleye, yellow bullhead, yellow perch, greater redhorse, shorthead redhorse, white sucker, banded killifish, blackchin shiner, blacknose shiner, bluntnose minnow, brassy minnow, brook stickleback, central mudminnow, common shiner, fathead minnow, finescale dace, golden shiner, Iowa darter, Johnny darter, longnose dace, mimic shiner, spottail shiner, tadpole madtom.
The Beltrami County Historical Society documents that "The first residents of the Bemidji area in recorded history were Native Americans who settled Northern Minnesota following the retreat of the glaciers around 10,000 years ago." Evidence of the retreating glaciers exists today in Bemidji’s lush wilderness, Lake Bemidji, other bodies of water found within Beltrami County. As time progressed, the Bemidji area became inhabited by different Native American tribes. First, the Dakota followed by the Ojibwe in the 1700s; the Ojibwe would became the presiding tribe throughout the 1700s and into the 1800s. Historical leader Chief Shaynowishkung of the Ojibwe was born in 1834 and died in 1904; the Beltrami County Historical Society documents that "Shaynowishkung's people came from Madeline Island moving to Sandy Lake Winnibigoshish settling along the shore of Bemijigamaag."According to the plaques which are engraved near Shaynowishkung’s Honorary Statue, the chief moved to Lake Bemidji in 1882 after the death of his wife.
In 1888, he was first reported to have contact with neighboring white settlers. During their first meeting, the local namesake "Chief Bemidji" was wrongfully given by European immigrants due to what the Beltrami Historical Society documents as "early miscommunication" as when "Shaynowishkung told them the name of the lake, which they at first took to be his name"; as a result, he became known "throughout his life as Chief Bemidji." As time progressed, the main economic source of the Bemidji area became logging mills. The Crookston Sawmill was located along the south shore of Lake Bemidji; the sawmill was one of the first prominent logging industries within the Bemidji area and soon expanded tremendously. In the year 1910, Crookston Sawmill had become the second largest sawmill in the country, expanding Bemidji’s economy to 18th within the state. Timber production made the sawmill prone to fire; the fires which took place at the sawmill during the 1910s and early 1920s which burned the mills to the ground twice foreshadowed the final fire of the newly rebuilt Crookston mill #1.
According to Historian Rosemary Given-Amble, "on November 8, 1924, 24 million board feet of select white pine, valued at $750,000, was destroyed at the second Crookston #1 fire. Heat was so intense it caused whirlwinds that tossed burning lumber across the lake." According to historian Rosemary Given Amble, "The era between 1907-1910 brought years of drought and local forest fires to northern Minnesota. Because of that dryness the south and north basins of Lake Bemidji were separated by a sandbar extending from Diamond Point to the east lakeshore, making it difficult to move log booms from the north end of the lake to the mill." The Beltrami Historical society accounts that "Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox were commissioned to be built in 1936 and were unveiled January 15th 1937." Since, the 18 foot lumberjack and his faithful ox have christened the south shore of Lake Bemidji with thei
Brainerd, Minnesota
Brainerd is a city in Crow Wing County, United States. Its population was 13,592 as of the 2010 census, it is the county seat of Crow Wing County, is one of the largest cities in Central Minnesota. Brainerd straddles the Mississippi River several miles upstream from its confluence with the Crow Wing River, having been founded as a site for a railroad crossing above said confluence. Brainerd is the principal city of the Brainerd Micropolitan Area, a micropolitan area covering Cass and Crow Wing counties and with a combined population of 91,067 as of the 2010 census; the Brainerd area serves as a major tourist destination for Minnesota. Brainerd is the home to one of five medevac helicopter flight stations in the state for "AirCare," operated by North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, a Level 1 Trauma Center; this station covers the central part of Minnesota. The city is known for the Brainerd International Raceway, which hosts races throughout the year and has a national drag racing meet annually in August.
The area, now Brainerd was traditionally territory inhabited by the Ojibwe. Brainerd was first seen by European settlers on Christmas Day in 1805, when Zebulon Pike stopped there while searching for the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Crow Wing Village, a fur and logging community near Fort Ripley, brought settlers to the area in the mid-19th century. In those early years the relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans was complicated; the most famous example of this tenuous relationship was the so-called "Blueberry War" of 1872. Two Ojibwe were hanged for murdering a missing girl; when a group of Native Americans approached the town, troops from nearby Fort Ripley were called to prevent a potential reprisal. As it turned out, the Ojibwe only wanted to sell blueberries and the settlers avoided a bloody misunderstanding. Guilt of the two Native Americans was never proven. Brainerd was the idea of Northern Pacific railroad president John Gregory Smith, who in 1870 named the township after his wife, Anne Eliza Brainerd Smith, father-in-law, Lawrence Brainerd.
The company built a bridge over the Mississippi seven miles north of Crow Wing Village and used the Brainerd station as a machine and car shop, prompting many to move north and abandon Crow Wing. Brainerd was organized as a city on March 6, 1873. On January 11, 1876, the state legislature revoked Brainerd's charter for six years, as a reaction to the election of local handyman Thomas Lanihan as mayor instead of Judge C. B. Sleeper. Brainerd functioned as a township in the interim. In 1881, the railroad, with it the town, expanded. Lumber and paper, as well as agriculture in general, were important early industries, but for many decades Brainerd remained a railroad town: in the 1920s 90 percent of Brainerd residents were dependent on the railroad. Participation in the nationwide railroad strike on July 1, 1922, left the majority of Brainerd residents unemployed and embittered many of those involved. On October 27, 1933, the First National Bank of Brainerd became famous when it was held up by Baby Face Nelson and his gang.
Over the years, increased efficiency and the better positioning of the more centralized Livingston, shops led to a decline in the importance of a railroad station that once employed over 1000 and serviced locomotives for the whole Northern Pacific line. The BNSF Railway continues to employ 70 people in Brainerd at a maintenance-of-way equipment shop responsible for performing repairs and preventive maintenance to track and equipment; the Northwest Paper Company built Brainerd's first paper mill in 1903 and with the steady increase in tourism since the early 20th century the paper and service industries have become Brainerd's primary employers. The town's coating mill was sold by Potlatch to Missota Paper in 2003 and by Missota Paper to Wausau Paper in 2004, it is now used as a small industrial center called Brainerd Industrial Center. Due to the many lakes in the area, Brainerd had become a popular summertime destination for those owning cabins in the area better known as The Brainerd Lakes.
Brainerd itself is now developed into commercial and residential areas and has seen an uptick in development in the recent years. Brainerd is located just north of the geographical center of Minnesota in a hilly terminal moraine area created by the Superior Lobe of the Labradorian ice sheet; the town occupies land on both sides of the Mississippi River, though the older parts of Brainerd are all to the east. Though the city itself has few lakes, there are over 460 lakes within 25 miles of Brainerd, located to the north. For this reason, Crow Wing County and parts of the adjoining counties are collectively referred to as the Brainerd Lakes Area. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.64 square miles, of which 11.91 square miles is land and 0.73 square miles is water. Brainerd has been assigned ZIP code 56401 by the USPS; the following routes are located in the Brainerd area. Minnesota State Highway 18 Minnesota State Highway 25 Minnesota State Highway 210 Minnesota State Highway 371 Brainerd has a humid continental climate with vast seasonal differences.
Summers are warm and hot, whereas winters are severely cold. The Burlington Northern United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site is located on the boundary between the cities of Brainerd and Baxter; the site served as a Burlington Northern Railroad tie treatment plant, between the years of 1907 and 1985. During that time, wastewater generated from the wood-treating process was sent to two shallow, unlined pon
Grayling, Michigan
Grayling is a city in the U. S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Crawford County. The population was 1,884 at the 2010 census. Grayling is surrounded by Grayling Township, it is located in the middle of Northern Michigan. The highways make it the natural'gateway' to much of "up north," as it is known to locals and many visitors. Grayling is most famous for hosting the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon in July of every year since 1947; the city is named after the grayling species of fish once abundant in the Au Sable River, although the species has long since been extinct in the area Michael Shoat Hartwick was Grayling's first settler. On the west side of the railroad tracks, he built a log hotel; the railroad platted out 40 acres, naming it "Crawford". Fish swimming in the river were identified as grayling, it is said that the residents preferred the name "Grayling" to the name "Crawford," and renamed the area after the fish. Grayling's access to two major rivers, the presence of the vast forest around it, made it important in the lumber era.
Logs were floated down the rivers to the lakes. Grayling had other names through the years, it was called "AuSable", "Forest", "Crawford Station", during the lumbering era "Milltown". The Arctic grayling that had inhabited much of Northern Michigan was wiped out; the logging practice of using river beds to move logs in the springtime destroyed the breeding grounds for these fish. Before they could recover, non-native sport fish such as brook trout were introduced in the 1890s and competed with the grayling for food; the Grayling Fish Hatchery was founded in 1914 by timber baron Rasmus Hanson. He hoped to restore the grayling to the Au Sable River system. Other famous contributors to the initial costs of the hatchery included Henry Ford, Edsel Ford, Thomas Edison; the grayling became extinct in Michigan. The hatchery continued to play an important role in natural resource conservation. In 1926, it was sold to the state of Michigan, it continued to be operated as a fish tourist attraction until the mid-1960s.
In 1995, Michigan sold the property to Crawford County. It is being operated by a owned fish farm, although continues to be open to the public during the summer. An important person in the history of Grayling is Rasmus Hanson. Hanson was born in 1846 in Denmark and immigrated to the United States in 1867 at age 16, when he began work in the lumber field. Two years E. N. Salling, Nelson Michelson, he organized the first Salling-Hanson Company. After nearly 50 years of service, the Salling Hanson Company had shut down its operation in January 1927, he created many businesses in Northern Michigan. Along with being one of three lumber barons of Northern Michigan, Hanson owned the Michigan Sugar Company and the Bay City Sugar Company. In 1916, he donated 13,826 acres of cut-over land in Crawford County to the state of Michigan for use as a forest game preserve and military reservation; this land became the first state-owned game preserve. The area south of Lake Margrethe continues to be used as a National Guard base that serves Michigan and Indiana guards.
Since 1947, Grayling has been the starting point of the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon, held every year on the last weekend of July. This is the longest nonstop canoe race in North America; the middle branch of the Au Sable River passes through the city. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.04 square miles, of which 2.01 square miles is land and 0.03 square miles is water. Nearby Camp Grayling is the nation's largest National Guard training site and the largest military installation east of the Mississippi River. 147,000 acres are used for year-round training conducted by the U. S. National Guard, as well as active and reserve components of the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy; the city is near Lake Margrethe. Hartwick Pines State Park is just 7 miles northeast of Grayling; the Huron portion of the Huron-Manistee National Forests is about the same distance due east. North Down River Road is east of the city along the Au Sable River, it is a designated National Scenic Byway for the 23 miles.
The Lumberman's Monument is located along the byway. An oilfield is located about 4 miles south of M-93 on Military Road. Much of the area sits on a unique habitat named for the city; this climatic region has large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Grayling has a humid continental climate, Dfb on climate maps; as of the census of 2010, there were 1,884 people, 764 households, 419 families residing in the city. The population density was 937.3 inhabitants per square mile. There were 890 housing units at an average density of 442.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 97.2% White, 0.7% African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.1% from other races, 0.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.7% of the population. There were 764 households of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.9% were married couples living together, 16.9% had a fem
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over a mile; the canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are debated by geologists, several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago.
Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs deepening and widening the canyon. For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves; the Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site, made pilgrimages to it. The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540; the Grand Canyon is a river valley in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata, is one of the six distinct physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau province. It is not the deepest canyon in the world. However, the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colorful landscape. Geologically, it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that are well preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon; these rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent.
Uplift associated with mountain formation moved these sediments thousands of feet upward and created the Colorado Plateau. The higher elevation has resulted in greater precipitation in the Colorado River drainage area, but not enough to change the Grand Canyon area from being semi-arid; the uplift of the Colorado Plateau is uneven, the Kaibab Plateau that Grand Canyon bisects is over one thousand feet higher at the North Rim than at the South Rim. All runoff from the North Rim flows toward the Grand Canyon, while much of the runoff on the plateau behind the South Rim flows away from the canyon; the result is deeper and longer tributary washes and canyons on the north side and shorter and steeper side canyons on the south side. Temperatures on the North Rim are lower than those on the South Rim because of the greater elevation. Heavy rains are common on both rims during the summer months. Access to the North Rim via the primary route leading to the canyon is limited during the winter season due to road closures.
The Grand Canyon is part of the Colorado River basin which has developed over the past 70 million years, in part based on apatite /He thermochronometry showing that Grand Canyon reached a depth near to the modern depth by 20 Ma. A recent study examining caves near Grand Canyon places their origins beginning about 17 million years ago. Previous estimates had placed the age of the canyon at 5–6 million years; the study, published in the journal Science in 2008, used uranium-lead dating to analyze calcite deposits found on the walls of nine caves throughout the canyon. There is a substantial amount of controversy because this research suggests such a substantial departure from prior supported scientific consensus. In December 2012, a study published in the journal Science claimed new tests had suggested the Grand Canyon could be as old as 70 million years. However, this study has been criticized by those who support the "young canyon" age of around six million years as " attempt to push the interpretation of their new data to their limits without consideration of the whole range of other geologic data sets."The canyon is the result of erosion which exposes one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet.
The major geologic exposures in the Grand Canyon range in age from the 2-billion-year-old Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the Inner Gorge to the 230-million-year-old Kaibab Limestone on the Rim. There is a gap of about a billion years between the 500-million-year-old stratum and the level below it, which dates to about 1.5 billion years ago. This large unconformity indicates a long period. Many of the formations were deposited in warm shallow seas, near-shore environments, swamps as the seashore advanced and retreated over the edge of a proto-North America. Major exceptions include the Permian Coconino Sandstone, which contains abundant geological evidence of aeolian sand dune deposition. Several parts of the Supai Group were deposited in non–marine environments; the great depth of the Grand Canyon and the height of its strata can be attributed to 5–10 thousand feet of uplift of the Colorado Plateau, starting about 65 million years ago. This uplift has steepened the stream gradient of the Colorado River
St. Ignace, Michigan
Saint Ignace written as St. Ignace, is a city near the tip of the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan, on the northern side of the Straits of Mackinac, it sits on the shore of Lake Huron at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge, opposite Mackinaw City, serving as the gateway to the UP for travelers coming from the Lower Peninsula. It is one of two ports with ferry service to Mackinac Island, is the only mainland city accessible from the island when Lake Huron is frozen over. St. Ignace Township is politically independent, it is the county seat of Mackinac County. The population was 2,452 at the 2010 census, nearly one-third of the population of the city identified as Native American; the Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, a state-recognized tribe, is headquartered at St. Ignace; the Ottawa people known as Odawa, comprised another Algonquian-speaking tribe before European encounter. Their descendants joined with the Chippewa in this area to organize for self-government. Jesuit priests established a mission in the 17th century at what was a village of the Wyandot people known by the French as the Huron.
They are an Iroquoian-language group. It became a center of fur trading with the French for regional peoples. In the 18th century, the Ojibwe entered the area and were an important group near the Great Lakes. In the 21st century, the federally recognized Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians owns and operates a casino on its land in St. Ignace. St. Ignace is the second-oldest city founded by Europeans in Michigan. Various cultures of Native Americans had inhabited the area for thousands of years before the first exploration here by French colonists. Early historic peoples of the area in the 17th century were predominantly the Iroquoian-speaking Wendat, whom the French called the Huron. By the early 18th century, the Anishinaabe Ojibwe, who spoke one of the Algonquian languages, became prominent in the region. Another related Anishinaabe people were the Odawa in their language; the third member of the Council of Three Fires, a loose confederacy of these tribes, was the Potowatomi people. All three peoples have descendants who are members of various federally recognized tribes in northern Michigan.
French explorer and priest Jacques Marquette founded the St. Ignace Mission on this site in 1671 and was buried here after his death, he named it for St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit religious order, whose priests were active as missionaries across North America. Jesuits served at missions to convert First Nations/Native Americans to Catholicism and to share French culture. In 1673, Marquette joined the expedition of Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian explorer, departed from St. Ignace on May 17, with two canoes and five voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry on a voyage to find the Mississippi River, they descended downriver as far as Arkansas. While separately exploring the Great Lakes region on the ship Le Griffon with Louis Hennepin, Sieur de La Salle reached St. Ignace on August 27, 1679. Louis de La Porte, Sieur de Louvigny founded Fort de Buade here in 1681 as a fur trading post, it was directed by Antoine Cadillac. It was closed by the French in 1697; the Jesuits abandoned their mission in 1705.
The Ojibwe, who came to dominate most of the Native American territory of present-day Michigan in the 18th century, were allies of the French in the Seven Years' War against the British. After the British victory in the Seven Years' War, in 1763 they took over the territory of France in North America, including this part of the former New France. After the victory of rebellious colonists in the American Revolutionary War, in 1783 the village was included within the new United States, as part of what became called its Northwest Territory. An important fur trading site for both the French and the British, St. Ignace declined in importance by the early 19th century; the Ojibwe had allied with Great Britain in the War of 1812, based on their long trading and a hope they were expel American colonists. The fur trade declined at St. Ignace because the United States prohibited British Canadian traders from operating across the border after the end of the war. At the same time European demand for North American furs was declining as tastes changed, other parts of the economy grew.
Both British-Canadians and Americans operated a larger trading center at Sault Ste. Marie, which developed on both sides of the Canadian-US border, until the decline of the fur trade in the 1830s; the fur trade suffered before and during the hostilities of the War of 1812, as the United States first imposed a boycott on all trade with England, including traders in Canada. Many local people kept businesses going by smuggling, but postwar prohibitions on the fur trade were more difficult to avoid. Prohibited British traders from operating across the border, as had been their earlier practice; the Ojibwe had allied with the British, their longtime trading partners, during the War of 1812, In 1882, construction of the Detroit and Marquette Railroad, which connected the straits area to the major city of Detroit, provided an economic boost to the village. Farmers and the lumber industry could more get products to a major market. St. Ignace was incorporated as a village on February 23, 1882, as a city in 1883.
In the late 19th century, a new sector of its economy developed, as it began to attract tourists as a popular summer resort and for its connection to Mackinac Island. Since the late 20th century, the city has become a rural destination for heritage tourism and is part of a regional area popular for summer tourism. A variet
Bemidji, Minnesota
Bemidji is a city in Beltrami County, in north west Minnesota, United States. According to the 2012–2016 American Community Survey 5-year estimates, the United States Census Bureau estimates the total population of Bemidji as of 2016 to be 14,664, making it the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth, Minnesota. Bemidji houses many Native American services, including the Indian Health Service; the city is the central hub of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, White Earth Indian Reservation and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation. Bemidji lies on the south west shore of Lake Bemidji, the northernmost lake feeding the Mississippi River and as such is deemed "The First City On The Mississippi." Bemidji is the self-proclaimed "curling capital" of the U. S. and alleged birthplace of Paul Bunyan. Its name derives from the Ojibwe Buh-mid-ji-ga-maug, meaning "a lake with crossing waters". On occasion, in Ojibwe, the city of Bemidji is called Wabigamaang, because part of the city is situated on the Lakes Bemidji/Irving narrows, located on the south end of Lake Bemidji, extends to the eastern shore of Lake Irving.
Some sources credit the name to Chief Bemidji, an Ojibwe chief. Bemidji Township was surveyed in 1874 and organized in 1896 twenty-four days after the village of Bemidji was chartered and is the oldest township in the county. In 1897, the county attorney declared the original Bemidji township organization illegal and the township reorganized June 26, 1897. Beltrami was created on February 1866, by an act of legislation. About 50 Leech Lake Indians lived along the south shore of the lake prior to the 1880s, they called the lake Bemidjigumaug, meaning “river or route flowing crosswise”. Freeman and Besty Doud claimed 160 acres west of and including, what is present Diamond Point, were Bemidji's first homesteaders; the Porter Nye family soon followed them. Art Lee created the story that the folkloric figure Paul Bunyan came from the Northwoods which led to the creation of the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Per Discover America, the Paul and Babe statues are "the second most photographed statues in America" surpassed only by Mount Rushmore.
The Statue of Paul Bunyan was commissioned by the Bemidji's Rotarians as another tourist attraction. It was unveiled January 15, 1937, to kick off a Winter Carnival that drew over ten thousand visitors. John Steidl's sawmill was located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, close to Carson's Trading Post. Remore Hotel and Carl Carlson's blacksmith shop were on the west side of the river. Bemidji was incorporated on May 20, 1896, by that time there were three publishing companies, Alber Kaiser, The Bemidji Pioneer, the Beltrami County News. William Bartleson's Stage and Express Service was created to carry mail between Bemidji and Park Rapids, he was advertised by Speelman's Eagle, owned by Clarence Speelman, along with other stores. By 1898, railroads came to Bemidji and brought more business. By 1900 the Village of Bemidji's population had grown to 2,000. Thomas Barlow Walker, John S. and Charles Pillsbury invested millions into timber in 1874, since beaver pelts were nearing depletion by the mid-1890s.
Walker owned Red River Lumber Company of Crookston that claimed half of Beltrami County's timber. He soon sold his timber claim to Thomas Shevlin and Frank Hixon. Logging was done in the winter. Crookston opened 13 logging camps, which provided homes for lumberjacks. Between 1907 and 1910 were years. Lumber production was Bemidji's major industry, but because of a fire that occurred on July 19, 1914, a sawmill burned down causing disaster for business, it was rebuilt. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Bemidji's business profited, providing food and services for the Civilian Conservation Corps and Youth Conservation Corps programs. However, during the war years lumber business stopped, but when men came back from war lumber business was booming, since many people needed homes. By the 1870s, timber cruisers were making forays into the great pine forests that surrounded Bemidji, they were seeking new timberlands for T. B. Walker, the Pillsburys, Henry Akeley, Charles Ruggles and Frederick Weyerhaeuser, the barons of the wood industry.
Today Bemidji stands as an important educational, governmental and medical center for north central Minnesota. The wood industry is still a significant part of the local economy with Georgia-Pacific and Northwood Panelboard all having waferboard plants in the local area, utilizing wood species that were once thought to be waste trees. Bemidji is near Chippewa National Forest, Itasca State Park, Lake Bemidji State Park, Big Bog State Recreation Area, state forest areas. Bemidji has 400 lakes within 25 miles, 500 mi of snowmobile trails and 99 mi of cross country ski trails. There is a Paul Bunyan State Trail that runs from Brainerd, MN, Lake Bemidji State Park; the trail can be used for walking, biking and cross-country skiing. There is a bike trail around Lake Bemidji, about 17 miles. There is an event every year where families and individuals bike around the lake with rest stops along the way. Art in the Park, hosted by Paul Bunyan Communications and Watermark Art Center is held every year in the Bemidji Library Park across from the Watermark Art Center.
Art in the Park has been a summer highlight for the residents of Bemidji since 1967. Art in the Park features over 100 artists, food vendors, live entertainment, they will sell anything from wood and ceramics and jew
Trees of Mystery
Trees of Mystery is a tourist attraction near the coastal town of Klamath, California. It features many Giant Redwoods and a number of unusual tree formations, many of which can be seen from its Trail of Mysterious Trees, its Trail of Tall Tales displays some 50 chainsaw sculptures and carvings illustrating stories of legendary logger Paul Bunyan and his crew. Owned and operated by the same family for 67 years, Trees of Mystery is best known for its 49-foot statue of Paul Bunyan and 35-foot statue of Bunyan's companion Babe the Blue Ox, which are visible from US Highway 101. Constructed of wooden beams, chicken wire and stucco, the current Babe was built in 1950 and the current Bunyan in 1961; the original Bunyan was destroyed by rain that winter. In late 2007, the half-ton, nine-foot-wide head of Babe fell to the ground as the result of rain damage. An early 1950 brochure referred to the attraction as "Unbelievable but True, World's Largest Group of Natures Living Wonders". Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack in American folklore.
The "tall tale" of Bunyan is larger than humanly possible. He is accompanied by a blue ox named Babe. Bunyan was first created by the oral tradition of North American loggers, he was popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughed in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the Red River Lumber Company. Bunyan is known as a symbol of the American lumberjack; some historians believe. Bunyan was portrayed as a hardworking American logger of large but normal proportions; as his popularity grew, so did his stature, until he was portrayed as standing at treetop height. In addition to its trails with views of unusual tree formations, Trees of Mystery features its The End of the Trail Museum with a large private collection of Native American art and tools. In 2001 an aerial tramway was installed called the Skytrail, it takes guests on a 1/3-mile ride through the forest, allowing them to see parts of the attraction from a different point of view. It culminates at an observation deck where the Pacific Ocean is visible above the surrounding forest.
Trees of Mystery highlights a selection of novel tree formations, including: The Cathedral Tree, consisting of nine trees growing in a semicircle out of one root structure used as a site for weddings The Brotherhood Tree, so named for its massive size of 19 feet in diameter and 297 feet in height The Candelabra Tree, formed by a fallen tree with younger trees sprouting from it The Elephant Tree, resembling an elephant's trunk, with multiple limbs branching from its baseGiven the trees's ages and sizes, it is assumed that Trees of Mystery's creators discovered the formations in-place and decided to build an attraction around them. However, the attraction's history and kitschy style have given it archetypal status among West Coast tourist destinations. Other sites in the U. S. are dedicated to and/or feature representations of the mythic logger Paul Bunyan. The states of Maine and Minnesota have traditionally competed to be considered Bunyan's "birthplace". Bangor, Maine has a 31-foot statue of Bunyan "marking" his birthplace.
Minnesota has multiple attractions and parks with Bunyan statues and tributes, most notably those in the towns of Bemiji and Akeley. Akeley's Paul Bunyan Historical Museum illustrates its own version of the tale, claims to have the largest Bunyan statue. Paul Bunyan Land and the Mall of America have talking Bunyan-themed log rides. There is a Paul Bunyan statue in Portland, Oregon, a remnant of the 1959 Oregon Centennial Exposition. Special Bunyan-related events occur around the U. S. on National Paul Bunyan Day, June 28. A scene from the opening of the animated television series Gravity Falls was inspired by the statues. Statues of Paul Bunyan Official web site Roadside America Trees of Mystery Webcam Paul Bunyan “In honoring Paul Bunyan Day, no one stands taller than Minnesota” – Star Tribune 2017-03-21
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