The
headwaters of the mighty Mississippi, a few feet of water flowing out of
a lake. We drove the back roads to get there. So, backroady that we passed
several horses just walking down the road.
On our way to Duluth, we stopped at a recreation of a 1900s logging camp. There were people in costume who explained how the camp worked and the purpose of the different buildings. We walked down to the river, where we saw a wannigan, a floating cook house for the river pigs.
Stand by Me
Josey and the Pussycats
Lost Boys
New Wave City - xx times
Kiss the Boys Goodbye WWII
Cole Poert
Irving Berlin
No, they weren’t feeding the wildlife, river pigs were workers who herded logs downstream to the saw mills in Minneapolis. At a rate of five miles a day, it took awhile.
At
the other end of the camp, was a 1930s fire tower and camp. The entire
state had been so logged out in early 1900s that the forest canopy was
gone and the state had a number of terrible forest fires. Thus, the public
works projects hired people to watch for forest fires from the top of towers
(triangulating smoke from reports from other towers), while other projects
worked to reforest the area.
It
was beautiful from the top of the tower. You could see miles of the forest
that those workers planted. Red, yellow, orange, and green. A patchwork
quilt.
The "ranger" also showed us the first fire truck in Minnesota. A little model T (or was it A, not really up on my Henry Ford).
We reached Duluth by night fall, just in time to see Lake Superior. An inland freshwater sea.
