A WALK AROUND MINNESOTA

By Breeanna Roberg

Minnesota…. Has three major biomes

Prairie landsConiferous forestsDeciduous forests

Minnesota can be broken up into many different sub-divisions Each sub-division has a set of qualities that

makes them slightly more specific to the area.

Minnesota… Sub-divisions

The Arrowhead○ Iron ranges

The PrairiesBluffsRed River valleyBogs

ARROWHEAD

Habitat This area is part of the

coniferous forestMeaning trees with needlesConsisting of pines and fir

AnimalsWolves Bears Elk moose

Ely Minnesota Started out as a small mining town with a

total of 5 mines altogetherTogether they produced more than eighty

million tons of Iron OreThey were shut down in 1967

Now the town depends on recreation includingCanoe tripsBoat tripsFly fishing trips

International Wolf Center An exhibit at the science museum

triggered interest within the population and needed a permanent homeWhy Ely?

○ S. Olson and M. Stenlund were conducting modern research here and was an obvious fit.

International Wolf Center What does it offer

A chance to see the resident wolf pack Video presentations, howling trips, radio

track, snowshoe treks, family activities, dog sledding, and flights over wolf country

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) The most popular wilderness area in the

United States The forests were logged in the early

1900’sIn 1909 it became critical to save this area

and 1.2 million acres were named the Superior Refuge○ Today the BWCAW includes a million acres of

wilderness

BWCAW Landscape

Large old white pinesMany rocky lakes

Animal lifeBald eaglesMooseLoonsBeaversAnd of course your friendly pack of wolves

IRON RANGES

Tower Soudan Mine

First successful mine on the rangeShaft mine that opened in 1884A cable car takes you 2,000 feet below the

surfaceThe ore found here was expensive to

harvest because it was so hard to get to It is now an underground laboratory used by

the University of Minnesota High Energy Physics Lab

Mesabi Range “The Range” Became the states leading iron range The Iron found at this range was only on

the surface or under glacial deposits which are not thick

They were Ore pockets not bodies usually 200 to 500 feet deep.

General make up… Towns

Most towns in this area were created because of the surrounding economy○ When a mine popped up people needed

supplies and a town soon formed○ When the logging camps were set up, towns

with the things they needed followed soon after.

Farming?... Why didn’t people ever farm here?

It took too long to clear the forests from the land and the amount that the soil produced was not large enough to make a profit from it.

Because in the frontier days it was inaccessible ○ Railroads didn’t go this far○ There were not any rivers that connected to the

Mississippi River for steamboats to carry the immigrants

THE HEARTLAND

Leech Lake Indian Reservation Created by the 1855 treaty

The Ojibwe lost most of their land… however they were able to keep this

most of the area was logged in the early 1900’s

Leech Lake Indian Reservation Control

State still has criminal and some civil jurisdiction

The tribe controls hunting, fishing, activities○ They also have their own day care and

college

Leech Lake Dam Remains the longest dam and stretches

3,500 feet across It raised Leech Lake a full 4 to 7 feet after

completion It was built because Minneapolis needed a

steady water flow along the Mississippi river because it was such a large producer of flour

It was the second dam built by the Army Corp of Engineers

Wild Rice It makes up 25% of the diet on the

reservation It became an important cash crop although

it is fairly hard to harvest In the summer they make the lakes look like

prairies instead of swamps Passed down from generation to generation

it was common knowledge within the Indian population to “live where the food grows on water”

Walker Sits on top of hills left by the last glacier

and it over-looks leech lake (Ga-sagasquadjimekag sagaiigum (place-of-the-leech-lake)) named by the Ojibwe tribe

Was created because of the lumber industry and the placement of the railroad

Known today for mostly hunting and fishing

Cass Lake Located in Cass Lake is

Lyle’s Logging Camp○ Is a museum dedicated to a man who spent a

large part of his life in the woods and wanted to make sure that the lifestyle got preserved

Cass Lake Located in Cass Lake is

Headquarters for the Chippewa National Forest which has a Finnish heritage

Also the headquarters for the consolidated Ojibwe Indian Agency ○ Which oversees seven reservations

Star Island Why is Star Island so unique?

Because it is an island inside of Cass Lake that also has another lake inside of it

The only lake inside of a lake in the StatesThe lake

○ Named Lake Windigo

Itasca state park Contains

the source of the Mississippi River (Lake Itasca)

157 lakes in allOriginal structures from 1905

Itasca State Park Contains

About 25% of the original trees in MinnesotaLargest Red and white pines that still stand

in the stateVirgin Norway pine that is over 200 years

old

Habitat Landscape

Leech, Cass and Winnibigoshish were created by glacial lake Agassiz

The area is very swampyNot the original forest

○ Hardwoods and pine spot the continuous forests of Aspen

The storefront Many towns in this region still have their

main street although they may be deserted for the most part except for the few local restaurants

Each town has something special about them for instanceAkeley has the largest statue of Paul Bunyan

and Babe the blue ox!Lake Windigo is a lake within an island within

a lake

BLUFFS

HabitatAnimals

WaterfowlBald EaglesWild turkeys CoyotesfoxesAlong with many other songbirds

Vegetation The forests that surround the bluffs are

so dense that low growing plants are hard to come by

TreesOak-hickory forestsMaple basswood forestsPine plantations

Landscape The landscape was not touched by the

youngest glacier coverage and therefore refrains from showing much glacial drift

The landscape is diverse and consists ofRock cliffsSteep valleys UplandsOld fields

Red Wing Red Wing’s many names

Now known as the Barn BluffFrench called it La GrangeDakota tribe names

○ Proymueche- Mountain in water○ Hemminnicha- wood, water and hill

Red Wing logo Used to be used as a tailsman for Dakota chiefs Now used as the Red Wing shoe company logo

Established in 1905In 1915 it signed a contract with the U.S. Army to produce 200,000

shoes a day Now it produces around two million a day

THE PRAIRIE

Landscapes The landscapes along the prairies are

usually flat Farming is common in the prairie

because the land is so flat and very fertile Trees are scarce along the prairies

because of the fires that come every so oftenThe trees don’t have enough time to grow big

enough to make it to the next fire

Farming Crops that are grown consists mostly of

Corn Wheat Soybeans sugar beats

Farming The soil on the prairie is very fertile due

to the dense roots of the grasses Because the roots are so dense it was hard

to plow and become farmland until the invention of a more modern plow that would cut the roots instead of trying to uproot them

Farming Crop rotation

A farmer has to have a varitey of crops that he grows on his farm because of crop rotation

When a particular plant grows on a field it takes a certain nutrient from the earth making it insufficient in that nutrient○ When a farmer rotates the crops it gives that

section of farmland the ability to gain that nutrient back

Farming Dairy farming

Is on the decline in Minnesota because smaller farms are harder to run ○ Most dairy farms are undersized and need a

minimum of 500 cow to survive.

Farming Dairy

People need to invest in the modern technology ○ Problem with this is that it is so expensive and

that the profit produced from the sales is not high enough for the up-grade

Vegetation Dry

Occur when the evapotranspirtation is greater than the amount of precipitation that falls

Dotted blazing star along with the prickly pear grow in these types of environments

Vegetation Mesic

Occur in transition of the two or where there is a morraine

The butterfly flower and asters are commonly found here

Vegetation Wet

The ground is saturated with water where the roots can meet them

Wood Lilly grows here along with the blue flag iris and cat-tails

Northfield A 100 years ago the town was know for

milling mostly at Arnes Mill The local economy is agriculture Home of ….

Malt-O-MealSt Olaf collegeCarleton college

Northfield St. Olaf college (patron saint of Norway)

It’s known for it’s music programsO. E. Rolvaag

○ Patron of saint at St. Olaf○ Wrote Giants in the Earth

It’s remarkable novel about life on the prairiesHoward V. Hong and Edna H Kierkegaard

library○ The library has some of the best philosophy

resources around

Northfield Carelton

founded in 1866 by New England congregationalists

On the list for top ten small school in the state

Famous alumnus T. Veblen○ Founder of institutional economics

Economic transactions are affected by social habits and legal institutions

Big Stone Lake The shores are

coated with exposed bedrock Granitegneiss left behind by glacial

Lake Agassiz

Big Stone Lake The landscape here is spotted with small towns few and far

between The area is know for

Hiking and campingFishing

○ Great Walleye areaBoating

○ Rentals are available

Big Stone Lake Used to be a sight for

canning corn Annual Corn festival

Held on the first couple of days in September

First one was held in 1931○ The corn for the festival was

donated by the local canning company

Works cited http://www.wolf.org/wolves/visit/visitingel

y.asp http://www.mindat.org/sitegallery.php?loc

=167402 http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/fe

atures/2005/09/19_robertsont_wildrice/ http://oodlekadoodleprimitives.blogspot.c

om/2009/09/creamy-minnesota-wild-rice-soup-breads.html

http://www.search.com/reference/Paul_Bunyan

http://movingtofreedom.org/2007/06/11/at-the-blue-ox-market/

http://www.wishboneresort.com/cass_lake.html

http://redcrowqualitygoods.blogspot.com/2008/12/want-redwing-boots.html

http://www.mnhs.org/school/online/communities/landscapes/RIVpho3T.htm

http://ie.culturalcare.com/explore/explore.aspx?name=Minnesota@23

Works cited(cont.) http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/com

ponents/3238a.html#wet http://www.lakecountryjournal.com/node/231 http://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/page/flowers-by-color http://www.sportsmansconnection.com http://thealdertree.wordpress.com/ http://minnemom.com/2009/08/20/hull-rust-mahoning-mine

-in-hibbing-minnesota/ http://www.exploremississippibluffs.com/ http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/great_river_bluffs/n

arrative.html http://www.visitusa.com/minnesota/photos/minnesota-minn

esota-valley-state-park.htm http://keithmcd.com/blog/2011/06/18/minnesota-marriage-a

mendment/

http://www.ortonville.net/ http://

www.lehighvalleylive.com/events/index.ssf/2009/08/10_things_to_do_this_week_2.html

http://attractions.uptake.com/blog/grundy-county-corn-festival-morris-illinois-5544.html