A Soo Line and Great Northern Railroads' depot is located in the downtown area, along with a historic locomotive, hotel, and veterans memorial park. The rail lines are now operated by the Canadian Pacific and the Minnesota Northern Railroads.
Running through the downtown area is a Troll Walk that contains 17 different trolls. Located in front of City Hall is Troll #8, "Thiefer the Troll."
Thief River Falls is located at the confluence of the Thief and Red Lake Rivers and is the upper most navigation point on the rivers. Both rivers were important transportation corridors during the fur trade industry. Today, there is a historic Riverwalk that runs along the rivers and passes through nine parks and three forest areas. There are historic markers along the route.
Located in Elks Park is a statue of Chief Moose Dung, who negotiated the Old Crossing Treaty of 1893 and retained 640 acres of land for the Lake Band of Chippewa. In 1901 the Chippewa Indians sold the land to local settlers for the Thief River Falls townsite.
Red Lake Falls (population 1,339) is located along the banks of the Clearwater River. The town was originally established in 1796 as a Northwest Company Fur Post, making it one of the oldest sites of European occupation in Minnesota. The fur company was established to prevent the Hudson Bay Company from setting up a trading post in the Red River Valley.
One of the most notable events that occurred in Red Lakes Falls happened on August 27, 1927, when Charles Lindberg and his wife landed at the airport during a barnstorming trip around the Upper Midwest. To show their hospitality, the Lindbergs were given a VIP car trip around the area.
Riverside Park is located adjacent to Clearwater River and contains tennis courts, baseball field, sports arena, picnic tables, Gazebo and hiking trails. The park is located just behind the Red Lake County Courthouse.
Erskine (population 403) is home of the World's Largest Northern Pike, which was created by Ernie Konikon in 1960. Konikon was originally from Erskine and his Northern Pike is part of the World's Largest Collection of RRV Concrete Statues that he created during his lifetime.
On the day I visited the site, the Nothern Pike was being repainted, but pictures on the web indicate the fish is typically painted green with white spots. The Northern Pike is located in a park on the east shore of Cameron Lake, just south of Highway 2. There are also nice flower gardens in the same park.
The 12-foot-tall concrete statue titled "Indian Lady" is another Konikon statue and it is located on the east side of Erskine, near the junction of Highways 2 and 59.
The Melland Memorial Park in Fosston (population 1,434) contains a Veterans Memorial Garden and a number of other historical exhibits.
Along a path that leads from the parking lot to a military exhibit of three service men are 16"/50 Caliber Mark 7 Gun Projectiles. Each projectile weighs 2,700 pounds. The barrel of the gun that fired the projectiles was 68-feet long and weighed 267,904 pounds. The projectiles range was 42,000 yards (about 24 miles) when using a 660-pound powder charge. The 50 caliber guns were used during WW II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf War.
Located in the same park is the East Polk Heritage Center that contains a museum, the tiny Wayside Chapel, a one-room school house, historic storage building, and a replica of Cordwood Pete's cabin.
According to the City of Fosston Tourist Department, historic documents of Cordwood Pete were discovered in 2001 during demolition of one of Fosston's oldest buildings. Information in the documents revealed that Cordwood Pete was the younger brother of Paul Bunyan. Pete was only 5-feet tall because Paul ate everything in site when they were growing up. When they were older, Paul started cutting forest, but Pete could only cut cordwood because of his size; thus, the name Cordwood Pete.
One day when Paul was napping, Pete "borrowed" his brother's double-bladed ax to cut some small timber. However, when he swung the huge ax, the weight of the ax caused it to start spinning round and round and when it stopped he had felled 100 acres of timber. A railroad right-of-way engineer witnessed the feat and immediately hired him to clear some land for railroad tracks. When the day ended, he had cleared fifty square miles for the railroad. That night he returned Paul's ax and the next day he went back to cutting cordwood and hauled it to market with his little donkey named "Tamarack." Cordwood Pete died when he was 84-years old.
As I drove through Bagley (population 1,285), adjacent to the highway there was has a nice veterans memorial that was located just a short distance south of the Clearwater County Courthouse.
As I drove into Bemidji (population 14,574) on my way to Paul Bunyan Park, I passed the picturesque historic Beltrami County Courthouse. I did not have time to tour the building, but I did take a few pictures.
The town's name "Bemidji" is derived from the Ojibwe Indian name Buh-mid-ji-ga-maug, meaning "a lake with crossing waters." Early Europeans did not understand the Ojibwe language and thought that Buh-mid-ji-ga-maug was the chief's name, so they called him Chief Bemidji. The town is named for Chief Bemidji.
Bemidji is the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth, Minnesota, and claims to have a number of titles: "The First City on the Mississippi River," "The Curling Capital of the United States," and "The Birthplace of Paul Bunyan."
Paul Bunyan Park is located along the Mississippi River near the downtown arch. I first stopped at the visitor center to see the "Fireplace of States." I was told that a resident of Bemidji collected a rock from each of the 48 continental states and then in 1934 used the rocks to build a fireplace. Also included are rocks from Minnesota counties and Canadian provinces. The only problem is that the man died and now no one knows which rock came from which state.
Located just outside of the visitor center are statues of Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox, and a metal Indian dancer. Paul was built in 1937, is 18-feet tall, weighs 2.5 tons, and is standing on a 5 ton concrete footing. The Indian dancer statue is named "Niiemii," which means "he dances."
