Everything about Itasca State Park totally explained
Itasca State Park is a
state park in
Minnesota,
United States, and contains the
headwaters of the
Mississippi River. The park spans 32,690 acres (132 km²) of northern Minnesota, and is located about 21 miles (34 km) north of
Park Rapids, Minnesota and 25 miles (48 km) from
Bagley, Minnesota. The park is part of Minnesota's Pine Moraines and Outwash Plains Ecological Subsection and is contained within
Clearwater,
Hubbard, and
Becker counties. In the late 1800s,
Jacob V. Brower,
historian,
anthropologist and
land surveyor, came to the park region to settle the dispute of the actual location of the Mississippi's headwaters. Brower saw this region being quickly transformed by
logging, and was determined to protect some of the pine forests for future generations. It was Brower's tireless efforts to save the remaining pine forest surrounding Lake Itasca that led the state legislature to establish Itasca as a
Minnesota State Park on April 20, 1891, by a margin of only one vote. Through his conservation work and the continuing efforts of others throughout the decades, the grounds of Itasca had been maintained.
Established in 1909, Itasca Biological Station and Labs (IBSL) is one of the oldest and largest continuously-operated inland field training centers in the United States. This site serves as a research facility for the
University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences. Each year CBS students attend "nature of life" which is held by the lake, allowing the study of a diverse, undisturbed environment from the organismal level to that of an entire ecosystem.
Landscape
Lake Itasca, the official source of the Mississippi River and a scenic area of northern Minnesota, has remained relatively unchanged from its natural state. Most of the area has a heavy growth of timber that includes virgin
red pine, which is also Minnesota's
state tree. Some of the red pine in Itasca are over 200 years old. The park also integrates 27,500 acres (111 km²) of
upland and 1,500 acres (6 km²) of
swamp.
Biology and ecology
The Itasca area's
old-growth pine forests are almost as famous as the Mississippi headwaters. The area is currently one of the few places in state that has preserved these ancient pines from destruction. These pine forests were the main concern of Brower when he pushed to preserve the area as a state park. Logging operations in the late 1800s and early 1900s depleted the large pine forests found in the park. Logging ended around 1920.
Pine restoration has been attempted dating back to 1902, but with limited success.
Fire suppression in the area has eliminated
wildfires in the park since the 1920s. Fire is necessary to the regeneration of white, red, and jack pines in the area because it opens the forest floor and canopy for new trees to grow. An overpopulation of white tail deer also stunt the regeneration efforts of these pines, as deer browse young pine seedling and prevent them from maturing into trees.
Fauna
Three terrestrial biomes,
coniferous forest,
deciduous forest, and
prairie all intersect in the Itasca region and allow habitat for numerous vegetation and animals. This cold weather is accompanied with snowfall amounts averaging around 54.6 inches (138 cm) annually. A combination of the Arctic air with heavy snowfall and wind can create severe
blizzard conditions in the area. Log construction was generally used because timber was easily available in the area.
Rustic style design
Itasca's rustic style design is the largest collection of log-constructed buildings in the state park system. It provides a very uniform appearance to the park, setting it apart from all others.
Douglas Lodge, built in 1905, is the oldest surviving building and the first to be constructed in the Rustic Style. At the time, very few governments were setting aside land for conservation, which shows the significance of this encounter. Douglas Lodge has provided tourist facilities since 1911 and remains functional today after undergoing renovations in the years following its grand opening.
The
Clubhouse, assembled in 1911, overlooks Lake Itasca. The interior contains ten dormitories placed around a two-story Rustic Style lobby. Over the years, the Clubhouse encountered few problems in the maintenance department other than minor deterioration in the lower logs, which were replaced in 1984.
The
Old Timer's Cabin is also found on the shores of Lake Itasca, located north of the Clubhouse. This was the first CCC-constructed building to appear in the park. The CCC originally referred to the Old Timer's Cabin as the "Honeymooner's Cabin" because of its small stature.
is one of the largest creations by the CCC in the state park system, standing 144 by 50 feet. It took a crew of 200 CCC members to produce the finished product, complete with both split stone and log components. The stone used in the walkways were scrap pieces from the
quarries and stone works of the
St. Cloud area and the logs used on the cabin came from the pine and balsam fir within the park vicinity.
Mississippi headwaters
The
headwaters of the Mississippi River are clearly defined by a 44-foot-long outlet dam at the north end of Lake Itasca.
This setup allows tourists to wade in shallow water or cross over it by way of the bridge constructed of logs. In 1903, a 24-year-old park commissioner named Mary Gibbs played a significant role in saving the tall pine forests and shoreline of the Mississippi River Headwaters by standing up against those interested in logging the area. In honor of her efforts, the Mary Gibbs Visitor Center, which encloses a restaurant, gift shop, various displays and exhibits of the park's features, and an outdoor plaza now exists.
Archaeological and cemetery sites
Itasca State Park currently contains more than 30 known
archaeological and cemetery sites. The study of archaeological remains in the Itasca area was started by Jacob V. Brower in the late 1800s. Survey work on archaeoloical remains place human activity in the Itasca area as early as 8,000 years ago. Human activity spans over several
historical periods, from Early Eastern Archaic, through the Archaic and Woodland periods.
The
Itasca Bison Kill Site is the oldest arcaeological site within Itasca State Park. The site dates back to the Early Eastern Archaic period. The discovery took place in 1937 during the construction of the Wilderness Drive. It is located near the southwestern shore of Lake Itasca by Nicollet Creek. An initial finding of the remains of human-made
artifacts prompted the
University of Minnesota to conduct an extensive excavation of the area in 1964 and 1965. Excavation of the area revealed a large of amount of bones from an extinct species of
Bison hence the name of the site. Human tools, such as knives, spears and scrapers were discovered in the vicinity.
The
Itasca State Park Site was discovered and excavated by Jacob Brower in the late 1800s. The site consists of ten burial mounds, dating back approximately 800 years, along the northeastern shore of Lake Itasca. An effort was made in the late 1980s to rebury American Indian remains that had been removed. This act was in collaboration with a statewide effort to rebury the several thousand remains that had been excavated.
Several other major sites exist in Itasca, including the
Headwaters Site, which is located along the northeast shore of Lake Itasca, and a village site discovered by Jacob Brower in the late 1800s. Significant portions of this site have been converted into trails, parking lots and visitor service facilities. Archaeological remains have also been discovered at the
Headwater's West Terrace Site along the west bank of the Mississippi near Lake Itasca, the
Bear Paw Campground Site which lies adjacent to Lake Itasca, as well as
Pioneer Cemetery which is located on the eastern shore of Lake Itasca and contains the remains of early European pioneers.
[Further Information]
Get more info on 'Itasca State Park'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://itasca_state_park.totallyexplained.com">Itasca State Park Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
