MINNESOTA: A STATE GUIDE

Sports and Recreation

LONG before the turn of the century, Minnesota had achieved a reputation as a summer haven. Before the Civil War, southern planters with their slaves came up the Mississippi to vacation at St. Paul or St. Anthony. By 1880 they were going to fashionable Lake Minnetonka, to Lake Elmo, Prior Lake, the Dalles of the St. Croix, St. Croix Lake, or Frontenac. In 1886 citizens of St. Paul braved frigid temperatures to see its first Ice Palace and Winter Carnival. The climate was advertised during the eighties as a cure for tuberculosis.
The land of sky-colored waters has been celebrated in many a song and story, from Longfellow's Hiawatha to the fabulous tales of Paul Bunyan. Surprisingly, its title, "The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes," is no exaggeration, for more than eleven thousand lakes and as many rivers and streams comprise one-fourteenth of the total area of the State--an expanse of 3,607,680 acres. These waters drain into three great watersheds; north to the Red River and Hudson Bay, east to Lake Superior and the Atlantic Ocean, and south to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. The remains of a vast primeval forest still blanket a large area; in the southeastern section a belt of hardwood--oak, maple, elm, and birch--and in the northern half, the conifers--mostly second-growth, with here and there a stand of virgin pine. The Nation's largest wilderness park lies within the Superior National Forest; some of the State's most interesting historical sites are within the boundaries of the Chippewa National Forest.
From its southeastern tip to the famous Arrowhead District, the State affords recreation of almost every kind. Approximately twelve hundred lakeside resorts--many of them in the heart of the wilderness--and innumerable cabins, tourist camps, and camp sites are provided for the traveler. More than two million tourists come to Minnesota each year to fish, hunt, swim, or sail in the summertime, or for skating and skiing in the winter.
Minnesota's lakes and streams are well stocked with fresh-water fish. Brook trout are plentiful in the cold streams that tumble into Lake Superior on the North Shore; in the numerous creeks farther west that surround Itasca Park, Walker, Park Rapids, and Detroit Lakes; in central Minnesota near Alexandria, Osakis, and Long Prairie; near the Wisconsin boundary in the streams that feed the St. Croix; and to the south in Whitewater State Park. The St. Croix is famous for its small-mouth bass; Lake of the Woods (especially the Canadian side) and the Mantrap chain near Park Rapids claim the rarer muskellunge. Wall-eyes abound in the central and northern regions, and large-mouth bass, northern pike or pickerel, and panfish may be taken almost anywhere. The much-prized lake trout inhabit the deep, cold waters of Lake Superior and the lakes along the Canadian border. Fourteen State fish hatcheries, seven in year-round operation, produce fish fry and fingerlings that run annually into hundreds of millions.
The Arrowhead region offers many inducements to the recreation-seeking tourist, not the least of which is fishing. In numerous lakes--to mention only Vermilion, Burntside, and Basswood--bass, pike, trout, and landlocked salmon are plentiful. Lakes along the international boundary, although difficult of access, reward the visitor with catches, the tales of which his friends find scarcely credible.
The hardy canoeist can traverse the entire length of Minnesota waters from south to north and rarely have to portage his craft. Setting out at the southeastern tip, the modern voyageur follows the eastern boundary on the Mississippi and passes Winona and its famous Sugar Loaf Mountain. At Hastings, after a widening of the river called Lake Pepin, he can either head up the St. Croix and by short portages reach Lake Superior, or swing northwest to the Twin Cities. The canoeist can follow the Minnesota River south, then northwest through Lac qui Parle and Big Stone Lake to the Red River; from the Red River the adventurer can paddle through many wilderness miles to Hudson Bay (as two Minneapolis youths once did). Due north from the Twin Cities the Mississippi winds upward to Brainerd, the adopted land of the mythical Paul Bunyan. Beyond lie many lakes--among them Gull, Winnibigoshish, and Cass. From the tip of Lake Bemidji, the Mississippi (here but a small and winding stream) bends southward to Itasca State Park within whose lake-spotted boundaries the Father of Waters has its source. Despite the insistence of scientists, popular legend maintains that the real source was none other than Babe, Paul Bunyan's Blue Ox, who inadvertently capsized a water tank and started the long flow of waters to the Gulf.
To the north and east, in the Superior National Forest and the adjoining Canadian territory, the Quetico Reserve is the continent's most concentrated canoe area. Shaped by glacial invasions, which gouged long, narrow depressions in its surface and then melted into them, the Arrowhead is a wonderland of water and virgin forest, a labyrinth of lakes and streams. Especially in the area north of Lake Superior, between Rainy Lake on the west, and Grand Portage on the east, the lakes and streams open one into another except for occasional short portages that are welcome variations in the paddler's day. In the countries of this region are 2,272 meandered lakes, many thousands still unsurveyed; of Superior National Forest's 1,713,610 acres, one-fifth are covered by water.
The Chippewa National Forest, which covers much of Itasca County and juts on the northeast into Beltrami and on the south into Cass, is another protected playground of lakes and woods.
Less rugged than the national forests, though scarcely less inviting, are the regions in the vicinity of such towns as Detroit Lakes, Park Rapids, Alexandria, Brainerd, Bemidji, and many others. Itasca State Park, third largest in the country, contains the most extensive area of virgin Norway pine left standing in the United States and is Minnesota's most frequented State park.
The lakes to which Minnesota owes its recreational renown range in size from tiny unnamed ponds to Red Lake, which covers 274,994 acres and is the largest fresh-water body within a single State. Although Lake of the Woods, part of which lies within Canada, has more than 200 square miles of surface, its fourteen thousand islands assure an almost constant sight of land from every point. Mille Lacs, only 100 miles north of the Twin Cities, is the third largest lake in Minnesota; duckhunters as well as fishermen frequent its numerous cabins and resorts. Other lakes that have an area of more than 10,000 acres are Leech, Winnibigoshish, Vermilion, Kabetogama, Cass, Gull, two of the Pelicans, Lake Pepin and Rainy Lake.
A glance at the names of Minnesota's meandered lakes reveals a disappointing lack of originality. For every Minnetonka there are 99 Longs; for each Elkhorn, 91 Muds, and 76 Rices. The poetic settlers who christened Albion, Sylvan, Elysian, and Alpine were greatly outnumbered by the realists who named Little Dead Horse, Full of Fish, Dirty Nose, Big Spunk, Pug-Hole, Split Hand, and Skunk. Inexplicable indeed is the whim which started the series that goes One, Two, Three, and up, and then began another list with First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth . . . More than a hundred names are repeated five times or more, and over a thousand meandered lakes have no official names at all. Scandinavian names such as Big Ole, Peterson, Nelson, Olson, Kolstad, Swede, and Knutson one expects to find, but they are not much more frequent than are the Irish names --O'Leary, O'Brien, Murphy, Kelly, and Ryan. Indicative of the State's diverse racial character are--Moses, Cameron, Davis, Gould, Wagner, Doerfler, Selinsky, Knaus, and Heikkila. Many couples appear, like John and Isabella, and Jacob and Annie, while close to Terry are Anna, Mary, Emily, and Ruth. The anatomist would be interested in Bladder, Foot, Elbow, and Hand; but Coffin, Grave, and Devil strike a more ominous note. A single county has all these: Kettle, Spider, Spoon, Cup, Knife, Pickle, Plum, Rabbit, Deer, Duck, Rice, Partridge, Pike, Pickerel, Bass, Fire, Fry, and, happily, a Cook; Spring, Turtle, Goose, and Silver are pleasant, but too oft repeated; Rum, Whiskey, and Bootleg suggest a thirst quite out of line with the waters to which they are applied. Difficult indeed for the inexperienced are No-To-She-Bun, Kabetogama, Winnibigoshish, Kabetona, and Ogish-Ke-Muncie, but once conquered they charm the visitor who delights in originality.
Minnesota was once a mecca for eastern magnates and sportsmen, who came in luxurious special trains to slaughter partridge and prairie chicken. Then, with the retreat of the forest, the amount and variety of wild game inevitably diminished. The white-tailed deer, however, are still plentiful in the north country and may be shot every other year; the hardy ring-necked pheasant, introduced to replace the partridge and prairie chicken, ranges over all but the most northern areas and withstands a formidable annual cannonading. Migratory game are subject to many protective restrictions. Squirrels and rabbits, though numerous, are not particularly popular with Minnesota hunters. (See GENERAL INFORMATION.)
Facilities for other sports besides hunting, fishing, and canoeing are also available everywhere in the State. There are more than 260 golf courses scattered over Minnesota. Golf, it is said, takes on added zest when the fairways wind along the shores of a northern lake and clusters of virgin pine form a backdrop for the greens. Minnesota resorts stage numerous summer tournaments. If experts are welcome, so is the duffer; many of the meets encourage a huge entry list and offer generous prizes.
Those interested in riding and in horse shows concentrate their activities chiefly near the Twin Cities--at Fort Snelling (horse-show and polo center), at the State Fair, and at private clubs--although several scattered resorts have horses for hire and maintain bridle paths and trails.
For a region with so many lakes and rivers it is surprising to find that only in the vicinity of the Twin Cities are yacht races popular, but outboard motorists find ample facilities throughout the State.
Archery clubs have been established in several cities and their number is growing rapidly. Not only do they stage local and State tournaments but many archers hunt deer, rabbits, and other game with bow and arrow.
When Lewis Rober, a member of the Minneapolis Fire Department introduced the "Kitten League Game" to fellow firemen in 1893, no one imagined it might become the recreational park's most popular sport for people of all ages. Yet today diamondball, or softball, as it is often called is played throughout the State and other States as well; many cities and clubs stage tournaments, and in several places the players enjoy floodlighted enclosed fields.
Minnesota utilizes several months of freezing temperatures each year to make its hills and lakes a winter sports center. As early as 1886, St. Paul celebrated the first of several winter carnivals by building a mammoth ice palace 106 feet high. For several years this annual fete was repeated nationally advertised, and well attended. But interest flagged and it was not until the winter of 1937 that the carnival was revived as an annual event.
The Scandinavians, who swept into Minnesota on the tide of westward immigration, soon introduced the winter sports of their homeland. On home-made skis they flew over snow-packed hills, scudded over the deep drifts of midwinter, or planed behind their horses in their popular ski-kjöring. Early in the 1880's the country's first ski-jumping clubs were organized in Minneapolis and Red Wing, and soon others were established in nearby towns. Eight of them in 1893 formed the Skiing Association of the Northwest, an organization that perished only when two capricious winters passed without abundant snowfall. Today Minnesota is one of the ski capitals of the United States. Ski jumps and cross country races are held throughout the State, and slides of championship size have been erected at Bush Lake and in Red Wing.
Even more popular is ice skating. Lakes and artificial rinks are crowded from December to February. Since the days of the fabulous John S. Johnson, speed-skating champion during the 1890's (and world's champion bicycle racer as well), the Twin Cities have developed a long list of champion skaters. A well-known figure-skating center, the Twin Cities are hosts to annual exhibitions and competitive meets and contribute many skilled performers to the figure-skating troupes that barnstorm the country. Numerous hockey rinks, many of them lighted for night play, are used by hundreds of teams. An annual State hockey tournament is held in Minneapolis.
The winter sports season has its climax in ice carnivals and officially declared "Winter Sports Weeks," in which thousands participate and compete in skiing, skating, ice hockey, ice boating, log rolling, curling tobogganing, snow modeling, dog derbies, costume parades, and bobsled and sleighing parties.