The little notch of Minnesota
that sticks up into Canada has a fairly interesting history. Although
now almost lost in obscurity, it used to be an economic center of the
fur trade. French voyageurs would canoe up the Rainy River to Fort St.
Charles on Lake of the Woods.
With the French & Indian War, the area passed from French
to British control, and with the American Revolution, it became necessary
to draw a boundary between the two countries in the area. Since the voyageurs
route was so important, it was agreed that the international boundary
would follow that route, up to the northwesternmost point of Lake
of the Woods.
From there, the boundary was to proceed westward until the Mississippi
River, which people thought had it's source at Lake Winnepeg, or at
least somewhere northwest of Lake of the Woods.. You can see the obvious
problem here. Later, when the source of the Mississippi became known,
the boundary was dropped down to the 49th Parallel to match up with the
previous agreed on line between the Louisiana Purchase and Canada. The
result was the little notch of Minnesota we call the Northwest Angle.
After the fur trade passed into history, the angle faded into
obscurity. Most of the economy today is based on the few resorts and
vacation properities along the lake. Most of the area inland is either
state forest land, or is owned by the Red Lake Indians, who are not at
all friendly to outsiders. The two newsworthy things recently were people
selling property as potential Y2K hideouts, and the draconian fishing
regulations Ontario imposed on people staying at Minnesota resorts,
which prompted talk about the angle joining Canada.
These pictures were taken on a trip almost a decade ago
when I was in high school, so they're by far the oldest pictures on
this site.
This is a view from the road
to the angle on the Canadian side, Manitoba highway 308. Note the lack
of shoulder striping. Mn/DOT is authorized under statute 161.141 to help
fund and maintiain this a highway to the angle. It wasn't until the 1970s
that the road was completed. Conventional telephone service arrived even
later, in the 1990s.
I believe this picture was taken
across the border in Minnesota, where the road becomes County 49. The
road is now gravel. This is pretty typical scenery for the north central
part of the state: flat, poorly drained, dominated by spruce and birch
trees. At various times commercial harvest of the peat underlying much
of north-central Minnesota has been considered, but was stopped for economic
or environmental reasons.
Driving into the angle, you
eventually come to what I call the crossroads. Going east takes you to
a few resorts. Going west takes you to the town of Angle Inlet. Going
straight leads you to the lake, shown here. In the winter there is a
50 mile ice road to Kenora, Ontario.
The reason we took this road was because my map said the town
was down here, and we got stuck good going back (It took us a good 45
minutes to get free; in case you haven't figured it out yet, this is not
the kind of place were you can call AAA and have a tow truck in a few minutes).
I won't mention any names, but this map company makes a well know line
of topographic atlases and is based in Maine.
This is the farthest north post
office in the lower 48 states, zip code 56711.
This is the last one room school
still functioning in Minnesota. For a few years ago it was closed, requiring
the children to endure a very long bus ride to Warroad, but it is now
open again.
The only church I saw on the
Northwest Angle. I guess that you're out of luck if you're picky about
denomination.
Leaving the angle this is the
last sign before the border. All that marks the border is a sign telling
you to report to the customs station in Middlebro, presumably only if
you want to stay in Canada. Although at the time I went there were no
official customs stations, they now they now have videophones at various
locations for travelers to check in.
