An in-depth study of the role of Minnesota's old-growth forests in the development of the Upper Mississippi valley examines the influence of the region's white pine industry on the construction of the railroads, the rise of busy mill towns, environmental devastation of the forests, and the daily lives of those who depended on the forest for their livelihoods. Reprint.
An in-depth study of the role of Minnesota's old-growth forests in the development of the Upper Mississippi valley examines the influence of the region's white pine industry on the construction of the railroads, the rise of busy mill towns, environmental devastation of the forests, and the daily lives of those who depended on the forest for their livelihoods. Reprint.
During the heyday of lumberjacks and sawmills, railroads such as the Duluth and Northern Minnesota and the Alger-Smith enabled logging companies to break away from the traditional mode of transportation (floating logs downriver) and its shortfalls (logjams and winter freezes). Frank King traces this rich history from its beginnings in 1886 to the railroads' disappearance around 1937 when the last of the giant sawmills closed down. King profiles every logging railroad in Minnesota and examines all aspects of their operations, including locomotives such as the geared Shays and Heislers, McGiffert log loaders, Russel log cars, dump trestles, hot ponds, logging camp life, railroad finances, and the impact on communities as timber supplies ran out and lumbering and sawmill operations shut down, causing thousands to lose their jobs. Heavily illustrated throughout, Minnesota Logging Railroads contains maps, photographs, postcards, engineering drawings, and railroad memorabilia such as timetables, passes, fare receipts, and freight tariffs. The appendixes comprehensively list the state's logging railroads, locomotive rosters, and railroad and lumber company names.
How people perceive wetlands has always played a crucial role in determining how people act toward them. In this readable and objective account, Hugh Prince examines literary evidence as well as government and scientific documents to uncover the history of changing attitudes toward wetlands in the American Midwest. As attitudes changed, so did scientific research agendas, government policies, and farmers' strategies for managing their land. Originally viewed as bountiful sources of wildlife by indigenous peoples, wet areas called "wet prairies," "swamps," or "bogs" in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were considered productive only when drained for agricultural use. Beginning in the 1950s, many came to see these renamed "wetlands" as valuable for wildlife and soil conservation. Prince's book will appeal to a wide readership, ranging from geographers and environmental historians to the many government and private agencies and individuals concerned with wetland research, management, and preservation.
Have you ever wondered why Minnesota's forests grow in the north and not in the West? Why gaming casinos are prospering? Why producers raise chickens instead of cows? Why some towns grow while others fail? Minnesota's natural wonders have had an effect on and been changed by the people who call this complex mosaic of lakes and forests, rivers and fields home. Through engaging, in-depth text and copious illustrations, John Fraser Hart and Susy Svatek Ziegler explore the human and environmental characteristics that define the state in Landscapes of Minnesota. Illustrated with hundreds of maps and color photographs that reveal the changing character of Minnesota, this stunning geography traces the development of the state's natural environment, how the land formations, plants, and animals became a part of its fabric, and how they have changed over time. Focusing on small towns, the authors document patterns of growth and decline, offering striking commentary on these once-key bastions of Minnesota-ness. Turning to the Twin Cities, they analyze the expanding urban arc and the surprising growth of a baby boomer retirement belt. Landscapes of Minnesota explores how the lives and livelihoods of Minnesotans have affected what the state has become and what it will one day be. John Fraser Hart is a professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and a Guggenheim Fellow. Susy Svatek Ziegler is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota and a Fulbright Scholar.
In 1862, four years after Minnesota was ratified as the thirty-second state in the Union, simmering tensions between indigenous Dakota and white settlers culminated in the violent, six-week-long U.S.–Dakota War. Hundreds of lives were lost on both sides, and the war ended with the execution of thirty-eight Dakotas on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota—the largest mass execution in American history. The following April, after suffering a long internment at Fort Snelling, the Dakota and Winnebago peoples were forcefully removed to South Dakota, precipitating the near destruction of the area’s native communities while simultaneously laying the foundation for what we know and recognize today as Minnesota. In North Country: The Making of Minnesota, Mary Lethert Wingerd unlocks the complex origins of the state—origins that have often been ignored in favor of legend and a far more benign narrative of immigration, settlement, and cultural exchange. Moving from the earliest years of contact between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the western Great Lakes region to the era of French and British influence during the fur trade and beyond, Wingerd charts how for two centuries prior to official statehood Native people and Europeans in the region maintained a hesitant, largely cobeneficial relationship. Founded on intermarriage, kinship, and trade between the two parties, this racially hybridized society was a meeting point for cultural and economic exchange until the western expansion of American capitalism and violation of treaties by the U.S. government during the 1850s wore sharply at this tremulous bond, ultimately leading to what Wingerd calls Minnesota’s Civil War. A cornerstone text in the chronicle of Minnesota’s history, Wingerd’s narrative is augmented by more than 170 illustrations chosen and described by Kirsten Delegard in comprehensive captions that depict the fascinating, often haunting representations of the region and its inhabitants over two and a half centuries. North Country is the unflinching account of how the land the Dakota named Mini Sota Makoce became the State of Minnesota and of the people who have called it, at one time or another, home.
