Minnesota - Day 22 - to Great Falls, then Savanna Portage

Savanna Portage State Park, near Floodwood

Thursday, 22 September 2022

today's route

Leaving the previous nights' campground, we went through the town of Cloquet (pronounced kloh-KAY), pop. 12,568, and headed north before turning northeast toward Grand Rapids.  Yes, Minnesota has a town named Grand Rapids, just like Michigan does, and since I visited the one in Michigan a couple of years ago, my mind keeps rejecting the idea that this town has the same name.  But it does.

I heard on the radio that the weather service issued a frost warning for the Iron Range.  When I was traveling to Cook, and then past Virginia toward Lake Superior, I was traveling through the Iron Range.  It's been a prolific source of iron ore since the mid-1800s, and still is today.  I found an interesting article about the region, including the reason for its strong ties to labor unions as well as how US Steel got its start.   https://www.mnopedia.org/mesabi-iron-range

I drove across a piece of Fond du Lac Reservation and several rivers.  In fact, when I came to the town of Floodwood, pop. 517, I found they called themselves "Home of 4 Rivers - Lake Superior Needs Us."  Oddly, there's nothing online that specifically says which 4 rivers they're talking about, but my best guess is the Floodwood River, the Saint Louis River, the East Savanna River and the Whiteface River.  Although as far as I can tell, 3 of those are tributaries of the St. Louis River which does, in fact, empty into Lake Superior.

I passed a lot of flat land, huge open fields, huge forests - mostly evergreens.  I passed scattered small towns, mostly smaller than Floodwood.  By the way, Floodwood got its name from wood that drifted down one or more of the rivers and often formed dams, causing the river to flood.

I came up to a line of traffic stuck behind a monster concrete tank that was escorted both by two escort cars and also by police cars front and rear.  I ended up being right behind that little convoy and, when we came to a passing lane, wanted to pass them, but the state trooper made it clear he didn't want me to so I fell back a bit.  Then some idiot zoomed up behind me, passed me and then tried to force the trooper over so he could pass them, and when that didn't work he actually tailgated the trooper for a couple of miles.  If I'd been that trooper, I'd've radioed ahead for colleagues to meet this jerk and have a little chitchat with him.

We finally got to Grand Rapids, pop. 11,126, and I headed for a park I'd found on Google's map.  Which turned out not to be a park.  It wasn't anything, as far as I could see.  Where there was supposed to be an entrance to this park, there were people's front yards and not a hint of even a driveway.  So I parked in the area and walked Dexter around the residential neighborhood a bit.

I passed the Blandin Paper Mill, which they say was founded in 1901 and is one of the leading producers in North America (they claim) for magazine and catalog paper.  I expected that terrible smell I associate with paper mills - as in Lewiston, ID - but nothing smelled bad.

I crossed the Mississippi River, stopped at a CVS to pick up this month's blood pressure meds, and then stopped at a grocery store, across the street from the Judy Garland Museum.  This museum is in the house where Judy Garland spent the first 4 years of her life, which doesn't seem long enough to have a formative effect but a fan bought that house and opened this museum in her honor.  They wanted $10 admission, and I've never been enough of a fan of hers to pay that much, so I didn't go.  Sadly, I didn't see The Wizard of Oz for the first time until I was too old to be enchanted by it - well into my teens - and actually don't think I ever watched any other of her movies.  Which probably makes me nearly unique in the American populace.

After leaving town and heading south, and then east, I crossed the Mississippi again several times, noting that it seemed very muddy.  Mark Twain had one of his characters say that a person who drinks Mississippi water could grow corn in his stomach if he wanted to.

I was curious about the "Savanna" part of the name of tonight's campground - a word I associate with the South or with Africa.  The park says the word means open grassland and the area got its name from the expanse of marsh grass here.  The park was formed to protect the historic Savanna Portage Trail, which was historically used by Natives and explorers to portage across 6 miles of marsh and swamp and forest to get to the West Savanna River.  Fortunately, I didn't have to traverse anything like that while I stayed here, though the park has rough trails for travelers hardier than I am.