October 9, 2023

The original trip to the Headwaters was on July 25, 2020, as we were planning to take a Mississippi River cruise later that year. Well…that didn’t happen because of COVID, and we rescheduled the cruise to October, 2023. I hope the three year wait is worth it!

In 1805, Zebulon Pike explored the northern part of the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase, with the goal of locating the source of the Mississippi River. He left St Louis, Missouri on August 9, reached the Minnesota River a few weeks later, and later purchased land for what is now Fort Snelling State Park in St. Paul, MN. Pike’s party reached Leech Lake, about 200 miles south of the current Canadian border, in February, 1806. They continued to nearby Cass Lake, which Pike believed to be the source of the Mississippi River.

Pike was wrong about the Mississippi’s source. In an 1821 expedition, Henry Schoolcraft, a geographer and geologist, sailed upstream from Cass Lake, and, with the assistance of an Anishinabe guide, Ozaawindib, located the source 40 miles to the west at Lake Itasca. Schoolcraft named this small glacial lake, with a surface area of only 1.8 square miles, “Itasca.” He combined two Latin words (veritas for truth and caput for head), meaning true head.

Itasca State Park, Minnesota’s oldest state park, was established in 1891. It covers 32,500 acres, including more than 100 lakes. There are several camping sites and cabins for those who wish to stay more than one day. We just came for the day, with the intention of walking across the Mississippi where it begins its winding journey to the Gulf of Mexico, then following the Great River Road to home.

The Anishinabe (Ojibwe) believe that women are the Caretakers of the Water. There is a beautiful sculpture by Jeff Savage, near the headwaters, that depicts a woman leaning forward and releasing baby turtles from a basket. The turtles symbolize the universal cycles of life.

The park was fairly busy, though less than it might be if we didn’t have an epidemic. We did our best to maintain distance, and wore our masks when appropriate. The river is shallow at the beginning, so it’s very easy to cross at this point. It’s even possible to wade down river through the tall grasses, as my son and I did in the 1980’s.

The Minnesota DNR has a webcam focused on the headwaters, so you can check it out any time, just like Mark is doing here.

From Itasca, the river flows 2,350 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it is joined by 250 tributaries that drain one-third of our country’s landmass. The Mississippi River watershed covers over 1 million square miles, in 32 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

As we were leaving the park, we spied our first National Route sign for the Great River Road, Minnesota. We followed it part of the way to Bemidji. This is Minnesota, and summer is road work season, so we we did have to take a detour for part of our first leg.

After an hour, we arrived in Bemidji, neighbor to three Indian Reservations: Red Lake, White Earth, and Leech Lake. The name means “river or route flowing crosswise.” Timber was big business in the 1800s and 1900s, and there is still some active wood industry.

The town sits on Lake Bemidji, called Bemidjigumaug by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox stand guard over the lake. Their legend dates to the 1890s, with stories told by loggers about this giant of a man who exhibited great physical strength.  These particular statues were erected in 1937, with Paul standing 18 feet tall, and Babe at 10 feet in height, and 23 feet in length.

Additional sculptures and murals were on public display in Bemidji’s downtown area as part of the annual Bemidji Sculpture Walk.

Between Bemidji and Grand Rapids, we drove by Cass Lake and Leech Lake. Located about halfway, is the tiny town of Bena, home of the Big Fish Supper Club. Enter through the jaws of a 65-foot, open mouthed muskie. If it looks familiar, you may have seen it in the 1983 movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be open for several hours, so we moved on.

Leech Lake was called  Ozagaskwaajimekaag-zaaga’igan (lake abundant with bloodsuckers) by the Ojibwe, and”Lac Sangsue” (Bloodsucker Lake) by the French. Do you see a pattern here? Supposedly, there aren’t any more here than in many other lakes, but I find it hard to get excited about swimming in it.

The third largest lake in Minnesota, Leech Lake also renowned for its fishing, with bass, bluegill, crappie, muskie, northern pike, perch, walleye and eelpout. Until recently, there was even an annual Eelpout Festival in Walker, which drew thousands of visitors to the area in February. The event was canceled in 2020 due to rising costs and difficulty of cleaning up afterwards. However, there is talk about starting it up again in 2024.

All Judy Garland fans know that she was born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. She lived here for only four years before her mother moved her and her sisters to California. The Judy Garland Museum is housed in her childhood home. The museum began hosting a Judy Garland Festival in 2019, the most recent one occurring in June, 2023. The event included themed dress up days, tours, a parade, a tea party, and more!

The museum had a pair of Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers for a short while, one of several pairs made for the “Wizard of Oz,” but they were stolen in 2005, and finally recovered in 2018. The shoes were on loan to the museum at the time. There was much speculation about those slippers, with even a documentary film titled “Who Stole the Ruby Slippers?” made in 2015. Those shoes have an estimated market value of $3.5 million! In 2013, someone approached the insurance company, claiming to have information about the slippers and how they could be returned. The FBI’s art crime unit organized a sting operation, and arrested a man who lived not far from the museum. Terry Jon Martin was charged in May, 2023 with the theft. The shoes are currently in federal custody, evidence for the case. Will they ever return to Minnesota? Can Dorothy click her heels and have them come home???

We continued a little further down the Great River Road, lined with trees and farms. We’ll be picking it up again soon.