Minnesota Geography Final Project Using the DeLORME MN map pages

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Minnesota Geography Final Project

Using the DeLORME MN map pages.

Page 26 Border lakes area

Page 60 Alexandria lakes area

Page 73 Farming area

Page 86 Boarder between farming and Bluff

Steve Wall

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DeLORME Map page 26

Source: http://maps.google.com/maps

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• The center of the page is about 260 miles North of Minneapolis.

• Highway 53 cuts through the middle of this page. Highway 53 is the main route between Minneapolis and International falls.

• Counties on this page include, St. Louis and Koochiching.

• Largest city is Cusson population 1755

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Geology

• This area has a lot of exposed bedrock made up from gneiss and granite.

• The glaciers left sharp rock cliffs and some very large lakes.

• Lakes Kabetogama, Namakan and Rainy are all located on this page.

• The south portion of this page is rocky but doesn’t have many lakes.

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State Parks

• Well there are no State Parks on this page but there is a huge National Park

• Voyageurs National Park– Nearly 200 years ago voyageurs paddled birch bark

canoes full of animal pelts and trade goods through this area on their way to Lake Athabasca, Canada. Today, people explore the park by houseboat, motorboat, canoe, and kayak. Voyageurs is a water-based park where you must leave your car and take to the water to fully experience the lakes, islands, and shorelines of the park.

http://www.nps.gov/voya/index.htm

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Agriculture

• This land is not good for growing any cash crops.

• The only crop you may see is just Hay fields and Pine.

• There is almost no farming but you may see a few horses.

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Industry

• Tourism near Voyageurs National Park and some of the other lakes.

• There is also some logging.

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Scientific Natural areas

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/sna01078/index.html

(D2) very bottom

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Biomes• This page is in the

Northern part of the state and is part of the Conifer forest.

• This area is mostly dominated by Pine trees that can grow in rocky soil.

• In the southern part of the page you can find some bogs and Spruce trees.

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Things to see and recreation• This page is covered with all forest and one Indian

Reservation.• Koochiching and Kabetogama State forests, Superior

National Forest and Voyageurs National Park. • There are maps available for hiking, canoeing and

camping from the MN DNR.

• The lakes that are in Voyagers National Park don’t have many resorts or privet cabins. The best way to see the area is from a boat or a snowmobile.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/state_forests/sft00027.pdf

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You could rent a houseboat

http://www.ebels.com/Ebels%20brochure.pdf

Things to see and recreation

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• You could go to Kettle Falls. The Falls flows from Lake Namakan into Rainy Lake.

• There is a hotel there that you can only get to by boat and it’s only open in the summer. They offer a portage service to get fishing boats around the falls to Rainy Lake.


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• This is Kettle Falls and the other side of the water is Canada.


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Things to see and recreationThis is Rainy Lake just East of Kettle Falls

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Things to see and recreationSnowmobiling is a great way to see this area. There are many trails on land and lakes.

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This is a Falls on the Vermilion River. You can see it’s all rock and Pine here.

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This is a rock face on Lake Namakan.

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Things to see and recreationIn March you could also check out a Vintage Snowmobile race at Mel Georges resort on Black Duck Lake.

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DeLORME Map page 60


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• The center of the page is about 135 miles West Northwest of Minneapolis.

• Highways 94 and 55 cut through this page both going from the Northwest to the Southeast. Highways 29 and 59 run North south on this page.

• Counties on this page include Douglas, Pope, Grant and Stevens.

• Largest city is Alexandria population 9637.

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Geology

The area known as Leaf Hills runs thru this page. The Wadena lobe left a huge Moraine called the Alexandria Moraine. This area has the largest concentration of lakes in the state. The Northeastern part of this page is the lakes area with several large lakes and many small lakes. The center part of this page is more rolling hills, it’s a little hard to farm with all of the rocks and sand. The Southwestern part of the page is where it transitions into the prairie. End moraines, ground moraines and outwash plains are all on this page.

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Geology

Gravel pits are everywhere here. You can see unsorted rocks, boulders and sand here. You can also see patches of trees and farm fields.

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State Parks

• Glacial Lakes (D3) Glacial Lakes was established as a state park in 1963 to preserve the rolling prairies of the area.

• Lake Carlos (A4) Sculpted by ancient glaciers, Lake Carlos State Park contains a tamarack bog, marshes, woodland ponds, and lakes.

Source: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks

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Biomes• This page is on the edge of 2 biomes

with Coniferous woods on the Northeast section of the page and the beginning of the prairie on the Southeast corner. On the non farmed portion of the land many trees are present including Basswood, Maple, Oak and willows near water.

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Agriculture

• This page is around 50-75% farmed. There is less farming in the lakes area and more on the western edge of this page. This is in the dairy belt and there is a mix of crops here, corn and beans to the South and wheat to the North and hay mixed in.

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Industry

• The Alexandria lakes area has a large tourist industry and is a regional hub with larger stores and just about everything.

• There are also many manufacturing companies in the area and Alexandria Technical College supplies many of the trained workers.

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Things to see and recreationThere are lakes everywhere just North of Alexandria, MN

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

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You can learn about the Runestone at the Runestone Museum in Alexandria

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Across from Big Ole you can spot the original train depot remodeled into a restaurant and the tracks have been converted into a trail.

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The Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum is also located in Alexandria.

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Things to see and recreationThis is a typical view of the land here. That’s Inspiration Peak you can see in the distance.

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Things to see and recreationThis is the view of Glenwood and Lake Minnewaska from 230 feet above the lake. The hill this picture was taken from was created from glacial outwash plain.

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Things to see and recreationOr just play on the water!

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DeLORME Map page 73


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• The center of the page is about 145 miles West Southwest of Minneapolis.

• Highway 23 runs through this page from the NE to the SW and Highway 14 runs East West along the bottom of this page. Highway 59 runs North South on the West side.

• Counties on this page include Yellow Medicine, Lyon, Murray, Cottonwood and Redwood.

• Largest city is Marshall population 12,752.

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Geology

• This area is mostly flat and full of glacial drift. The Des Moines Lobe brought down finer textured shale and silt from Canada.

• The Northeast corner of this page has the Minnesota river running through it cutting down to the bedrock.

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State Parks

• Upper Sioux Agency State Park contains the site of the Upper Sioux or Yellow Medicine Agency. The park was established in 1963 to preserve and interpret the remains of the old Agency site. The park covers 1,280 acres and offers diversity: open prairie knolls, bluffs, and cool, wooded slopes. (7A on page)

• Lake Shetek State Park. The word "Shetek" is Ojibwe for "pelican," a bird which visits Lake Shetek during the summer and fall.The park contains the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota, which forms the headwaters of the Des Moines River. (6D on page)

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Biomes

• This area was all prairie and is now mostly farm land except where the Minnesota River Valley is. There are some Elm, Ash and Cottonwood trees near the water and drainage ditches but trees are less than 1.5% of the area.

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Agriculture

• This area is over 85% farm land.

• The major crop in this area is Corn and Soybeans

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Agriculture


The land is mostly divided up into perfectly square sections with the typical 80/160/340 fields. With some drainage ditches

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Towns• The town setup is typical of the Prairie and at six mile

intervals just off the railroad tracks.

• The largest town of Marshall is at the crossing of three highways, 2 railroads and 1 small river.

• This area was mostly settled by Norwegian people.

• The population of Lyon County only grew 1.7% in the last 10 years and Redwood county lost 4.5% in the same period.

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Industry

• The Schwan’s food company is headquartered in Marshall, MN.

• Archer Daniels Midland runs a large Ethanol plant in Marshall, MN

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• Other than farming it’s not a real big tourist area. You could go to Lake Shetek where Lake Shetek State park is located and enjoy the water. It is a typical Southern Minnesota lake. It is a big lake at 3600 acres but the maximum depth is only 10 feet and the water clarity is poor.

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DeLORME Map page 86


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• The center of the page is about 116 miles Southeast of Minneapolis.

• Highway 52 is one of the major state highways running through Northwest to the Southeast and the main highway from the twin cities. Interstate Highway 90 runs East to West on this page across all of Southern Minnesota.

• Counties on this page include Olmsted, Mower, Fillmore and Winona.

• Largest city is Rochester population 106769.

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Geology

• This page is on a transition between bluff country on the eastern side and some flatter land near Rochester and some Oak Savannas to the Southwest.

• The Bluffs are called the driftless zone because the last glaciers did not run over this area. The Bluffs are made of limestone and sandstone and when the glaciers to the Northwest melted the water flow to the Mississippi carved deep valleys.

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Geology

• On the western side of this page is the Rochester plain. It’s of a rolling glacial till plain than a flat farming plain.

• There are also a lot of Karst features on this page with many sinkholes and springs. These features are caused by rainwater dissolving the limestone away.

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(1B)


50http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/sna01001/index.html(1C)


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State Parks• Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park to see

natural wonders above and below ground.• Whitewater State Park Picturesque limestone

bluffs and deep ravines make Whitewater a very popular southeastern state park. The 2,700 acre park is an angler's paradise with brown, brook, and rainbow trout Source: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks

• Most of the wooded portion of this page is part of the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest.

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Biomes• This page is mostly part of the hardwood

forest with Maple, Basswood and some Oak.

• This area gets a lot of rain and the water runs off into the many streams that lead to the Mississippi river.

• There isn't any real lakes or bogs because of the hills, everything runs off.

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Agriculture

• The Corn and Soybeans can be grown in the Western part of this page. The land is not real flat so you can see the contour lines of the crops.

• The Bluff country is hard to farm and is used for mostly for pasture and hay.


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Agriculture

• What livestock there is will probably be Dairy cows because the land is not flat enough for major cash crop farming. There are also a lot of Amish people farming or working on farms in this area.

• The first settlers grew wheat in this area but that peaked in 1870. As the settlers moved West the wheat production also moved West and Northwest.

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Towns• The town pattern here is mostly scattered and many of

the tows are along the Root River. Rochester the biggest town on this page doesn’t seem to be at the natural location of anything.

• The towns and roads on the very west of this page run along section lines.

• This area was mostly settled by Norwegian people.

• The population of Fillmore County where Lanesboro is dropped 1.2% in the last 10 years and Olmsted county grew 16.1% because of Rochester.

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Industry

• Rochester is the economic center of the area. It is home to the Mayo clinic which is really group of several hospitals and is world famous. IBM is also located in Rochester.

• The Bluff area is home to tourism with many scenic bike trails, trout fishing, hiking and camping.

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Things to see and recreationThere are plenty of bike and hiking trails near Lanesboro

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/state_trails/rootriver_harmonypreston.pdf

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Things to see and recreationYou can canoe or kayak the Root River near Lanesboro, MN

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2870076840050685597abqlHJ

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There are dozens of bed and breakfasts near Lanesboro, MN many of them like this one built in 1908.

http://www.lanesboro.com/BusinessDetail.php?id=37

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Things to see and recreationYou can see a bunch of Karst features (sinkholes) just about 3 miles SW of Fountain, MN about in the center of page 86


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The End

Documents

Minnesota Geography Final Project Using the DeLORME MN map pages