The Matt and Kaisa Hill farmhouse (Pike Township, St. Louis County) in snow. Wayne Gudmundson, Testaments in Wood: Finnish Log Structures at Embarrass, Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991), 61. From the book: “Second-growth aspen trees growing around the Hill house have replaced larger pines that were cleared when the property was homesteaded in the late 1890s. The two-room dwelling, which overlooks the Pike River, measures nineteen feet by twenty-nine feet and is covered with drop siding and boxed corners that conceal tightly fitted hewn logs locked with double notches” (78).

In a matter of hours, a series of devastating fires changed the look of Northern Minnesota for decades. The Cloquet/Moose Lake fires of 1918 resulted in a loss life, millions of dollars in property damage, and displacement of thousands of Minnesotans. Producer Allison Herrera tells us more about the spark that lit the flames in this MN90 segment.

Pigeon River border crossing of Highway 61 between Grand Portage, Minnesota, and Ontario, Canada. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Tony Webster, July 23, 2017. CC BY-SA 2.0

The Silver Creek Cliff tunnel section of Highway 61, between Two Harbors and Silver Bay. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Tony Webster, September 27, 2017. CC BY-SA 2.0

Illustration from a map of the Lake Superior International Highway, ca. 1920s.

Silver Creek Cliff on Lake Superior. Page fifteen of a souvenir book featuring fourteen photographs of Lake Superior International Highway, 1926.

The Pigeon River at the border of the United States and Canada. Page six of a souvenir book featuring fourteen photographs of Lake Superior International Highway, 1926.

View of Highway 61 from John A. Latsch State Park. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, October 3, 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0

Lake in the White Earth Reservation of Ojibwe near Highway 200. Photograph by Jimmy Emerson, June 22, 2013. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Ojibwe people harvesting wild rice in the White Earth Reservation, undated but ca. 1930s. Photograph by Frances Densmore.