Today we began our tour of the Mississippi River with, appropriately, a visit to the headwaters of the river at Lake Itasca.

First, though, we visited a couple of iconic locations in locations in the town of Bemidji.

First stop was Bemidji Woolen Mills. This fourth-generation family business has been producing woolen products from the same sewing room since 1920. The current proprietor, Bill Batchelder, is a treasure of knowledge about his company, the town of Bemidji, and Minnesota history in general. He shared samples of notable products the mill has produced over the years, and demonstrated the workings of some of the machines that are still producing excellent work after many years of service.

In addition to products from the mill, the store offers warm clothing and household goods from other manufacturers. I was struck by this coat with an offset front zip closure and sleeves ending in mittens. Hard to imagine being cold in something like this, no matter the temperature!

Another big attraction in Bemidji is the statue of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe, that greets you as you drive into town. The statues were built in 1936 as a roadside attraction. They are supposedly second only to Mount Rushmore as a tourist photography subject, even today.

These statues are housed in a park on the shore of Lake Bemidji, along with a visitors center that displays all manner of oversized paraphernalia used by an outsized hero, including toenail clippings! There is also a striking stone fireplace faced with rocks from every state in the U.S., and several Canadian provinces as well. Connecticut is represented by brownstone from the quarry in Portland.

After our visit to Paul Bunyan we headed for Lake Itasca State Park. The Mississippi River begins as an outflow from this lake. There was some rivalry amongst non-native explorers in the 19th century as to who would get credit for discovering the Mississippi’s source. Although each explorer was aided in some way by native people in their search, the credit for the discovery ultimately went to Henry Schoolcraft, who was guided to the location in 1832.

Lake Itasca State Park was created by the State of Minnesota in 1891. It is the second state park created in the United States, in large part because of the success of New York’s Niagara Falls State Park, created in 1885. (We’ve had the privilege of visiting both on this trip)! It’s a tradition to walk across the headwaters when visiting the park. It was a nice warm day and the water temperature was decent so this was quite enjoyable to do. There were quite a few visitors there doing this while we were there too.

After splashing about in the headwaters for a bit, we climbed back onto our bus and rode to the other end of the lake. There we boarded a small cruise boat for a trip across the lake. The boat was built in the 1940’s and styled like a steamboat.

A beautiful start to out Mississippi adventure!