Category Archives: Exploration

20th Century, Boys, Environment, Exploration, Faith, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Leadership, Men, Minnesota, omnipresent history, outdoors

Minnesota Boy Scouts Organization Forms 1910

journal_1913boyscouts

1910

“A growing fear of “boys in trouble” leads to the founding of Minnesota’s first Boy Scout troop, only eight months after the organization arrives in the United States from England.” * 

What can I say and pray about the Scouts, Lord? For openers, thanks that it’s founders sought a way to connect boys with each other. Each Scout is an important part of his troop. For many, this is a first affirmation of their value as a human being and in his maleness. He learns that he can do his part and become worthy of trust. 

Even in failure, like forgetting key food items for a camping trip, the troop may rib him, but ultimately close ranks and support him. That Scout learns, “ I can make do if I’m in need, and overcome temporary discomfort.” What an important lifelong lesson!

Next, the Boy Scouts will get a child or teen out of his home environment. A city kid will see places that are truly wild and untamed. He will get to know nature, stop fearing the outdoors, and learn a proper respect for living things. He may explore the deserts, make camp in the snow, or learn wilderness survival. The Scouts exist to both invite and instill a sense of adventure in young men. 

Finally, a Scout becomes aware that he can learn expertise. A simple item, like a rope, becomes the means to teach him knots and lashings, but also symbolically recognizes his work by earning a merit badge. Why do the Scouts collect merit badges? Maybe, because its a tangible symbol of honor given by significant males, and then reinforcing the message in a ceremony that says“Well done!”

Lord, thanks for this important event in 1910. Thanks for, thereby, giving thousands of boys a place to belong, share adventures, learn life skills, and to give and receive honor. Will You help them thrive in helping Minnesota boys become men? Will You give us inspiration as a society to create more pathways, like the Scouts, that call our boys out of complacency and into a life of purpose, expertise, relationship, and adventure? 

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

**More on the character traits taught by the Scouts. http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/content/scout_law-1760.asp

 

 

Standard
20th Century, Exploration, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Mining, Minnesota

Cuyuna Range Named 1903

Kennedy-Mine

1903

“While surveying his land in the 1880s, Cuyler Adams noticed that the point of his compass was spinning. Over 20 years he explored the area for the underground metals that distracted his compass. He forms the Orelands Mining Company in 1903 and names the range by combining “Cuy” from Cuyler with “Una” after his pet St. Bernard.

The first ore is shipped from the Cuyuna Range in 1911. The 147,649-ton shipment to Duluth-Superior culminates years of searching, digging, flooding, and failing. More mines quickly open on the range, and immigrants from Finland, Italy, and Yugoslavia find themselves in new villages with names like Orelands, Klondike, Steelton, Ironton, Iron Hub, and Iron Mountain.” * 

What a shock it must have been when Mr Adams’ compass needle started spinning! Did his hair stand on end? Did he calmly and rationally start thinking of possible explanations? Thank you Lord, that this wonderfully odd day in the life of Cuyler Adams was part of Your plan for Minnesota! Thank you for the curiosity You implanted in this man to explore; to seek and find! How many lives were changed by this single moment of the “spinning compass”?

This leads me almost instantly into feelings of remorse for my personal lack of intuition and imagination of Your possible purposes for such odd moments of my life. How many times have You placed me into a potential moment of discovery, and my response is to blame the defective spinning compass in my hands? My rational mind is often the killer of opportunity! I find myself in analysis paralysis, instead of simply continuing the process of looking for answers like Cuyler! Will You forgive this blockage to Your eureka moments? 

This discovery acted as a catalyst for the movements of people and cultures from across the world to northern Minnesota. What was your purpose in this? Why is this ore important other than its obvious applications to industry? In any case, I thank You for using this valuable resource to facilitate the meetings and intermingling  of peoples from Finnish, Italian, Yugoslavian, and Native Minnesotan cultures! You provide us with innumerable introductions to those of other cultures, and yet You do not force our hand in how we respond! You are the perfect travel agent!

I say thanks this day for the blessings and benefits of iron ore, and any of its other common metallurgical applications! Good Father, what a great medium You allow your people to play with?! What a useful material to bless past, present, and future generations! 

Yet, as with any technology, it must be subject to self control. We used mountains of metal in World War I from this mine to assert our political will! We have beaten our plows into swords, and still we continue to do so! Will You forgive our defiant uses of natural resources? Will You help us learn to sidestep political manipulations into war? Will you forgive our resentment, hatred, and fear of others that germinates into the seeds of death? Will You mature our response to the spirits of accusation, provocation, and offense?

Will You also forgive our tragedies based on trust of our knowledge? We study and learn, which is good. But we often allow our knowledge to cloud our judgments! We do not retain a sense of scientific humility and curiosity. We often rely on our observations, and find that they are sadly based on a minuscule understanding of the natural world. For example,

“At the height of the mining, the Cuyuna Range was the location of the worst mining disaster in Minnesota, the Milford Mine disaster.[1] On February 5, 1924, a new tunnel was blasted too close to nearby Foley Lake, and water rushed in, killing 41 miners.” **

Will You forgive how we have hurt our fellow man, and Your world as a result of our miscalculations and arrogance? Lord have mercy! Will You remember our successes, our faithful and bold risks to grow and learn, and the ways we’ve sought to better the lives of others and ourselves? 

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyuna_Range

*** A very readable resource on Cuyuna with brief bios by author Dean Klinkenberg.

http://mississippivalleytraveler.com/cuyuna-iron-range/

**** A wonderful read on Mr. Adams! https://ipeopleblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/1922-mining-engineer-cuyler-adams/

 

 

Standard
20th Century, Conservation, Environment, Exploration, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Logging, Minnesota, Natural Science, omnipresent history

Minnesota Forest Reserve 1902

living-legacy

Surveyor Josiah A. King and crew.****

1902

“Conservationists win a long fight to establish a 225,000-acre forest reserve where logging will be supervised by the U.S. Bureau of Forestry. In 1928 the reserve’s name is changed to the Chippewa National Forest. 

One of the treasures of Northern Minnesota is an area of Chippewa National forest known as “the Lost Forty’. Actually, it is an area of 144 acres that were somehow missed by surveyor Josiah A. King in 1882. His three man crew faced chilling weather, slogged through swamps, and it is not unlikely they were missed in exhaustion.” *

“In 1882, a land surveyor by the name of Josiah A. King, and his three-man crew, traveled 40 miles from the nearest white settlement called “the Grand Rapids of the Mississippi.” For a month, canvas tents were their homes, and flour, pork, beans, and dried apples their rations. Josiah and his crew were finishing the last of three contracted townships in one of the first land surveys of Minnesota’s north woods.

As the November winds blew around the crew, they surveyed a six square mile area between Moose and Coddington Lakes. Perhaps it was the chilling weather, or all of the desolate swamps around them, but the crew became confused, and they ended up plotting Coddington Lake about a half mile further northwest than it was actually located. Josiah’s crew’s error is Minnesota’s great fortune.

As a result, these towering pines were mapped as a body of water, and the virgin pine in this area was overlooked by the hungry logging companies. Afterall, what logging company would want to pay for swamp land. This parcel of land became known as “The Lost Forty” and went untouched by loggers. It is now managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources under their Scientific & Natural Areas Program.”**

Father, You have encouraged us to have places of rest, and even have commanded that the land should be given rest. Parts of the Pentateuch that are despised as being outdated, finicky, and overly legalistic by some are the same verses that declare a Sabbath for the land and animals. Scientists in the 20th century were able to confirm the wisdom of these books of “myth”. Elements and minerals in the soil are depleted by overuse; giving the land a rest actually increases yields in the long run. Again, You already made us this promise in antiquity, and science finally has caught up. 

Lord, I see the Chippewa Forest as a reflection of this heart of rest. Within this forest, the Lost Forty, are like a time capsule giving testimony to what existed in Your natural balance. Thank You for holy, set-aside places like these! Thank You that the error of the surveyors may well have been Your providence and plan to show off Your handiwork to their progeny.

We see what the forest could continue to yield if harvested within Your boundaries. Will You forgive the impatience demonstrated in the harvesting of these northern forests of Minnesota? Will You give wisdom and balance to those who have an interest in these forests, whether political, environmental, economical, or spiritual? Will You give us this day a reserve of energy, of time, of thought to relax with our Creator? Will You forgive us where we are resistant to solitude, to quietness, to contemplation of our lives in the state of Minnesota? Will You help us hear Your voice calling from antiquity, ‘Your harvest’s aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year.” NASB Leviticus 25:5 ***

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

**http://www.minnesotafunfacts.com/minnesota-geography/the-lost-40-a-minnesota-forest-legacy/

***http://biblehub.com/leviticus/25-5.htm

 

 

Standard
19th Century, Archaeology, Exploration, History, Humor, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Minnesota, omnipresent history, Science, Uncategorized

Ohman Discovers Runestone 1898

Unknown-1

1898

“Olaf Ohman turns up a stone on his farm near Alexandria and sparks a controversy. What appears to be ancient Norse writing on the stone indicates that Viking explorers reached Minnesota in 1362–130 years before Columbus’ voyage. Many scholars dismiss the Kensington Rune Stone as a hoax, but the debate continues into the present.” *

Father, what to make of this Rune Stone controversy? Some analysts have stated that it is an expertly contrived joke or hoax, but others still maintain authenticity. I believe that You are sovereign. It is not beyond You to save a tablet from view in a glacier, and deliver it to Ohman’s field at the right time. It is not beyond You to introduce us to new discoveries that remake the rules of science and history. 

Forgive us! We do not know too much, but far too little! Yet our pride blocks our receptivity to a view that challenges our formed perceptions! Lord, You know Ohman’s heart! If he erred on the side of regional or ethnic pride, will You forgive and expose that motivation? If he was an honest man who made an amazing discovery that was distasteful to scholarship and rejected, will You also bring this to light? If he was a master practical joker who went to his grave snickering, will You forgive anyone who was hurt by his hoax? However, will You bless and honor the man’s sense of humor? We need more funny people in this state!

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

**Visit the museum in Alexandria, MN? https://www.runestonemuseum.org/runestone/

***Evidence that the Rune Stone is a forgery? 

http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2011/11/16/kensington-runestone-fakers-si/

****Evidence pointing to the stone’s authenticity?

 http://www.econ.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arch/kens/kens.htm

 

 

Standard
19th Century, Exploration, History, Intercession, Judgment & Counter-Judgment Cycle, Minnesota, omnipresent history, State Government

Itasca State Park Established 1891

gv4-21-r60

1891

“Conservationists win a bitter fight against lumber interests to establish Itasca, Minnesota’s first state park, at the headwaters of the Mississippi River.” * 

“Even after Schoolcraft’s discovery, a few other explorers claimed they had found the source in various tributaries of Lake Itasca. The controversy continued until 1889 when Jacob V. Brower studied the topography of the Itasca basin. He concluded that several creeks do contribute to Lake Itasca, but only at the lake’s outlet is a river formed. To learn more about his great North American River, stop at the interpretive center next to the parking lot before leaving. A souvenir shop is located in the same complex.

Brower struggled for years to preserve Itasca. In 1891, the legislature established Itasca State Park. It is Minnesota’s first state park, and one of the oldest in the country. But Brower, appointed the first park commissioner, received no pay and no funds or support to make the park a reality. Logging companies muscled their way into the park and began to clear-cut the timber. It wasn’t until 1919 that the major logging operations were completed. Today, however, there are still stands of virgin red and white pine in the park with some of the oldest and largest pine trees in Minnesota.”**

Help me with this, Lord of the Forests! I’m neither a man of the woods or of the city, but have empathies with both. What shall I pray?

First, let me say thanks for the discovery or rediscovery of the source of the Mississippi. May You bless this river, and keep, and make Your face shine on it! Thanks for the creation that it has blessed and upheld! Thanks for this pathway across our nation! 

I thank You that You are not offended by our science! I thank You that You do not bristle at our questions! I thank You that, though You may hide the truth for a time, You bless those that earnestly seek it. 

With this in mind, will You bless Schoolcraft, Brower, and any other unnamed or unrecorded explorer for the source of the Mississippi? Will You bless their heritage of family, friends, and any who would follow in their path to study and discover new aspects of this Creation?

Also, I ask Your blessing on those who sought to gather a harvest from this land. Every human on the face of this planet uses its resources on a daily basis. Thankou for those who worked the logging camps, fished, hunted, mined, or sought a better life in this region. Will You also bless their heritage of people who gather resources or repurpose those resources?

And here comes the guardian lie, that the motives of the former are superior to the latter, or that the actions of the latter are superior to the former, etc. You have made some to explore, some to study, some to harvest, some to gather, some to refine what is gathered, but NONE can claim superiority! We are all independently dependent on the Author of Life! We are necessary parts of the same body, but we have failed to recognize this, acknowledge this point of separation, or seek forgiveness, or give honor where it is due. 

Will You forgive us of our zealous judgements and counter-judgements regarding the land use of Itasca? Will you forgive our arrogance towards our neighbor for whom Christ rose and highly esteems? Will You remove the curses that have bound this land, this state, and this river? Will You help us remember the wisdom that You already have given regarding land? ***

** http://mntrails.com/trail-log/itasca-state-park-log

*** See “The Year of Jubilee Leviticus 25 http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0325.htm

 

 

Standard
19th Century, Business, Canada, Civics, Exploration, History, Industry, Intercession, Leadership, Minnesota, railroad, Transportation

Hill’s First Railroad 1879

00902018

1879

“James J. Hill and his Canadian partners buy the near-bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and rename it the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba. This is the beginning of the railroad career that will earn Hill the title “Empire Builder” and cement the importance of the Twin Cities as a commercial center. 

Hill’s career didn’t begin with railroads. He came to Minnesota at age 18, convincing a steamboat man to hire him as a clerk. From making sure freight reached the right people, he expanded into handling freight by boat, stagecoach, and wagon. By the time his empire was built, he was one of the nation’s leading industrialists. 

In 1891 James J. Hill will crown his success by building a house at 240 Summit Avenue in St. Paul. As massive and well-built as its owner’s railroad empire, the mansion will take three years to build and cost $931,275.01, furnished.” * 

Lord, thanks that You deal with us so patiently. You allow us to learn from our errors and seek You for mercy and truth. Thank You for the blessings of James J. Hill and his railroads.

However, we still feel the weight of the blessing and curses in the wake of his empire building! He was alleged to be duplicitous in his business dealings. He allegedly manipulated land grants or sales from cities, tribes, states, and the nations of Canada and the United States. He may have wreaked havoc on the stock market in his battle with Harriman of the Union Pacific line. **

Hill proved to be cut from a different cloth than the Robber Barons of his age whose modus operandi included manipulation of the stock market, public institutions and opinions, or Federal or State governments. In many ways, he retained the common-sense lessons of his Scots-Irish upbringing in Manitoba, Canada and the Midwestern states. A few examples of his forthright tongue and blue-collar wisdom below.

“Give me snuff, whiskey, and Swedes, and I will build a railway to hell.”

“Work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work.”

“The wealth of the country, its capital, its credit, must be saved from the predatory poor as well as the predatory rich, but above all from the predatory politician.” ***

Lord, You are the righteous ruler and justice of North America. Will You remove the curses we have laid on James J. Hill and the lines he laid? Will You forgive his debts to the people of North America and the Midwest? Will You forgive us our injustices and betrayals of Your trust?

Like Mr. Hill, we kill our competitors and covet and build empires in our hearts. We plunder our enemies in our thoughts, and do not see our brothers and sisters as precious lives that You died and rose for! Have mercy on us: the ambitious, the coward, the sluggard, and the average! Remove the curses brought on us, our generations, the land, the property, and our homes both now and until Your return! May the pathway of this railway become a track of blessing to both Manitoba and the Twin Cities! Amen!

*P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
The Minnesota Historical Society Web site, http://www.mnhs.org , is fantastic! Check it out! Images are from https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl; again, an amazing resource!

** https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/harriman-vs-hill

*** https://www.azquotes.com/author/6703-James_J_Hill

Standard
19th Century, authors, Culture, Exploration, History, Immigration, Intercession, Journalism, Minnesota

Icelandic Colony 1875

unknown-3

1875
“Icelander Gunnlogur Petursson relocates to Lyon County, laying the foundation for the second largest Icelandic colony in the United States. Its residents acquire land in surrounding Lincoln and Yellow Medicine counties, but Minnesota becomes the center of the Icelandic colony’s business, social, and cultural activities.

Many of the Minnesota Icelanders’ are highly literate farmers who love to read and who fill their modest homes with books they brought with them across the Atlantic Ocean. Icelanders establish the Lestrarfjelag (Reading Society) and publish Vinland, a monthly Icelandic-language newspaper with a literary focus.” *

Thanks for Gunnlogur Petursson and the Icelandic peoples of Minnesota! I am so happy to hear that over a century ago, they were common farmers with an enjoyment for learning and reading. Thank You, Lord, that You do not limit us the way our societies sometimes do. You give us a curiosity to know, and reward our searching. Why do we fritter away so much time on entertainment and other amusements; You have something even better to teach us each day if we can focus and listen!?

I want to bless the heritage of this Icelandic colony, their generations, their dwellings, and property in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! May Lyon County and all Icelandic descendants know You in all Your beauty in the present, and experience Your Majesty throughout their future! Amen.

http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

 

 

Standard
19th Century, Chippewa, Exploration, History, Intercession, Minnesota, Native Americans, Ojibwe, State Government

Beltrami County Formed

images

February 28, 1866
“Beltrami County was formed.” *

A seemingly simple note in history. A county is born, but what makes this place unique, Lord? Why is it special in the history of my state? It’s the headwaters of the great Mississippi, supplies drinking water for a quarter of Minnesota, supports hundreds of species of animals, and gives witness to approx. 10,000 years of human history.**

Some of the land Beltrami County sits upon was originally Ojibwe (Chippewa) land. “Home to the federally recognized Red Lake Band of Chippewa, it is unique as the only “closed reservation” in Minnesota. In a closed reservation, all land is held in common by the tribe and there is no private property.” *** Will You direct my thoughts and prayers today for this peoples’ influence on this event?

 

Unknown

This county is named after the Italian count Giacomo Beltrami. He explored the area ca. 1825 and claimed to have discovered the headwaters of the Mississippi. After more years of adventures and travels he wrote his memoirs, but could not get them published by the Church-led government of Italy. What, if any, prayer points does this bring to the fore? ****

First, I will give thanks for the gift of this river; the Mississippi. What would Minnesota be without it? It has given so much to so many: a 2300+ mile waterway, massive hunting and fishing grounds, thousands of years of drinking water, and immense beauty! May we forever remember this blessing from You, and be honorable stewards of it!

Next, I commend the Ojibwe-Chippewa Nation to You. I remember their choice to live in common, a huge commitment to trusting relationships most moderns will not dare undertake.You entrusted them with the gift of the Mississippi, and they did not withhold this treasure from Beltrami. *****

Lastly, I observe this lesson from this snippet of Minnesota history; the debt of gratitude is like a great river. Minnesota owes a debt of thanks to Italy, who owes a debt of gratitude to Giacomo Beltrami who owes a debt to the Ojibwe, who owe a debt to their forebearers, yet we all owe a perpetual debt of honor to the King of the Universe. As long as there is time, may this river of remembrance and honor never cease to flow and refresh! Amen!
http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** http://mississippiheadwaters.org/History.asp
*** Charles Brill (1992). Red Lake Nation: Portraits of Ojibway Life, University of Minnesota Press, p. 19.
**** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_Beltrami
***** http://www.sciencebuzz.org/blog/would-you-trust-your-life-red-umbrella

 

Standard
19th Century, Agriculture, Emigration, Exploration, farming, Food, History, Immigration, Minnesota, Native Americans, State Government, trade, Treaties

Settlement in Minnesota 1849 to 1860

images-8

“The number of non-Indian people in Minnesota jumps from 3,814 in 1849 to 172,072 in 1860, a 4,500 percent increase! The newcomers break sod, start businesses, plot towns, look for jobs, and dream of getting rich.

Pent-up demand for good agricultural land is the primary reason. Iowa and Wisconsin had been heavily settled and had both passed from territorial to statehood status by 1848. It had been dangerous and illegal to settle on land in most of Minnesota before treaties with the Dakota and the Ojibwe were signed. But after several treaties were ratified in the 1850s, the floodgates of migration burst open.” *

When we move, we make assessments of our new neighbors and neighborhood. They, in return, watch us move into their neighborhood, and may ‘size us up’ by our friendliness, possessions, (or lack of possessions), our physical appearance, etc. These assessments, I believe, are instincts designed for our survival, but must be tempered or they can morph into prejudice.

Lord, what were the judgments of these ‘new neighbors’ in Minnesota? Will You forgive us the inheritance of those who knowingly moved into the state illegally? Will You forgive the betrayals committed between settler and tribe, and their counter-betrayals? Will You break the power of the derogatory words and names given among these groups? Will You break the vows made in anger, envy, revenge, arrogance, unforgiveness, fear, and unbelief of each group towards its real or supposed nemesis?

Thinking about the impact of these past separations on the present, will You forgive the heart behind the relocation of Native Americans? Will you free us from the bondages and entanglements within poorly made treaties? Will You bring Your heart of restoration to Minnesota? Will You bring to light a new kind of history in Minnesota? Will You write a history that remembers the good, the pleasing, the fair, the gracious, the restored relationship on our hearts? Will you give us Your eyes to see our neighbors’ inherent value?

*mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

Standard
19th Century, education, Exploration, France, government, History, maps, Minnesota, Native Americans, Science, State Government

Nicollet Maps of Upper Mississippi River 1843

220px-Joseph_Nicollet_001

French astronomer Joseph Nicollet’s accurate maps of the upper Mississippi region, made over the course of several visits to Fort Snelling, are published by the U.S. Senate in 1843.*

Thanks for the blessing of accurate maps. Thanks that You give us a real assessment of the situations of our lives. Thank you that good maps help define land uses and indirectly, land disputes!

As I ponder Messr. Nicollet’s involvement in the life of this state, I quickly come to the question, “Why is an astronomer mapping terra firma so far from home?” Although I know so little about astronomy, I can easily imagine that he was trained to map the vastness of space. Perhaps working on such a small scale was a new challenge to him, or no challenge at all. His motives in this work are unknown to me, but would be an interesting campfire story.

However, I am practicing thinking about history as the Eternal Now. This is where Your Spirit leads me. I thank You that You led this man outside his discipline. I thank You that he was taken far beyond his home into the wilderness of North America. I thank You that he shared his gift, even if it was second place to astronomy! Will You bless us as his progeny to embrace the moments in life we are taken out of our expertise, and into the woods?

*www.dipity.com/Minnesota/History/Minnesota-History/

Standard