Yesterday a group of us paddled a portion of the Mississippi River that has historical markers showing how the river has been used over the years as well as where significant events occurred. We took off from Lum Park in Brainerd which has its own story to tell as a former happening place in Brainerd that even featured a dance hall.
The paddle across what is called Rice Lake, product of the dam, was pleasant but once we rounded the corner to the Rt1 bridge we faced a headwind that would stick with us for the rest of the trip.
Our first point of interest was the dam and portaging around it. Despite all the adventure movies most of have watched, no one got pulled over the dam and sucked under. Fortunately, we had a trained fire fighter and experienced water rescue expert with us if needed. The dam seemed to be fully open and lots of water gushing through it. I, of course, had to get close to it and grab a photo.
Our guide Tim Terrill said this is the easiest of portages for Dams on the Mississippi. It included a short, steep climb and then a gentle downhill slope to the muck where we would relaunch. From then on, the water had a dark brown tone due to the soil on the bottom.
The first water museum stop was at a drainage pipe. Our land guide Carl explained that pipe runs from the back of the old high school. There was formerly a rail road trestle behind the school but when it went into disuse the city used land from hills that stood near the intersection of Rts. 210 and 25. Or for this of us who have lived her for awhile where the Pamida was that has been converted into office space.
The pipe drains from that still low lying area to the river and has done so since 1914. A few years back while digging in that area, the city came across large timbers that were part of the old trestle.
Our next stop was where the Wihskey Creek. No one knows the origin of the name; it is surely has a colorful history if we could ever learn what it is. The creek flows behind the Fleet Farm in Baxter before meandering its way to the mighty Miss.
During the paddle we scared up a blue heron and watched a sand piper drilling for goodies on a small island.
After a battle of the headwinds, we arrived under the Washington street bridge. Here Carl explained how a semi circular set of posts may have been part of a water filtering system used to fill the steam engines on the railroad bridge. The remains of multiple previous bridges, while under water create squirrels currents for small crafts. During the drought of 2021, Carl noted that they had been exposed.
The biggest event that occurred here was the collapse of the railroad bridge in 1875. A freight train plunged into the river about halfway across the bridge when it broke under the weight. A replacement bridge was built within months and shortyl thereafter another permanent one. The current bridge constructed in the 1980s still has the design of pointed supports to deflect ice. While these are concrete, the previous wooden bridges were also pointed.
Our last stop was the Lyman P. White tourist camp so named in 1923. After the invention of the car, Henry Ford envisioned camps where people could park their cars. This camp had grills, cabanas etc. back in the day. Then resorts became popular and the park was repurposed multiple times before in 2023 being remade into a city park and named once again Lyman P. White park! This is where the walking tour of the river sites begins.
While there are several more markers along the way, we were not able to visit them all. After 2.5 hours of paddling, we disembarked at Kiwanis Park with much more knowledge about events on the Mississippi in the Brainerd area.
Additional information is available on the Crow Wing county historical societ website. more info in the water or walking tour and drone footage of the sites click here https://connectctc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a5bee308ad8448f0acc85151fc022ef1
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