Headwaters of the Mississippi River

As we leave the restaurant in Bemidji, I begin looking at tourist information we had picked up and am pickled tink to find that we are just a few miles from Itasca State Park.  Now, why would that make me upside down and backwards happy?  Because the HEADWATERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER is in Itasca State Park, Minnesota.
 
A.  Whoever even THOUGHT about where the Mississippi starts?
B.   How did I accidentally stumble over this?
C.   It's in between us and "home" !!

Sun setting or not, we are goin'!

Another shock!  Lil' Miss GPS knows where it is!  Cool!

I just can't believe this:  THE Mississippi River, in Minnesota!  A snow-topped sign in Minnesota saying THIS is the Mississippi River.  No.  Must be a trick of some kind...

Pretty elaborate hoax if you ask me...

Archaeologists have discovered broken pottery, stone and copper tools around here left by ear-r-r-l-y Native Americans dating back 8,000 years.  They called the lake here Omushkos meaning Elk Lake and the resulting river Misiziibi or Great River.  I feel certain they had no idea how great a river this really was!

What makes a great river?  Well, how about measuring the distance from here to the Gulf of Mexico:  2,318 miles !!  But, so what?  Old Man River is great because of what it has done for people  - probably for 8,000 years! 

Semi-permanent villages were established here as long ago as 3,000 years.  500 years ago the Ojibwe/Chippewa settled here because of the beaver, mink and muskrat.  Plants like wild rice, cattail and bulrush made it possible to build more permanent structures and have something to eat without having to constantly move about.

But who first figured out it was the headwaters of the greatest river in North America??  Of course, conflicting claims - one official, one delayed and therefore unofficial.  Another hoax?  An 18-year-old dude with the XY (yes, XY) Fur Company wintered here in 1804 and again in 1811.  The Indians told him it was the headwaters .  He was the clerk for XY and kept detailed records.  But he didn't publish his records until 1856.  You snooze, you lose.

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft came LOOKING for the headwaters in 1832, named this place Lake Itasca which means "true source," and published his finding.

 IT'S NOT A HOAX!  IT'S THE REAL McCOY, er, MISSISSIPPI!