Koochiching: Pioneering Along the Rainy River Frontier

Discover one of the last frontiers in the contiguous 48 states, which were heralded as a great agricultural Garden of Eden. A divergent ethnic composition, long and severe winters, a short growing season, and muskeg swamps intensified the problems of this isolated frontier. But the natural forest and abundance of waterpower helped shape the area’s history. The author focuses on pioneers who settled within a 60 – 70 miles on the northern border of Minnesota in an area extending from Baudette on the west to Kettle Falls on the east. Realizing that this would be some of the last free land, the pioneers had hopes that were probably greater than on earlier frontiers.