The original courthouse built on this site in 1887 included a jail and sheriff's residence. It served a population of about 2,000 people. As a logging town, Aitkin became a railhead and an important stopping point for boats on the Mississippi . . . — — Map (db m127867) HM
This is the site of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Biological Survey Camp 3. Serving as the home of Company 2705 from 1939 to 1941, as many as 23 buildings were once located here to house and support 200 men.
[Captions:] Crew . . . — — Map (db m210895) HM
On 363rd Lane at Minnesota Route 65, on the right when traveling west on 363rd Lane.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), what began as a Depression era work program, became an important building block to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wildlife Refuge System. In 1939, seven thousand Corps participants worked at 35 . . . — — Map (db m210281) HM
On Mandy Lake Access at 363rd Lane, on the left when traveling west on Mandy Lake Access.
Settlement
In the late 1800s, the first white settlers came to the area that is now the refuge. They were loggers, ranchers and market hunters. Loggers cut the pine trees from the land and floated them down the Rice River to the Mississippi . . . — — Map (db m210313) HM
Near State Highway 65, 0.6 miles 224th Place, on the right when traveling north.
In late 1850, some 400 Ojibwe Indians perished because of the government’s attempt to relocate them from their homes in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan to Minnesota west of the Mississippi River. The tragedy unfolded at Sandy Lake where thousands of . . . — — Map (db m206878) HM
On State Highway 65, on the right when traveling north.
Early water transportation on the Upper Mississippi River from St. Paul to St. Louis was hindered by fluctuating water levels. In 1878, the Corp of Engineers studied the impact of a reservoir system on the river. The study resulted in the building . . . — — Map (db m207887) HM
Near 531st Lane east of Highway 65, on the right when traveling north.
Of the American Fur Company was established near here about 1830, after an earlier location further south at the Northwest Company’s station had been abandoned.
William A. Aitkin for many years was a leading trader in this region. Indian . . . — — Map (db m207745) HM
On State Highway 65, on the right when traveling north.
This map shows the locations of some of the villages of the 19 Ojibwe Bands whose treaty annuities were paid at Sandy Lake in 1850. Today, these 19 Bands are succeeded by the 12 federally-recognized Bands whose present-day reservations also are . . . — — Map (db m207530) HM
On Minnesota Route 65, 0.2 miles south of 528th Lane, on the right when traveling north.
To the native Anishinabe (Ojibwe) and to the white fur traders who bartered with them in the late 1700s and early 1800s, no Minnesota lake had a more strategic location than Big Sandy Lake, which stands at the intersection of two major trade . . . — — Map (db m210859) HM
(side 1)
Glacial Lake Aitkin
Two million years ago the first of four glaciers covered the surface of Minnesota. They were named for the limit of their southward expansion. The first was the Nebraskan, followed by the Kansan and the . . . — — Map (db m43932) HM
