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Forest History Center - visitors center - closed because of a shortage of workers.
(Deer hunting season was open, maybe it was closed for "a" season.)

Mississippi a few miles downstream from Ball Club Lake. Several marshy areas
were seen as I approached the source. The river must have branched out throough
the marsh and rejoined here.

Lake Itasca State Park - visitors center. Itasca was a named coined by Henry
Rowe Schoolcraft in 1832. It is derived from latin and means "true head". Schoolcraft
with the help of Ozawindib, an indian guide, was able to document the true head of the
the Mississippi.

Mary Gibbs - Mississippi Headwaters Center - is a short distance from the
source. Lake Itasca, Minnesota's first state park, was established as a state park in
1891. It has over 500,000 visitors each year.

Pedestrian bridge across the river and on the path to the source.

Original pedestrian bridge built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930's.
Their task was convert a sluggish, dirty, swampy source to one of beauty fit for the
"Source of the Father of Waters".

The first bridge across the Might Mississippi; just tens of yards from the source.

Lake Itasca - the lake as viewed from the source.

The source, the row of rocks where the magical conversion of lake water into river
water occurs. And a thank you to the CCC for concentrating the conversion to this one line
instead of over a dirty swampy area.

Click HERE to return to Mississippi River Road Trip index