Why "Nobody" Lives In Northern And Western Minnesota

Sorry ya'll! I told you there would be hiccups. Apparently the chat doesn't last that long. 😣 We'll try again next week!

As a person who lived in Northern Minnesota, you omitted the mining industry. It provided iron ore for the nation's steel industry from the 1890s to the late1970s. Ore was shipped to Duluth, Minnesota, put on ore ships and transported east. Mining operations are still ongoing but on a much smaller scale.

I am befuddled that the greatest thing about Minnesota's geography was not even mentioned: it has three continental divides, resulting in three different directions of river flow.

Ojibwe is pronounced oh-JIB-way. The French couldn’t say it which is why we’re also called Chippewa. These are names given by others. We call ourselves Anishinaabe.

About Fargo's relationship with Minnesota, for those either not from Minnesota and North Dakota or not otherwise already familiar due to being geography nerds, Fargo has a sister city across the Red River called Moorhead. In fact, much like the much larger Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul further south in eastern Minnesota, the more modestly-sized neighboring cities to the northwest of the official "Twin Cities" are often hyphenetically-linked as "Fargo-Moorhead" as a regional-identifier, despite being split between two neighboring states

I'm a Minnesota Swede who lives in the northern part of the state. I feel truly blessed to have been raised here, and have come to the conclusion it is one of the most unique cultural places in the United States. The vast amount of natural resources and beauty, a shared cultural history between the ethnic groups you mentioned, and the general tight-knit feel of the small rural communities gives one a sense of meaning that so many Americans have likely lost. Our education system is also phenomenal, even in rural Minnesota. We simply produce healthier people in both a mental and physical sense. You'd think that after 4-6 generations of our ancestors coming from the old countries that we'd be infinitely different, but traditions have really hung on here. Foods such as Lefse, Swedish Meatballs, Lutefisk, and pickled herring are still eaten with regularity. Lots of Oktoberfest celebrations. Legions of nordic skiers, ice anglers and general outdoorspeople who live off and with the land. And of course our Ojibwe neighbors who produce the best wild rice and maple syrup. We are everyday people who may not have much money, but have character and integrity. I've been able to venture throughout the U.S and have even lived in Europe, but there is just something special about Minnesota.

The "pretty empty" area has a ton of cabins, national forests and state parks. Although not many people live there year round it is heavily utilized by residents.

Our daughter was born in Fort Frances Ontario, across the Rainy River from International Falls, Minnesota. A fun fact is that the twin towns of Moosylvania and Frostbite Falls in the cartoon world of Rocky and Bullwinkle Moose are based on Fort Frances and International Falls. Rocky, the Flying Squirrel, and Bullwinkle Moose are Americans, living in Frostbite Falls. Dudley Doright of the Mounties enforces Canadian federal laws in Moosylvania.

I drove to a fishing trip at Lake of the Woods in Canada from Wisconsin, and Minnesota was literally 1 massive dense forest from our point of view. Only 3 or 4 tiny little towns the entire way from the tip of Lake Superior all the way to the border of Canada. Lots of great scenic views!

My aunt and cousin lived in northern Minnesota their whole lives. She lived on a lake in a birch tree forest, loons calling, wolves howling, bear hanging out on the porch. Fresh caught fish for breakfast, helpful Mennonite neighbors. And yes, very cold winters.

As someone who has spent my entire 51+ years on the Iron Range, I am a bit disappointed that mining wasn't really addressed in the video. Plus, St Louis County is the biggest county East of the Mississippi River - and it's bigger than 3 US States! Yes, Duluth is the biggest city up this way, but there are lots of people who live here too - just not as many as the Twin Cities Metro Area (unless you take a census during the weekends in summer). There has been a lot of logging up here as well. There's much more to the non Metro areas than just lakes, rock & trees. The -60°F low air temperature record could've at least gotten a shout-out. 😉 Northern Minnesota does traditionally have crazy cold winter temperatures - but rarely shuts down because of the weather. Lake Superior has a big impact on the region as well. Both sets of my Finnish great grandparents came to Northeastern Minnesota in the early 1900s (as did several of their siblings/cousins). Their extended family immigrated here to Northeastern Minnesota, to the UP of Michigan & up to Thunder Bay Ontario. My grandparents are first generation Americans. My dad & 2 of his 4 sisters spoke Finnish as their first language & had to learn English to start kindergarten. Grandma's dad owned a logging camp near Ely but they lived in Sparta which is an old mining location that is older than Gilbert. Many family members & neighbors worked in the Sparta mine at the time. I grew up in my grandma's parents house (it was once a school) & my parents owned my grandpa's parents farm up near Cook as a tree farm. My mom's German dad's family immigrated to the Winona area in the late 1800s. I know much less about the southeast region of Minnesota since I have only been down there a few times when I was young - my grandpa drove his metal wheeled tractor to central Wisconsin as a young man & got married - that's where my mom grew up.

MN had a serious role in the fur trade and bringing wild rice to tables around the globe. Wild rice grows in basically every lake around me in easily harvestable quantities. Temperture variation? At my house, winter lows are below negative 50 without taking windchill into account. Summers get into the 90s. Biggest town with 100 miles in any direction has 11,000 people.

My name is not "Nobody" but I too live in his or her area of Minnesota. As a somewhat reclusive farmer, I like it that most of the people of the state are crammed together into the southeast of the state. We get to see a lot of them, however, during the summer, when they vacation in their remote cabins, and in the spring and fall as they rush to our area on the weekends and holidays for fishing and hunting and then rush back to their cities to work. I admire their wisdom in abandoning the cities whenever they can to get a taste of the good life. And, you know it has to be good if they put so much time, energy, and money into commuting long distances to experience it, if only briefly. The only drawback to having so many citizens packed into that tiny area is that our votes in "Nobody" land don't seem to count for a lot when decisions are made that affect all of us. But we have advantages of small, tightly knit communities that watch out for one another, and good friends with whom to complain about government and the weather and such. Ya, life in Minnesota's "Nobody" region is pretty sweet for those who love the beauties of nature, sporadically interrupted solitude, and snowshoeing or cross-country skiing or snowmobiling. And did I mention hunting and fishing? Life is very good in Minnesota's "Nobofy" country. But keep that a secret, won't you?

One interesting geographical fact that you missed is that three major watersheds (Mississippi River, Red River and St Louis River) create a continental divide as they all drain into different oceanic bodies of water. Mississippi to Gulf of Mexico, Red River to Hudson’s Bay and St Louis River to Lake Superior and outward to St Lawrence Seaway. In fact in the town of Brown’s Valley the source of Minnesota River and a source of the Red River are less than three miles apart and when the area floods in spring the flow can change from outgoing water to Hudson’s Bay or Gulf of Mexico. Also, the lowest elevation is at Lake Superior meaning the highest elevation and the lowest elevation are within miles of each other in the same county…and if lakes here were measured in size as they are in Wisconsin we would have over 20,000 lakes.

As a Minnesotan, thanks for highlighting our unique state!

My dad grew up in Ely, MN which is way up north near Boundary Waters and my grandpa lived up there until his passing.

You forgot about Virginia, MN iron mine, which supplied most the the iron for steel production for use during the first and second world wars.

During the pandemic, the Northwest Angle was isolated from the rest of Minnesota. Land travel from south Minnesota to the Angle had to pass through Canada, which had strict and onerous border enforcement. In the winter, enterprising Minnesotans created ice highways through Lake Of The Woods and charged fees to use them. These highways allowed the Angle to stay viable during those hard times.

As a Minnesotan, I'll give a lot of credit for doing a good job on this. What some sports fans might not realize is that the Los Angeles Lakers were originally from Minneapolis, and were named after ...our lakes, of course. ;)

Not mentioned was Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range "that boosted the national economy, contributed to the Allied victory in World War II, and cultivated a multiethnic regional culture in northeast Minnesota."