Brainerd Minnesota
Brainerd Minnesota |
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Below is a view of the Mississippi River as it flows through Brainerd. 
Just the FactsNOTE: The data that follows derives primarily from the 1990 U.S. census and as such is a decade out of date. Comparative data for the U.S. at large and for the St. Louis metro area are presented to establish perspective. St. Louis was chosen because it is the largest city on the river as well as smack dab in the middle. Brainerd is a twin city. Brainerd is the original town, but directly west across the river is Baxter. Without the river to create an obvious border I imagine Baxter would just be west Brainerd. Baxter's population is one fourth the size of Brainerd's population. The figures below include both communities.
Minnesota is the land of ten thousand lakes. Brainerd is centered in Minnesota's premier lake region with nearly 500 lakes within a 30 mile radius of town. From the accompanying map you can get a feel for just how much water actually surrounds Brainerd. This is fishing and boating paradise hands down. In the summer Brainerd's population easily doubles as the resorts fill up with vacationer's eager to claim their ten day slice of paradise and land that champion walleye or play golf in the cool pine scented air (I counted 15 golf courses!).
Like Bemidji at the other end of the trail, Brainerd uses Paul Bunyan as a theme to focus many of it's tourist attractions which includes a Paul Bunyan theme park complete with rides and two story tall statues of Paul and Babe. Restaurants in town have names like "The Blue Ox" or "Paul's Flapjack House," and so on and so on and on and on. . . . The streets in the center of town are adorned by a number of whimsical wood sculptures depicting events in Paul's life. Although I'd had quite enough of Paul Bunyan from just driving into town, I nonetheless enjoyed these carvings; they went a long way to soften the otherwise more crass commercialism for which poor Paul and Babe are so shamelessly exploited. The photo below is of Pat McVay's carving; the plaque reads,"Paul weighed 88 pounds at birth. It took five storks to deliver him when he was born." |
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When Isaac and I arrive in a new city on the river, one of the first places I look for is the local history museum. Isaac generally grumbles but he comes along. Isaac is a bright young fellow and more than open enough to advancing his education, but he is after all eleven years old. Brainerd is a point of major change for the Mississippi. Above Grand Rapids the Mississippi runs crystal clear. There is no trace of silt or other suspended material in the water. It is tannin stained from the evergreens along its banks, but it is clear as glass. As you approach Brainerd and, already evident in Aitkin 60 river miles above, the river picks up silt. For a long time Isaac and I did not know where the silt was comming from, but we suspected agriculture. We were wrong. The silt in the river comes from the river banks which are badly eroded. The river here is passing through the basin of an old glacial lake and the soil is glacial loess which is easily eroded by the river, especially in the Spring during high water. During high water the river is quite formidable as shown in the photograph below taken from Brainerd's city park and looking south. (This photo was taken in the late summer of 1999, a period of unusually high water in the Mississippi Headwaters.) A few miles below the city, the Mississippi is joined by the Crow Wing river and its size increases yet again. Crow Wing State Park is located at the confluence of the two rivers. |
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I can't finish this short description of Brainerd without mentioning the town's most famous landmark. Visible from all over the city and especially visible as you first drive into town, is the city's old water tower. It looks like a giant chess piece--a rook. It is painted white and when it catches the afternoon sun it positively glows. The city tourist information center is located at its base (along with yet another statue of guess who). The water tower has been neatly incorporated into the larger Paul Bunyan theme; it seems the tower used to serve as Babe's hitching post. Here's a photo of it rather dramatically lit by that late afternoon sun. 
LinksChamber of CommerceTourist info Paul Bunyan Trail Brainerd city webpage Brainerd Dispatch Central Lakes College Crow Wing State Park |
Brainerd/Baxter is the largest community in the headwaters region of the Mississippi. With a population of 16,000, Brainerd is the first place on the river that feels more like a city than a town. 
Brainerd, or rather Baxter, is the first community on the Mississippi that has been solidly blighted by the now ubiquitous U.S. commercial highway strip. That section of roadway not located in the city proper, but rather in the outlying suburbs, where there are no sidewalks or other allowances for pedestrians; where one strip mall follows another punctuated every mile or so by one Burger King, followed by two McDonalds, a Taco Bell, one Hardees and an occasional Dennys or buffet steak stop. In a smaller community like Brainerd, and in such a beautiful natural setting as surrounds Brainerd, this sprawling temple to our culture's automobile centric materialism is all the more ugly and absurd. I was quite depressed at the sight of it, and yet I must admit that Isaac and I were caught in its snare as we stopped for a quick drive-through breakfast on our way out of town.
Brainerd is also the terminus point of the Paul Bunyan Trail which extends a distance of 100 miles and connects Brainerd with Bemidji. Devoted to cycling, half the trail is now paved.
When the choice is between a history museum or throwing rocks in the river and spittin' off bridges, the museum is rightly going to lose. Well, the Crow Wing County history museum in Brainerd is so outstanding that after more than an hour perusing the exhibits, Isaac was still captivated. I was delighted. If you live within a days drive of Brainerd, and you've never visited the museum there, the address is 320 Laurel Street. In the summer months they're open 9:00 to 5:00 during the week and 9:00 to 1:00 on Saturday. The rest of the year they're open 1:00 to 5:00 during the week and 9:00 to 1:00 on Saturday. Go. If any of you folks in Brainerd are reading this, I hope you know that you have one of the finest local museums on the entire river. I speak with the authority of someone who has seen them all.