Day 3: Mankato to Fergus Falls
By Reilly Albert and Zach Reed
Overview
We began our day in Mankato, and ended in Fergus Falls. We had a full day with many stops, first at a quarry, then on to New Ulm, the Lower Sioux Agency, Morton Outcrops SNA, Big Stone Wildlife Refuge, Browns Valley and Herman. It was relatively cloudy and chilly leaving Mankato, and this weather persisted for most of the day, with temperatures in the lower 50s.
Quarry
44°13'50"N 94°18'44"W
On the cloudy morning of September 29th we departed Mankato at 8am for a quarry just outside of town. This quarry is the field site for Minnesota State University, Mankato grad student Kira Kuehl's research. The quarry contains visible wind blown sediments from Big Stone Moraine, high angle cross beds, and an old oxbow lake where mammoth teeth were found.
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View of the quarry, the site of Kira Kuehl's fieldwork, as we saw it from the inside.
Photo by Zach Reed.
New Ulm
44°18'24"N 94°28'22"W
After the quarry we headed west to New Ulm. We arrived at New Ulm’s “Hermann the German” statue at 9:20am. Zachary shared with us the story of this monument. Completed in 1897, the monument celebrates a German war hero who is remembered for stopping the Romans as the Rhine River. Hermann the German stands 102 feet tall and faces east towards Rome. New Ulm is home to a large population of citizens with German ancestry. Departing the statue we drove through the heart of New Ulm, observing German architecture, Lutheran churches and empty storefronts.
Our next event of the day was driving through the T-town of Morgan. This small town with a population of just over 800 people sits along Minnesota County Road 2 and the railway. Many T-towns were developed in the great plains with the rise of railroads and western expansion. The top of the “T” is generally the railroad and along the perpendicular runs main street. With the decline of railroads, many T-town economies have also declined (Lee 2011).
Hermann the German Monument
Photo by Zach Reed
Lower Sioux Agency
44°31'37"N 94°57'33"W
Minutes down the road, we arrived at the Lower Sioux Agency. The agency now operates as a museum and is managed by the Dakota Community. Historically it distributed goods but was notoriously mismanaged. At the museum we watched a short video on the history of the Sioux and received a guided tour before exploring on our own. We saw a traditional teepee, among many other cultural items, and walked around a historical stone warehouse. It was beneficial to learn more about native culture, and our tour guide was very informative and welcoming.
Andrew Cotter, Emily Huerta and Garry Running examine artifacts at the Lower Sioux Agency
Photo by Zach Reed
Morton Outcrops Scientific Natural Area
44°33'04"N 94°59'31"W
From the Lower Sioux Agency, we headed to Morton Outcrops Scientific Natural Area. On our way we passed by Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel. This casino brings in a substantial amount of revenue and jobs for the native community. For our fifth official stop of the day, we walked across some of the oldest rocks in the world, located in Morton. The Morton Outcrops Scientific Natural Area is home to exposed craton dating back more than 3.6bya, predating single-cell life. A craton is the base layer of a continent. These rocks are the second oldest known in the world and reach as far as central Kansas. Heading north we stopped for a quick group photo in Olivia, the corn capital of Minnesota.
Garry Running sharing his knowledge about the 3.6bya rocks
Pictured (left to right): Alex Huddock, Sam Kuhlmann, Tristan McGlauchlen, Megan Kangas, Makayla Jones-Klausing, Garry Running, Zachary Kosel, Kenz Hendrickson, Reilly Albert, Zach Reed, Emily Huerta, Cole Perkins, Andrew Cotter.
Photo by Ezra Zeitler
Big Stone Wildlife Refuge
45°15'20"N 96°24'12"W
At 3:15 we arrived at Big Stone Wildlife Refuge, an area full of even more exposed Morton Gneiss craton. We departed the vans for a class walk to the river, following the Granite Outcrop Trail. Here we saw cactus species which are endemic to this specific area. Big Stone received its name due to the massive boulders exposed here. The origin of these rock formations are currently under debate. Tim Fisher proposed these boulders were transported here during the flood of Lake Agassiz. Dr. Phil Larson argues that these rocks are exposed Paleozoic formations resulting in modern day bornhardts. Further research needs to be conducted to resolve this debate.
Class photo at Browns Valley
Pictured (from left to right) Top Row: Kenz Hendrickson Middle Row: Zach Reed, Sam Kuhlmann, Makayla Jones-Klausing, Alex Huddock, Tristan McGlauchen, Andrew Cotter Bottom Row: Zachary Kosel, Cole Perkins, Megan Kangas, Emily Huerta, Reilly Albert
Photo by Ezra Zeitler
Herman
45°48'29"N 96°08'39"W
From Browns Valley we headed northeast through the town of Herman. Herman is another T-town and home to 437 people. This small German town is host to Lutheran and Methodist churches. Leaving Herman, we drove over many ancient beaches of Glacial Lake Agassiz (Thorleifson 1996). Our final stop of the day was at a giant beet pile, which we promptly tasted. Beets are a common crop in the Red River Valley as well as west central Minnesota, and it was great to see an area where so many were collected (Hart 2002: 162). We ended our day arriving in Fergus Falls at about 7pm.
Walking around Big Stone Wildlife Refuge, we had to mind our step for endemic cactus species. Photo by Zach Reed.
Browns Valley
45°35'43"N 96°50'27"W
Our eighth stop of the day was in Browns Valley, located at the subcontinental drainage divide separating the Minnesota River and Red River watersheds. This is also between Lake Traverse and Big Stone Lake. This location is where Glacial Lake Agassiz began draining via Glacial River Warren about 10,000 years ago (Fisher 2002: 273).
A sugar beet that many students had the opportunity to sample. Photo by Reilly Albert.
Garry Running strolling alongside the massive pile of beets near Herman.
Photo by Zach Reed.
Works Cited
Fisher, T. G. 2003. Chronology of glacial Lake Agassiz meltwater routed to the Gulf of Mexico. Quaternary Research 59 (2):271–276.
Hart, J. F., and S. S. Ziegler. 2008. Landscapes of Minnesota: a geography. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.
Lee, R. A. 2011. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. T-Towns. http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.ct.050 (last accessed 9 November 2019).
Thorleifson, L. H., 1996. Review of Lake Agassiz history. In J. T. Teller, L. H. Thorleifson, G. Matile, & W. C. Brisbin (eds.), Sedimentology, Geomorphology, and History of the Central Lake Agassiz Basin. Geological Association of Canada Field Trip Guidebook for GAC/MAC Joint Annual Meeting: 55–84.