Lake Itasca: Where the Mississippi Starts

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: GoNoMad Travel | November 12, 2021

https://www.gonomad.com/179461-lake-itasca-where-the-mississippi-starts

Clearing Your Head at the Headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota

One of the best, healthiest things you can do for yourself when you need to clear your head is to get into nature.

When there’s time to get out, going into state parks is an excellent, often less populous, alternative to National Parks.

Minnesotans are particularly fortunate with the availability of Lake Itasca and the Lake Itasca State Park in the northern portion of the state. 

Home to the Mississippi Headwaters, it’s an idyllic place to clear your head, press reset, and return refreshed and renewed. Learn, hike, bike, boat, swim, camp, explore, drive, eat, shop … this park has it all.

“Those who step across the Mississippi at its source will live a long and happy life”   Native American legend

History of Lake Itasca

The Mississippi River, the “Father of Rivers,” journeys 2,552 miles across the United Sates from north central Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Explorers began the search for the head of the Mississippi headwaters in the 1700s. But it wasn’t until Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, led by prominent Ojibwe, Ozaawindib, returned in 1832 that other theories were discounted. His work was confirmed by Joseph Nicollet, then challenged by Willard Glazier. 

Jacob V. Brower, a surveyor historian, confirmed the lake as the actual true source once he determined that Lake Itasca was the “bottommost reservoir” contributing water to the Mississippi. Brower worked tirelessly throughout the remainder of his life to protect the pine forest, which ultimately led to state park status in 1891.