The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has recently begun to allow the development of EarthCaches in its Scientific and Natural Resource Areas. Please take a moment to go over the guidelines to be observed during a visit to any of the 160 SNA's throughout the state: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/rules.html
The year is 1882. Josiah A. King and his three-man survey crew travel 40 miles from the nearest white settlement "the Grand Rapids of the Mississippi". For a month, canvas tents are their homes and flour, pork, beans and dried apples their rations. Josiah and his crew are finishing the last of three contracted townships in one of the first land surveys of Minnesota's northwoods.
November winds swirl snow around the hearty men as they survey the six square mile area between Moose and Coddington Lakes. Perhaps it was the chilling weather, or all the desolate swamps that caused the crew to plot Coddington Lake about a half mile further northwest than it actually lies. Josiah's error is our good fortune. Since the towering pines found here were mapped as being under water, they were spared the woodsmen's axe.
Like the National Monuments in Washington, D.C., the old growth pines of the Lost Forty bear witness to our national heritage. These white and red pines are 150-350 years old, some originating when the pilgrims first came to America. The trees remain as remnants of the natural resources that drew people to new frontiers, shaping our nations character.
Old-growth trees made up about a third of Minnesota's forests before lumber barons set their sights on them in the 1880's. Today, fewer than 2,000 acres of old growth pine remain. The Lost Forty stands as a proud monument of its legacy.
So why did these trees grow to such amazing heights, and flourish here? One of the reasons is that the old growth trees of the Lost 40 are growing on an esker, which is a raised ridge of gravel and sand. The gravelly, sandy ridge is of a higher elevation than the surrounding land, and has provided a well-drained platform above the black spruce and tamarack bog on one side of the esker, and the willow and alder marsh on the other.
Geologists debate that the majority of eskers are formed within a glacier, as a stream of meltwater flows through a tunnel in the ice. Like any river or stream, these meltwater streams within a glacier carry sediment along with the water. Once the glacier has melted away, the tunnel where the stream was flowing is gone too. What's left is the sediment the stream carried, usually shaped in a winding, snake-like pattern just like most rivers and streams you can see today.
The sediment here consist of drift and outwash left by the Rainy Lobe, and more recently the St. Louis sub-lobe of the Grantsburg-Des Moines Lobe (all glaciers that have covered this area in the past, about 10,500-20,500 years ago). The course material of granitic gravel and sandy till have provided a basis for these massive red and white pines to thrive. The red pines are so named because of their scaly, red colored bark, while the white pines have a corky, gray bark.
Thanks to a human error, this small section was spared, and we are still able to gaze in awe at their incredible presence. Of note, Minnesota's state red pine "Big Tree Champion" is located here, with a height of 120 feet and a circumference of 115 inches.
To log this EarthCache, take a tour along the trail, and complete the following task:
1. During your hike take an elevation reading at the posted coordinates, and again at the Moose Brook waypoint - the difference between them is the approximate height of the esker. What was your result (feet/meters)?
While not a requirement for logging this, or any EarthCache, any photos you may include with your log will be appreciated.
Send your results to the cache owner listed at the top of the page; click on their name, then either the "send e-mail" or "send message" links.
Lost 40 SNA is located within the Chippewa National Forest, a Forest Reserve of over 650,000 acres administered by the U.S. Forest Service. During your visit to Lost 40 Scientific and Natural Area please practice "Leave No Trace" ethics. Simply put, take out anything you might bring in (water bottles, snack wrappers, etc.) Picnicking and camping are not permitted within Lost 40 SNA, but the U.S. Forest Service allows picnicking in the parking area, which they own and maintain (there is a modern vault toilet located there as well). Off-road vehicles of any type can cause extensive damage to this sensitive ecological area, therefore 4-wheelers, mountain bikes, snowmobiles etc. are not permitted. Hunting is allowed with the proper licenses, be sure to wear blaze orange during the fall firearms hunting season. Leave plants, animals, rocks, and other natural elements in place to fulfill their life cycle and role in the environment.
For more information about the Mn DNR's SNA program visit here: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/index.html, for Lost 40 SNA please see: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/detail.html?id=sna01063. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources also encourages you to follow them on their Facebook page to keep abreast of new developments and possibly volunteer or help out in their conservation efforts.
References:
-Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Lost 40 Scientific and Natural Resource Area
-Ojakangas, Richard W. and Charles L. Matsch, "Minnesota's Geology" University of Minnesota Press, 1982
-Bray, Edmund c., "Billions of Years in Minnesota - The Geological Story of the State" The Science Museum of Minnesota, 1977, 1985
