Tour: Hallock, Karlstad, Crookston, and Angle Inlet, MN

I create this thread to showcase some of the small towns in extreme northwestern Minnesota. I visited in August 2013 but had medical issues shortly afterwards and my plan was swept into oblivion. Anyway, here goes.

Crookston

Crookston is the largest of these three "cities", and the only one that has a population meriting that name (7,891 as of 2010).


STNWM Crookston por tvdxer, en Flickr

Many residents commute 30 miles from here to Grand Forks.

Karlstad

Karlstad is a small town with an apparently Scandinavian theme throughout. It also prides itself on being "The Moose Capital of the North", as shown in the picture below:


STNWM Karlstad por tvdxer, en Flickr

According to Census data from Wikipedia, in 2000 99% of the town's population was white, 48% Norwegian, and 20% Swedish. It shows:


STNWM Karlstad 5 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Karlstad 4 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Karlstad 3 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Karlstad 2 por tvdxer, en Flickr

Hallock


STNWM Hallock 1 por tvdxer, en Flickr

Next up is Hallock. Hallock is the northwesternmost (and perhaps northernmost) community of any importance in Minnesota. Unfortunately, it is also the epitome of a dying prairie town. Its current population is 966, which is down from 1,196 in 2000 and 1,552 in 1950. It shows just as well:


STNWM Hallock 11 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 10 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 9 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 8 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 7 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 5 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 6 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 4 por tvdxer, en Flickr


STNWM Hallock 2 por tvdxer, en Flickr

Angle Inlet


NW-2 por tvdxer, en Flickr


A geographic curiosity, Angle Inlet is that little bit of land to the north of 49 degrees which is cut off from the rest of the state by Lake of the Woods, but contiguous with the Canadian province Manitoba. According to the 2010 census there were 152 people in the Northwest Angle in all and 60 in the community of Angle Inlet. The only way to access it in the summer is by a long expanse of dirt road in Manitoba (MB 308, to be exact...we almost ran out of gas there!) or by boat. In the winter many from the community use their snowmobiles to access the "mainland" (and yes, the Lake of the Woods is popular in the winter with ice fishers). Here's a little tour in addition to the video footage.

At the international border, you still have to clear US customs and immigration...by video phone.


NW-4 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-1 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-3 por tvdxer, en Flickr

Angle Inlet is basically a tourist economy, serving mainly recreational fishermen.


NW-5 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-6 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-7 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-8 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-10 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-11 por tvdxer, en Flickr

The schoolhouse (apparently it was the only remaining one-room schoolhouse in Minnesota, serving something like up to 8th grade...the older kids snowmobile across the lake in the winter to high school in Warroad, across the lake):


NW-12 por tvdxer, en Flickr


NW-13 por tvdxer, en Flickr

Many of the local businesses were closed, interestingly enough. The recession must have hit hard. The only restaurant we could find open was miles down the road:


Young's Bay Restaurant por tvdxer, en Flickr

In the parking lot we saw Manitoba, Ontario, Minnesota, Colorado, etc. license plates, even as far away as Alaska, so at least there's a resurgence in business.