Grand Rapids, Minnesota

transporting logs by floating them downriver

1,742 miles

March 13 – Grand Rapids was originally founded as a logging town, as the Mississippi River provided an optimal method of log shipment to population centers.  The long local rapids in the Mississippi River were the uppermost limit of practical steamboat travel during the late 19th century, but today those rapids are hidden underneath the dam of the Blandin Paper Mill.

There are about 10,869 people in the city today, about 95% of them White.

modern Blandin paper mill yard

The Mesabi Range (or Iron Range) region of Minnesota contains several iron mines around Grand Rapids, but the town’s economy has been historically based on paper manufacturing and other wood products.  

The town's current economy also has a large tourist component, with many local resorts, four golf courses, over a million acres of forestlands that offer hunting, and more than 1,000 lakes for fishing.  It also is the service center for 46,000 people due to a large seasonal and weekend population.

The Forest History Center is a State Historic Site and a living history museum that recreates life as it was in a turn-of-the-20^th-century logging camp.  Costumed interpreters guide visitors through a replica of a 1890s logging camp to educate the public on the history of white pine logging and its relevance to today's economy.

wood waste biomass generates electricity

The North American paper industry is in rapid decline. Historically the most powerful resource in the forests of Minnesota, lumber mills have cut thousands of workers and are competing for a shrinking market.  Paper mills are experimenting with renewable energy options.  Blandin Paper Mill  is now powered in part by wood waste from quick-growing tree species.  

paper mill info & image:  http://www.startribune.com/nov-18-2012-as-society-sheds-paper-an-industry-shrinks/179601951/