Category: Minnesota
The Mississippi Flows North
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/03/28Mar23-Lake-Itasca-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The Mississippi River flows over 2500 miles, southward through the Midwestern U.S. That is, unless you are here, where the…
The Beginning – Lake Itasca
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/03/27Mar23-Lake-Itasca-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico just south of New Orleans, Louisiana. But where does the mighty…
Birthplace of Sears
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/02/06Mar23-Sears-Birthplace-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)At one time, Sears was the largest retailer in the world. Today there are just a handful of stores that…
The Unwanted Watches That Built a Billion Dollar Company
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/02/03Mar23-Sears-Birthplace-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)There was a problem at the rail depot in North Branch, Minnesota. A box of watches had arrived, but the…
From Telegraph Operator to…?
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/02/02Mar23-Sears-Birthplace-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Richard was born in Minnesota. His father died while he was a boy and he got a job as a…
Loading the Largest of Ships
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/01/27Jan23-Two-Harbors-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)They are some of the largest boat docks you’ll ever see. Not mere spots on a lake from which to…
Two Harbors
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2023/01/26Jan23-Two-Harbors-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today Duluth, MN and Superior, WI are major shipping points on Lake Superior. However, turn back the clock a century…
Bright Paint for an Exclusive Club
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/04Nov22-Nanibajou-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Pick a paint color or new carpet for your home and it will probably fade over time. However, the paint…
Naniboujou Lodge
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/03Nov22-Nanibajou-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey were members of this exclusive club, yet they may have never set foot here. It’s…
The Halloween Capital of the World
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/31Oct22-Anoka-Minnesota-Halloween-Parade-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)The town of Anoka, Minnesota can make quite a claim. That title traces its history to a twelve year old…
Taming the Outhouse Tippers
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/10/28Oct22-Anoka-Minnesota-Halloween-Parade-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Anoka, Minnesota had a problem. Every Halloween the local kids were pulling all kinds of pranks – tipping outhouses, turning…
The Birch Bark Canoe
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/07Oct22-Grand-Portage-4.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Today you can find many canoes made from aluminum or fiberglass, but you don’t see many constructed of Birch bark. …
Too Far To Pay Taxes?
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/06Oct22-Grand-Portage-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Normally companies who operate illegally do so by carefully hiding their activities. This company made no such move to operate…
The 16-Week Paddle – To Where?
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/05Oct22-Grand-Portage-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine paddling a canoe for eight weeks, reaching your destination, and then turning around and paddling eight weeks back home. …
The Most Important Commodity?
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/04Oct22-Grand-Portage-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)What is the most important commodity in the world? There are a variety of answers you might get to that…
The Upper Midwest’s Destination for Grain
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/15Sep22-Duluth-Harbor-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Most farmers think of New Orleans as being a major grain handling port – and rightly so. However, for those…
One of the Busiest Ports in North America
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/09/14Sep22-Duluth-Harbor-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s one the largest and busiest ports in North America. That’s saying something when you consider ships can only reach…
Heroes of Hinkley
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/01Sep22-Hinkley-Minnesota-Fire-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Imagine a fire that could consume about 500 square miles in just four hours. Such a firestorm has not been…
The Race to Save the People of Hinkley
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/31Aug22-Hinkley-Minnesota-Fire-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It sounds like the script of an action adventure movie. A wall of fire approaches a city as townspeople rush…
Literal Firestorm Building
http://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2022/08/30Aug22-Hinkley-Minnesota-Fire-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)We’re all familiar with Smokey Bear and his warnings to prevent forest fires. But imagine a fire with fuel that…
