Source
of the Chapter Name:
The chapter took its name from the Itasca Moraine, which
is the dominant landform over which the trail will traverse. Itasca is an end moraine, formed when the Wadena Lobe
stopped moving southward and began its retreat at the end of the Wisconsinan
glaciation which took place 75,000 to 10,000 years before the present. An end
moraine is an irregular, hilly deposit of till at the ice margin or toe of
the ice sheet. Often a huge chunk of ice, buried by debris, becomes isolated
from the glacier. It then slowly melts, and leaves a collapsed pit of debris.
This is called a kettle or ice-block, which often becomes a kettle lake when
conditions are right. Along the margins of the glacier, wet sediment
collects, then settles and slumps, forming hummocks and uneven terrain. A
chain of lakes often forms along these glacial margins. This moraine has a
very irregular surface with large numbers of depressions without surface
drainage.
The Itasca Moraine contains many scattered small kettle lakes and a chain
of lakes called the Gulch
Lakes lies along its
northern border. The topography is very hilly, providing some challenging
hiking and excellent vistas. The Itasca Moraine is surrounded by pitted
outwash plains that have excessively drained soils. As a result, its
vegetation was subject to regularly recurring fires that originated on the
outwash plains, and it became dominated by fire-dependent plant communities
containing upland conifers or aspen and paper birch. The present forest
contains much more aspen and paper birch than prior to European immigrant
settlement.
The elevation ranges from 1,100 to 1,890 feet (335 to 576 m)
Source of the
Word "Itasca"
The headwaters of the Mississippi proved elusive to early
explorers. There were many attempts that ended in failure. Those failures
were due to in large part to the unique terrain formed by the impact of
several major overlapping glaciers that covered this area over a period of
2.5 billion years.
In 1832, An Anishanabe guide Ozawindib guided explorer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
to the source of the Mississippi River at Lake
Itasca, now part of Itasca State Park. It was on this journey
that Schoolcraft, with the help of an educated missionary companion (William
Thurston Boutwell), created the name Itasca
from the Latin words for "truth" and "head" by linking
adjoining syllables: verITAS CAput, meaning "true head." 1
In addition, the Chapter will promote and celebrate the
sections of the trail which are located within the boundaries of the Chippewa National Forest
and Itasca State Park. (Essentially NCT Map
MN-10)
Regarding the
Chip and the Park
In addition to the Chapter boundaries defined in the
heading, the Itasca Moraine Chapter promotes and celebrates the sections of
the trail which are located within the boundaries of the Chippewa National Forest
and Itasca
State Park.
Chapter
Saying:
"I have been told that when we walk the land our
breath falls to the earth and in that place we are remembered always.
Therefore, on a certain fragrant day, I considered all who had climbed these
hills before me, stepped through fallen leaves and walked beneath the pine. I
thought of those who were coming, too. Surely they will remember that our
living breath has fallen in this place and cannot be removed from our good
and ancient land." .. Anne M Dunn (Anishanaabe Ojibwe Grandmother
Story-teller)
Links
to Itasca Moraine Chapter Pages
Home Page - Work Days Signup - Trails Day
- Charter - Bylaws- Members and Officers -
Trail
Completed
Agenda - Events - Essay - New Member Invitation
1.http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/itasca/narrative.html
Website maintained by Jerry
Trout
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