Have you ever looked at a map of the United States of America and wondered what the deal was with the northern border of Minnesota? That little part there that sticks out above the rest of the state, completely out of place. Still not sure what I’m talking about? Check out it out on a slightly zoomed in Google Map of northern Minnesota. See that part there, southeast of Winnipeg, Canada? Today I finally stopped wondering and did a little research.
It turns that this little chunk of the U.S. has a name, The Northwest Angle. As you can see when looking at it closely there is a no land access to this portion of Minnesota, you can only get their via Canada or crossing the Lake of the Woods. This hasn’t stopped a small town from forming there; Angle Township, Minnesota. The population? 152 people.
So how did the U.S. end up with this odd little bit of land? The short answer: inaccurate maps. When negotiating treaties and land purchases early in U.S. history some of the maps of the day were simply wrong. They weren’t aware of some geographic features of the area and assumed certain things. They turned out to be incorrect and so we have this additional bit of land above Minnesota.
Now you know.
One reply on “The Northwest Angle of Minnesota”
My understanding is that the error was less a result of inaccurate maps, and more a direct result of an inaccurate calculation of the length of the Mississippi River.