Reflections of the Revered North Country

Greetings~
This is the first of several entries regarding life in a very small town. However, you must first be educated on where this small town is located. After that will come the history and present details of my life within the small town.

When one discloses to others that he lives in International Falls, Minnesota, the initial reaction of most others are thoughts of cold, ice, snow, blizzards and where the frozen forest greets the Arctic tundra. Still, there are those remaining few others that believe International Falls is a blessing because it whispers the word "paradise" to those who conform to an outdoors lifestyle. There is plenty of hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and boating. The enthusiasm for fishing is not a well kept secret here: all local restaurant menus offer a taste of walleye (of which at least 50% of the restaurants prefer Canadian Walleye).

In the upper Midwest, Chicago and the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) are big city life. After that come the smaller big cities: Fargo, Duluth, St. Cloud, Rochester, Madison, Sioux Falls, Des Moines, etc.. Next are medium towns like Grand Forks, Minot, Bismarck, Bemidji, Grand Rapids. Finally, you hit small town: International Falls, Baudette, Fergus Falls, Lake Wobegon, and Hinckley. For those that may be reading this blog from locations such as New York, California or Texas, you may consider small towns to be villages. But do not presume that our smallness means our housing consists exclusively of igloos or tents.

When one looks at an atlas to determine at the geographical location of International Falls, it is breath taking. You start by finding Minnesota, then look at the chaos called the Twin Cities. Usually the Twin Cities is easiest to find on a map of Minnesota. After that point, it is fairly easy to become un-oriented with municipal geographical location. From there you begin scanning northwards past Duluth and the Iron Range. Keep going north until you hit the Canadian Border- and there you have "the Falls." The other method for finding our location is to turn on the Weather Channel and look for the coldest temperature along the Canadian Border that is still within the United States.

There are three major routes offering access to the Falls. From the west there is Minnesota Highway 11. From the south and western portion of Minnesota there is US Highway 71. From the easterly and southern portion of Minnesota there is US Highway 53. Highways 11 and 53 offer the most scenic routes, each lined with countless trees, tall grasses and full of wild life. It is not uncommon to spot deer, pheasants, ducks and moose along the roadside.

Once a person arrives in International Falls, it takes less than five minutes to leave the city limits and way too long to return home. As one may survey from the descriptions above, the Falls is the definition of geographical isolation. The town and county are shrinking in population. This is evidenced primarily in the county's most recent demographics study- also known as a census to the normal person. Second, when driving through town, there is a large number of homes available for purchase. Many of these have been on the market prior to my arrival and have failed to sell until this point. Third, when one encounters the several hotels available to tourists it is alarming to see the vacancy rate. The only hotels filled on regular weekend basis during tourist season are Holiday Inn, Days Inn, and Motel 6. Tourist season often begins on Minnesota Fishing Opener, which is usually the second weekend in May. The season winds down after Labor Day. Finding a hotel room on a weekday, regardless of whether it is tourist season, is obnoxiously easy.