Back Roads

This week’s Back Roads is the work of The Land Correspondent Tim King. Photos by Jan King. Wayfinding finding

Visual artist and master jingle dress maker Adrienne M. Benjamin and the city of Little Falls have teamed up to create a series of artistic and historical displays which celebrate the connection between Native Americans and European settlers in the Little Falls area.

Benjamin is an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe, from the Chiminising community some miles north of Little Falls in central Minnesota.

The project is called the Wayfinding Project and the displays can be found in four Little Falls city parks and one Morrison County park. Three of the displays are located in riverside parks and emphasize Little Falls’ strong connection to the Mississippi River.

It was an adventure locating some of the parks. We recommend using a printed city map, or an app located on the city’s website. Riverside Park, at 1st St. NE, is a tiny pocket park just big enough for the three panel display and a bench to watch the river, 30 feet below, flow by. It wasn’t far from here that the Ojibwe and Dakota people signed the Treaty of 1837 which ceded millions of acres of land to the United States. The Native Americans retained the right to hunt, fish and gather on the ceded land, one of the display panels tells visitors.

Mill Park, at 5th Ave. SW, and on the other side of the river, is easier to find. It has a picnic shelter and tables, but no amenities. The view of the river gives a nice perspective of the Burlington Northern bridge and the far shore. You are just downstream of the Minnesota Power hydro-electric dam and what is one of Minnesota’s largest waterfalls.

Le Bourget park is a large park on the west side of the river — easily seen from the bridge crossing the river. The park is on Paul Larson Memorial Drive; and, because of the railroad tracks, is best approached from the west immediately after crossing the bridge.

Little Falls and Le Bourget, France (a Parisian suburb) are sister cities and the park’s name celebrates that relationship. Charles Lindberg, of aviation fame and a Little Falls native, landed his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, at Le Bourget airport in 1927. The Wayfinding displays are at the south end of the park.

There is another display at Pine Grove Park on Broadway Ave. on the east side of town. The parks’ massive red pines are worth a visit.

A fifth display is planned for Belle Prairie County Park, on the river north of town.

More information can be had by contacting the Little Falls’ visitors bureau at (320) 616-4959. v

Little Falls, Minn.