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The Big Marsh : the story of a lost landscape
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Online
- Summary
-
"An environmental history of Freeborn County, Minnesota's Big Marsh, which was tilled and drained 130 years ago at public expense for agricultural purposes. Told from a personal point of view, this...
"An environmental history of Freeborn County, Minnesota's Big Marsh, which was tilled and drained 130 years ago at public expense for agricultural purposes. Told from a personal point of view, this story shows the enduring value of wild places and the importance of the fight to preserve them, both then and now"--
Details
- Creator
- Cheri Register
- Format
- Books
- Language
- English
- Publication
-
- St. Paul, MN : Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2016
- Physical Details
-
- 1 online resource : illustrations, maps
- data file
- ISBNs
- 9780873519960, 0873519965, 9780873519953, 0873519957, 9780873519953
- OCLC
- ocn947858917
- Includes bibliographical references.
- English.
- Part I. The lay of the land. Hollandale : an introduction ; Freeborn County : home, but no biome ; Looking for the Big Marsh -- Part II. Life on the Big Marsh. No empty landscape ; The grid that turned land to a commodity ; Homing on the Marsh : the Speers ; The trip from Otranto revisited ; Claiming the high ground : the Ostranders ; Hazards ; What counts as a lake? ; The evolution of the drainage ditch ; A watershed year : 1877 ; A new home on the prairie : a speculation ; Fire on the Marsh -- Part III. The big ditch. The alleged conniver : Putnam Dana McMillan ; The first drainage ; The middle man : William A. Morin ; Robert Speer travels through time ; Eighteen yoke of oxen ; "The Great Ricelawn Ranch" ; A change of hands bodes a change of lands ; What's black and white and grazes all over? ; The second try ; New man about town : John Felix Dryden Meighen ; The people protest ; How to read a flying bundle of twine ; A lone voice for the environment : Fred McCall ; Counterarguments ; The Moscow farm prospers ; Meighen in court and courting ; The winning strategy ; Rice Lake and the Big Marsh go down the drain ; The Swamp Angel plays Cupid ; The new model farmer ; The victor's history ; The mysterious fall of Bryant Barber and other endings -- Part IV. Restoration and restitution. From booty to beauty ; Wo Wacintanka ; For the birds
Subjects
- Marshes -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- History.
- Drainage -- Environmental aspects -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- History.
- Drainage -- Economic aspects -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- History.
- Agriculture -- Environmental aspects -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- History.
- Landscape changes -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- History.
- Landscape protection -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- History.
- Businessmen -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- Biography.
- Real estate developers -- Minnesota -- Freeborn County -- Biography.
- Freeborn County (Minn.) -- Environmental conditions.
- Freeborn County (Minn.) -- Economic conditions.