Big Bog State Recreation Area - History

History

The Big Bog sits on the southeast side of glacial Lake Agassiz, formed during the last ice age. This former lake bottom is quite flat, with occasional hills of gravel deposits or rock. As the lake drained, this area slowly filled in with wetland plants and animals. The Ojibwe Indian tribe gathered blueberries, fished, and hunted game here until the late 19th century. In the 1920s and 1930s virtually all areas in the vicinity had their majestic old growth pine trees cut down as a massive logging effort swept through, but because of the swampy nature and lack of large stands of mature pines, the Big Bog area was relatively untouched. (Also see the Lost Forty in the Chippewa National Forest). Some efforts have been made to drain portions or harvest the peat, but met with little success. Scattered communities of mixed farming were relocated from some of the more remote areas during rural reform as part of the Rural Electrification Act during the 1930s and 1940s. The fishing-dependent community suffered after a disastrous fall in walleyed pike or walleye (Sander vitreus) population in both basins of Upper and Lower Red Lakes during the 1990s. In 2002 members of the Upper Red Lake Area Association pushed the idea of a new state park, soon after nearly 10,000 acres (40 km²) were classified as the Big Bog State Recreation Area.