Northwest Angle - Politics and Popular Culture

Politics and Popular Culture

Because of laws restricting fishing, some residents of the Northwest Angle suggested leaving the United States and joining Canada in 1997. The following year, U.S. Representative Collin Peterson proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow the residents of the Northwest Angle, which is part of his district, to vote on seceding from the United States and joining Canada, angering the leaders of Red Lake Indian Reservation, which holds most of the Northwest Angle's land. This proposed amendment was introduced to bring equity (under NAFTA) to alleged irregularities in the ways differing nationalities were treated on the Canadian portion of Lake of the Woods. US fishermen were not allowed to keep any gamefish caught in Ontario, unless they were actually staying at Canadian lodging facilities. This was later repealed by Ontario officials once a court action was initiated.

Author Tim O'Brien popularized knowledge of the location with his bestselling novel In the Lake of the Woods, set in the Angle, and to a lesser extent, his short story "On the Rainy River".

The Danny Orlis series of books, a Christian fiction series for youth, were largely set in the Northwest Angle.

The Northwest Angle was noted by host Brian Unger in the History Channel documentary How the States Got Their Shapes, as a "blip on the top of Minnesota that was the result of treaties long ago".

Ernie Pyle, in his book Home Country, wrote several pages about the Northwest Angle and its residents.

William Kent Krueger's 2011 novel Northwest Angle takes place in the area.