Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 04/10/1997

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INTRODUCTION The Anoka County Board of Parks and Recreation believes that responsible planning for the fomre depends on an inventory of Mississippi West Regional Park and an analysis of the biophysical resources of the park. Students m the Natural Resource and Environmental Studies (NRES) program at the University of Minnesota were asked to inventory, analyze and develop recommendations for Mississippi West Regional Park. Study Area Description Mississippi West Regional Park is located in the city o£Rarnsey in Anoka County, Minnesota (Figure 1). The park is located on the north side of the Mississippi River and south of Highway 10 west of Ramsey Boulevard. The total area is 266.17 acres including two islands, Foster's and Cloquet. The site at one time was used primarily for agricultural production. Today the land is forested and in pasture. There are some agricultural fields maintained both for wildlife food supply and profit. Suburban and commercial development encompass the land around the park. Site History Mississippi West Regional Park is located in a corridor of history (Hanse, 1995; Szmanda, 1995; Mattson, 1995; Boos, 1995). In 1837 the nordawestem part of the state became open to settlement. Homesteaders came t~om Minneapolis, St. Paul and further east to settle the lands to the north and west. An ox cart trail, known as the Metropolitan Trail (Figure 2 ), extended northward from St. Paul and followed the Mississippi River up through Anoka County along the present day course of Highway 10. The trail migrated even further north through Fargo, North Dakota and finally ended at Pembina, North Dakota on the Canadian border. Even though homesteaders extensively used the waft to expand north and west, the largest use of the trail was the fur trade industa'y coming south to Minneapolis and St. Paul. Many small towns sprang up around the trail to take part in the trading activity. The first town to appear in Anoka County was Itasca Village. This town was perfectly situated for the trade activities that were going on with the ox waft on the northern border of the town and the Mississippi River at the southern border. Itasca Village was officially established in 1849, the year Minnesota became a territory, and was platted as a village by 1852. At the time, the people of Itasca Village were trying to turn their town into the capital of the Minnesota territory. The bill that was written to mm Itasca Village into the territorial capital was hidden by a committee chairman from the Governor Alexander Ramsey. Hence the bill was not signed and Itasca Village did not become the territorial capital.