TALKING TRAIL

425 – Otter Tail County Historical Society

In a 1927 speech before the Old Settler’s Association, Perham attorney M.J. Daly urged attendees to support the formation of a county historical society...

426 – New York Mills

When Otter Tail County commissioners held their first meeting in September 1868, in Clitherall, New York Mills did not exist. It was a dense forest of white pine...

427 – Glendalough

The area of and surrounding Glendalough State Park is unique. It is where the land and its inhabitants have been profoundly connected for thousands of years...

428 – Orwell

Otter Tail County’s unique combination of prairie, forest, lakes and rivers provides habitat for all matters of wildlife and fish. As two young anglers...

429 – Dams, Water Power

As the Otter Tail River runs through downtown Fergus Falls, its westerly flowing waters fall about 95 feet. During his 1848 geological survey of Minnesota...

430 – Fergus Falls River City

In 1856, Little Falls speculator James Fergus hired fellow Scotsman Joe Whitford to scout for potential town site locations along the Red River...

431 – Barnard School

For over a century one room rural schools dotted the landscape. At its peak, 289 rural school districts were scattered among the county’s 62 townships...

432 – Phelps Mill

The history of milling in rural Minnesota is embodied in the story of Phelps Mill. By the late 1800s, wheat was the king of crops. Flour was in such demand that...

433 – Maine Township

From 1861 to 1865, our nation was engaged in its most costly conflict. The Civil War divided the nation pitting neighbor against neighbor. The war’s unprecedented...

434 – Pelican Rapids Churches

More than 825,000 Norwegians immigrated to Minnesota between 1825 and 1928. One of the most popular destinations was Otter Tail County. By 1895...

435 – Pelican Rapids

The history of Pelican Rapids revolves around the Pelican River. In 1868, Asa Jacobs and Robert Scambler while working to locate and establish trading...

436 – Maplewood State Park

Hannah Kempfer, Minnesota’s first rural woman state legislator served from 1923-1940. Her story of a poverty stricken orphan to become a woman...

437 – Dent

“The doctor locked her patients up and starved’em! To skin ‘n bone I heard.”
“That’s right and each one of them trees marks a spot where the old lady buried...

438 – Perham

“I knew John was a bad boy, but if I or any of my children were sick he would grant me any favor I asked. John had a good heart, I guess it must have slipped out...

439– Otter Tail City

On March 18, 1858, the Minnesota Territorial Legislature established the borders for Otter Tail County and proclaimed “the county seat is hereby...

440 – Otter Tail Lake Fur Trade

Otter Tail City, currently known as the City of Ottertail, is the historical center of Otter Tail County. Long before it was named the first county seat, during...

441 – Battle Lake

Large tracts of fertile land, a pristine lake and the railroad all contributed to the formation of Battle Lake. With Clitherall established by the end of 1865...

442 – Clitherall

Otter Tail County’s first permanent settlement, a lake and a township are all named after a slaveholding southerner whose goal was to turn Minnesota into a...

443 – Vining

During the evening of December 7, 1956, game wardens Paul Kruger, Al Schmid and O.B. Olson were parked in a field near Henning hoping to catch...

444 – Inspiration Peak

As the highest point in the Leaf Hills, Inspiration Peak is one of the most scenic areas in Otter Tail County. Minnesota author Sinclair Lewis found the peak...

445 – Dalton

Imagine it is 1870. You are a Norwegian immigrant with a wife, two small children and a third nearly due. The journey from Norway was long and hard but you made...

446 – Dane Prairie/Continental Divide

Archaeological evidence indicates that humans have been in this region for at least 8,000 years. That is the approximate age of a human skeleton found just...

447 – Prairie Wetlands

Among the many challenges faced by Otter Tail County pioneers were prairie fires. Thick prairie grass combined with newly sown crops and a constant...

448 – Fergus Falls Cyclone

Fergus Falls greeted 1919 cautiously optimistic as the previous two years were difficult. World War I had claimed the lives of 87 county servicemen while...