Alden Lake (Minnesota) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Alden Lake |
|
|---|---|
 Alden Lake
Location in Minnesota
|
|
| Location | St. Louis County, Minnesota |
| Coordinates | 47°03′40″N 92°01′58″W / 47.06111°N 92.03278°W |
| Primary inflows | Cloquet River |
| Primary outflows | Cloquet River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 180 acres (73 ha) littoral area: 159 acres (64 ha) |
| Max. depth | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
Alden Lake (also known as Big Alden Lake) is a freshwater lake in northern Minnesota. It's about 14 miles northeast of Duluth. The lake is 180 acres big, and its deepest point is 29 feet. You can reach Alden Lake by canoe through the Cloquet River. People mostly manage the lake for walleye fishing. They also look after largemouth bass and smallmouth bass.
Contents
Alden Lake's History
Early Logging in Minnesota
By the 1890s, lumber companies started cutting down huge pine forests. These forests were located north of Lake Superior. At first, they floated the giant logs down the Cloquet River. This river was often frozen and dangerous. The logs traveled all the way to the city of Cloquet, Minnesota. This way of moving timber was not ideal.
In 1901, two men, M. Joseph Scanlon and Lester Brooks, formed the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company. They wanted to improve how they moved timber. They planned to build a special sorting area and a railway at Alden Lake. This would help them transport logs faster.
Building the Railway and Sorting Area
Other lumber companies in Cloquet didn't like this plan. They worried that the Alden Lake sorting area would block their logs. Brooks-Scanlon argued that sending logs by train would be faster and cheaper. In 1904, the courts agreed with Brooks-Scanlon. So, they went ahead with their plans.
They partnered with the Minnesota and North Wisconsin Railroad. A main train line was built from Scanlon, Minnesota, to Carolon. This was a distance of 44.5 miles. In 1904, a shorter 3.5-mile branch line was added. This branch went from Alden Junction to Alden Lake. Logs were floated to Alden Lake from upstream areas. At the lake, a special dam was built. A large hoist was also set up to lift logs onto the train cars.
At its busiest, Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company had about 1500 workers. They cut down a record amount of pine trees. Even today, many old pine logs from that time rest at the bottom of Alden Lake.
Taking Apart the Railway
Most of the timber was cut down by 1909. The lumber mill in Scanlon was taken apart the next year. Between 1909 and 1912, another company used the railroad. They moved logs to their mill in Cloquet.
In 1911, part of the train line was no longer used. Only 34.5 miles of the main line remained. By then, there were only three train engines, 16 cars, and one caboose left. In 1912, the entire Minnesota and North Wisconsin Railroad was shut down.
