One of the odd things that happened last year is that Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed something new for the Iron Range that the state and even some local leaders didn’t even ask for or especially want. Pawlenty suggested that the state buy land along Lake Vermilion from U.S. Steel to create a new state park. Vermilion is one of Iron Range’s largest, most populated and affluent lake communities. With a few exceptions, million dollar properties on the Iron Range either include a private lake or they’re on Lake Vermilion.
Anyway, Lake Vermilion has been developed like mad for a couple decades, with the exception of this large stretch of land owned by U.S. Steel, which wants to sell it off as expensive lots. Rather than allow U.S. Steel’s entire lakeshore be developed as homes and cabins, the Pawlenty administration suggested this new state park.
I wondered at the time, and still wonder, if this wasn’t just a gubernatorial pipe dream to convey a sense of action during the slow news season of last summer. But somehow the Senate included a small amount of money in the bonding bill for the park and the House is expected to include much more in its version. This thing is still a long shot, but not dead.
I guess we’ll see. If I lived on Vermilion I’d rather have a state park than more lots, cabins and lake traffic.
FUN FACTS: Early explorers believed Lake Vermilion might be the Northwest Passage. (It isn’t). The word vermilion signifies the reddish color created by all the iron in the ground around the lake. The Vermilion was the first producing iron ore range in Minnesota.
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