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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

DEVELOPMENTS

The pictures for the 2013 VIKING WATERWAY tour are available.
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LIDAR confirms that thousands of people walked between
               Stinking Lake and Stakke lake.
              Also confirms PARK LAKE existed.
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ON GOING
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Sign up for Boarding Pass.  Tell you friends to get theirs.
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The best way to appreciate the VIKING WATERWAY is to:
   Study the VIKING WATERWAY short course* and
  purchase the VIKING WATERWAY booklet **
   BEFORE going on a tour with a GUIDE in the vehicle.
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       Self guided tours are not recommended.
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     The new stuff, like the terrain features we discovered
    on the 2013 tour, will be added to the 2014 booklet.
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Based on the 2013 tour, which was too long, the VIKING WATERWAY tours should be divided into six nodes:
                 1. Detroit Lakes,
                 2.  Pelican Rapid,
                 3.  Fargo
                 4.  Kensington
                 5.  Alexandria
                 6.  Moorhead
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Tours departing from Detroit Lakes, and Alexandria will take about four hours in a wheeled vehicle.  Moorhead has the Hjemkomst viking ship, which was built by Bob Asp and friends because he believed that Vikings had been in the area of Hawley MN.  The Pelican Rapid, Fargo, and Kensington nodes involve rivers.  The man made terrain along these rivers is distributed.  The best way to appreciate the river segments is by slow poke touring along the rivers with wheels, or by canoe and Kayak.
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*If enough people sign up to make a class and if one, or more, of the 2013 TOURists are willing to lead the discussion, then maybe the Community Education center in Detroit Lakes might offer to put the VIKING WATERWAY Short Course  on the curriculum.
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**VIKING WATERWAY booklets can be purchased from Midwest printing in Detroit Lakes MN.
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On November 10, 2014 Bob Hill wrote:
Dear Mr. Paine,

Thank you so much for you very interesting ideas about movements of the Greenlanders into North America and their possible refurbishment and use of the old copper trade routes. I have been interested in the Lake Superior copper mines for decades and your explanation of how the Viking Waterway may have worked is fascinating.

You likely have already seen this, but while looking at satellite photos of Stinking Lake,
I noticed that there appear to be modifications to it on the eastern side that I do not remember you referencing. 

In particular, there is an odd ditch or trough located at 46.918035,-96.137704. 

MYRON: You are right Bob I did miss that ditch it does appear that the pond and the ditch define a man made campground. I estimate that about 100 tepee or wigwam would occupy that campground. I suggest that this might have been a permanent campground for the local hunter gatherers who may have hunted and fished for food supplies for the 3,000 that would be coming through the area. This permanent campground was probably placed on the other side of the lake from where the transient 3,000 men would have passed. Another possibility is that this was a permanent command center. But the key element that it does appear to be man made at sometime in the past. The picture below shows the profile elevation from the lake to the ditch. 




Picture and Profile from Pond to Drainage Ditch. Land are about 12 feet above the water channels. The living area would hold about 100 living units.

This profile across the end of the pond illustrates that this is man modified terrain which raised the berms to keep the water in the pond. 

Bob:
The trough itself seems to be on a roughly rectangular raised area similar to the jetty at Stakke Lake. Perhaps the trough was a sort of slipway for pulling up ships for unloading or for repair.

Myron: Bob, the ditch appears to be similar to drainage ditches throughout Europe to remove water and snow melt from swampy land. The ditch does not seem to be involved  with the boats that may have been used. I suggest that the ditch is primarily used to make sure that the living area was dry. 

Bob:
Additionally, immediately to the west is a roughly rectangular pond that may be the remnants of another man-made harbour. The location of this area would be just right for the route that leads to Duck Lake and beyond. To me, that makes a lot of sense. The route between Stinking Lake and Stakke Lake is perhaps the most difficult stretch. Having a good sized camp at Stinking Lake gives a sort of mirror site to the jetty at Stakke Lake, a place for storing goods, making camp, and possibly repairing any damage done to the boats during hauling.

Myron: 
I agree that the campground looks like it was part of the boat moving process, but as I said above it may have been a permanent campground for the local hunter gatherers or it may have been a command center. The LIDAR sensing shows that the ground around the pond and ditch had much human traffic. 

This campground is much smaller than the jetty at stakke lake as I said above this area would hold only about 100 tepee, wigwams, or inverted boats. Stakke lake would hold the entire estimated 200 boats and 3,000 men for most of a winter season. I think the ground traffic shows the the boats were unloaded on the South side of Stinking lake, thats why the mooring stone is there. The mooring stone enabled boats to unload their cargo and float to a new elevation in Stinking lake. 

Bob, I appreciate your interest and your observation of this campground. Perhaps you and I will resolve a better solution but for now my thoughts and your thoughts are interesting thoughts that may lead to even a better solution. 





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