Zumbrota, Minnesota

 

With the wind slackening to single digits for the first time in days I regained the pleasure of leisurely pedaling along gazing around at the scenery, happy to have forests to regard wherever my eyes may glance.  Those early pioneers who pushed past this forested terrain into the wide open barren plains had to have a high tolerance for isolation and emptiness or desperation to get away from it all.

The traffic has increased considerably, so much so I was happy to have a bike path to ride on for nearly twenty miles to Faribault between the Carnegies in Janesville and Northfield.  I didn’t even know there was one around until a motorist shouted at me “Get on the bike path!”  I didn’t spot it until a few miles further when it came within sight of the road.  I had its smooth pavement all to myself.  I’ve hardly seen a cyclist in my month of travels in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota.  Not even the spiraling price of gas can get people out of their cars and onto the bike.

There wasn’t even a cyclist to be seen, and only a few stray bikes locked up, in a couple of towns with colleges and a Carnegie I just passed through.  Both towns, however, were enlightened enough to have held off Walmart despite populations of twelve and twenty thousand.  The smaller of the two, Saint Peter, home to the small college of Gustavus Adolphus, had enough of an upscale population that its Carnegie has been taken over by a spa/salon offering massages and facials and waxing and all manner of hair styling.  

It was the fourth of these travels with a corner entrance, all within range of one another, as if inspired by the urge to “have one like that,”  as they are otherwise a rarity.  They all vary, with none matching the stunner in Milbank, South Dakota, so they don’t seem to be designed by the same architect. 

Northfield was a genuine college town with two colleges, Carleton and St. Olaf, and a combined enrollment of five thousand students, a quarter of the town’s population.  Both have rigid entrance requirements and boast being among the universities with the highest percentages of students who go on to earn PhDs.  Both colleges were established soon after Northfield was settled in 1856, Carleton following ten years later and St. Olaf eight years after Carleton by rival religious groups, Carleton by Yankee Congregationalists and St. Olaf by Norwegian Lutherans.  Its Carnegie came in 1910 and continues as a library though greatly expanded.  A large sign out front proclaims it an “Historic Carnegie Building.”

Besides its two respected colleges and Carnegie, Northfield is also known for having thwarted a bank robbery by Jesse James and his gang in 1876.  Movies have been made about it, and the town has an annual re-enactment that is part of one of the largest festivals in the state, The Defeat of Jesse James Days, the week after Labor Day.  It attracts thousands and includes a parade and rodeo and lots of music.  The bank they attempted to rob lives on as a museum.

Zumbrota, thirty-five miles south, lays claim to having the last covered bridge in Minnesota.  As one enters the town, signs point the way. It is across from the new library that replaced its Carnegie, which is now an art gallery.  The yellow brick of the stately Carnegie leant it a bit more luster than the standard red brick of Northfield.  An “07” like a crown graced the top of the building, which a bird was perched on.

A series of plaques gave the history of the one hundred and twenty foot long  covered bridge. It was constructed in 1869 over the Zumbro River on the stage coach route between St. Paul and Dubuque.  It was retired in 1932 and moved to the fairgrounds where it hosted various exhibits.  A Covered Bridge Society was formed in 1964 to preserve it and had it moved in 1970 a mile to near its present site where it was finally moved to in 1997 less than a thousand feet from its original location.  

The Carnegie in the quiet town of Janesville continues to serve as a library without having been expanded.  The town has considered increasing its size, but not at the cost.  Its budget is so meager a sign on the lone rest room warns one use it at their own risk as it is cleaned only every two weeks.  

Back in forested terrain there is no challenge finding a place to camp.  I could quickly slip into the trees last night the moment the forecast light rain commenced.  With no sky to the horizon as in Nebraska and South Dakota I didn’t have the pleasure of watching it move in.   I could only wait for the cloudy sky to start leaking.

I’m now into the home stretch with only two more libraries in Minnesota close to the Iowa border on my agenda and then two in Iowa.  There is also a cluster of Statue of Liberties in the northeast corner of Iowa to supplement the Carnegies.  Then I’ll get to camp with Janina along the Mississippi who will drive over with her bike.