Not far from the sleepy outpost of Argyle, Minnesota, lies Old Mill State Park—a rugged little slice of history stitched together with the twisting waters of the Middle River. This isn’t just any backwoods trickle. No, this riverbed teems with life—mink slinking along the banks, muskrats chewing their way through the muck, deer, coyotes, and the occasional moose lumbering through like they own the place. Below the surface, the river churns with minnows and the kind of gritty aquatic riff-raff that keep the ecosystem humming.
But the Middle River isn’t just about wildlife. This patch of wilderness holds the bones of history, its current carrying whispers of a time when the "old mill" was a lifeline for settlers trying to wrestle a living out of the land. The story begins in 1882 when the Larson family carved out a homestead here, their toil eventually giving birth to a series of mills starting in 1886. The first was water-powered, a humble operation swept away by floods—a baptism by disaster. They rebuilt in 1889 with wind power, but the merciless elements took that one too. Undeterred, they tried again with water power outside the park’s bounds, only for John Larson, the son of the original homesteader, to up the ante by firing up a Case steam engine, No. A359. By 1897, the mills found their way back to what’s now the park, where the "old mill" still stands, a relic of perseverance and grit.
The state took over in 1937, and by 1958, the mill was rebuilt, now fired up once a year in a blaze of nostalgia for park events. This isn’t just a park—it’s a living, breathing time capsule. The beach ridges nearby, remnants of ancient lakes, served as travel routes for Native Americans, traders, and settlers. The Pembina Trail, an oxcart route etched into the landscape, still lingers east of the park, a ghostly reminder of paths worn by time and necessity.
Old Mill State Park isn’t just a destination; it’s a crossroads of wildlife, history, and human resilience. A place where the echoes of steam engines and oxcarts mingle with the rustle of deer in the brush. A shrine to the indomitable spirit of those who came before us.
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