Government Records
Topics in the files cover a range of water and drainage issues including conservancy, flood control, land acquisition, national forests and parks, state parks, watershed districts, investigations and studies, permits, land registration, state dams, emergency and soil conservation work, Works Progress Administration activities, inspection, water resources (including inventories of dams, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers), relations with the State Geographic Board, violations of statutes concerning water resources, historical materials, legislation, litigation, the 1965 flooding, iron mining and public water, run-off, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The files also contain photographs of river basins, soil erosion control, beaver dams, 1965 flooding, and water control structures; publicity materials, with radio transcripts of directors Walter Olson and Frellsen and a 1941 address by Senator Henrik Shipstead; divisional publications; maps of the Rabbit River chain; county biological survey maps; and regional hydrogeologic assessment files.
There is also an unfinished manuscript on northern Minnesota drainage and a set of clippings, both kept by E.V. Willard, Commissioner of Drainage and Waters (1920-1922), and Division Director Kent Lokkesmoe's files.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics
should
Accession numbers: [431?]; 978-13; 979-51; 986-89; 986-93; 988-194; 2012-65
Catalog ID number: 005287190
Include maps, correspondence, and legal documents on districts’ organizations.
Correspondence, maps, and typed and printed engineers’ reports.
Primarily maps and correspondence.
Maps and correspondence.
Maps and correspondence.
Includes photographs.
These five maps include the following counties: Goodhue, Wabasha, Dakota, Traverse/Wilkin, and Carver/Hennepin/Scott.
These ten maps include the following counties: Anoka/Ramsey, Big Stone, Chisago, Isanti, Houston, Lac Qui Parle, Olmsted, Rice, Sherburne, Washington, and Winona.
These four maps include the following counties: Clay, Fillmore, Stearns, and Marshall.
The files are organized by the red number on the folder, not the black.
Some include negatives.
2 feet x 8 feet each.
Minnesota River from about Montevideo to upstream of Odessa along the Minnesota/South Dakota border taken for the Lac Qui Parle Project. Two photographs represent the same area but have different annotations.
Set of black and white photographs and negatives taken in the early to mid 1970s of project sites after completion on water control structures (dams, etc.).
Arranged by county and well referenced with Township-Range-Section (TRS), date, project name, description of setting, and photographer's name (assumed to be DNR staff).
Two sets of mylar maps documenting the protected water, public waters, and wetlands in each county. One set is dated 1977-1983, the second 1983-1987.
Correspondence, speeches, transcripts of radio talks, and other publicity materials, usually produced by division personnel including directors Walter S. Olson and Sidney A. Frellsen. Includes an address by Senator Henrik Shipstead at Morris, Minnesota, July 4, 1941, and an audograph disc transcription of Frellsen’s interview on WTCN-TV’s September 26, 1959 Opinion Please.
Historical and miscellaneous.
Include correspondence, newspaper clippings, and reports on investigations, legislation, litigation, and drainage problems and solutions.
Includes photographs and negatives of flooded areas.
Commissioner of the Drainage and Waters Division, 1920-1922.
Miscellaneous reports and data on northern Minnesota drainage.
Copies of letters written by Commissioners Rodney W. Sando (1992-1995), Allen Garber (2001-2002), and Gene Merriam (2003-2005) and cc’d to Lokkesmore. Many contain handwritten notes by Lokkesmoe and his staff.
Brochure.
Sale of Leases, Koochiching and Lake of the Woods Counties.