West of Itasca County on Highway 2 is Beltrami County (pop. 44,442). The county seat is Bemidji (pop. 13,431), home of the famous statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe – built in 1937 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Bemidji’s Great Northern Depot (1913) is now a history museum.
The actress Jane Russell was born in Bemidji in 1921.
The Bemidji Curling Club has won many state and national titles.
Bemidji State University is on the shores of Lake Bemidj.
The Paul Bunyan Playhouse, a summer theater troupe founded in 1951, plays at the Chief Theatre (1933).
Beltrami County borders nine other counties – the most in Minnesota.
The town of Funkley (pop. 5) is the least populated incorporated place in Minnesota.
The combined Upper Red Lake and Lower Red Lake, which are joined by a mile-wide channel, make up the largest lake that’s entirely within the state of Minnesota.
Red Lake is not a major fishing destination for Minnesotans; all of Lower Red Lake and part of Upper Red Lake are in the Red Lake Indian Reservation, and the tribal waters are generally off-limits to non-members.
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