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1951 Map of Makinen

Name: 1951 Topographic Map of Makinen
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1971
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1971

About this map

Makinen serves as a small anchor in this landscape of the Mesabi Range area, situated north of the expansive Cloquet Valley State Forest. The terrain is defined by an intricate network of glacial lakes and wetlands, including the elongated Long Lake and the circular Section Fourteen Lake. The transition from the Iron Range uplands toward the swampy headwaters is evident through features like Mud Hen Lake and its associated Mud Hen Creek, which drain through the timbered lowlands of Ellsburg.

Industry and local governance are quietly marked by a Town Hall and several Gravel Pits, indicating the rural development patterns of St. Louis County during the mid-century. Water dominates the geography, with the Paleface River winding through the southern portion of the map, flanked by smaller basins such as Dollar Lake and Little Paleface Lake. These water bodies and forest boundaries suggest a region shaped by both its natural hydrology and the early 20th-century push for forest management and resource extraction.