January 18, 1925: “Arrowhead” adopted as nickname for Northeastern Minnesota

On this day in 1925, Northeastern Minnesota Civic and Commerce Association president James Harper announced that a fund of $50,000 had been created for “magazine and newspaper publicity throughout the United States and Canada, advertising the Arrowhead Country.” The money would also be used to makes maps, booklets, and pamphlets of communities within the Arrowhead and to attract “hotel men of recognized ability” to build a series of luxury hotels throughout the Arrowhead, “each bearing an Indian name.” The name “Arrowhead Country” was the brainchild of Pittsburgh’s Odin MacCrickart, whose idea netted him a $500 prize. MacCrickart had visited the region three times before, enjoying “beautiful views of island-sotted lakes” while riding in an open baggage car with his faithful old English sheep dog, Puppo. “For years I have believed that man can love scenery,” the newspaper quoted MacCrickart, “that is, man does not simply like, care for, or admire scenery, but is actually capable of deeply loving it. It is a primal instinct as the love of a man for a woman. Our old cave-man ancestors often sat upon the shores of lakes at twilight and dreamed dreams. And there are times when the very cells of our bodies cry out for the deep forests and the reflections of sunlight upon water.”