- Behold: North America.

When I tell you this is a continent with many divides, I'm actually not being political, although I do have some lingering concerns about the Teapot Dome scandal.

- [Speaker] Huh.

- No, I'm talking about the divides that separate a continent's drainage basins; its watersheds, its river systems.

That's right, continental divides.

We're going there, because "Minnesota Historia" is not afraid to tackle the big issues, like what do you do with a Laurentian Divide anyway?

Welcome to "Minnesota Historia".

I'm Hailey, and what do you do with a Laurentian Divide?

(mysterious upbeat music) The Laurentian Divide, like any continental divide, is basically a line.

So, if you're a drop of water and you fall precisely on top of that line, you flow one of two ways: north to Hudson Bay, or South to the Atlantic Ocean.

But what if there was a third way?

In Minnesota, there sure is.

We have something rare called a triple divide.

Two miles north of Hibbing, you'll find one of the only spots in North America where three watersheds meet; it's where the St. Lawrence Divide crashes into the Laurentian Divide.

(glass shattering) Here, that single drop of water might go north to Hudson Bay, or east through the St. Lawrence Seaway, or south to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Ojibwe call it the Hill of Three Waters.

Grand Portage Band member, Michele Hakala-Beeksma, explains its significance.

- The Hill of Three Waters, where the three waters come together.

So, waterways were our ways of transportation, but it also has a sacred element to it.

It was traditionally a meeting site.

- I love it when meetings are outside.

I can't wait to check this place out.

- So, the Hill of Three Waters, it's actually on a mine site now.

- Well, that's disappointing.

- It is not open to the public.

- But what if you're a historian, and you already own a helmet?

- The general public showing up, probably not.

(soft subdued music) Mining is all around it.

They have somewhat preserved it.

- [Hailey] The surrounding Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world.

I guess I can understand why they don't just let anybody wander around their mineral-extraction operation.

- I was able to go up and go to the site.

- Oh, Michele, why must you torment me?

- Well, it's kind of funny, 'cause, yeah, it's all, you know, mining, just ground dug up, and then you drive into this little bit of a grassed, tree, wooded area that they have left untouched.

- [Hailey] If you want to see the Hill of Three waters untouched, Michele recommends visiting this mural at Minnesota North College in Hibbing.

It shows what the triple divide might have looked like back in the day.

The Ojibwe would meet next to this giant boulder, which was cleverly deposited near the summit by a glacier during the last ice age.

The boulder is still there, or so I am told.

Not being able to stand with my own two feet on top of the triple divide, obviously I feel bad for me, but I also feel bad for Hibbing.

Sure, they're making mining money, but they don't really get to do anything fun with their continental divide.

That is not the case in Virginia, Minnesota, just 25 miles to the east.

Virginia is a city that can't seem to stop thinking about fun, new things to do with their chunk of the Continental Divide.

For example, you can visit the Laurentian Divide parking lot, and read the Laurentian Divide historical marker, and hike the Laurentian Divide fitness trail, all the way to the top of Lookout Mountain.

Lookout Mountain is the focus of a lot of Virginia's Laurentian attention.

The divide runs right over the top of it.

With an elevation of 1,850 feet, lookout Mountain is admittedly not much of a mountain, but it does rise 300 feet from the terrain below.

And in Minnesota, we have to take our mountains where we can get 'em.

We visited the Virginia Area Historical Society to learn more about one of the best ideas for the Laurentian Divide, and maybe the worst.

- Welcome to the Virginia Area Historical Society.

I'm Susan Hoppe, the museum manager.

- In the summer of 2023, the collections team was reorganizing the basement of the museum when they discovered a mysterious wooden crate.

It was not the lost Ark of the Covenant, it was a sculpture of a big head, and long-forgotten plans for a tourist attraction that would've sat on top of Lookout Mountain.

In the 1940s, the Virginia Senior Chamber of Commerce had asked local artist Dwayne Bryers to make a scaled model for this proposed attraction.

Bryers based it on an actual person, John Nett Lake, of Nett Lake, Minnesota.

It was never built.

For context, this is right around the same time they started building the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota in 1948.

The museum wasn't entirely sure what to think about all of this.

- My first thought was, "Wow, what a beautiful sculpture."

My next thought was, "Is this inappropriate?"

We try to be considerate of other cultures and ethnic groups here at the museum, and wanted to make sure that this didn't smell of cultural appropriation, or mockery, again, of the local groups.

- So, they called in an expert, our friend Michele.

- I volunteer, and I'm on the Board of Governors for the St. Louis County Historical Society.

- [Hailey] Every historical society needs a Michele, someone who can offer opinions and help develop content informed by their specific cultural knowledge.

- [Michele] That's kinda what I do with the Historical Society, right?

- [Hailey] The museum asked Michele for her thoughts.

- I met Susan as part of putting together an exhibit.

So, she's, like, "As long as you're here, can I show you this and ask you what you think?

Are we doing this right?"

You know, "Do you know any more about these objects?"

That kind of thing.

- So, what do you think?

- We had a good discussion about it and explained the image itself wasn't disrespectful.

Some images are not respectful-looking or kind of offensive.

Maybe they look like a cartoon or exaggerated.

- It's not a mockery, it's not a caricature.

It's a very beautiful sculpture.

This is a temporary exhibit.

We will have it out again at some point in time, but the long-term plan is to develop some context for it, so that when it's displayed next, we'll have better information available for the public when they come in and see it.

- Displaying 'em in a museum can be educational, and it gives, you know, the visitor a chance to think about, "Well, what do I think about that?"

- But what if someone had actually built this?

- Had the project been implemented, that would be a whole different idea.

- [Hailey] Just to clarify, it was a big head on top of a mountain.

People would walk around inside of it and on top of it.

- Well, just, it would've been frightening, just as a giant human up there; let alone, you know, the cultural aspects of it.

- You know, cultural appropriation.

They're using our culture, our images, to sell something to make money.

I can't imagine that the native community would've been supportive of that.

- The artist Dwayne Bryers, he was actually happy that it didn't get built.

He didn't feel that giant sculpture up there on the hill would've been a good representation of art in general and his art in particular.

- The big ol' head idea was soon replaced by a better idea, a ski resort; one featuring the very first chairlift in all of Minnesota.

Lookout Mountain opened for skiing in 1958, followed by an avalanche of publicity.

Sports Illustrated featured the new resort in an article titled "Homemade Mountains".

They called it a grand place to ski, with a handsome two-level lodge to hold the restaurant, ski shop, and warming room.

The magazine also promised the resort would have enough runs to "toughen any number of snow bunnies."

As it turned out, the total number of tough snow-bunnies was too low to support a ski resort in Virginia.

Attendance declined as ski resorts were built all over the state of Minnesota.

So many ski resorts.

Lookout Mountain closed in 1970.

They owed money to the US Forest Service for some land at least, and you do not wanna mess with Smokey Bear.

The chairlift was dismantled in 1972 and sold to Detroit Mountain, east of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

Sad story for snow bunnies, but it could have been worse.

(chilled jazz music) So, what do you do with the Laurentian Divide if you happen to find one in your backyard?

Here's a quick recap of ideas.

You could mine it.

(text popping) You could ski it.

(text popping) You could culturally appropriate it.

(text popping) Or you could just look out from it.

(text popping) I know which one I choose.

(upbeat groovy music) Thanks for watching "Minnesota Historia", your guide to all things quirky in Minnesota history.

Check out some of our other episodes, where we go even further and deeper into the quirky, soft underbelly of this very weird state.

(upbeat groovy music continues) So, don't forget to hit the subscribe button, and please become a member of PBS North to support projects just like this.