Flandrau State Park
Encyclopedia
Flandrau State Park is a state park
of Minnesota
, USA, on the Cottonwood River
adjacent to the city of New Ulm
. Initially called Cottonwood River State Park, it was renamed in 1945 to honor Charles Eugene Flandrau
, a leading citizen of early Minnesota who commanded defenses during the Battles of New Ulm
in the Dakota War of 1862
. The park was originally developed in the 1930s as a job creation project
to provide a recreational reservoir
. However the dam was repeatedly damaged by floods and was removed in 1995.
Along with the dam, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) and Works Progress Administration
(WPA) built several structures in the National Park Service Rustic
style. In a unique twist on the mandate to harmonize with the local environment, the buildings were designed to reflect the ethnic German
heritage of New Ulm. The WPA barracks were reused during World War II as Camp New Ulm, housing German prisoners of war
. All of these structures are listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places
.
s mark the river's former courses along the valley floor. The steep valley walls rise 150 –. The Cottonwood joins the Minnesota River
just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the park. It originates 90 miles (144.8 km) west of the park in Lyon County, Minnesota
.
The park boundary largely follows the valley rim. Trees on the slopes generally screen the adjacent development. The northern end of the park, including the campground, is within the city limits of New Ulm. No bridges cross the river within Flandrau, so the parkland on the south bank is not readily accessible. The only development there, the group center, is at the end of a gated road.
of shale
, sandstone
, and conglomerate
. These sediments accumulated at the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway
100 million years ago during the late Cretaceous
period. The fine-grained sandstone is white with bands of orange from iron oxide
, and contains fossilized plant material. The conglomerate contains pebbles of granite
that had formed 3,000–2,500 million years ago and later eroded into the seaway.
Lying directly atop the Cretaceous rocks is till
just a few thousand years old. All intermediate rock had eroded away before the till was deposited in a ground moraine
by continental glacier
s. Within Flandrau State Park this glacial debris is 100 to 200 ft (30.5 to 61 m) thick. While the till contains some rock from Canada and northern Minnesota, most is from the local region. Numerous springs
emerge at the base of the till slopes, especially at the western end of the park.
As the northern glaciers melted, the massive Glacial River Warren
carved a deep channel for itself. The modern Minnesota River follows the same course, but occupies only a fraction of the former riverbed. Its tributaries must drop from the surrounding plains into the broad valley to reach their base level
. This is why the Cottonwood River, a placid prairie stream for most of its length, plunges into such a deep valley near its mouth. The Cottonwood's downcutting
has carved all the way through the thick glacial till and a few feet into the Cretaceous bedrock below. There may once have been a waterfall on the Cottonwood River, which eroded into rapids before achieving the steady gradient
of modern times.
is gone, the forested river valley remains similar to times before European settlement.
The valley floor supports marsh
es and wet prairie interspersed with bottomland hardwood forest
of willow
, eastern cottonwood, American elm, silver maple, and green ash. The steep valley walls bear northern hardwood forest
, although the cooler, moister north-facing slopes favor sugar maple, basswood
, and common hackberry
while the drier south slopes are characterized by bur oak, eastern red cedar
, and aspen
. A few dry, sunny knolls support prairie characterized by big bluestem and indian grass
.
The park's plant communities have been altered since Euro-American settlement. Without periodic wildfire
s to thin woody plant
s, the valleyside forests have gotten denser and many prairie openings have filled in with sumac
. Many elm trees were lost to Dutch elm disease
. The valley floor is largely secondary forest
, having been cleared for agriculture and then submerged under a reservoir.
, coyote
s, gray fox
es, raccoon
s, beavers, striped skunks
, opossums
, and minks
. Over 60 species of birds have been documented in the park. Most of these are songbirds migrating through rather than nesting. These include many warblers
, flycatchers, vireo
s, and thrushes
.
The Cottonwood River supports a few game fish
— notably northern pike
and smallmouth bass
— and a greater variety of rough fish
.
. Pioneers
began settling the Cottonwood Valley in the 1830s. In less than a century, though, the valley floor was largely abandoned due to the periodic flooding.
, federal funding was dedicated to park development throughout the United States. The Cottonwood River valley was selected as it was in a well-populated region with no other large recreational area or lakes. Moreover the land was largely abandoned and seemingly in need of flood control
structures. The state of Minnesota purchased the property in 1934. The first Works Progress Administration (WPA) enrollees arrived in September, living in tents while they built bunkhouses, a mess hall, and an administrative building over the winter. Mostly middle-aged skilled worker
s, the WPA men quarried stone and constructed three park buildings: a beachhouse, a manager's residence, and a garage.
A second workforce arrived in June 1935, establishing its own camp in the southwest corner of the park. These were less-skilled workers hired through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). They built the dam and its earthen dikes, constructed a kitchen shelter, landscaped, planted trees, and blazed trails. WPA and CCC workers cleared trees out of the lakebed. For the first year the laborers were World War I veterans from the Veterans Conservation Corps (VCC). In July 1936 they transferred to other Minnesota state parks and were replaced with the unemployed young men more typical of CCC projects.
The dam, completed in 1937 after two years of work, impounded a reservoir of 209 acres (84.6 ha). The WPA continued to work in the park until 1941 and the CCC until 1942. As planned, the WPA camp was converted to a group center while the CCC camp was razed.
The stone structures built by the WPA have been called " the most unusual architectural designs in the state park system" by the Minnesota Historical Society
. A principle of the Rustic Style was to harmonize with the local environment, generally by using local materials. In this case, however, architect Edward W. Barber chose to reflect local culture as well, honoring the strong German heritage of New Ulm. The park buildings evoke the architecture of Germany
with steeply pitched roofs, dormer
s, chimneys, casement window
s with small panes
, and fine nonlinear stonework. The beachhouse is also one of the largest New Deal structures in the Minnesota state park system.
. Late in the war, Great Britain was short on space and resources to provide for captured enemy combatants; meanwhile, much of the U.S. labor force was off serving in the military. The U.S. established camps throughout the country from which 450,000 POWs were employed in non-defense industries. Nine POW camps were established in Minnesota — including one other state park, Whitewater
— all managed from a regional headquarters in Algona, Iowa
.
About 160 German POWs arrived at Camp New Ulm in June 1944. Mostly members of the Luftwaffe
(the German Air Force), they ranged in age from 18–25. Twelve men from the U.S. Army served as their guards.
The POWs primarily worked in the nearby town of Sleepy Eye
at a cannery, which paid the rent on the camp. After the harvest season, prisoners assisted at brick and tile factories and a poultry processing plant.
Flandrau State Park is a state park
of Minnesota
, USA, on the Cottonwood River
adjacent to the city of New Ulm
. Initially called Cottonwood River State Park, it was renamed in 1945 to honor Charles Eugene Flandrau
, a leading citizen of early Minnesota who commanded defenses during the Battles of New Ulm
in the Dakota War of 1862
. The park was originally developed in the 1930s as a job creation project
to provide a recreational reservoir
. However the dam was repeatedly damaged by floods and was removed in 1995.
Along with the dam, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) and Works Progress Administration
(WPA) built several structures in the National Park Service Rustic
style. In a unique twist on the mandate to harmonize with the local environment, the buildings were designed to reflect the ethnic German
heritage of New Ulm. The WPA barracks were reused during World War II as Camp New Ulm, housing German prisoners of war
. All of these structures are listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places
.
s mark the river's former courses along the valley floor. The steep valley walls rise 150 –. The Cottonwood joins the Minnesota River
just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the park. It originates 90 miles (144.8 km) west of the park in Lyon County, Minnesota
.
The park boundary largely follows the valley rim. Trees on the slopes generally screen the adjacent development. The northern end of the park, including the campground, is within the city limits of New Ulm. No bridges cross the river within Flandrau, so the parkland on the south bank is not readily accessible. The only development there, the group center, is at the end of a gated road.
of shale
, sandstone
, and conglomerate
. These sediments accumulated at the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway
100 million years ago during the late Cretaceous
period. The fine-grained sandstone is white with bands of orange from iron oxide
, and contains fossilized plant material. The conglomerate contains pebbles of granite
that had formed 3,000–2,500 million years ago and later eroded into the seaway.
Lying directly atop the Cretaceous rocks is till
just a few thousand years old. All intermediate rock had eroded away before the till was deposited in a ground moraine
by continental glacier
s. Within Flandrau State Park this glacial debris is 100 to 200 ft (30.5 to 61 m) thick. While the till contains some rock from Canada and northern Minnesota, most is from the local region. Numerous springs
emerge at the base of the till slopes, especially at the western end of the park.
As the northern glaciers melted, the massive Glacial River Warren
carved a deep channel for itself. The modern Minnesota River follows the same course, but occupies only a fraction of the former riverbed. Its tributaries must drop from the surrounding plains into the broad valley to reach their base level
. This is why the Cottonwood River, a placid prairie stream for most of its length, plunges into such a deep valley near its mouth. The Cottonwood's downcutting
has carved all the way through the thick glacial till and a few feet into the Cretaceous bedrock below. There may once have been a waterfall on the Cottonwood River, which eroded into rapids before achieving the steady gradient
of modern times.
is gone, the forested river valley remains similar to times before European settlement.
The valley floor supports marsh
es and wet prairie interspersed with bottomland hardwood forest
of willow
, eastern cottonwood, American elm, silver maple, and green ash. The steep valley walls bear northern hardwood forest
, although the cooler, moister north-facing slopes favor sugar maple, basswood
, and common hackberry
while the drier south slopes are characterized by bur oak, eastern red cedar
, and aspen
. A few dry, sunny knolls support prairie characterized by big bluestem and indian grass
.
The park's plant communities have been altered since Euro-American settlement. Without periodic wildfire
s to thin woody plant
s, the valleyside forests have gotten denser and many prairie openings have filled in with sumac
. Many elm trees were lost to Dutch elm disease
. The valley floor is largely secondary forest
, having been cleared for agriculture and then submerged under a reservoir.
, coyote
s, gray fox
es, raccoon
s, beavers, striped skunks
, opossums
, and minks
. Over 60 species of birds have been documented in the park. Most of these are songbirds migrating through rather than nesting. These include many warblers
, flycatchers, vireo
s, and thrushes
.
The Cottonwood River supports a few game fish
— notably northern pike
and smallmouth bass
— and a greater variety of rough fish
.
. Pioneers
began settling the Cottonwood Valley in the 1830s. In less than a century, though, the valley floor was largely abandoned due to the periodic flooding.
, federal funding was dedicated to park development throughout the United States. The Cottonwood River valley was selected as it was in a well-populated region with no other large recreational area or lakes. Moreover the land was largely abandoned and seemingly in need of flood control
structures. The state of Minnesota purchased the property in 1934. The first Works Progress Administration (WPA) enrollees arrived in September, living in tents while they built bunkhouses, a mess hall, and an administrative building over the winter. Mostly middle-aged skilled worker
s, the WPA men quarried stone and constructed three park buildings: a beachhouse, a manager's residence, and a garage.
A second workforce arrived in June 1935, establishing its own camp in the southwest corner of the park. These were less-skilled workers hired through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). They built the dam and its earthen dikes, constructed a kitchen shelter, landscaped, planted trees, and blazed trails. WPA and CCC workers cleared trees out of the lakebed. For the first year the laborers were World War I veterans from the Veterans Conservation Corps (VCC). In July 1936 they transferred to other Minnesota state parks and were replaced with the unemployed young men more typical of CCC projects.
The dam, completed in 1937 after two years of work, impounded a reservoir of 209 acres (84.6 ha). The WPA continued to work in the park until 1941 and the CCC until 1942. As planned, the WPA camp was converted to a group center while the CCC camp was razed.
The stone structures built by the WPA have been called " the most unusual architectural designs in the state park system" by the Minnesota Historical Society
. A principle of the Rustic Style was to harmonize with the local environment, generally by using local materials. In this case, however, architect Edward W. Barber chose to reflect local culture as well, honoring the strong German heritage of New Ulm. The park buildings evoke the architecture of Germany
with steeply pitched roofs, dormer
s, chimneys, casement window
s with small panes
, and fine nonlinear stonework. The beachhouse is also one of the largest New Deal structures in the Minnesota state park system.
. Late in the war, Great Britain was short on space and resources to provide for captured enemy combatants; meanwhile, much of the U.S. labor force was off serving in the military. The U.S. established camps throughout the country from which 450,000 POWs were employed in non-defense industries. Nine POW camps were established in Minnesota — including one other state park, Whitewater
— all managed from a regional headquarters in Algona, Iowa
.
About 160 German POWs arrived at Camp New Ulm in June 1944. Mostly members of the Luftwaffe
(the German Air Force), they ranged in age from 18–25. Twelve men from the U.S. Army served as their guards.
The POWs primarily worked in the nearby town of Sleepy Eye
at a cannery, which paid the rent on the camp. After the harvest season, prisoners assisted at brick and tile factories and a poultry processing plant.
Flandrau State Park is a state park
of Minnesota
, USA, on the Cottonwood River
adjacent to the city of New Ulm
. Initially called Cottonwood River State Park, it was renamed in 1945 to honor Charles Eugene Flandrau
, a leading citizen of early Minnesota who commanded defenses during the Battles of New Ulm
in the Dakota War of 1862
. The park was originally developed in the 1930s as a job creation project
to provide a recreational reservoir
. However the dam was repeatedly damaged by floods and was removed in 1995.
Along with the dam, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC) and Works Progress Administration
(WPA) built several structures in the National Park Service Rustic
style. In a unique twist on the mandate to harmonize with the local environment, the buildings were designed to reflect the ethnic German
heritage of New Ulm. The WPA barracks were reused during World War II as Camp New Ulm, housing German prisoners of war
. All of these structures are listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places
.
s mark the river's former courses along the valley floor. The steep valley walls rise 150 –. The Cottonwood joins the Minnesota River
just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the park. It originates 90 miles (144.8 km) west of the park in Lyon County, Minnesota
.
The park boundary largely follows the valley rim. Trees on the slopes generally screen the adjacent development. The northern end of the park, including the campground, is within the city limits of New Ulm. No bridges cross the river within Flandrau, so the parkland on the south bank is not readily accessible. The only development there, the group center, is at the end of a gated road.
of shale
, sandstone
, and conglomerate
. These sediments accumulated at the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway
100 million years ago during the late Cretaceous
period. The fine-grained sandstone is white with bands of orange from iron oxide
, and contains fossilized plant material. The conglomerate contains pebbles of granite
that had formed 3,000–2,500 million years ago and later eroded into the seaway.
Lying directly atop the Cretaceous rocks is till
just a few thousand years old. All intermediate rock had eroded away before the till was deposited in a ground moraine
by continental glacier
s. Within Flandrau State Park this glacial debris is 100 to 200 ft (30.5 to 61 m) thick. While the till contains some rock from Canada and northern Minnesota, most is from the local region. Numerous springs
emerge at the base of the till slopes, especially at the western end of the park.
As the northern glaciers melted, the massive Glacial River Warren
carved a deep channel for itself. The modern Minnesota River follows the same course, but occupies only a fraction of the former riverbed. Its tributaries must drop from the surrounding plains into the broad valley to reach their base level
. This is why the Cottonwood River, a placid prairie stream for most of its length, plunges into such a deep valley near its mouth. The Cottonwood's downcutting
has carved all the way through the thick glacial till and a few feet into the Cretaceous bedrock below. There may once have been a waterfall on the Cottonwood River, which eroded into rapids before achieving the steady gradient
of modern times.
is gone, the forested river valley remains similar to times before European settlement.
The valley floor supports marsh
es and wet prairie interspersed with bottomland hardwood forest
of willow
, eastern cottonwood, American elm, silver maple, and green ash. The steep valley walls bear northern hardwood forest
, although the cooler, moister north-facing slopes favor sugar maple, basswood
, and common hackberry
while the drier south slopes are characterized by bur oak, eastern red cedar
, and aspen
. A few dry, sunny knolls support prairie characterized by big bluestem and indian grass
.
The park's plant communities have been altered since Euro-American settlement. Without periodic wildfire
s to thin woody plant
s, the valleyside forests have gotten denser and many prairie openings have filled in with sumac
. Many elm trees were lost to Dutch elm disease
. The valley floor is largely secondary forest
, having been cleared for agriculture and then submerged under a reservoir.
, coyote
s, gray fox
es, raccoon
s, beavers, striped skunks
, opossums
, and minks
. Over 60 species of birds have been documented in the park. Most of these are songbirds migrating through rather than nesting. These include many warblers
, flycatchers, vireo
s, and thrushes
.
The Cottonwood River supports a few game fish
— notably northern pike
and smallmouth bass
— and a greater variety of rough fish
.
. Pioneers
began settling the Cottonwood Valley in the 1830s. In less than a century, though, the valley floor was largely abandoned due to the periodic flooding.
, federal funding was dedicated to park development throughout the United States. The Cottonwood River valley was selected as it was in a well-populated region with no other large recreational area or lakes. Moreover the land was largely abandoned and seemingly in need of flood control
structures. The state of Minnesota purchased the property in 1934. The first Works Progress Administration (WPA) enrollees arrived in September, living in tents while they built bunkhouses, a mess hall, and an administrative building over the winter. Mostly middle-aged skilled worker
s, the WPA men quarried stone and constructed three park buildings: a beachhouse, a manager's residence, and a garage.
A second workforce arrived in June 1935, establishing its own camp in the southwest corner of the park. These were less-skilled workers hired through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). They built the dam and its earthen dikes, constructed a kitchen shelter, landscaped, planted trees, and blazed trails. WPA and CCC workers cleared trees out of the lakebed. For the first year the laborers were World War I veterans from the Veterans Conservation Corps (VCC). In July 1936 they transferred to other Minnesota state parks and were replaced with the unemployed young men more typical of CCC projects.
The dam, completed in 1937 after two years of work, impounded a reservoir of 209 acres (84.6 ha). The WPA continued to work in the park until 1941 and the CCC until 1942. As planned, the WPA camp was converted to a group center while the CCC camp was razed.
The stone structures built by the WPA have been called " the most unusual architectural designs in the state park system" by the Minnesota Historical Society
. A principle of the Rustic Style was to harmonize with the local environment, generally by using local materials. In this case, however, architect Edward W. Barber chose to reflect local culture as well, honoring the strong German heritage of New Ulm. The park buildings evoke the architecture of Germany
with steeply pitched roofs, dormer
s, chimneys, casement window
s with small panes
, and fine nonlinear stonework. The beachhouse is also one of the largest New Deal structures in the Minnesota state park system.
. Late in the war, Great Britain was short on space and resources to provide for captured enemy combatants; meanwhile, much of the U.S. labor force was off serving in the military. The U.S. established camps throughout the country from which 450,000 POWs were employed in non-defense industries. Nine POW camps were established in Minnesota — including one other state park, Whitewater
— all managed from a regional headquarters in Algona, Iowa
.
About 160 German POWs arrived at Camp New Ulm in June 1944. Mostly members of the Luftwaffe
(the German Air Force), they ranged in age from 18–25. Twelve men from the U.S. Army served as their guards.
The POWs primarily worked in the nearby town of Sleepy Eye
at a cannery, which paid the rent on the camp. After the harvest season, prisoners assisted at brick and tile factories and a poultry processing plant. Small groups were hired out to local farms, unguarded, as short-term farmworker
s. The POWs spent the winter at regional headquarters in Algona and returned in spring 1945. That year their use on farms expanded considerably, encompassing worksites in eight counties, while prisoners at the cannery were instrumental in packing Sleepy Eye's largest-ever pea crop.
The location of Camp New Ulm outside a town with a strong German heritage was a lucky break for the POWs. Many locals still spoke German and were sympathetic toward the prisoners (and hoping in many cases for news of relatives and the old country). German-speaking church officials held Lutheran and Catholic services in the camp and gathered donations of reading material. Although the guards warned civilians that they were not to have contact with the POWs, food was slipped over the fence, cannery workers shared ice cream and beer, and young women waded across the river at night to flirt at the camp's edge. POWs out on weeklong farm details fared best of all, often receiving full home-cooked meals at the family dinner table.
Prisoner Helmut Lichtenberg, who had become friendly with a farm family he'd worked for, arranged to slip out of camp and spend much of a weekend with them. Mindless of the severity of the infraction, the farmer and his mother-in-law drove Lichtenberg into camp Sunday afternoon, where they were stopped by guards. Lichtenberg was punished with solitary confinement
; the Americans were ultimately both fined $300 and lectured by the judge. Their testimony indicated that other prisoners undertook such forays, but this was the camp's only documented escape incident.
For recreation the POWs had a clubhouse with a fireplace and library, a camp store, a sport field, and a workshop where they made their own furniture and sporting equipment. They were allowed to swim and fish in part of Cottonwood Lake. Further entertainments included newspapers, radios, and weekly movie screenings. Some musical instruments were gathered, and locals came to listen and sing along to Sunday afternoon concerts.
Camp New Ulm closed in December 1945 and all of the internees were eventually repatriated to Germany. One of the former prisoners later immigrated to the United States, settling in Wisconsin. The camp remains in use as the state park's group center, one of the country's few World War II POW camps that are still maintained. When the camp is not occupied, visitors can ask at the park office to access the grounds.
, and statesman, Flandrau served on the territorial supreme court, presided over the first court session in Brown County, and led the military defense of New Ulm during the Dakota War of 1862. The name change was officialized in March 1945.
Two years later the Cottonwood Lake Dam was overtopped and seriously damaged by a flood
. It was reconstructed at great expense, but damaged again by flooding in spring 1965. This time federal funds were denied, and the state opted for a shorter dam and a separate swimming pool. However a third damaging flood swept through in 1969. With local opinion divided about reestablishing the recreational lake, the state commissioned an independent study. The engineering consultants reported that, although a restored dam would improve habitat for panfish
and block upstream movement of undesirable species such as carp
, it would not provide effective flood control. The capacity of the lake basin was too small compared to the watershed, exacerbated by increased agricultural drainage and wetland
loss since the original damming in the 1930s. Nor would a new dam be cost-effective for generating hydroelectricity
, and the lake would be prone to heavy sedimentation
and periods of poor water quality.
The director of the state parks division recommended against rebuilding the dam. Some structures remained for several years; full dam removal
took place in 1995 and the Cottonwood River is again free-flowing through the park. As an interpretive sign reads, "the dam that took almost 200 men nearly two years to build was demolished by four men and heavy equipment in five months."
.
The park maintains three campgrounds with 92 sites total, 34 of which have electrical hookups. There are also three secluded walk-in sites. Visitors can rent two camper cabins or the historic group center, which sleeps up to 110 in eight bunkhouses.
The popular day-use area centers around a unique sand-bottomed, chlorinated
swimming pool. This is adjacent to the historic beachhouse and a picnic area with a playground, volleyball
and horseshoes
facilities, and a reservable shelter.
Most fishing is done at the downstream end of the Cottonwood River, near the park's eastern edge, where the riverbank is most easily accessed.
Flandrau is adjacent to Nehls City Park, the private New Ulm Country Club, and the August Schell Brewing Company
. The Hermann Heights Monument and Martin Luther College
are within blocks of the park entrance.
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, USA, on the Cottonwood River
Cottonwood River (Minnesota)
The Cottonwood River is a tributary of the Minnesota River, 152 miles long, in southwestern Minnesota in the United States. Via the Minnesota River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in an agricultural region...
adjacent to the city of New Ulm
New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,522 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County....
. Initially called Cottonwood River State Park, it was renamed in 1945 to honor Charles Eugene Flandrau
Charles Eugene Flandrau
Charles Eugene Flandrau was an American lawyer and colonel in the Union Army.-Early life:...
, a leading citizen of early Minnesota who commanded defenses during the Battles of New Ulm
Battles of New Ulm
In 1851, the Santee Sioux Indians of Minnesota had been forced to cede to the government their hunting ground of . In 1852, they were corralled into a reservation on the Minnesota River. In 1858, they were swindled of half that land...
in the Dakota War of 1862
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of the eastern Sioux. It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota...
. The park was originally developed in the 1930s as a job creation project
Job creation program
Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...
to provide a recreational reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
. However the dam was repeatedly damaged by floods and was removed in 1995.
Along with the dam, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
(CCC) and Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA) built several structures in the National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service rustic, also colloquially known as Parkitecture, is a style of architecture that arose in the United States National Park System to create buildings that harmonized with their natural environment. Since its founding, the National Park Service consistently has sought to provide...
style. In a unique twist on the mandate to harmonize with the local environment, the buildings were designed to reflect the ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
heritage of New Ulm. The WPA barracks were reused during World War II as Camp New Ulm, housing German prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. All of these structures are listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Geography
Flandrau State Park lies in a small valley carved by the east-flowing Cottonwood River. Marshy oxbow lakeOxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape, named after part of a yoke for oxen. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong, derived...
s mark the river's former courses along the valley floor. The steep valley walls rise 150 –. The Cottonwood joins the Minnesota River
Minnesota River
The Minnesota River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of nearly , in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa....
just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the park. It originates 90 miles (144.8 km) west of the park in Lyon County, Minnesota
Lyon County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,425 people, 9,715 households, and 6,334 families residing in the county. The population density was 36 people per square mile . There were 10,298 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile...
.
The park boundary largely follows the valley rim. Trees on the slopes generally screen the adjacent development. The northern end of the park, including the campground, is within the city limits of New Ulm. No bridges cross the river within Flandrau, so the parkland on the south bank is not readily accessible. The only development there, the group center, is at the end of a gated road.
Geology
Flandrau State Park lies atop a bedrockBedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
of shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, and conglomerate
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
. These sediments accumulated at the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway
Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway, also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, and the North American Inland Sea, was a huge inland sea that split the continent of North America into two halves, Laramidia and Appalachia, during most of the mid- and late-Cretaceous Period...
100 million years ago during the late Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
period. The fine-grained sandstone is white with bands of orange from iron oxide
Iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
, and contains fossilized plant material. The conglomerate contains pebbles of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
that had formed 3,000–2,500 million years ago and later eroded into the seaway.
Lying directly atop the Cretaceous rocks is till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
just a few thousand years old. All intermediate rock had eroded away before the till was deposited in a ground moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
by continental glacier
Continental Glacier
Continental Glacier is located in Bridger-Teton and Shoshone National Forests, in the U.S. state of Wyoming and straddles the Continental Divide in the northern Wind River Range. Continental Glacier is in both the Bridger and Fitzpatrick Wildernesses, and is part of the largest grouping of glaciers...
s. Within Flandrau State Park this glacial debris is 100 to 200 ft (30.5 to 61 m) thick. While the till contains some rock from Canada and northern Minnesota, most is from the local region. Numerous springs
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
emerge at the base of the till slopes, especially at the western end of the park.
As the northern glaciers melted, the massive Glacial River Warren
Glacial River Warren
right|thumb|210px|The course of the Minnesota River follows the valley carved by Glacial River WarrenGlacial River Warren or River Warren was a prehistoric river that drained Lake Agassiz in central North America between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago...
carved a deep channel for itself. The modern Minnesota River follows the same course, but occupies only a fraction of the former riverbed. Its tributaries must drop from the surrounding plains into the broad valley to reach their base level
Base level
The base level of a river or stream is the lowest point to which it can flow, often referred to as the 'mouth' of the river. For large rivers, sea level is usually the base level, but a large river or lake is likewise the base level for tributary streams...
. This is why the Cottonwood River, a placid prairie stream for most of its length, plunges into such a deep valley near its mouth. The Cottonwood's downcutting
Downcutting
Downcutting, also called erosional downcutting or downward erosion or vertical erosion is a geological process that deepens the channel of a stream or valley by removing material from the stream's bed or the valley's floor. How fast downcutting occurs depends on the stream's base level, which is...
has carved all the way through the thick glacial till and a few feet into the Cretaceous bedrock below. There may once have been a waterfall on the Cottonwood River, which eroded into rapids before achieving the steady gradient
Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
of modern times.
Flora
The vegetation of Flandrau State Park is representative of the Upper Minnesota River Country Biocultural Region. Although the surrounding tallgrass prairieTallgrass prairie
The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America, with fire as its primary periodic disturbance. In the past, tallgrass prairies covered a large portion of the American Midwest, just east of the Great Plains, and portions of the Canadian Prairies. They flourished in areas with...
is gone, the forested river valley remains similar to times before European settlement.
The valley floor supports marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es and wet prairie interspersed with bottomland hardwood forest
Bottomland hardwood forest
The Bottomland hardwood forest is a type of deciduous hardwood forest found in broad lowland floodplains along large rivers and lakes. They are occasionally flooded, which builds up the alluvial soils required for the Gum, Oak and Bald Cypress trees that typically grow in this type of biome...
of willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, eastern cottonwood, American elm, silver maple, and green ash. The steep valley walls bear northern hardwood forest
Northern hardwood forest
The northern hardwood forest is a general type of North American forest ecosystem found over much of southeastern and south central Canada, extending south into the United States in northern New England and New York, and west along the Great Lakes to Minnesota and western Ontario...
, although the cooler, moister north-facing slopes favor sugar maple, basswood
Tilia americana
Tilia americana is a species of Tilia native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Texas, and southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to Cherry County, Nebraska...
, and common hackberry
Celtis occidentalis
Celtis occidentalis, commonly known as the Common hackberry, is a medium-size deciduous tree native to North America. It is also known as the nettletree, beaverwood, northern hackberry, and American hackberry...
while the drier south slopes are characterized by bur oak, eastern red cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Juniperus virginiana is a species of juniper native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, east of the Great Plains...
, and aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
. A few dry, sunny knolls support prairie characterized by big bluestem and indian grass
Sorghastrum nutans
Sorghastrum nutans, commonly known as Yellow Indiangrass, is a North American prairie grass found in the central and eastern United States and Canada, especially in the Great Plains...
.
The park's plant communities have been altered since Euro-American settlement. Without periodic wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
s to thin woody plant
Woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue. These are typically perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced adjacent to the vascular tissues. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of...
s, the valleyside forests have gotten denser and many prairie openings have filled in with sumac
Sumac
Sumac is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America....
. Many elm trees were lost to Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...
. The valley floor is largely secondary forest
Secondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
, having been cleared for agriculture and then submerged under a reservoir.
Fauna
Surrounded by human development, Flandrau is an important refuge for local wildlife. The 25 species of mammals seen in the park include white-tailed deerWhite-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, gray fox
Gray Fox
The gray fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to the northern part of South America...
es, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, beavers, striped skunks
Striped Skunk
The striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis, is an omnivorous mammal of the skunk family Mephitidae. Found over most of the North American continent north of Mexico, it is one of the best-known mammals in Canada and the United States.-Description:...
, opossums
Virginia Opossum
The Virginia opossum , commonly known as the North American opossum or tlacuache in Mexico, is the only marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, and thus the largest opossum, it is a successful opportunist...
, and minks
American Mink
The American mink is a semi-aquatic species of Mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of this, it is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Since the extinction of the sea mink, the American mink is the...
. Over 60 species of birds have been documented in the park. Most of these are songbirds migrating through rather than nesting. These include many warblers
New World warbler
The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are not related to the Old World warblers or the Australian warblers....
, flycatchers, vireo
Vireo
The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color, the smaller species resembling wood warblers apart from their heavier bills...
s, and thrushes
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
.
The Cottonwood River supports a few game fish
Game fish
Game fish are fish pursued for sport by recreational anglers. They can be freshwater or marine fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, though increasingly anglers practise catch and release to improve fish populations. Some game fish are also targeted commercially, particularly...
— notably northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
and smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
— and a greater variety of rough fish
Rough fish
Rough fish is a term used by U.S. state agencies and U.S. anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers within a limited region. The term usually refers to larger fish species that are not commonly eaten, are too rare to be commonly encountered, or are not sought after by...
.
Cultural history
Archaeological evidence found outside the park confirms that prehistoric Native Americans inhabited the Cottonwood River valley. A few sites were as much as 7,000 years old, though most were 2,000 years old or less. At the time of European contact in the mid-17th century the area was home to the DakotaSioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
. Pioneers
American pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
began settling the Cottonwood Valley in the 1830s. In less than a century, though, the valley floor was largely abandoned due to the periodic flooding.
State park creation
To help combat unemployment during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, federal funding was dedicated to park development throughout the United States. The Cottonwood River valley was selected as it was in a well-populated region with no other large recreational area or lakes. Moreover the land was largely abandoned and seemingly in need of flood control
Flood control
In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
structures. The state of Minnesota purchased the property in 1934. The first Works Progress Administration (WPA) enrollees arrived in September, living in tents while they built bunkhouses, a mess hall, and an administrative building over the winter. Mostly middle-aged skilled worker
Skilled worker
A skilled worker is any worker who has some special skill, knowledge, or ability in their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Or, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job...
s, the WPA men quarried stone and constructed three park buildings: a beachhouse, a manager's residence, and a garage.
A second workforce arrived in June 1935, establishing its own camp in the southwest corner of the park. These were less-skilled workers hired through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). They built the dam and its earthen dikes, constructed a kitchen shelter, landscaped, planted trees, and blazed trails. WPA and CCC workers cleared trees out of the lakebed. For the first year the laborers were World War I veterans from the Veterans Conservation Corps (VCC). In July 1936 they transferred to other Minnesota state parks and were replaced with the unemployed young men more typical of CCC projects.
The dam, completed in 1937 after two years of work, impounded a reservoir of 209 acres (84.6 ha). The WPA continued to work in the park until 1941 and the CCC until 1942. As planned, the WPA camp was converted to a group center while the CCC camp was razed.
The stone structures built by the WPA have been called " the most unusual architectural designs in the state park system" by the Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
. A principle of the Rustic Style was to harmonize with the local environment, generally by using local materials. In this case, however, architect Edward W. Barber chose to reflect local culture as well, honoring the strong German heritage of New Ulm. The park buildings evoke the architecture of Germany
Architecture of Germany
The architecture of Germany has a long, rich and diverse history. It is characterized by a high degree of regional diversity, caused by centuries of fragmentation of Germany into principalities and kingdoms. This made for a heterogeneous and diverse architectural style, with architectural...
with steeply pitched roofs, dormer
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...
s, chimneys, casement window
Casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...
s with small panes
Paned window
A paned window is a window that is divided into sections known as panes. Originally, the meaning pertained to sectioned glass windows in walls.Computer scientists have adopted the term "pane" to refer to parts of sectioned windows on a graphical display...
, and fine nonlinear stonework. The beachhouse is also one of the largest New Deal structures in the Minnesota state park system.
Camp New Ulm
During World War II, the empty group camp built by the WPA was used to house German prisoners of war in the United StatesGerman prisoners of war in the United States
German prisoners of war in the United States were members of the German military interned in the United States as prisoners of war during World War I and World War II...
. Late in the war, Great Britain was short on space and resources to provide for captured enemy combatants; meanwhile, much of the U.S. labor force was off serving in the military. The U.S. established camps throughout the country from which 450,000 POWs were employed in non-defense industries. Nine POW camps were established in Minnesota — including one other state park, Whitewater
Whitewater State Park
Whitewater State Park is a Minnesota state park in Winona County in the southeastern blufflands area of the state. The park features scenic overlooks and excellent trout fishing in the spring fed Whitewater River and Trout Run Creek. It has about 300,000 visitors annually, and is located 7 miles ...
— all managed from a regional headquarters in Algona, Iowa
Algona, Iowa
Algona is a city in and the county seat of Kossuth County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,741 at the 2000 census. Ambrose A. Call State Park is located two miles southwest of the city.-History:...
.
About 160 German POWs arrived at Camp New Ulm in June 1944. Mostly members of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
(the German Air Force), they ranged in age from 18–25. Twelve men from the U.S. Army served as their guards.
The POWs primarily worked in the nearby town of Sleepy Eye
Sleepy Eye, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,515 people, 1,479 households, and 942 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,099.9 people per square mile . There were 1,591 housing units at an average density of 950.5 per square mile...
at a cannery, which paid the rent on the camp. After the harvest season, prisoners assisted at brick and tile factories and a poultry processing plant.
Flandrau State Park is a state park
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, USA, on the Cottonwood River
Cottonwood River (Minnesota)
The Cottonwood River is a tributary of the Minnesota River, 152 miles long, in southwestern Minnesota in the United States. Via the Minnesota River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in an agricultural region...
adjacent to the city of New Ulm
New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,522 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County....
. Initially called Cottonwood River State Park, it was renamed in 1945 to honor Charles Eugene Flandrau
Charles Eugene Flandrau
Charles Eugene Flandrau was an American lawyer and colonel in the Union Army.-Early life:...
, a leading citizen of early Minnesota who commanded defenses during the Battles of New Ulm
Battles of New Ulm
In 1851, the Santee Sioux Indians of Minnesota had been forced to cede to the government their hunting ground of . In 1852, they were corralled into a reservation on the Minnesota River. In 1858, they were swindled of half that land...
in the Dakota War of 1862
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of the eastern Sioux. It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota...
. The park was originally developed in the 1930s as a job creation project
Job creation program
Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...
to provide a recreational reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
. However the dam was repeatedly damaged by floods and was removed in 1995.
Along with the dam, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
(CCC) and Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA) built several structures in the National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service rustic, also colloquially known as Parkitecture, is a style of architecture that arose in the United States National Park System to create buildings that harmonized with their natural environment. Since its founding, the National Park Service consistently has sought to provide...
style. In a unique twist on the mandate to harmonize with the local environment, the buildings were designed to reflect the ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
heritage of New Ulm. The WPA barracks were reused during World War II as Camp New Ulm, housing German prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. All of these structures are listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Geography
Flandrau State Park lies in a small valley carved by the east-flowing Cottonwood River. Marshy oxbow lakeOxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape, named after part of a yoke for oxen. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong, derived...
s mark the river's former courses along the valley floor. The steep valley walls rise 150 –. The Cottonwood joins the Minnesota River
Minnesota River
The Minnesota River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of nearly , in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa....
just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the park. It originates 90 miles (144.8 km) west of the park in Lyon County, Minnesota
Lyon County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,425 people, 9,715 households, and 6,334 families residing in the county. The population density was 36 people per square mile . There were 10,298 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile...
.
The park boundary largely follows the valley rim. Trees on the slopes generally screen the adjacent development. The northern end of the park, including the campground, is within the city limits of New Ulm. No bridges cross the river within Flandrau, so the parkland on the south bank is not readily accessible. The only development there, the group center, is at the end of a gated road.
Geology
Flandrau State Park lies atop a bedrockBedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
of shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, and conglomerate
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
. These sediments accumulated at the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway
Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway, also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, and the North American Inland Sea, was a huge inland sea that split the continent of North America into two halves, Laramidia and Appalachia, during most of the mid- and late-Cretaceous Period...
100 million years ago during the late Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
period. The fine-grained sandstone is white with bands of orange from iron oxide
Iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
, and contains fossilized plant material. The conglomerate contains pebbles of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
that had formed 3,000–2,500 million years ago and later eroded into the seaway.
Lying directly atop the Cretaceous rocks is till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
just a few thousand years old. All intermediate rock had eroded away before the till was deposited in a ground moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
by continental glacier
Continental Glacier
Continental Glacier is located in Bridger-Teton and Shoshone National Forests, in the U.S. state of Wyoming and straddles the Continental Divide in the northern Wind River Range. Continental Glacier is in both the Bridger and Fitzpatrick Wildernesses, and is part of the largest grouping of glaciers...
s. Within Flandrau State Park this glacial debris is 100 to 200 ft (30.5 to 61 m) thick. While the till contains some rock from Canada and northern Minnesota, most is from the local region. Numerous springs
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
emerge at the base of the till slopes, especially at the western end of the park.
As the northern glaciers melted, the massive Glacial River Warren
Glacial River Warren
right|thumb|210px|The course of the Minnesota River follows the valley carved by Glacial River WarrenGlacial River Warren or River Warren was a prehistoric river that drained Lake Agassiz in central North America between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago...
carved a deep channel for itself. The modern Minnesota River follows the same course, but occupies only a fraction of the former riverbed. Its tributaries must drop from the surrounding plains into the broad valley to reach their base level
Base level
The base level of a river or stream is the lowest point to which it can flow, often referred to as the 'mouth' of the river. For large rivers, sea level is usually the base level, but a large river or lake is likewise the base level for tributary streams...
. This is why the Cottonwood River, a placid prairie stream for most of its length, plunges into such a deep valley near its mouth. The Cottonwood's downcutting
Downcutting
Downcutting, also called erosional downcutting or downward erosion or vertical erosion is a geological process that deepens the channel of a stream or valley by removing material from the stream's bed or the valley's floor. How fast downcutting occurs depends on the stream's base level, which is...
has carved all the way through the thick glacial till and a few feet into the Cretaceous bedrock below. There may once have been a waterfall on the Cottonwood River, which eroded into rapids before achieving the steady gradient
Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
of modern times.
Flora
The vegetation of Flandrau State Park is representative of the Upper Minnesota River Country Biocultural Region. Although the surrounding tallgrass prairieTallgrass prairie
The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America, with fire as its primary periodic disturbance. In the past, tallgrass prairies covered a large portion of the American Midwest, just east of the Great Plains, and portions of the Canadian Prairies. They flourished in areas with...
is gone, the forested river valley remains similar to times before European settlement.
The valley floor supports marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es and wet prairie interspersed with bottomland hardwood forest
Bottomland hardwood forest
The Bottomland hardwood forest is a type of deciduous hardwood forest found in broad lowland floodplains along large rivers and lakes. They are occasionally flooded, which builds up the alluvial soils required for the Gum, Oak and Bald Cypress trees that typically grow in this type of biome...
of willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, eastern cottonwood, American elm, silver maple, and green ash. The steep valley walls bear northern hardwood forest
Northern hardwood forest
The northern hardwood forest is a general type of North American forest ecosystem found over much of southeastern and south central Canada, extending south into the United States in northern New England and New York, and west along the Great Lakes to Minnesota and western Ontario...
, although the cooler, moister north-facing slopes favor sugar maple, basswood
Tilia americana
Tilia americana is a species of Tilia native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Texas, and southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to Cherry County, Nebraska...
, and common hackberry
Celtis occidentalis
Celtis occidentalis, commonly known as the Common hackberry, is a medium-size deciduous tree native to North America. It is also known as the nettletree, beaverwood, northern hackberry, and American hackberry...
while the drier south slopes are characterized by bur oak, eastern red cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Juniperus virginiana is a species of juniper native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, east of the Great Plains...
, and aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
. A few dry, sunny knolls support prairie characterized by big bluestem and indian grass
Sorghastrum nutans
Sorghastrum nutans, commonly known as Yellow Indiangrass, is a North American prairie grass found in the central and eastern United States and Canada, especially in the Great Plains...
.
The park's plant communities have been altered since Euro-American settlement. Without periodic wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
s to thin woody plant
Woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue. These are typically perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced adjacent to the vascular tissues. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of...
s, the valleyside forests have gotten denser and many prairie openings have filled in with sumac
Sumac
Sumac is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America....
. Many elm trees were lost to Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...
. The valley floor is largely secondary forest
Secondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
, having been cleared for agriculture and then submerged under a reservoir.
Fauna
Surrounded by human development, Flandrau is an important refuge for local wildlife. The 25 species of mammals seen in the park include white-tailed deerWhite-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, gray fox
Gray Fox
The gray fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to the northern part of South America...
es, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, beavers, striped skunks
Striped Skunk
The striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis, is an omnivorous mammal of the skunk family Mephitidae. Found over most of the North American continent north of Mexico, it is one of the best-known mammals in Canada and the United States.-Description:...
, opossums
Virginia Opossum
The Virginia opossum , commonly known as the North American opossum or tlacuache in Mexico, is the only marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, and thus the largest opossum, it is a successful opportunist...
, and minks
American Mink
The American mink is a semi-aquatic species of Mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of this, it is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Since the extinction of the sea mink, the American mink is the...
. Over 60 species of birds have been documented in the park. Most of these are songbirds migrating through rather than nesting. These include many warblers
New World warbler
The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are not related to the Old World warblers or the Australian warblers....
, flycatchers, vireo
Vireo
The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color, the smaller species resembling wood warblers apart from their heavier bills...
s, and thrushes
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
.
The Cottonwood River supports a few game fish
Game fish
Game fish are fish pursued for sport by recreational anglers. They can be freshwater or marine fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, though increasingly anglers practise catch and release to improve fish populations. Some game fish are also targeted commercially, particularly...
— notably northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
and smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
— and a greater variety of rough fish
Rough fish
Rough fish is a term used by U.S. state agencies and U.S. anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers within a limited region. The term usually refers to larger fish species that are not commonly eaten, are too rare to be commonly encountered, or are not sought after by...
.
Cultural history
Archaeological evidence found outside the park confirms that prehistoric Native Americans inhabited the Cottonwood River valley. A few sites were as much as 7,000 years old, though most were 2,000 years old or less. At the time of European contact in the mid-17th century the area was home to the DakotaSioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
. Pioneers
American pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
began settling the Cottonwood Valley in the 1830s. In less than a century, though, the valley floor was largely abandoned due to the periodic flooding.
State park creation
To help combat unemployment during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, federal funding was dedicated to park development throughout the United States. The Cottonwood River valley was selected as it was in a well-populated region with no other large recreational area or lakes. Moreover the land was largely abandoned and seemingly in need of flood control
Flood control
In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
structures. The state of Minnesota purchased the property in 1934. The first Works Progress Administration (WPA) enrollees arrived in September, living in tents while they built bunkhouses, a mess hall, and an administrative building over the winter. Mostly middle-aged skilled worker
Skilled worker
A skilled worker is any worker who has some special skill, knowledge, or ability in their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Or, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job...
s, the WPA men quarried stone and constructed three park buildings: a beachhouse, a manager's residence, and a garage.
A second workforce arrived in June 1935, establishing its own camp in the southwest corner of the park. These were less-skilled workers hired through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). They built the dam and its earthen dikes, constructed a kitchen shelter, landscaped, planted trees, and blazed trails. WPA and CCC workers cleared trees out of the lakebed. For the first year the laborers were World War I veterans from the Veterans Conservation Corps (VCC). In July 1936 they transferred to other Minnesota state parks and were replaced with the unemployed young men more typical of CCC projects.
The dam, completed in 1937 after two years of work, impounded a reservoir of 209 acres (84.6 ha). The WPA continued to work in the park until 1941 and the CCC until 1942. As planned, the WPA camp was converted to a group center while the CCC camp was razed.
The stone structures built by the WPA have been called " the most unusual architectural designs in the state park system" by the Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
. A principle of the Rustic Style was to harmonize with the local environment, generally by using local materials. In this case, however, architect Edward W. Barber chose to reflect local culture as well, honoring the strong German heritage of New Ulm. The park buildings evoke the architecture of Germany
Architecture of Germany
The architecture of Germany has a long, rich and diverse history. It is characterized by a high degree of regional diversity, caused by centuries of fragmentation of Germany into principalities and kingdoms. This made for a heterogeneous and diverse architectural style, with architectural...
with steeply pitched roofs, dormer
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...
s, chimneys, casement window
Casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...
s with small panes
Paned window
A paned window is a window that is divided into sections known as panes. Originally, the meaning pertained to sectioned glass windows in walls.Computer scientists have adopted the term "pane" to refer to parts of sectioned windows on a graphical display...
, and fine nonlinear stonework. The beachhouse is also one of the largest New Deal structures in the Minnesota state park system.
Camp New Ulm
During World War II, the empty group camp built by the WPA was used to house German prisoners of war in the United StatesGerman prisoners of war in the United States
German prisoners of war in the United States were members of the German military interned in the United States as prisoners of war during World War I and World War II...
. Late in the war, Great Britain was short on space and resources to provide for captured enemy combatants; meanwhile, much of the U.S. labor force was off serving in the military. The U.S. established camps throughout the country from which 450,000 POWs were employed in non-defense industries. Nine POW camps were established in Minnesota — including one other state park, Whitewater
Whitewater State Park
Whitewater State Park is a Minnesota state park in Winona County in the southeastern blufflands area of the state. The park features scenic overlooks and excellent trout fishing in the spring fed Whitewater River and Trout Run Creek. It has about 300,000 visitors annually, and is located 7 miles ...
— all managed from a regional headquarters in Algona, Iowa
Algona, Iowa
Algona is a city in and the county seat of Kossuth County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,741 at the 2000 census. Ambrose A. Call State Park is located two miles southwest of the city.-History:...
.
About 160 German POWs arrived at Camp New Ulm in June 1944. Mostly members of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
(the German Air Force), they ranged in age from 18–25. Twelve men from the U.S. Army served as their guards.
The POWs primarily worked in the nearby town of Sleepy Eye
Sleepy Eye, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,515 people, 1,479 households, and 942 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,099.9 people per square mile . There were 1,591 housing units at an average density of 950.5 per square mile...
at a cannery, which paid the rent on the camp. After the harvest season, prisoners assisted at brick and tile factories and a poultry processing plant.
Flandrau State Park is a state park
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, USA, on the Cottonwood River
Cottonwood River (Minnesota)
The Cottonwood River is a tributary of the Minnesota River, 152 miles long, in southwestern Minnesota in the United States. Via the Minnesota River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of in an agricultural region...
adjacent to the city of New Ulm
New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,522 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County....
. Initially called Cottonwood River State Park, it was renamed in 1945 to honor Charles Eugene Flandrau
Charles Eugene Flandrau
Charles Eugene Flandrau was an American lawyer and colonel in the Union Army.-Early life:...
, a leading citizen of early Minnesota who commanded defenses during the Battles of New Ulm
Battles of New Ulm
In 1851, the Santee Sioux Indians of Minnesota had been forced to cede to the government their hunting ground of . In 1852, they were corralled into a reservation on the Minnesota River. In 1858, they were swindled of half that land...
in the Dakota War of 1862
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of the eastern Sioux. It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota...
. The park was originally developed in the 1930s as a job creation project
Job creation program
Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...
to provide a recreational reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
. However the dam was repeatedly damaged by floods and was removed in 1995.
Along with the dam, crews from the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
(CCC) and Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA) built several structures in the National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service rustic, also colloquially known as Parkitecture, is a style of architecture that arose in the United States National Park System to create buildings that harmonized with their natural environment. Since its founding, the National Park Service consistently has sought to provide...
style. In a unique twist on the mandate to harmonize with the local environment, the buildings were designed to reflect the ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
heritage of New Ulm. The WPA barracks were reused during World War II as Camp New Ulm, housing German prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. All of these structures are listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Geography
Flandrau State Park lies in a small valley carved by the east-flowing Cottonwood River. Marshy oxbow lakeOxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake. This landform is called an oxbow lake for the distinctive curved shape, named after part of a yoke for oxen. In Australia, an oxbow lake is called a billabong, derived...
s mark the river's former courses along the valley floor. The steep valley walls rise 150 –. The Cottonwood joins the Minnesota River
Minnesota River
The Minnesota River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of nearly , in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa....
just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the park. It originates 90 miles (144.8 km) west of the park in Lyon County, Minnesota
Lyon County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,425 people, 9,715 households, and 6,334 families residing in the county. The population density was 36 people per square mile . There were 10,298 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile...
.
The park boundary largely follows the valley rim. Trees on the slopes generally screen the adjacent development. The northern end of the park, including the campground, is within the city limits of New Ulm. No bridges cross the river within Flandrau, so the parkland on the south bank is not readily accessible. The only development there, the group center, is at the end of a gated road.
Geology
Flandrau State Park lies atop a bedrockBedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
of shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
, sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, and conglomerate
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
. These sediments accumulated at the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway
Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway, also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, and the North American Inland Sea, was a huge inland sea that split the continent of North America into two halves, Laramidia and Appalachia, during most of the mid- and late-Cretaceous Period...
100 million years ago during the late Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
period. The fine-grained sandstone is white with bands of orange from iron oxide
Iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
, and contains fossilized plant material. The conglomerate contains pebbles of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
that had formed 3,000–2,500 million years ago and later eroded into the seaway.
Lying directly atop the Cretaceous rocks is till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
just a few thousand years old. All intermediate rock had eroded away before the till was deposited in a ground moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
by continental glacier
Continental Glacier
Continental Glacier is located in Bridger-Teton and Shoshone National Forests, in the U.S. state of Wyoming and straddles the Continental Divide in the northern Wind River Range. Continental Glacier is in both the Bridger and Fitzpatrick Wildernesses, and is part of the largest grouping of glaciers...
s. Within Flandrau State Park this glacial debris is 100 to 200 ft (30.5 to 61 m) thick. While the till contains some rock from Canada and northern Minnesota, most is from the local region. Numerous springs
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
emerge at the base of the till slopes, especially at the western end of the park.
As the northern glaciers melted, the massive Glacial River Warren
Glacial River Warren
right|thumb|210px|The course of the Minnesota River follows the valley carved by Glacial River WarrenGlacial River Warren or River Warren was a prehistoric river that drained Lake Agassiz in central North America between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago...
carved a deep channel for itself. The modern Minnesota River follows the same course, but occupies only a fraction of the former riverbed. Its tributaries must drop from the surrounding plains into the broad valley to reach their base level
Base level
The base level of a river or stream is the lowest point to which it can flow, often referred to as the 'mouth' of the river. For large rivers, sea level is usually the base level, but a large river or lake is likewise the base level for tributary streams...
. This is why the Cottonwood River, a placid prairie stream for most of its length, plunges into such a deep valley near its mouth. The Cottonwood's downcutting
Downcutting
Downcutting, also called erosional downcutting or downward erosion or vertical erosion is a geological process that deepens the channel of a stream or valley by removing material from the stream's bed or the valley's floor. How fast downcutting occurs depends on the stream's base level, which is...
has carved all the way through the thick glacial till and a few feet into the Cretaceous bedrock below. There may once have been a waterfall on the Cottonwood River, which eroded into rapids before achieving the steady gradient
Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
of modern times.
Flora
The vegetation of Flandrau State Park is representative of the Upper Minnesota River Country Biocultural Region. Although the surrounding tallgrass prairieTallgrass prairie
The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America, with fire as its primary periodic disturbance. In the past, tallgrass prairies covered a large portion of the American Midwest, just east of the Great Plains, and portions of the Canadian Prairies. They flourished in areas with...
is gone, the forested river valley remains similar to times before European settlement.
The valley floor supports marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es and wet prairie interspersed with bottomland hardwood forest
Bottomland hardwood forest
The Bottomland hardwood forest is a type of deciduous hardwood forest found in broad lowland floodplains along large rivers and lakes. They are occasionally flooded, which builds up the alluvial soils required for the Gum, Oak and Bald Cypress trees that typically grow in this type of biome...
of willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, eastern cottonwood, American elm, silver maple, and green ash. The steep valley walls bear northern hardwood forest
Northern hardwood forest
The northern hardwood forest is a general type of North American forest ecosystem found over much of southeastern and south central Canada, extending south into the United States in northern New England and New York, and west along the Great Lakes to Minnesota and western Ontario...
, although the cooler, moister north-facing slopes favor sugar maple, basswood
Tilia americana
Tilia americana is a species of Tilia native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Texas, and southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to Cherry County, Nebraska...
, and common hackberry
Celtis occidentalis
Celtis occidentalis, commonly known as the Common hackberry, is a medium-size deciduous tree native to North America. It is also known as the nettletree, beaverwood, northern hackberry, and American hackberry...
while the drier south slopes are characterized by bur oak, eastern red cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Juniperus virginiana is a species of juniper native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, east of the Great Plains...
, and aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
. A few dry, sunny knolls support prairie characterized by big bluestem and indian grass
Sorghastrum nutans
Sorghastrum nutans, commonly known as Yellow Indiangrass, is a North American prairie grass found in the central and eastern United States and Canada, especially in the Great Plains...
.
The park's plant communities have been altered since Euro-American settlement. Without periodic wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
s to thin woody plant
Woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue. These are typically perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced adjacent to the vascular tissues. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of...
s, the valleyside forests have gotten denser and many prairie openings have filled in with sumac
Sumac
Sumac is any one of approximately 250 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus and related genera, in the family Anacardiaceae. Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in Africa and North America....
. Many elm trees were lost to Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...
. The valley floor is largely secondary forest
Secondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
, having been cleared for agriculture and then submerged under a reservoir.
Fauna
Surrounded by human development, Flandrau is an important refuge for local wildlife. The 25 species of mammals seen in the park include white-tailed deerWhite-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, gray fox
Gray Fox
The gray fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to the northern part of South America...
es, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, beavers, striped skunks
Striped Skunk
The striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis, is an omnivorous mammal of the skunk family Mephitidae. Found over most of the North American continent north of Mexico, it is one of the best-known mammals in Canada and the United States.-Description:...
, opossums
Virginia Opossum
The Virginia opossum , commonly known as the North American opossum or tlacuache in Mexico, is the only marsupial found in North America north of Mexico. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, and thus the largest opossum, it is a successful opportunist...
, and minks
American Mink
The American mink is a semi-aquatic species of Mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of this, it is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Since the extinction of the sea mink, the American mink is the...
. Over 60 species of birds have been documented in the park. Most of these are songbirds migrating through rather than nesting. These include many warblers
New World warbler
The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are not related to the Old World warblers or the Australian warblers....
, flycatchers, vireo
Vireo
The vireos are a group of small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color, the smaller species resembling wood warblers apart from their heavier bills...
s, and thrushes
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
.
The Cottonwood River supports a few game fish
Game fish
Game fish are fish pursued for sport by recreational anglers. They can be freshwater or marine fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, though increasingly anglers practise catch and release to improve fish populations. Some game fish are also targeted commercially, particularly...
— notably northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
and smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
— and a greater variety of rough fish
Rough fish
Rough fish is a term used by U.S. state agencies and U.S. anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers within a limited region. The term usually refers to larger fish species that are not commonly eaten, are too rare to be commonly encountered, or are not sought after by...
.
Cultural history
Archaeological evidence found outside the park confirms that prehistoric Native Americans inhabited the Cottonwood River valley. A few sites were as much as 7,000 years old, though most were 2,000 years old or less. At the time of European contact in the mid-17th century the area was home to the DakotaSioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
. Pioneers
American pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
began settling the Cottonwood Valley in the 1830s. In less than a century, though, the valley floor was largely abandoned due to the periodic flooding.
State park creation
To help combat unemployment during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, federal funding was dedicated to park development throughout the United States. The Cottonwood River valley was selected as it was in a well-populated region with no other large recreational area or lakes. Moreover the land was largely abandoned and seemingly in need of flood control
Flood control
In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
structures. The state of Minnesota purchased the property in 1934. The first Works Progress Administration (WPA) enrollees arrived in September, living in tents while they built bunkhouses, a mess hall, and an administrative building over the winter. Mostly middle-aged skilled worker
Skilled worker
A skilled worker is any worker who has some special skill, knowledge, or ability in their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Or, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job...
s, the WPA men quarried stone and constructed three park buildings: a beachhouse, a manager's residence, and a garage.
A second workforce arrived in June 1935, establishing its own camp in the southwest corner of the park. These were less-skilled workers hired through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). They built the dam and its earthen dikes, constructed a kitchen shelter, landscaped, planted trees, and blazed trails. WPA and CCC workers cleared trees out of the lakebed. For the first year the laborers were World War I veterans from the Veterans Conservation Corps (VCC). In July 1936 they transferred to other Minnesota state parks and were replaced with the unemployed young men more typical of CCC projects.
The dam, completed in 1937 after two years of work, impounded a reservoir of 209 acres (84.6 ha). The WPA continued to work in the park until 1941 and the CCC until 1942. As planned, the WPA camp was converted to a group center while the CCC camp was razed.
The stone structures built by the WPA have been called " the most unusual architectural designs in the state park system" by the Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
. A principle of the Rustic Style was to harmonize with the local environment, generally by using local materials. In this case, however, architect Edward W. Barber chose to reflect local culture as well, honoring the strong German heritage of New Ulm. The park buildings evoke the architecture of Germany
Architecture of Germany
The architecture of Germany has a long, rich and diverse history. It is characterized by a high degree of regional diversity, caused by centuries of fragmentation of Germany into principalities and kingdoms. This made for a heterogeneous and diverse architectural style, with architectural...
with steeply pitched roofs, dormer
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...
s, chimneys, casement window
Casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...
s with small panes
Paned window
A paned window is a window that is divided into sections known as panes. Originally, the meaning pertained to sectioned glass windows in walls.Computer scientists have adopted the term "pane" to refer to parts of sectioned windows on a graphical display...
, and fine nonlinear stonework. The beachhouse is also one of the largest New Deal structures in the Minnesota state park system.
Camp New Ulm
During World War II, the empty group camp built by the WPA was used to house German prisoners of war in the United StatesGerman prisoners of war in the United States
German prisoners of war in the United States were members of the German military interned in the United States as prisoners of war during World War I and World War II...
. Late in the war, Great Britain was short on space and resources to provide for captured enemy combatants; meanwhile, much of the U.S. labor force was off serving in the military. The U.S. established camps throughout the country from which 450,000 POWs were employed in non-defense industries. Nine POW camps were established in Minnesota — including one other state park, Whitewater
Whitewater State Park
Whitewater State Park is a Minnesota state park in Winona County in the southeastern blufflands area of the state. The park features scenic overlooks and excellent trout fishing in the spring fed Whitewater River and Trout Run Creek. It has about 300,000 visitors annually, and is located 7 miles ...
— all managed from a regional headquarters in Algona, Iowa
Algona, Iowa
Algona is a city in and the county seat of Kossuth County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,741 at the 2000 census. Ambrose A. Call State Park is located two miles southwest of the city.-History:...
.
About 160 German POWs arrived at Camp New Ulm in June 1944. Mostly members of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
(the German Air Force), they ranged in age from 18–25. Twelve men from the U.S. Army served as their guards.
The POWs primarily worked in the nearby town of Sleepy Eye
Sleepy Eye, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,515 people, 1,479 households, and 942 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,099.9 people per square mile . There were 1,591 housing units at an average density of 950.5 per square mile...
at a cannery, which paid the rent on the camp. After the harvest season, prisoners assisted at brick and tile factories and a poultry processing plant. Small groups were hired out to local farms, unguarded, as short-term farmworker
Farmworker
A farmworker is a person hired to work in the agricultural industry. This includes work on farms of all sizes, from small, family-run businesses to large industrial agriculture operations...
s. The POWs spent the winter at regional headquarters in Algona and returned in spring 1945. That year their use on farms expanded considerably, encompassing worksites in eight counties, while prisoners at the cannery were instrumental in packing Sleepy Eye's largest-ever pea crop.
The location of Camp New Ulm outside a town with a strong German heritage was a lucky break for the POWs. Many locals still spoke German and were sympathetic toward the prisoners (and hoping in many cases for news of relatives and the old country). German-speaking church officials held Lutheran and Catholic services in the camp and gathered donations of reading material. Although the guards warned civilians that they were not to have contact with the POWs, food was slipped over the fence, cannery workers shared ice cream and beer, and young women waded across the river at night to flirt at the camp's edge. POWs out on weeklong farm details fared best of all, often receiving full home-cooked meals at the family dinner table.
Prisoner Helmut Lichtenberg, who had become friendly with a farm family he'd worked for, arranged to slip out of camp and spend much of a weekend with them. Mindless of the severity of the infraction, the farmer and his mother-in-law drove Lichtenberg into camp Sunday afternoon, where they were stopped by guards. Lichtenberg was punished with solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
; the Americans were ultimately both fined $300 and lectured by the judge. Their testimony indicated that other prisoners undertook such forays, but this was the camp's only documented escape incident.
For recreation the POWs had a clubhouse with a fireplace and library, a camp store, a sport field, and a workshop where they made their own furniture and sporting equipment. They were allowed to swim and fish in part of Cottonwood Lake. Further entertainments included newspapers, radios, and weekly movie screenings. Some musical instruments were gathered, and locals came to listen and sing along to Sunday afternoon concerts.
Camp New Ulm closed in December 1945 and all of the internees were eventually repatriated to Germany. One of the former prisoners later immigrated to the United States, settling in Wisconsin. The camp remains in use as the state park's group center, one of the country's few World War II POW camps that are still maintained. When the camp is not occupied, visitors can ask at the park office to access the grounds.
Recent history
By World War II, sentiment developed for renaming the park after Charles Flandrau (1828–1903), a notable figure in early Minnesota history. A lawyer, indian agentIndian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....
, and statesman, Flandrau served on the territorial supreme court, presided over the first court session in Brown County, and led the military defense of New Ulm during the Dakota War of 1862. The name change was officialized in March 1945.
Two years later the Cottonwood Lake Dam was overtopped and seriously damaged by a flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
. It was reconstructed at great expense, but damaged again by flooding in spring 1965. This time federal funds were denied, and the state opted for a shorter dam and a separate swimming pool. However a third damaging flood swept through in 1969. With local opinion divided about reestablishing the recreational lake, the state commissioned an independent study. The engineering consultants reported that, although a restored dam would improve habitat for panfish
Panfish
A panfish, also spelled pan-fish or pan fish, is an edible game fish that usually doesn't outgrow the size of a frying pan. The term is also commonly used by anglers to refer to any small catch that will fit in a pan, but is large enough to be legal. However its definition and usage varies with...
and block upstream movement of undesirable species such as carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
, it would not provide effective flood control. The capacity of the lake basin was too small compared to the watershed, exacerbated by increased agricultural drainage and wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
loss since the original damming in the 1930s. Nor would a new dam be cost-effective for generating hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
, and the lake would be prone to heavy sedimentation
Sedimentation
Sedimentation is the tendency for particles in suspension to settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained, and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the forces acting on them: these forces can be due to gravity, centrifugal acceleration...
and periods of poor water quality.
The director of the state parks division recommended against rebuilding the dam. Some structures remained for several years; full dam removal
Dam removal
Dam removal is the process of removing out-dated, dangerous, or ecologically damaging dams from river systems. There are thousands of out-dated dams in the United States that were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as many more recent ones that have caused such great ecological damage,...
took place in 1995 and the Cottonwood River is again free-flowing through the park. As an interpretive sign reads, "the dam that took almost 200 men nearly two years to build was demolished by four men and heavy equipment in five months."
Recreation
Flandrau State Park has 8 miles (12.9 km) of trails for hiking, walking, and running. Many connect to city streets, and the park experiences significant walk-in traffic. In winter all trails are groomed for cross-country skiingCross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
.
The park maintains three campgrounds with 92 sites total, 34 of which have electrical hookups. There are also three secluded walk-in sites. Visitors can rent two camper cabins or the historic group center, which sleeps up to 110 in eight bunkhouses.
The popular day-use area centers around a unique sand-bottomed, chlorinated
Chlorination
Chlorination is the process of adding the element chlorine to water as a method of water purification to make it fit for human consumption as drinking water...
swimming pool. This is adjacent to the historic beachhouse and a picnic area with a playground, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
and horseshoes
Horseshoes
Horseshoes is an outdoor game played between two people using four horseshoes and two throwing targets set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing horseshoes at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart...
facilities, and a reservable shelter.
Most fishing is done at the downstream end of the Cottonwood River, near the park's eastern edge, where the riverbank is most easily accessed.
Flandrau is adjacent to Nehls City Park, the private New Ulm Country Club, and the August Schell Brewing Company
August Schell Brewing Company
The August Schell Brewing Company is a brewing company in New Ulm, Minnesota. It was founded by German immigrant August Schell in 1860 and passed into the possession of the Schell family in 1866. It is the second oldest family-owned brewery in America and became the oldest and largest brewery in...
. The Hermann Heights Monument and Martin Luther College
Martin Luther College
This article deals with the WELS-affiliated tertiary institution in Minnesota. See Luther College for the ELCA institution in Iowa.Martin Luther College is the college of ministry operated by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod...
are within blocks of the park entrance.