Leaf River, or Leafriver, is a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 in section 22 of Leaf River Township

Leaf River Township, Minnesota

Leaf River Township is a township in Wadena County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 515 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:...

, Wadena County

Wadena County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,713 people, 5,426 households, and 3,608 families residing in the county. The population density was 26 people per square mile . There were 6,334 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

, 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...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.Today the town has a population around 50. You will find a restaurant, golf course, and a residential community.

History

The village of Leaf River had a post office from 1880 until 1882, and again from 1902 until 1908. It was served by a station of the Great Northern Railway.

Etymology

The village received its name from the Leaf River

Leaf River (Minnesota)

The Leaf River is a tributary of the Crow Wing River, about 50 mi long, in west-central Minnesota in the United States. Via the Crow Wing, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.-Course:...

, which was in turn named for the Leaf Mountains, which were called by the Ojibwa

Ojibwa

The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

 Gaaskibag-wajiwan. This name was translated by Gilfillan

Joseph Gilfillan

Joseph Alexander Gilfillan was an Episcopal missionary to Native Americans of the Ojibwa Tribe on White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota during 35 years from 1873 until 1908.-Biography:...

as "Rustling Leaf Mountains."