Unidentified abandoned homestead. John and Francis Allen Collection courtesy of Douglas Birk. Historic sites like old farmsteads and railroad grades are common in the Northern Headwaters area. Old logging railroad grade. Little has been done in the way of archaeological excavation, and many sites are now being lost to development, erosion, or activities of collectors.
Historic sites are resources that document people, events, and processes.
If properly studied, they can inform about postcontact activities in the Headwaters area and show how an enduring Euro-American presence there has affected Indian people and environments as well as the lives of the colonizers themselves. Among historic sites in the Northern Headwaters that have been studied by archaeologists are the abandoned town site of Buena Vista in Beltrami County, a trading post site at Horseshoe Bay on Leech Lake, and an old Indian Agency complex on Leech Lake, both in Cass County. The dominant historic components at each of these sites date to the middle or late 19th century. Back to the Northern Headwaters Region main page.