Prepared by the students of the WMEP Greatest Places project. The papery bark of birch trees has been used for centuries by the Ojibwe, the native Americans of Minnesota, to make canoes for traveling on the thousands of lakes and rivers in our state. Baskets and other household items for storage were also made from birch bark.
Loons are large black and white birds with long black bills and red eyes.
They live on the lakes of Northern Minnesota. The mother loons carry the babies on her back. The loon hat was worn by people at a special event connected to the opening of a shopping center. The name of the shopping center is Gaviidae Common. Gaviidae is the Latin name for loon.