Grand Mound Historic Site near International Falls will be shut down as Gov. Jesse Ventura seeks to chop $4 million from the budget of the Minnesota Historical Society, Rep. Irv Anderson learned last week.
“This is another case of the governor not caring about northern Minnesota,” charged Anderson (DFL-International Falls). “Grand Mound was something that helped attract tourism business to our region.
“It’s the same mentality that led him to veto the funding for the Big Bear Center in Northome,” he added. “It’s clear that Gov. Ventura believes that if something’s not in the Twin Cities, it’s not important.”
The governor’s proposal also would close the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids, Anderson said.
Anderson noted Grand Mound and all other state historic sites charge admission, and questioned why an admission fee increase was not considered instead of a shut down.
He is encouraging people to write letters to State Rep. Dan McElroy, chairman of the committee that provides the Historical Society’s budget, to protest the closing.
Grand Mound is located 17 miles west of International Falls on the Rainy River. The site contains the largest ancient Indian burial mound in the Upper U.S. Midwest.
It has a visitor centre that displays the lifestyle of the ancient Indians who erected it, and has a self-guided trail that leads to a site where people camped and buried their dead some 2,000 years ago—long before Europeans arrived in North America.
“Minnesota has 27 historic sites but Grand Mound is the only one that preserves an Indian-related site of this great age,” Anderson said. “That, itself, is a good reason to keep Grand Mound open.”
Anderson said cuts such as this might be avoided under a budget-balancing plan proposed by Sen. Doug Johnson of Tower, Mn., which covers the shortfall by using reserve funds and financing previously-approved transportation projects with state bonds instead of cash.
“If we can balance the budget without the tax increases, cuts in education, and cuts in other areas that Gov. Ventura proposed, we ought to try to do so,” Anderson said.
“The state has invested thousands of dollars over the years in establishing and improving historic sites and other facilities.
“Why should we write off that investment—and then two or three years from now, spend more money to open it again?” he asked.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
