Wonders of Minnesota

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

This morning as I exited our cabin bathroom after showering, I heard Weird Al singing ” We’re heading for the biggest ball of twine in Minnesohta”. Yep, today was the big day. Jane seemed pumped up to visit this oddity and even threatened to leave me behind if I didn’t hurry out of the cabin well before check-out time.

We skirted around the southwest edge of Minneapolis, then progressed along nice rural Minnesota roads listening to Weird Al’s song once again. We happily rolled toward Darwin in anticipation of our soon-to-be encounter with the renowned ball of string. But, I must admit that I felt somewhat underprepared for our arrival. We had neither potato skins nor pickled weiners and didn’t sing even one rendition of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” let alone 27. 

Then, about 15 minutes before arriving in Darwin, a strange event occured. As Jane drove through Dassel, an odd neuron fired off in her brain and she muttered “Ergot Museum”. I raised an eyebrow and replied with a perceptive “huh” as she reset the GPS and turned around. There in the small town of Dassel, only minutes from the Ball of Twine, lay the amazing Dassel History Center and Ergot Museun. Who knew? 

 

Inside the building, as we were signing the guest register, we were greeted by the freindly museum director, Ms. Carolyn. She seemed to be delighted that we were visting from North Carolina and that we had heard about ergot. Jane related that in college, her plant pathology professor lent her a book, “Saint Anthony’s Fire” about ergot. She stayed up all night before her final exam reading this book with fascination rather than studying. (Of course, she passed the exam and aced the course anyway.) 

Ergot is a fungus (Claviceps purpurea) that infects cereal grains and grasses, especially rye. The fungus grows inside the kernel’s husk which turns a dark purplish-black color and results in toxic chemical changes that also can have a psychotic effect. Humans have written about ergot for over 10,000 years. The museum’s informative displays recounted this history with a replica of a Cuneiform tablet asking the gods for protection from ergot, a replica of a late 15th century, H. Borsch painting, “Temptation of St. Anthony”, and a reproduction of a painting of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials which are now believed to have been initiated due to the strange behavior of a group of young girls suffering from ergotism. 

But, science has been able to extract alkaloids from ergot that are useful for the treatment of migraine headaches, hemorrhaging, and obstetrical matters. (Lysergic diethylamide known as LSD was also manufactured from ergot alkaloids.) An enterprising Dassel entrepreneur, L.R. Peel, founded a company, Universal Laboratories in 1937 to supply extracted ergot to the Eli Lilly Company. Ultimately, science developed methods to synthetically produce the ergot alkaloids so that this business ended in the late 1970s. We were standing in the building where this company had operated and women had separated large amounts of ergot from healthy grain.

Ms. Carolyn escorted us through all four floors of the museum taking care to point out features from the original ergot facility that where embedded among the other historical displays, then she left us on our own to explore.

One prominent display area was devoted to a Dassel native, Hildred Olson, who had appeared in The Wizard of Oz as a munchkin. We watched a well-produced video about her life in Dassel, her vaudeville career, being recruited to be a munchkin, her life on the movie set, and her later life. BTW, actress Frances Gumm (Judy Garland) was also from Minnesota and is said to have had a special bond with Hildred.

—— Hildred Olson, Munchkin —— 

There were additional interesting displays in the Dassel History Center about the Peterson Pharmacy, Magnus Johnson,  a Swedish immigrant farmer who became a U.S. Senator, and the area’s contribution to the genetic improvement of seed corn.

—— Peterson Pharmacy ——

— Magnus Johnson,  from Swedish Immigrant Farmer to U.S. Senator— 

After we throughly perused the displays, Ms. Carolyn interviewed us and said we would appear in the Recent Visitors section of the Dassel Dispatch. We departed feeling important but also fortunate to have stumbled on this Wonder of Minnesota.

At Ms. Carolyn’s recommendation, we drove a few blocks and parked downtown to have lunch at Vinny’s Cafe. We were discussing meatless options with the waitress when Vinny himself asked if we like Asian cuisine. We do, so he whipped up a delightful vegetable and rice dish for us. Turns out that Vinny used to be chef at the Twine Ball Inn and showed us a menu from there. He also informed us that there was ongoing construction around the Twine Ball and how to maneuver around it. Upon our departure, everyone in the cafe had befriended us.

—— Lunch at Vinny’s Cafe ——

Not far from Dassel, we turned into Darwin where we did indeed find significant road work underway. Apparently a grand plaza is being installed around the Twine Ball. Jane drove the car around the torn up streets and parked across the rutty road from the twine shrine. Due to the road work, the Twine Ball Inn, the Twine Ball Museum and Souvenir Shop, and even Weird Alley were closed. No souvenir miniature ball of twine or “Greetings from the twine ball, wish you were here” postcards for us. 

Jane immediatley ran across the street to the Twine Ball like a moth drawn to the flame while I took in the whole spectacle from afar before cautiously joining her. The biggest ball of twine in Minnesota has been upgraded to the World’s Largest (by 1 man) Twine Ball. It stands 40 feet around encased in a glass-sided pagoda shrine. We stood staring at the Twine Ball for awhile contemplating its hows and whys. We finally departed this marvelous Minnesotan Wonder in agreement with Weird Al, “this here’s what America’s all about”.

 

From the Twine Ball, we continued driving north for another 3.5 hours before finally arriving at Lake Itasca State Park. We managed to find Douglas Lodge, but no one was there to check us in and give us a room keys. After calling a posted phone number, we drove about five miles in the park to a kiosk where we registered and picked up our room keys. 

We were getting hungry again and had learned that the lodge restaruant was closed today, so we drove out of the state park to a nearby restaurant, Knob & Kettle. Later, we learned that the name refers to types of rock formations that were produced by glacial retreat. Anyway, we had another great walleye dinner with good beers and a busy but friendly waiter.

After dinner, we headed back to Douglas Lodge in Itasca State Park. After parking and carrying our luggage upstairs to the second floor, we discovered that the kiosk attendant had issued us the wrong keys. Although it was a few minutes after closing time (8 pm), the attendant had fortunately not left yet and waited for Jane to drive back and exchange the keys. I stayed in the lodge den area working a jigsaw puzzle and keeping an eye on our luggage that we had left by our room door.

Finally, we were able to enter our cozy room and retire after a full day of witnessing two wonderful Wonders of Minnesota.