Petition to Give Away the NW Angle Fails
Category: Legislative Alert
Feb 6th, 2019 by sworrall
Modified Feb 6th, 2019 at 9:36 AM
Have you ever wanted your voice heard at the White House? Well, that opportunity exists through the “We The People” section of the White House website. Someone did, and yet nobody has come forth to claim who started a petition to give Minnesota’s Northwest Angle to Canada. Basically, you can easily create a petition online, share it, and collect signatures. If you gather 100,000 signature in 30 days, they will review your petition, make sure it gets in front of the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response. Well, the NW Angle petition to give back a pristine piece of Minnesota to Canada flopped as it received only 5,544 names.
Here is the wording of the official NW Angle petition…
Negotiators of the initial Canada–US border misunderstood the geography of the area. Benjamin Franklin and British representatives relied on the Mitchell Map of colonial American geographer John Mitchell. Due to a surveying errors, it is the only place in the United States outside Alaska that is north of the 49th parallel, which forms the border between the U.Northernmost point buoy, Northwest Angle, Lake of the Woods and Canada. The total population is only about 120 people which are native to Canadian soil. Make America great by correcting this critical survey error.
One thing the NW Angle petition did do is create a lot of media and consequently education about the NW Angle. The NW Angle or “Angle” as many call it is the northernmost point of the Contiguous United States. Much like Key West, FL has the buoy marking the southernmost point, Lake of the Woods has the buoy marking the northernmost point.
It is also the part of the lake where the Canadian Shield begins and where the 14,552 islands of the lake really begin. Being such a big lake with so many islands, Lake of the Woods has over 65,000 miles of shoreline. There is no shortage of areas to fish and be by yourself.
When you drive to the NW Angle, you must cross through Canada and then back into the U.S. This means travelers must have proper credentials for entering Canada and then back into the U.S. This means a passport, passport card, enhanced driver’s license or a combo of birth certificate and driver’s license. Many already have the necessary credentials to embark on the adventure.
Travelers who do not have the credentials can elect to go by way of lake. This means the 42 mile groomed and staked trail from the south end up to the Angle. Some resorts actually offer a transport service for a small fee to haul you to the north end of the lake and back.
In the open water, boats are used to transport people north. Some resorts use charter boats which do a nice job on Lake of the Woods.
To say the Angle is special is an understatement. As the petition states, there is around 120 residents, about 12 resorts, half on islands and the other half on the mainland, a community called Angle Inlet. The Angle boasts the only active one room school in the State of MN, has a ton of history and once you visit, you will understand why people value this area so much.
Fishing is the main reason people come to this part of Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods. With so many islands, there is a wide variety of fish in good numbers. The most sought after fish in these parts of course is the walleye. In addition, there are world class muskies, crappies, jumbo perch, smallmouth bass and pike.
Ice anglers are enjoying the nice resort accommodations this time of year with nice lodging, transportation to heated fish houses in areas holding nice fish and some excellent food and drink once the day of fishing is complete. Now, bombardiers, side by sides with tracks and snowmobiles are the main source of transportation. There is an ice road for guests to drive out to their resort if they are staying on an island.
In the warm weather months, everything changes over to boating for the main source of transportation. Fishing, shore lunches with fresh fish and lots and lots of history await visitors.
It appears those who even heard about the NW Angle petition are just fine leaving things as they are. It was an error made and agreed to by both sides. It is old history yet as long as there is the “We the People” section of the White House website, there will be more petitions.