Groundbreaking for new state park campground

LAKE VERMILION— The state’s top political leaders were on hand last Thursday to kick off the start of construction on the new campground at Lake Vermilion Soudan Underground Mine State Park. About 100 people, including a group of about 25 eighth-graders from New Folden, were on hand for the groundbreaking, held at the park’s new Armstrong Bay day use area.

As Minnesota’s newest state park, development at Lake Vermilion is still in its early stages, but state officials said they have big plans to turn the 4,700-acre site, much of which was purchased from U.S. Steel in 2010, into a park for the millennial generation, complete with wi-fi and other amenities not traditionally available at most Minnesota state parks.

At a time when the price of lakeshore has priced most Minnesotans out of the market, state officials say creation of the park is the best way to ensure that average Minnesotans can still enjoy their own place at one of the state’s premier lakes.

“It’s one of the most unique and wonderful places in the world, and certainly in Minnesota,” said former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who was invited to the event by current Gov. Mark Dayton. Pawlenty, and his wife Mary, had pushed hard for creation of the park, and Dayton called it one of his predecessor’s most important legacies.

Dayton drew laughs when he noted he had recused himself from any involvement with the park because his family has a major land holding on the west end of the lake. “So if you have any complaints, contact my commissioner,” Dayton quipped, referring to DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr.

In his lengthy comments, Sen. Majority Leader Tom Bakk recounted the early discussions about the possible creation of the park that he had with then-DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten, as the two men sat outside Holsten’s cabin on Vermilion’s Thirty-Six Mile Island. “I told the Commissioner that day, let’s do it. The next week, the state started negotiating with U.S. Steel,” he said.

Bakk said the park will be a place where “regular, working Minnesotans”can enjoy the Lake Vermilion experience. “It will be something worthy to be remembered,” he said.