Minnesota Travel Companion: A Guide to History along Minnesota's Highways

Due to popular demand, these classic guides to the highways and back roads of Minnesota and Wisconsin are back in print. The unique purpose behind these previously hard-to-find travel companions is to explore the history of towns along the most well-traveled highways in both states. The reader will learn the stories behind the road signs -- not only why towns formed where they did and how they were named, but also local anecdotes, historical accounts, and personal glimpses. Each volume is enlivened by maps, illustrations, and historical photographs.Among the fascinating stories is that of Hibbing, Minnesota, which at one point had to be moved several miles because of its location atop rich deposits of iron ore; later this same town gave birth to the Greyhound Bus Line. Another story describes how the young Jefferson Davis fell in love with Zachary Taylor's daughter, Sarah Taylor, on Pine Island in Wisconsin. Sarah died of malaria three months after their marriage, leaving Davis heartbroken. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the South, where he later gained lasting fame as president of the Confederate Army.Richard Olsenius is the author of 'Minnesota Travel Companion: A Guide to History along Minnesota's Highways', published 2001 under ISBN 9780816636761 and ISBN 0816636761.