Minnesota Lures
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Blaine
Mankato Township was not settled by European Americans until Parsons King Johnson in February 1852, as part of the nineteenth century migration of people from the east across the Midwest. New residents organized the city of Mankato on May 11, 1858.
A popular story says that the city was intended to have been named Mahkato, but a typographical error by a clerk established the name as Mankato.
It was also "the big town" that people from "Little House on the Prairie" series used to go to for shopping.
The Drake Paddlewheel was patented in 1973 and was designed for musky fishing. Unfortunately, sales were not well and it was not sold in the area for very long.
Most books state this lure is from WI, where it ended up being primarily sold and it wasn't until 2021 when I was informed it was truly from Minnesota after years of questioning it.
It is a little after my "cutoff collection date" of 1970...but I figured it was made a few years before patented.
Minnesota Lures
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Minnetonka
This town’s name comes from the Dakota Sioux “mni tanka” which means “great water” which refers to Lake Minnetonka. The Dakota and Ojibwe considered the lake and the land around it sacred.
The first settlers in the area where mainly famers and mill workers. Slowly, the heavily wooden area grew to the residential region you see today.
The headquarters of Cargill, Carlson, and Radison Hotels are all in Minnetonka.
Francis R. Drake Co.
