Map of Fosston city

Fosston is a city in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the Greater Grand Forks region. The population was 1,434 at the time of the 2020 census.

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History

In the year 1876 the first white settlers came to the Fosston area, arriving in covered wagons, bringing with them a few cattle, oxen, horses and mules. Charles Adair, with his family was the first to file a claim on the land, with nine others soon following. Fosston, is located in sections 3 and 4 of Rosebud Township, and was named in honor of Louis Foss, an immigrant from the village Nyttingnes in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The townsite was organized by W. J. Hilligoss, who selected and purchased the townsite in 1884, had it surveyed, platted a four-block area, and built a hotel. Hilligoss died in 1941. The town was named Fosston when Louis Foss moved his store and opened a post office there. The village was incorporated on August 22, 1895. The incorporation papers of Fosston were recorded June 8, 1889, by the Register of Deeds in Crookston, the County Seat of Polk County, Minnesota. Fosston was a busy depot on the Great Northern Railway line.

Cordwood Pete

In an effort to promote tourism in Fosston, the legend of “Cordwood Pete” was created by Arvid Clementson, who served as Fosston’s mayor until his death in 2006. In what he described as a “true story, embellished”, Clementson claimed the complete story of Cordwood Pete was discovered in the spring of 2001 when a time capsule was discovered during the demolition of one of Fosston’s oldest buildings.

Cordwood Pete, was said to be the younger brother of famed lumberjack Paul Bunyan. While Paul Bunyan was a giant, Pete was a mere 4 feet 9 inches in height. According to the tale, Pete’s growth was stunted by the fact that he could never get enough flapjacks at the breakfast table because brother Paul ate everything in sight.

According to legend, Paul Bunyan left his home in Bangor, Maine, to make his way in the world, and ended up in the north woods of Minnesota where he excelled as a lumberjack. Pete, tired of being mocked by lumberjacks in Maine over his size, followed Paul to Minnesota, and despite his diminutive stature, found work as a lumberjack near Fosston, Minnesota, taking the name Peter Delang.

Local lumberjacks nicknamed him “Cordwood Pete” because his size suggested he was more suited to cutting cordwood than felling huge trees. Pete spent much time in the local saloons, and his fellow lumberjacks soon learned he was hot tempered and full of spunk, especially after imbibing. They came to admire his feisty spirit, and no one dared fight the little man.

Legend has it that he “borrowed” his bother’s double-bladed ax one day. He swung the ax, and the weight of the huge thing kept the ax spinning round and round as if in perpetual motion. When the ax finally stopped spinning, 100 acres of timber had been felled. The railroad hired Pete the next day to clear a path for their tracks, and before the day was over, he had clear-cut fifty square miles of timber. Pete had to give his brother’s ax back to him the next day, and he never again achieved such a lumberjacking feat.

After that Pete stuck to cutting cordwood, which he hauled to market with the help of his little donkey named Tamarack. He died at the age of 84.

Authors Richard Dorson and Marshall Fitwick cite Paul Bunyan as an example of “fakelore”, or a modern story passed off as an older folktale. Cordwood Pete may also qualify as a more modern example of fakelore.

High School Sports

Fosston’s boys basketball team won the first-ever state basketball championship in 1913. In 2002, the girls basketball team set the state consecutive win record, winning 78 games between 1999 and 2002.

Fosston Road Map

Fosston city Satellite Map

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.71 square miles (4.43 km), of which 1.69 square miles (4.38 km) is land and 0.02 square miles (0.05 km) is water.

Four-lane U.S. Highway 2 serves as a main route in the city.

Climate

See also