This strange border error resulted in a very small piece of land in the United States that can only be reached by land in Canada. The odd situation was brought to my attention by an article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Reported in the MinnPost. “Minnesota’s Northwest Angle in Lake of the Woods is farther north than any other part of the contiguous United States. Logically, it would seem that this area of about 123 square miles should be in Canada. But this oddest feature of the entire U.S.–Canada boundary was the proper result of American treaties negotiated with Great Britain.”
Today the only way to reach the area without driving through Canada is by a boat traveling across Lake of the Woods. 119 Americans live in this area. Its economic survival is based on sports fisherman traveling there in both winter and summer because of the fish living in the lake.
Winter fisherman travel across the frozen lake and stay at an inn in the Angle. Why couldn’t they simply drive through Canada, not permitted now due to COVID-19, is not clear to me. In the summer the Angle could also be reached by boat from the town of Warroad, Minnesota.
Coast Contact 