It wasn't your average bog.
It was the famous monstrous bog that broke from the shoreline in October 2017 in Merrifield Bay on North Long Lake, north of Brainerd and landed on the Legionville School Safety Patrol Training Center's swimming beach.
The bog sat at Legionville for the remaining part of 2017 and then after the ice melted, the date was set for May 16, 2018 to move the bog. Volunteers with the North Long Lake Association, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota American Legion moved bog off the beach and to a location just to the north.
The DNR reported the bog was about 200 feet by 800 feet and estimated to be 4,000 tons, or 8 million pounds. The bog is a natural wetland consisting of marsh, dead plant materials, cattails and, in this case, a line of tamarack trees.
Moving a bog of that size is something that is typically not done and there is no manual on how to do it. Volunteers prepared their own plans and gathered volunteers, boats and skid-steer loaders to move the bog. Media outlets from around the state gathered on the property on a sunny May day waiting to see the gigantic bog float away. That did not happened. It took several days, that turned into weeks and several more plans before volunteers broke the bog into pieces with a massive chainsaw and moved a little piece of the bog at a time.
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The last piece was staked to the bottom of the lake June 10.
The American Legion made the decision to cancel its summer sessions for campers on the Legionville beach for children ages 10 to 12 over safety concerns because of the bog.
The Legionville camp was established by the Minnesota American Legion for the purpose of training Minnesota young people in correct school patrol procedures.
School safety and bus patrol training are the primary focuses of the camp, however other classes campers attend are first aid, watercraft and swim safety, according to Legionville's website.
