The Menhir Stone in Minnesota

Standing over 60 feet tall in the Northern Minnesota wilderness, roughly a mile from the Canadian border is a mysterious standing stone defies explanation. Was the over 100-ton slab of hematite-rich iron formation erected by man in the distant past, or was the work of nature through some unknown geological process over 10,000 years ago? When first approaching the huge monolith, it looks like it had to be the work of humans to get the flat, tabular slab erected to its nearly perfect vertically aligned position. However, upon closer inspection there is evidence in the surrounding area that provides clues as to its origin.

At the base, and surrounding the monolith, are numerous smaller slabs of rock that appear to have spalled off both of the flat, wider sides of the rock over the years due to weathering, primarily freeze-thaw action. This means the standing stone was much thicker in the past, likely twice as thick as it is today. Directly to the east is another massive slab of the same iron-rich rock that appears to have been part of the once larger monolith, but has fallen over. The conclusive evidence as to the origin of the Menhir lies approximately 300 feet to the north where a huge polygonal shaped void exists in the bedrock that once contained a massive section of the same iron-rich rock. If one reassembled the two pieces of the large slabs to the south, one standing, one lying flat next to it, that massive slab would fit perfectly into the huge void.

The question is, was it man-made or formed by nature?

The final clue as to what happened to create this geological wonder are the fine glacial scratches in the bedrock surrounding the void. They all point in the direction of the Menhir. What it all adds up to is an incredible feat of Mother Nature. In this case, using mile-thick glacial ice that plucked the massive iron-rich slab from the bedrock and carried it south the length of a football field where the once thicker slab ended up aligned vertically after the ice melted away. Over the course of past 10,000 years, weathering and chance, created this incredible geological gem in the northland of Minnesota.

The Menhir Stone in Minnesota

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