BEMIDJI, a city in the midst of the woods and lakes of northern Minnesota, U.S.A., about 15om. N.W. of Duluth; the county seat of Beltrami county. On Federal highways 2 and 71, and served by the Great Northern, the Soo, the Northern Pacific, and the Minneapolis, Red Lake and Manitoba railways. The population was 2,183 in 1900; 7,086 in 1920; and in 1930 was 7,202 Federal census. The city is built around the lower end of Lake Bemidji and bordered on the south by Lake Irving, through both of which the Mississippi river flows from its source in Lake Itasca (within a State park) 25m. to the south-west. It has an altitude of 1,343 feet. It is a distributing and supply point for the lumbering industry of the region, a base for summer excur sions, for fishing, and hunting big game. There are saw-mills, box factories, and wood-working mills; cement works and brickyards; woollen mills; creameries; a turpentine plant, and one making peat products. A State teachers college is situated there.
Bemidji is an Indian word meaning "easy crossing," applied to the narrows across the Mississippi between the two lakes, and also the name of a Chippewa chief who was a staunch friend of the early settlers, after whom the city was named.