Devised by Janet McKernan in 2015 for the 40th Anniversary of the RSCDS Twin Cities (Minnesota) Branch  

Today, less than two percent of Minnesota’s forested land contains virgin or “old growth” timber. Fortunately, there still exists an area in Northern Minnesota that was never touched by the loggers or 
developers of the late 1800s. This property is called the "Lost 40" and it is home to one of the last
stands of virgin, "old-growth" Red and White Pine in Minnesota. Some of these trees are well over 300 
hundred years old.  

In 1882, a land surveyor by the name of Josiah A. King, and his three-man crew surveyed a six square mile area between Moose and Coddington Lakes in what is now the Chippewa National Forest but they ended up plotting Coddington Lake about a half mile further northwest than it was actually located. Josiah’s crew’s error is Minnesota’s great fortune. As a result, these towering pines were mapped as a body of water, and the virgin pine in this area was overlooked by the hungry logging companies. It is now protected by the State of Minnesota.