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Cathy Wurzer
St. Paul, Minn.

Author explores Minnesota's smallest towns

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In the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes there are countless little towns that dot the landscape. Maybe you grew up in a small town. Maybe you've thought a small town is the perfect refuge from fast paced city life.

Park Rapids based author, Jill Johnson, says the small town lifestyle has a lot going for it. She should know. As a girl, she lived in Strandquist Minnesota. Population 70. Grew up in the bigger town of Karlstad with 699 other people.

Johnson drove hundreds of miles to document life in Minnesota towns with a population of 100 or fewer residents for her book "Little Minnesota: A Nostalgic Look at Minnesota's Smallest Towns."

Cathy Wurzer caught up with Jill Johnson in Wolf Lake at the intersection of Becker County roads 38, 40 and 45. It's barely a dot on the map. Johnson says each small town, like Wolf Lake, has a unique story to tell.