Smallpox Forest Road is a Koochiching County Land and Forestry road east of Northome, inside Pine Island State Forest. It leaves Wildwood Road at a T-junction marked by the county’s brown routed-letter sign and runs a little over two miles east-northeast through aspen and pine before it dead-ends. Every parcel along it is state land administered by the Minnesota DNR, and the road is part of the county forest road network open to recreational use.
The name is the road’s one claim to fame. There is a road officially named Smallpox in Koochiching County, and no documented burial ground: no register, plat, tax roll or survey records the smallpox-era graves the name is assumed to commemorate. The county’s own sign, photographed here in September 2026, is the clearest evidence that the name is official.
Expect a gravel surface, no services and no cell coverage to speak of. The road is a good candidate for a quiet fall drive from Northome or a stop on the way south on County Road 27.
