It was named for Clarence R. Magney, a former mayor of Duluth and justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, who was instrumental in getting 11 state parks and scenic waysides established along the North Shore.

[9] The park has a continental climate of extreme seasonal variation, moderated by Lake Superior, which keeps the shore areas 6 to 8 °F (3.3 to 4.4 °C; 3.3 to 4.4 K) warmer in winter and cooler in summer than the inland part of the region.

[2] The park is underlain by alternating layers of basalt and rhyolite, which were erupted from the Midcontinent Rift System 1.1 billion years ago when the middle of the North American Plate began to crack.

The changing configuration of the receding glaciers, plus post-glacial rebound of the surrounding land, altered the depth and area of the glacial Great Lakes.

[5] These stories have led to speculation that the channel had a separate outlet into Lake Superior, or more implausibly plunged deep underground or connected to another watershed entirely.

At the suggestion of state hydrologist Jeff Green, two DNR experts measured the water flow above the falls and several hundred feet (meters) below them.

[14] They accounted for the failure of visitors' floating objects to reemerge by explaining that the powerful currents in the kettle's plunge pool would be enough to hold down most material until it was pulverized.

[15] Green and a colleague planned to conduct a dye tracing experiment in the fall of 2017 when water flows dropped again, with the hope of determining where the underground channel rejoins the main river.

They were discouraged from doing so, however, by park management, and they decided (under duress) that the dye experiment was not scientifically necessary to confirm that the water simply rejoins the river below the falls.

[17] The large mammals found in the park, particularly in the remote northern section, are white-tailed deer, moose, black bears, red foxes, and timber wolves.

A series of fires in northern Wisconsin in 1892 to 1894 forced lumber companies to abandon that area and cross Lake Superior to begin logging the North Shore even though the quality of the timber was lower.

However logging practices of the day foreshortened the harvest of North Shore timber too, as slash left on the ground for several dry years fueled a devastating fire in 1908.

In 1928 the General Logging Company began harvesting second-growth wood in the Brule and Cascade River valleys for a pulp mill in Grand Marais, but once again a devastating fire in 1931 burned 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) and brought the industry to a halt.

In 1934 the state bought 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) from the Naniboujou Club and opened a "transient camp" on the Brule River to provide work and housing for men made homeless by the Depression.

At first it was managed by the state's Division of Forestry and named the Grover Conzet Camp after their director, but at the end of 1936 it was transferred to the federal Works Progress Administration.

Despite these benefits a visiting timber union leader managed to foment a rebellion in February 1938 in which the administrators were briefly ejected from camp before state and local officials restored order.

[2] In 1957, the Minnesota Legislature established Brule River State Park and appropriated US$5,000 (equivalent to $54,242 in 2023) to purchase privately owned land within the 940-acre (380 ha) statutory boundaries.

[5] This route is part of the Superior Hiking Trail, which swings through the park but dead-ended here until August 2003, when the northernmost 9 miles (14 km) were completed to the Canada–US border.

[4][24] It is a pristine place for amateur astronomy related activities with binoculars and small telescopes, plus night photography of the milky way due to it being the only state park in Minnesota that has minimal levels of light pollution.

[citation needed] Naniboujou Lodge and the Devil's Kettle Falls are featured in the mystery anthology Sew Far, So Good (2009) by Monica Ferris.

[citation needed] In two historical novels by acclaimed Minnesota author Peter Geye, The Lighthouse Road (2012) and Wintering (2016), this feature appears as The Devil's Maw, and is an important part of the plot.