Monday, April 27, 2015

The Falls of St Anthony, Minneapolis

Viewed from the Guthrie Theater, St Anthony Falls, the small settlement that was to become the city of Minneapolis, glows in the spring sun.

The Falls of St. Anthony by Albert Bierstadt

The largest falls on the Mississippi River first became known to the world in 1680 when their beauty was published in a journal by Father Louis Hennepin, an early explorer and Catholic friar of Belgian birth. Father Hennepin is also the one to write about Niagara Falls and bring them to the world's attention.

Indian tribes portaged their canoes on their trade route, the Mississippi River, and practiced their sacred ceremonies on this site from time unknown. When the white explorers discovered the area, the falls became a tourist attraction and source of power for lumber mills, then the flour mills that made Minneapolis "the flour capital of the world" from 1880 to 1930.

Photos by Paul deVere

Locks and dams were added along the great river between 1937 and 1963 to make it navigable by the ships and barges carrying goods from the Midwest 2030 miles downstream to the port of New Orleans.

It's still exciting to sit in the park along the river bank and watch the huge chains of barges powered by a single towboat through the lock and take in all the beauty of Minneapolis and the great Mississippi River.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. I love reading your comments and will visit your blog in return.

 

18 comments:

  1. Cynthia the river looks so impressive

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  2. It would be great to watch the ships and barges pass through that lock.

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  3. Cynthia
    You are to be highly commended on your most informative historical and
    picturesque blogging.
    I am sure many viewers who are never likely to step foot in Minnesota territory
    or get to MSP learn much from your blog.
    I recall going to some parkland outside Rochester on the Mississippi river side
    and seeing some VERY mini like falls, plus some locks for navigational purposes.
    Whatever the parkland was called (???), it was exceedingly well kept and a credit
    to the park rangers etc.
    Now ready to be unhitched - I'll be glad to get the bloody thing removed - ha ha.
    Cheers
    Colin

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  4. What a beautiful place. You know I love history!

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  5. I do so love falls, and can almost hear these running over the spillway. Very interesting history as well.

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  6. Awesome captures of the falls and I do love them! Such a beautiful place it is indeed!! Fascinating history, too!! Thanks so much for sharing, Cynthia!! Hope you enjoy a great week!!

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  7. Great photos and very interesting history. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. A wonderful look at an important place


    ALOHA from Honolulu,
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  9. It's amazing how man has changed the river.

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  10. I like to watch falls, we don't have them here in our flat country, so I am always excited to hear the sound of the water.

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  11. Powerful image of dams and waterfalls that the fictional Tom Sawyer would never have imagined when he was a boy growing up along the Mississippi River.

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  12. Very interesting what nature can do, along with man.

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  13. Lovely photos of the beautiful waterfalls and informative post ~ thanks!

    Happy Week to you,
    artmusedog and carol

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  14. Love those 1st and 2nd photos. It is a magnificent view then and now. Thanks for adding the story, it's fills my knowledge gap. :)

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  15. Wonderful view! Full to watch I am sure! :)

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  16. These pictures are amazing! I can't even imagine standing close and watching the falls.

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  17. I love that first shot of yours. Very interesting! Looks like a fun day.

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