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Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony ( dak, italics=no, Owámniyomni, ) located at the northeastern edge of downtown
Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...
,
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
, is the only natural major
waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...
on the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800’s, various dams were built atop the east and west faces of the falls to support the milling industry that spurred the growth of the city of Minneapolis. In 1880, the central face of the falls was reinforced with a sloping timber apron to stop the upstream
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...
of the falls. In the 1950s, the apron was rebuilt with concrete, which makes up the most visible portion of the falls today. A series of locks were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s to extend navigation to points upstream. The falls were renamed from their Dakota title in 1680 by Father Louis Hennepin after his patron saint,
St. Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua ( it, Antonio di Padova) or Anthony of Lisbon ( pt, António/Antônio de Lisboa; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was bo ...
. The towns of St. Anthony and Minneapolis, which had developed on the east and west sides of the falls, respectively, merged in 1872 to fully use the power of the falls for milling operations. From 1880 to about 1930, Minneapolis was known as the "Flour Milling Capital of the World". Today, the falls are defined by the spillway, the upper dam and the locks, located just downstream of the 3rd Avenue Bridge, and the Lower Lock and Dam, just upstream of the
I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge The I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge crosses the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States, U.S., carrying north–south traffic on Interstate 35W (Minnesota) ...
. These locks were built as part of the Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Navigation Project. The area around the falls is designated the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and features a self-guided walking trail with signs explaining the area's past.


History

The falls hold cultural and spiritual significance for native tribes who frequented and lived in the area. The falls is an important and sacred site to the Mdewakanton Dakota and they called the Mississippi River, ''hahawakpa'', "river of the falls". The falls (''Haha'') themselves were given specific names, ''mnirara'' "curling waters", ''owahmenah'' "falling waters", or ''owamni,'' "whirlpool" (''mniyomni'' in the Eastern Dakota dialect and ''owamniyomni'' in the Teton Dakota ( Lakota) dialect). Dakota associate the falls with legends and spirits, including Oanktehi, god of waters and evil, who lived beneath the falling water. The sacred falls also enters into their oral tradition by a story of a warrior's first wife who killed herself and their two children in anguish and forlorn love for the husband who had assumed a second wife. The rocky islet where the woman had pointed her canoe toward doom thus was named Spirit Island which was once a nesting ground for eagles that fed on fish below the falls. Dakota camped on Nicollet Island upstream of the falls to fish and to tap the sugar maple trees. Since the cataract had to be portaged, the area became one of the natural resting and trade points along the Mississippi between Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples. The Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) term was recorded as "kakabikah" (''gakaabikaa'', "split rock" or more descriptively, ''gichi-gakaabikaa,'' "the great severed rock" which referenced the jagged chunks of limestone constantly eroding by the falls). In 1680, the falls became known to the Western world when they were observed and published in a journal by Father
Louis Hennepin Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. baptized Antoine, (; 12 May 1626 – 5 December 1704) was a Belgian Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Recollet order (French: ''Récollets'') and an explorer of the interior of North Ameri ...
, a Catholic friar of Belgian birth, who had earlier brought the
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...
to the world's attention via a publication. Hennepin named them the ''Chutes de Saint-Antoine'' or the Falls of Saint Anthony after his patron saint,
Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua ( it, Antonio di Padova) or Anthony of Lisbon ( pt, António/Antônio de Lisboa; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was bo ...
. Later explorers to document the falls include Zebulon Montgomery Pike and Jonathan Carver, the first Englishman to undertake an exploration of the west. According to the John Carter Brown Library, "Carver's purpose was to map the land, to befriend the , and to discover the Northwest passage. His journey began in 1766 and, in some ways, was the precursor of the Lewis and Clark expedition; his book was the first popular American travel book." Carve
created this early image, an engraving of the falls
in 1778. Following the establishment of
Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...
in 1820, the falls became an attraction for tourists, writers, and artists who sought inspiration even if Hennepin's descriptions were not as majestic as hoped for. By the 1860s, industrial waste had filled the area and marred the falls' majesty. Further competition over the power of the falls on both banks of the river led to the Eastman tunnel disaster in 1869 which could have destroyed the falls. The disaster was fixed with a dike under the falls.


Industry

The first private land claim at the falls was made by Franklin Steele in 1838 — though he did not obtain financing for development until 1847, in the form of $12,000 for a nine-tenths stake in the property. On May 18, 1848, President James K. Polk approved the claims made in St. Anthony, and Steele was able to build his dam on the east side of the river above the Falls, blocking the east channel. The dam extended diagonally into the river , was high, and was secured to the limestone riverbed. Its thickness tapered from 40 wide at its base to wide at the top. Steele dispatched logging crews to the Crow Wing River in December 1847 to supply
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...
for the
sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
, and by September 1, 1848, sawing commenced using two up-down saws. He was able to sell the lumber readily, supplying construction projects in the booming town. The new community at the Falls attracted entrepreneurs from
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, many of whom had experience in lumber and milling. He had hired Ard Godfrey to help build and run the first commercial sawmill at the Falls. Godfrey knew the most efficient ways to use natural resources, like the falls, and the great pine forests, to make lumber products. Godfrey built the first home in St. Anthony, Steele had the town platted in 1849, and it incorporated in 1855. By 1854, 300 squatters occupied the west bank of the river, and in 1855, Congress recognized the squatters' right to purchase the land they had claimed. The west side quickly developed scores of new mills and consortia. They built a dam diagonally into the river to the north, which, along with Steele's dam created the inverted V-shape, still apparent today. Steele created the St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company in 1856 with three
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
financiers, Davis, Gebhard, and Sanford. The company struggled for several years, due to poor relations with the financiers, a depression, and the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
. In 1868, the firm reorganized with new officers including John Pillsbury, Richard and Samuel Chute, Sumner Farnham, and Frederick Butterfield. As Minneapolis (and its former neighbor across the river, St. Anthony) developed, the
water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a ...
at the falls became a source of power for several industries including
textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
s, wool, machinery, paper, and wood products, of which the
North Star Woolen Mill The North Star Woolen Mill, now the North Star Lofts, is a building in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The building, located in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District, was originally a textile mill for the North Star Woolen Comp ...
was successful.
Sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
s made the falls a major lumber producing area, with the mills largely built on platforms above the limestone cap forming the falls. But the dominant industry became
flour milling A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
. The falls industrialization was also a problem. Logs, sometimes a hundred at a time, escaped from log booms and hammered the falls. Diversion of water left parts of the limestone cap dry, increasing weathering effects. Shafts and tunnels from sawmills and other users weakened the limestone and its sandstone foundation, accelerating the falls' upriver erosion to per year between 1857 and 1868. The falls quickly approached the edge of the limestone cap; once the limestone had completely eroded away, the falls would degenerate into sandstone rapids unsuitable for waterpower. To protect the falls and stop upstream progression a protective wood timber apron was built from the edge of the falls sloping downstream. The apron dissipated the energy of the falling water and moved it away from the base of the falls. It also protected from errant logs. An apron built in 1866 lasted until 1867. The Corps of Engineers completed one in 1880 that lasted until destroyed in 1952. It was replaced with a concrete apron. The usual flour milling techniques did not work well for " spring wheat", which is the only kind that could be dependably grown on the rapidly expanding wheat farms in Minnesota and the Dakotas. In the late 1860s, major milling innovations at the falls were a "middlings purifier" and "gradual-reduction" grinding, both borrowed from Europe. Metal rollers replaced grindstones. The changes not only solved the spring wheat problem but produced high quality flour in a milling process that was highly profitable. As the result of the new technology, flour mills began to dominate the falls after 1870. Millers on the Minneapolis side formed a consortium to extract power with the "Lowell model" in which water was supplied in a large headrace "power canal" connecting to the millpond above the falls and extending parallel to the river below the falls. Mills built on both sides of the power canal diverted upper-level water into waterwheel-equipped vertical shafts (driven through the
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
bedrock into the soft, underlying
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
) and then through horizontal tailrace tunnels to the falls' lower level. This system was very effective and mills lined the canal. "turning the west side of the river into the country's most densely industrialized, direct-drive waterpower district." The mills on the St. Anthony (east) side of the river were less-well organized for harnessing the power, and therefore industry developed at a slower pace on that side. But the
Pillsbury A-Mill The Pillsbury A-Mill is a former flour mill located on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the world's largest flour mill for 40 years. and   Completed in 1881, it was owned by the Pillsbury Company and op ...
, built on the east bank and completed in 1881, was the world's largest flour mill for 18 years. It produced about 1/3 as much flour as the entire west side. The mills at the falls were very large and substantially automated. "By the end of the century, they had created the country's greatest waterpower industrial district, which was also the country's leading flour milling center from 1880 to 1930." By the early 1900s, three companies controlled 97% of the falls flour production. They were the Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company (later Pillsbury Flour Mills Company and now General Mills), the Washburn-Crosby Company (later General Mills), and Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company (later Standard Milling Company)." The Pillsbury and Washburn-Crosby companies were started at the falls.


1869 collapse of the Eastman tunnel

The early dams built to harness the waterpower exposed the limestone to freezing and thawing forces, narrowed the channel, and increased damage from floods. A report in 1868 found that only of the limestone remained upstream, and if it were eroded away, the falls would turn into a rapids that would no longer be useful for waterpower. Meanwhile, as the result of a lawsuit, the St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company approved a plan for the firm of
William W. Eastman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of ...
and
John L. Merriam John Lafayette Merriam (February 6, 1825 – January 12, 1895) was a Minnesota banker, politician and Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, representing St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗ� ...
to build a tailrace tunnel from below the falls, under Hennepin Island, under the riverbed to Nicollet Island. Nicollet Island is or more above the falls. The tailrace tunnel would allow waterpower development at the Island. This plan met with disaster on October 5, 1869, when the limestone cap was breached. The leak turned into a torrent of water coming out the tunnel. The water blasted Hennepin Island, causing a section to collapse into the tunnel. Believing that the mills and all the other industries around the falls would be ruined, hundreds of people rushed to view the impending disaster. Groups of volunteers started shoring up the gap by throwing trees and timber into the river, but that was ineffective. They then built a huge raft of timbers from the milling operations on Nicollet Island. This worked briefly, but also proved ineffective. A number of workers worked for months to build a dam that would funnel water away from the tunnel. The next year, an engineer from
Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as ...
, recommended completing a wooden apron, sealing the tunnel, and building low dams above the falls to avoid exposing the limestone to the weather. The fix for the tunnel disaster was a concrete dike constructed by the
United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...
. The dike was just above the falls and Hennepin Island, from right under the limestone cap down as much as , and long across the entire river channel. The dike, completed 1876, cut off the tunnel and any possible future bypass channels. A separate problem was damage to the falls and its upstream progression. To stop the damage the Corps built a protective wood timber apron completed 1880. The Corps also built two low dams, completed by 1880, on top of the limestone cap to keep the cap wet. The federal government spent $615,000 on this effort, while the two cities spent $334,500.


Hydroelectric power production

Hydroelectric power production also developed early at the falls. In 1881, the Pillsbury "A" Mill added a Brush Electric arc light plant powered from their turbines; some other mills did so also. In 1882, a Brush hydroelectric central station plant was in use, the third central station in the country. (Edison's Pearl Street Station also started producing electric power in 1882 - using steam.) The waterpower companies encouraged or developed hydroelectric plants. Major plants were completed in 1894. 1895, and 1908. (The first large scale production of electricity in the world was at the Adams (Tesla) plant at Niagara Falls starting 1895). As waterpower became available it was used to generate electricity. After the third plant was in operation in 1908, 45% of the waterpower being used was for hydroelectric.
One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
of the historic St. Anthony Falls plants is still operating. River flow is variable and flour production may have to be decreased with low flow rates. In the winter, mills may shut down because there is not enough water flow. So many mills supplemented water power with steam, starting with a 1,400 HP steam engine at the Pillsbury A mill in 1884. By 1892 ten of the fifteen mills had supplementary steam power. As electricity developed as a power source, some electricity was generated from steam to run equipment. Using electricity from the St. Anthony Falls hydroelectric plants was not very practical because those plants competed for the same water flow. But about 1910 electric power was available from St. Croix Falls and it was used in combination with waterpower and steam, and electricity eventually took over. The Mississippi river flow rate changes based on how much rain there is its watershed. Starting 1880, dams were created on the Mississippi further north to create reservoirs - water could be released to increase flow at times when it would be low. This helped both waterpower industries and river navigation. The dams were at Lake Winnibigoshish, Leech Lake, Pokegama Falls, Pine River, Sandy Lake, and Gull Lake.


Locks and dams

St. Paul was effectively the upper limit of commercial navigation on the Mississippi. High bluffs on both sides of the river from the River Waren falls and the falls progressing up the Mississippi, made access difficult. In addition the rapid descent of the river from the falls to below what is now the Ford Dam (lock and dam #1) made the river shallow and fast running. The Ford dam, completed 1917, extended navigation to a little above the Washington Ave. bridge, with a shipping terminal on the west bank. Locks completed in 1956 at the lower dam and around the falls in 1963 extended navigation out of the river gorge to north Minneapolis. Since those two locks are smaller than most of the locks on the rest of the river, the practical limit for many commercial tows was still further downriver. In 2015, the Upper St. Anthony Falls lock was permanently closed to stop the spread of invasive species, namely Asian carp. The St. Anthony Falls and the Upper Dam. The upper dam ("horseshoe dam"), built on top of the limestone cap forming the falls, is successor to dams built in the 1850s. The dam increases the
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals ...
for two hydroelectric plants and increases the water level above the falls. The water level rise from the falls is and from the dam is . The lift at this lock, , is the highest of any lock on the Mississippi. The upper pool has a normal capacity of and a normal level of 799 feet (244 m) above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...
. The navigation channel required alteration of the historic
Stone Arch Bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct (a ...
, which now has a metal truss section to allow ships to pass below. The Lower St. Anthony Falls Dam, located about a half mile below the falls, was completed 1897 with a water level rise of . The dam was built for hydroelectric production, and included a power plant. There never was a falls at this location. The dam was rebuilt and locks added in 1956. The rise was increased to . The new dam is a gravity-type hydro-electric dam in height, consisting of a long concrete spillway with four tainter gates. The upper pool (sometimes called the intermediate pool) has a normal capacity of and a normal level of 750 feet (229 m) above sea level. The upper and lower locks are each wide by long. The current around the spillway/falls is often swift and dangerous. In 1991, a small boat drifted too close and fell over one part of the dam. One person on board was killed, and one had to be rescued by helicopter. Rescues at the site are usually much less dramatic, but continue to happen occasionally.


Geology

Geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
s say that the falls first appeared roughly 12,000 years ago about downstream at the confluence of the glacial River Warren (at present-day
Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...
). Estimates are that the falls were about high when the
River Warren Falls The River Warren Falls was a massive waterfall on the glacial River Warren initially located in present-day Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The waterfall was 2700 feet (823 m) across and 175 feet (53 m) high. Geologic h ...
receded past the confluence of the Mississippi River and the glacial River Warren. Over the succeeding 10,000 years, the falls moved upstream to its present location. The water churning at the bottom of the falls ate away at the soft
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
, eventually breaking off the hard
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
cap in chunks as the falls receded. From its origins near Fort Snelling, St. Anthony Falls relocated upstream at a rate of about per year until it reached its present location in the early 19th century. In the 6 miles (9.7 km) from the top of the falls (not including the horseshoe dam) to below the Ford dam the river drops 97 feet (30 m), all of it the remnant of the original 180 feet (55 m) falls. The limestone cap gets thinner upriver from the falls, and the cap disappears about upstream. In a short time, geologically speaking, the falls will reach the end of the cap and become a rapids. Tributaries such as Minnehaha Creek begot their own waterfalls as the Mississippi River valley was cut into the landscape. When Father Louis Hennepin documented the falls he estimated the falls' height to be . Later explorers described it as being in the range of high. The height of the falls, not including the upper dam, is now . The river descends downstream from the falls, which might add another to the falls where they were when Hennepin saw them. The geological formation of the area consisted of a hard thin layer of Platteville Formation, a
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
, overlaying the soft
St. Peter Sandstone The St. Peter Sandstone is an Ordovician geological formation. It belongs to the Chazyan stage of the Champlainian series in North American regional stratigraphy, equivalent to the late Darriwilian global stage. This sandstone originated as a sheet ...
subsurface. These layers were the result of an Ordovician Period sea which covered east-central Minnesota 500 million years ago.


Historic and commemorative markers

The area around the river was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as the St. Anthony Falls Historic District in 1971. It includes 8th Avenue Northeast extending downstream to 6th Avenue Southeast and approximately two city blocks on both shoreline. These boundaries were modified in a 1991 revision to the 1971 nomination. The revised boundary is shortened at the upstream end. The falls are a
contributing resource In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...
to the Historic District. The district's archaeological record is one of the most-endangered historic sites in Minnesota. The National Register of Historic Places is facilitated by the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...
. The national significance of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District is a major reason why the National Park Service's Mississippi National River and Recreation Area was established along the Mississippi River in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul metropolitan area. A Heritage Trail plaque nearby says,
For untold generations of Indian people the Mississippi River was an important canoe route. To pass around the falls, the Dakota (
Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota: /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota and ...
) and Ojibway (Chippewa) used a well-established portage trail. Starting at a landing below the site now occupied by the steam plant, the trail climbed the bluff to this spot. From here it followed the east bank along what is now Main Street to a point well above the falls.
Water Works park overlooking the falls opened in 2021.


In popular culture

File:Henry Lewis - Falls of Saint Anthony.jpg, ''The Falls of Saint Anthony'', Alto Mississippi, Henry Lewis, 1847. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. File:George Catlin- The Falls of Saint Anthony.jpg, ''The Falls of Saint Anthony'', George Catlin, 1871. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.


See also

*
I-35W Mississippi River bridge The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minne ...
, which collapsed in 2007 * List of contributing properties in the St. Anthony Falls Historic District * Mississippi National River and Recreation Area *
Saint Anthony Main Saint Anthony Main refers to an area of buildings with multiple owners located on Main Street across from Saint Anthony Falls in the Nicollet Island/East Bank, Minneapolis section of Southeast, Minneapolis in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Common ...
shopping area *
St. Anthony Falls Hydroelectric Development St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural falls on the Mississippi River. Since almost the beginning of settlement in the area by European descendants, the St. Anthony Falls have been used for waterpower. The first allowed se ...


References


External links


''Wheat Farms, Flour Mills, and Railroads: A Web of Interdependence,'' a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan


* ttp://www.mnhs.org/places/safhb/things_heritage.shtml St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board outlining Heritage Trail and walking tours *
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District: Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District: Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam
{{authority control Dams in Minnesota Locks on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Geography of Minneapolis Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Minnesota state historic sites Mississippi Gorge National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Mississippi River locks National Register of Historic Places in Minneapolis Waterfalls of Minnesota United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Tourist attractions in Minneapolis Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Landforms of Hennepin County, Minnesota Submerged waterfalls