Sugar Loaf is a bluff on the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
topped by a rock
pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...
, overlooking the city of
Winona, Minnesota
Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the state of Minnesota. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf. The city is named after legendary figure Winona, who ...
, United States.
The name "Sugar Loaf" is sometimes taken to mean just the rock pinnacle, which was created by
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...
ing in the 19th century. The bluff stands above the junction of
U.S. Route 61
U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...
and
State Highway 43. It towers over Lake Winona (a former part of the Mississippi River's main channel), and the pinnacle rises more than above the remainder of the bluff.
Sugar Loaf was listed on 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 v ...
in 1990 for having local significance in the theme of entertainment/recreation. It was nominated for being one of Minnesota's most famous landmarks to early travelers and tourists; a popular subject for
stereopticon
A stereopticon is a slide projector or relatively powerful "magic lantern", which has two lenses, usually one above the other, and has mainly been used to project photographic images. These devices date back to the mid 19th century, and were a popu ...
images, travel literature, and folklore.
Rock pinnacle

Sugar Loaf's distinctive pinnacle resulted from quarrying the bluff's
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 whe ...
cap layer through most of the 1880s, which was then used for Winona's
sidewalk
A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick ...
s and stone buildings. The
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
was done by two brothers, John and Stephen O'Dea. The use of limestone (Oneota
dolomite Dolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral
*Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock
*Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community
*Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
—a
sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...
limestone composed mainly of
calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...
and
magnesium carbonate
Magnesium carbonate, (archaic name magnesia alba), is an inorganic salt that is a colourless or white solid. Several hydrated and basic forms of magnesium carbonate also exist as minerals.
Forms
The most common magnesium carbonate forms are ...
) began with the need to improve city sidewalks, most of which were made of wood and burned in the 1862 fire that destroyed 90 percent of the downtown district. Many miles of this limestone were installed before the turn of the 20th century and met with such success that a city ordinance was passed in late 1890 specifying stone-only for sidewalks. Buildings in the area also began to utilize the stone because of its texture. Quarry operations were shut down in 1887.
A rare event occurred in March 2004. Tons of limestone sheared off the northwest face of the pinnacle, leaving a dark trail of rock rubble in the snow, down a lower cliff face, and onto the tree-covered slope below. The cascade stopped about short of the nearest house. The layers of stone came loose and fell because of the freezing and thawing action of water over time, especially from the unusually wet winter.
History
In its original configuration as a rounded half-dome with a fringe of evergreen on the crown, the bluff was well known to early explorers, traders, tourists, and river boat pilots. Native American legend has it that the mountain represented the cap of Chief
Wapasha I
Wapasha (1718–1806) was the name of a Mdewakanton Dakota chief.
Wapasha (Dakota: ''Wáȟpe Šá'' New Lakota Dictionary, 2008) was born in present-day Minnesota in 1718. During his youth he befriended the agents of King Louis XV of France and ...
transformed into stone. Another legend refers to a mythological dispute at the site of
Red Wing, Minnesota
Red Wing is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Goodhue County.
This ...
, upriver from Winona in which a single bluff split into
Barn Bluff
Barn Bluff is a mountain located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is situated in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park at the junction of the easternmost points of the Murchison and Mackintosh r ...
(which remained at Red Wing) and Sugar Loaf, which was moved downriver to its present site. The name "Sugar Loaf" refers to the former formation's resemblance to the
conical loaves that sugar used to be packaged and sold in. There are many hills and mountains named "Sugar Loaf" in the United States. At least three other hills or bluffs bearing the name "Sugar Loaf" are located in or near the Mississippi River Valley in proximity to Winona.
More than a few local businesses that incorporate Sugar Loaf into their names have been built at the base of the bluff. The Sugar Loaf name is also given to a neighborhood (which shows as a city on some maps) south and east of the hill.
The former
Sugar Loaf Brewery (Peter Bub's Brewery) building is nestled into the northeastern slope. The brewery complex, which extended caves into Sugar Loaf, is separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Gallery
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Landforms of Winona County, Minnesota
Locations in Native American mythology
National Register of Historic Places in Winona County, Minnesota
Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
Protected areas on the Mississippi River
Rock formations of Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota