The life and times of St. Anthony Falls

Posted at 10:31 AM on August 3, 2011 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Regional history

Something I didn't know when the day started: "St. Anthony Falls is the only waterfall on the Mississippi River, and the now flooded gorge below is the river's only gorge."

The website, Nokohaha, provides that nugget in a post today, passed along by Facebook pal Jeanne Souldern.

At one time Saint Anthony Falls was not the biggest or the only falls on the river. 11,700 years ago, the "River Warren Falls" believed by geologists to be the biggest waterfall ever seen in America, took up most of what became downtown St. Paul. Back then the falls may have been 200 feet high and over a half-mile wide and kept going by a enormous flow of meltwater from Lake Agassiz that came barreling down the Minnesota River valley.

For some reason, this is one of those days when a reminder that things that predate us and our institutions will likely continue after we're an archeological dig, is oddly comforting.

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Comments (6)

// "Politicians have lately drawn a lot of parallels between government spending and what the American family does when times get tough. The two are closer in sync than we thought" //

I don't know why you wrote this, Bob, but I disagree wholeheartedly. Politicians (mostly Republicans) do use this "parallel" but a family's finances are not anything like government budgets.

Posted by Jamie | August 3, 2011 11:17 AM

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"St. Anthony Falls is the only waterfall on the Mississippi River, and the now flooded gorge below is the river's only gorge."

Yes. Pretty cool, huh?

Posted by Paul (@princejvstin) | August 3, 2011 11:41 AM

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The St. Anthony lock is also the highest lock on the Mississippi. Here's a nice perspective: from inside the lock from this blog entry

Posted by Jim!!! | August 3, 2011 11:52 AM

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Jamie, I think Bob's referring to the "borrowing from the future" angle. Bob?

Posted by Heather | August 3, 2011 12:08 PM

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I feel like I've heard that if the dam hadn't been built, it's likely that the Falls would have collapsed into a rapid, due to the soft composition of the rock on them.

They'd already moved upstream considerably (1500 feet-ish) even in the few hundred years since Father Hennepin gazed on them.

So is this possibly a case where this institution wouldn't continue without us?

Posted by Ryan V. | August 3, 2011 12:33 PM

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I learned all about the Mississippi while participating in the Mississippi River Challenge this past weekend. It was a fundraiser for the nonprofit Friends of the Mississippi River - 350 people paddled 45 miles from Coon Rapids to Grey Cloud Island, going right through downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul along the way. The pictures of all the boats on the river is amazing! See more at their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Mississippi-River-Challenge/129080198293?sk=photos

Posted by Beth | August 3, 2011 12:45 PM

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