Land of the sky-tinted waters

Information Outlook, Dec, 1998 by Jerry Baldwin

Water! It's in the name, "Minneapolis," a combination of a Greek term for "city" and "minne," a term from Lakota, the language of local Native Americans, meaning "of the waters." With twenty-two lakes inside the city limits, picturesque Minnehaha Creek and the not yet mighty Mississippi River flowing through it, it's only natural the city's founding fathers acknowledged the life-giving liquid when choosing a name for their new city. Without the water of the Mississippi cascading over Saint Anthony Falls, Minneapolis never would have come to be.

Before there was Minneapolis, there was the village of Saint Anthony, a bustling mid-nineteenth century community that sprang up around flour mills, powered by the river's falling water. The mills drew in the farmers, the farmers drew in the merchants, and the merchants drew in the financiers. A century and a half later, the water still falls, the mills still grind away and agriculture, retail and finance still drive one of the nation's most prosperous cities.

Falling water, at Minnehaha Falls, likewise powered the imagination of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, inspiring his "Song of Hiawatha." The epic poem, since its publication in 1855, has in turn inspired many to visit Minneapolis including Antonin Dvorak in 1893. While here, he composed the Violin Sonatina in G (the "Indian Maiden"), Opus 100, adding to the romance and lore of Minneapolis.

Water has historically shaped the local landscape and that of the "land of sky-tinted waters," Minnesota. It has also shaped the lives of those who live here. In the northwestern part of the state, water from melting glaciers created Glacial Lake Agassiz. Drained by enormous rivers over thousands of years, the dry bed of the lake now provides some of the flattest, richest agricultural land on earth. The area's annual sugar beet harvest and the ensuing cavalcade of trucks carrying beets cross state to ships in Lake Superior has been described as the largest movement of agricultural products in the world.

In northeast and central Minnesota, ice and water - over billions of years - have eroded mountains as high as the Himalayas allowing access to some of the world's richest iron ore and finest granite. Quarrying and mining provide work for thousands of Minnesotans.

The waters of Lake Superior provide Minnesota with one of the world's largest and furthest inland seaports. The port at Duluth-Superior (WI), handling forty million metric tons of cargo each year, is a short 2,342 mile (3,769 km) cruise through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean. The international crews of the ocean-going freighters docked in Duluth's beautiful harbor lend a surprisingly cosmopolitan flavor to Minnesota's fourth largest city.

Throughout the state, the waters of over 90,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 15,000 lakes provide unparalleled recreational areas. In the north is Voyageurs National Park, named for the French-Canadian explorers who used the area's lakes and streams as highways to the continent's interior. The park, along with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, make up one of the nation's most remote and untrammeled hiking, canoeing, and camping destinations.

Southeastern Minnesota, spared the land-leveling effects of the last several glacial epochs, unlike most of the state, has been formed more by water than ice. Here, small streams, flowing to meet the Mississippi, have carved out steep bluffs and narrow valleys. The streams, and the trout in them, have long been favorites for fly-fishing. Now the valleys, home mostly to small farms, are becoming one of the favorite weekend getaways for bicyclists, creating a demand for small restaurants and bed and breakfasts.

Water from the rain and snow that falls on Minnesota, due to the North-South Continental Divide running through the state, can take several routes to the sea. From the northwest, it flows into the Red River of the North, and eventually into Hudson Bay. From the northeast, it cascades over dozens of sparkling waterfalls into Lake Superior, and then to the Atlantic Ocean. The remainder of the state sits at the head of the Mississippi River Basin, its waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. One way of looking at this is, from Minnesota, everything else is pretty much downhill.

No doubt, all this talk of water has left you thirsty for more information. Watch for more details on Minneapolis and the Great State of Minnesota in future issues or, if you just can't wait, check out our web site at http://sla99.westgroup.com.

Jerry Baldwin. Baldwin is a 1999 Conference Local Arrangements Committee member. He may be reached at: jerry.baldwin@dot.state.mn.us.