The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-11-06


With Cement Wall - Minneapolis
Likely to Act, NJ the Falls Are
Great Source of Profit.
Biologists have learned that Mime
haha falls, the famous beauty spot Of
Minneapolis which is known to nearly
every school boy and girl in the Unit
ed States through Longfellow's "Hia-
watha." is in danger of being destroy
ed, says a special dispatch from Min
neapOlis to the New York Times. Eat
ing it's way through the sandstone
ledge over which the water pours. the
stream has now worn the rock almost
down to the loose drift Of glacial de-
post. This means that unless this
ledge is propped up and the erosion
stopped the falls in their present pic
turesQue form will be gone, with moth
ing in their place but an ugly rapid.
The recession of Minnehaha has been
FASTENED by the heavy rains Of the last
few seasons The falls have been uni
formly in good volume, and the wear
ing action of the water has been very
rapid. But the more damaging work
has been wrought by the frost and the
spray attacking the face of the ledge
about midway between the foot and.
crest of the falls. BY this insidiOus
action the ledge has been undermined
so that the recess back of the falls Is
fully thirty feet wide.
When the preparation Of the wall Of
sandstone is complete, which may be
within a few years. it Is inevitable that
the stratum which forms the crest Of
the falls will topple over and Mime
haha falls will be little more than a
memory. This topping over Of the
upper stratum has taken place once
before in the memory Of people now
living.
The alarming report of the biologists
who have been investigating Mime
haha means a lot to Minneapolis. Once
before in her history the city faced
trouble over a waterfall. Minneapolis
was founded just in time to demon
strate that the Falls Of st. Anthony
were well fitted for the development of
water power. Had the settlement
been delayed 100 years there would
have been little if anything at Min
neapolis to prompt the building up of
a great Industrial center and the big
gest -four mills in the world
At one time, so the biologists say, the
Mississippi plunged over ledge Of
rock in the neighbOrhOOd of Fort Smell
ing, fifteen miles below the present To-
cation of St AnthOny's falls. The ac-
ton of the water cut the ledge back
until the cataract came to the point
where the pioneers built town and
named it st. Anthony. This town be-
came Minneapolis.
ST. Anthony's falls continued to re-
cede, and the villagers were distressed,
fearing the total obliterafion Of the wa
ter power already partly developed and
recognized as the one thing that would
create a great city. Work was under
way to stop the up stream march Of
the cataract when In a day the ledge
crumbled and left the water swirling
and foaming in useless fashion about
the wreckage. Every ablebOdied man
In and near the city was drafted as a
helper In the work Of preservation. and
now the continuing power of the falls
is assured by a gigantic but unlovely
apron.
In the case of Minnehaha there Is no
water power at stake, but the cascade
made famous by the poet is one Of the
strongest assets of Minneapolis. Nine
out of ten tourists who stop In Mime
apolis even for an hour or two 60 to the
place or apologize to themselves for
missing 1t. Long before Minneapolis
had become a big city 1t was known
as Minnehaha Falls.
It is held by those who have inter-
ested themselves in the project that
the recession can be partially If not
permanently stopped by a wall Of ce-
ment, which would insure that the IN
dermining process will 60 no farther.
The wall could be roughened so that
it would appear less artificial or it
might even be faced with rock from
the ledge, so that to the unknowing
there would be little or no evidence of
mans handiwork