Views of the River

Yesterday my travels took me by an overlook where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers come together. The weather was sunny and encouraging, so I decided to stop and see the view with everything at flood stage.

 This area, logically enough, is called Two Rivers Overlook. The blocks and bricks in the overlook area display how the rivers join together.

Inserted blocks help the walker understand better what is happening.

And this sign is often helpful.

The plaque may help everyone understand better what is happening in this location.

Directly across the river area from this over look in Fort Snelling. The first construction on Fort Snelling began in 1819 and the fort was completed in 1825. Sitting on a bluff over the junction of the rivers, the fort was in control of the transportation into the upper northwest of the U.S. territory. The fort remained in operation until after WWII.

The very oldest part of the fort is operated as museum by the Minnesota Historical Society. The visitor center there has a wonderful auditorium in which programs may be held about military history from a broad spectrum of time.

Above is a view of the historical area of the fort.

Above are the buildings of the fort using during WWI and WWII. They are falling into poor repair as it seems no one can figure out what to do with these buildings. The bridge in the view is the Highway 5 bridge across the Mississippi.

Mostly what I saw yesterday was water. It was not really possible to see the two separate rivers. The area of the photo above with the white foam is the Mississippi, but I couldn't discern where the Minnesota was joining. The bridge is the background of this photo is the Mendota Bridge; it carries Highway 55 across the Minnesota River. It is a beautiful arched bridge. It was constructed in 1926, and at the time of its construction it was the longest concrete arched bridge in the world. The bridge is just about one mile in length and is the last bridge over the Minnesota River.

Mendota is a Dakota word for Meeting of the Waters, easy to see why this area has that name. There has been a small village in this area called Mendota since the early 19th century, and undoubtedly, the Dakota called their settlements in this area Mendota long before European and American settlers and soldiers arrived.

Today I took a walk to see what the river was doing out the door. The flood mitigation plan for this area is to allow the river to spread into the opposite side of the river from which I live. Harriett Island is very much under water.  The photo above comes from the Saint Paul web cam.

By looking at the bridge pier markings I could tell that the river has come up 15 feet since Saturday, March 19, in addition to spreading out a great deal in this area.

I found a place where the water was creeping over onto our side today.

This is along a trail area about 2 blocks upriver from where I live. I found a man here throwing in a fishing line. I asked him if he really expected to catch anything. He said, "No, but I can't stand here and not throw the fishing line."

Much to my surprise a towboat came up river.

Later the same tow boat came down the river. I finally though perhaps some workmen just decided they wanted to take a tour. They didn't pick up or leave anything on this trip.

The river chart tonight makes it appear we've seen the crest and that the river is falling just a bit. What happens for the next couple of weeks depends upon how fast the rest of the snow in Minnesota melts, and also what kind of rain or snow appears in the next couple of weeks.