First off, the ruins of the old mills.

The city of Minneapolis grew up around the grain processing and flour producing businesses, powered by the energy of the Mississippi river and the St. Anthony falls. They were able to channel part of the river into the banks and use water turbines to drive their machinery. The hydro power plant located at the falls is the second oldest (by only a couple weeks) hydro power plant in the western hemisphere! It began operation in 1882. There is a hydro plant still in operation today at the same site.

An old turbine and the museum:

The partial remains of the old mills are still visible today and there is a Mill City Museum (will visit soon) to capture the history of the industry in the city.

And even some wildlife among the ruins along the riverbank:

Minneapolis was the flour milling capital of the nation from 1880 to 1930. Gold Medal Flour is now General Mills and now owns Pillsbury (since 2000).

A series of 29 locks and dams along the Mississippi River has been installed to make the river deeper and wider. They are designed to maintain a depth of at least 9 feet along the entire river. Here’s a tour boat rising through the lock near the falls:

Running from Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi is the 4th longest river in the world, behind the Nile, Amazon and Yangtze and drains over 40% of the lower 48 states.

St. Anthony Falls:

Some sights along the river…A view of the under-construction I-35W bridge just downstream:

The photogenic Guthrie Theater with its Endless Bridge (the bridge has no end!) jutting out over the street:

(view from the river).

The architect recently won the prestigious Pritzker Prize in Architecture.

A flock of segways on a tour:

Can someone tell me why all these trees are leaning the same direction? (east bank of the river)

The Minneapolis skyline from the stone arch bridge:

The rest of the pictures here.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln chosen for their contributions to the first 150 years of the history of the United States of America.  The flags of the 50 states are flying in the foreground.

I couldn’t resists this:

Events takes place on or near the State Capitol grounds
Live music, great food and exhibitions of all things Minnesotan!
There won’t be another event like this for 50 years!
Special exhibits at the Minnesota History Center, including the Declaration of Independence and MN150 each day

The first Mother’s Day in the US was celebrated by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908.  From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Nine years after the first official Mother’s Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother’s Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother’s Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.

more about Mother’s Day

artist’s rendering

LAKE CITY, Minn. (WCCO) ? There’s one creature in Minnesota that’s so hard to track that $50,000 reward is out for proof it exists.

Ever since the 1800s, residents around Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minn. say they’ve spotted a sea monster. They call him, Pepie.
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The first sighting of the creature was in April 1871. An artist has tried to show what the monster, with a hypnotic red-eye and demon-like head, might look like. It’s said to live within the depths of Devil’s Abys.
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Boaters have told stories of being attacked while on the water, first hearing several loud knocks on the hull, followed by several violent back and forth swings of the boat.
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“The idea behind the reward is make sure you come up with a camera. You might catch Pepie, but the worst thing that’s going to happen is that you’re going to get pictures of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world,” said Nielson.

This reward is also a marketing tool for Lake City. The local tourism bureau hopes the chance to see Pepie and get money for it will bring people to the area.

My mother alerted me to the news about Pepie.

This year Minnesota is celebrating 150 years of statehood. You can go to www.mn150years.org to find out more information about how you can join in the celebration. Hip-hip-hooray!!

The sesquicentennial celebration mayhem doesn’t stop there – Minneapolis is also celebrating it’s 150th year of existence. According to the official Minneapolis sesquicentennial site, Minneapolis became a town in 1858.

However, the exact date of the beginning of Minneapolis is somewhat uncertain, considering that the city celebrated its centennial in 1956 in conjunction with the Aquatennial.

Many of this years sesquicentennial will also coincide with the Aquatennial (billed as “The Ten Best Days of Summer”) that takes place July 18–27, 2008. It will feature some 70 events, including sand castle building, beach volleyball, a tennis invitational, a triathlon, parades, Subway Block Party and the final Target Fireworks, and last but not least the annual “Milk Carton Boat Races.”

This History of Minneapolis paper from the Minneapolis Public Library says: “The town of Minneapolis was finally authorized by the Minnesota Territorial Legislature in 1856 and the first town council was organized in 1858. In 1867, the town was upgraded to a city by a charter issued by the state legislature and the city’s first mayor, Dorilus Morrison, was elected.” So I guess you just take your pick and mark 1856 or 1858 as the beginning of Minneapolis. Like two years makes a difference… even if you’re wrong you would only be off by 1.3%.

Switching gears a little, did you know that Minneapolis has a large Somali and Hmong population? I was reminded of that just now seeing that the city’s website is available in three alternate languages to English: Spanish, Somali and Hmong.

It turns out that Minnesota has the second highest population of Hmong people in the US, behind California. I didn’t see any precise figures, but this interesting excerpt from Wikipedia indicates that the Somali population is also substantial:

An estimated 20,000 Somali refugees ended up in the US State of “10,000 Lakes” some 10 years ago with only their clothes on their backs. Today, the city of Minneapolis hosts hundreds of Somali-owned and operated businesses. Colorful stalls inside several malls offer everything from Halal meat, to stylish leather shoes, to the latest fashion for men and women, gold jewelry, money transfer or Xawaala offices, banners advertising the latest Somali movie, video stores fully stocked with nostalgic love songs not found in the mainstream supermarkets, groceries, and boutiques. Refugees have surged into the Cedar-Riverside area (in particular, Riverside Plaza) of Minneapolis.

Sadly, Somalia is currently experiencing an outbreak of violence, serious human rights violations and severe food shortages. According to a report just released today by Amnesty International, an estimate that 6,000 Somali civilians were killed in 2007 and 600,000 have become refugees because of the violence. The current number of displaced Somalis is estimated at over 1 million.

Remember them in your prayers.