mileage
0 ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS station, 730 Transfer Road. Elevation approximately
900 ft. The so-called “Midway Station” here is approximately halfway between the downtown areas of Minneapolis on the west and
St. Paul on the east. St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota. In 1805, a United States expedition, led by Zebulon M. Pike,
set out to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River, a region inhabited by the Sioux people. Pike negotiated a treaty
with them for land in the region, and Fort Snelling was established in 1820 at the nearby confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi
Rivers. In 1840, Pierre “Pigs Eye” Parrant, a French-Canadian trader, became the first settler at the site of modern St. Paul. The community was known as Pigs Eye until 1841, when the present name was adopted at the urging of Father Lucien Galtier, who had
built a local chapel dedicated to St. Paul. The community was made the capital of Minnesota Territory in 1849 and continued
to be the seat of government when Minnesota entered the Union in 1858.
St. Paul
was incorporated as a city in 1854, and became the northern terminus for steamboats traveling the Mississippi River. The first
railroad reached the city in the mid-1860’s, and under the direction of railroad financier James J. Hill, St. Paul was connected by
rail to the West Coast through the State of Washington in 1893. The Great Northern Railway helped St. Paul become an important
distribution hub from which agricultural goods were shipped; soon after it developed as a manufacturing center. The Twin Cities
of Minneapolis and St. Paul today are a cultural and manufacturing center of the Upper Midwest, and are the headquarters of such companies
as General Mills, Dayton Hudson, and Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing (“3M”).
The Twin Cities are the home of the University of Minnesota, Walker Art Center, Fort Snelling State Park, the Gibbs Museum of Pioneer
and Dakotah Life, the Minnesota Children’s Museum, and the Minnesota Science Museum.
Geologically, we will be passing through a variety of geologic areas between here and Chicago. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan
Area, the materials on the surface of the earth consist of glacial sediments deposited by the last of the Great Ice Ages during the
Pleistocene Epoch. This final glacial ice advance is known as the Wisconsin glaciation. The glacial deposits in the area
around the AMTRAK station consist of glacial drift deposited by the Des Moines Lobe of the Wisconsin-aged glaciers. This material
consists primarily of sand, gravel, and clay deposited directly by glacial ice in hummocky to flat areas known as ground moraines. Beneath the glacial materials is bedrock from the Ordovician Period.
The bedrock
in this part of Minnesota was originally deposited in shallow seas during the Cambrian and Ordovician Periods, in a large basin known
as the Hollandale Embayment. The Hollandale Embayment extends from here as far south as the Ozark Basin. Sedimentary rocks
deposited in this embayment consist of sandstones, limestones, and shales. Later in this log we will see exposures of some of
these Lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks.
1 Cross over Interstate 94. Notice on the
right, as you cross, a real “bridge to nowhere” – a pedestrian bridge over I-94 with no approaches at either end, and placed only
a couple ft lower than the railroad bridge!
3.5 On the right (eastbound) is a bridge over Interstate 35E –
this is NOT the famous Minneapolis bridge which collapsed in 2007 – that bridge is on I-35W, and is located in Minneapolis, several
miles west of this point.
4 Pass beneath Interstate 35E. On the left (eastbound) is
the edge of the Mississippi River flood plain. In the bluffs at the edge of the flood plain, you may see glacial drift of the
Des Moines Lobe overlying the Ordovician-aged Decorah Shale. The railroad is traversing the younger, modern flood plain deposits
of the Mississippi River.
5 We are traversing the flood plain of the Mississippi River, and
in the bluffs on the left, you can still see glacial drift of the Des Moines Lobe overlying Ordovician-aged sedimentary rocks. Across the Mississippi River, the glacial drift is now from the Superior Lobe of the Late Wisconsin ice sheet, which came into this
area from the northeast. Bedrock exposed at flood plain level across the river is also the Ordovician-aged Decorah Shale.
5.5 The Science Museum of Minnesota is visible on the left here (eastbound).
6 Pass through downtown
St. Paul. The Mississippi River is adjacent to the railroad on the right. Look for an occasional sternwheeler moored along
Harriet island, in the river on the right (eastbound).
7 Across the river on the right (eastbound)
is Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Holman Airport.
8 Adjacent to the railroad on the left (eastbound)
is Indian Mounds Park. Bedrock adjacent to the railroad consists of Cambrian- and Ordovician-aged sandstones and limestones. The park features Indian burial mounds of Hopewellian age, which were used from approximately 1500 to 600 years before present.
9.5 In the hillsides along the railroad on the left (eastbound), exposures of the Middle Ordovician-aged Glenwood (shaly rocks) and Platteville
(limestone) Formations are exposed, which are then overlain by the Decorah Shale. Bedrock beneath the alluvial deposits upon
which the railroad is located, is the Lower Ordovician Prairie du Chien Group.
10.5 On the right is Pigs Eye Lake, named
after Pierre “Pigs Eye” Parrant, the first settler in the twin Cities area (see MP 0 above).
11 Pass
through Highwood, a community in southeastern St. Paul which was named after places with similar names in Connecticut, New Jersey,
and Illinois.
13 Enter WASHINGTON County, which was established October 27, 1849, and named for George
Washington, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 32 counties in as many states bear Washington’s
name. This is one of the nine original counties into which Minnesota Territory was divided in 1849. Five other of these
counties yet remain, namely, Benton, Dakota, Itasca, Ramsey, and Wabasha, each, like Washington County, being much reduced from its
original area.
Geologically, the rocks exposed in the hillsides on the left
are still Middle Ordovician Glenwood and Platteville Formations.
13.5 Pass beneath Interstate 494 and pass through Newport. The city and township were organized in May 1858, and were named by Mrs. James H. Hugunin. The first settlement was in 1841
near the Dakota village of Kaposia (1839-43). The village was platted as Red Rock on December 19, 1849, and was renamed Newport
on May 4, 1857, replatted in 1861, and incorporated in 1889 as a village.
The
hillsides on the left (eastbound) are still composed of Middle Ordovician shales and limestones.
16 Pass
through St. Paul Park, which was once part of Newport Township, and was platted in 1887 on 1,300 acres of farmland owned by William
Fowler; it was incorporated as a village in 1909. The village had six hotels, the largest of which was The Parker House, named
for one of the city's founders, Charles Parker, whose name is also represented by the Park part of the city name.
18.5 Across the Grey Cloud Cannel on the right is Upper Grey Cloud Island, one of two islands in the Mississippi River, separated from
the mainland by small but permanent channels. Grey Cloud Island was named for Mahkpia-hoto-win, translated as “Grey Cloud,”
a noted Dakota Indian woman, who lived on this island. She was first married to a white trader named Anderson and after his
death to the more widely known trader Hazen P. Mooers.
Note also the Mississippi
Dunes Golf Course adjacent to the railroad on the right. The dunes in this area are modern deposits formed by the wind, which blows
older glacial sediments from the higher areas into the lower areas.
19.5 River Oaks Golf Course is now visible on the left
(eastbound).
20 Across the river on the right is Lower Grey Cloud Island (see MP 18.5 above). The
large gravel pit on the island is likely developed in the glacial deposits of the Superior Lobe of the Late Wisconsin-aged glacial
deposits.
21 We are again adjacent to the Mississippi River. The southeastern end of Lower Grey
Cloud Island is visible across the first channel on the right (eastbound).
24 On the left a short distance
from the railroad is another section of River Oaks Golf Course.
26 On the right is the Mississippi River
Lock & Dam No. 2, which was originally built in 1930. The eastern dam portion is 722 feet wide and has 19 tainter gates. A hydroelectric station that produces about 4.4 megawatts is owned by the city of Hastings, while the 110 × 600 foot lock is operated
by the St. Paul District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Mississippi Valley Division. There's also a wide earthen dam on the
western side of the facility.
Following construction, the original lock walls
settled and began to lean out of alignment, so a replacement lock was built. It was finished in 1948. A rehabilitation phase
ran from 1987 to 1995.
In the bluffs on either side of the river and lock can
be seen the yellowish colored Cambrian-aged Jordan Sandstone, overlain by the Ordovician-aged Oneota Dolomite of the Prairie du Chien
Group. All the Cambrian and Ordovician formations we will be seeing on this route are part of the Hollandale Embayment (see
MP 0 above).
27.5 Cross the Mississippi River and enter Hastings, the county seat of DAKOTA County. Hastings was
platted as a village in 1853 and incorporated as a city March 7, 1857, and was named by drawing lots by its several proprietors. The winner was Henry Hastings Sibley, who was later a Governor and a General. The village became a city with Washington County
following the annexing of 262 acres from that county at the end of the Mississippi River bridge in 1905. The city was formerly
the site of a spiral bridge over the Mississippi River, which was dismantled in 1951.
The city contains several Greek Revival buildings and Victorian homes, and also contains a recreation area adjacent to Lock &
Dam No. 2 (see MP 26 above), and the Carpenter-St. Croix Valley Nature Center, along the St. Croix River.
Dakota County was established October 27, 1849, and was named for the Dakota people, meaning an alliance or league. Under this
name are comprised a large number of allied and affiliated Indian tribes, who originally occupied large parts of Minnesota and adjoining
states.
28 Lake Isabelle on the left (eastbound), which likely developed from a former bayou channel in
the Mississippi River.
29 We are now traversing the flood plain of the Mississippi River. Sediments
in the flood plain are modern alluvial deposits. In the glaciated areas above the flood plain between here and Red Wing is an
older pre-Wisconsin glacial deposit known as the “Gray Drift.”
31 The Vermillion River is adjacent to
the railroad on the left (eastbound). The Mississippi River is not visible here through the trees of the flood plain on the
left.
33.5 Cross Vermillion River. We are still traversing the Gray Drift and the Mississippi River alluvium.
35 Sharp Muskrat Lake is on the left (eastbound). Enter GOODHUE County. This county was established on March 5, 1853, and
named in honor of James Madison Goodhue, who was the first printer and editor in Minnesota, beginning the Minnesota Pioneer on April
28, 1849. He was born in Hebron, N.H., March 31, 1810, and died in St. Paul, August 27, 1852. He moved to St. Paul in
the spring of 1849 and was a most earnest and influential journalist there during the three remaining years of his life.
Goodhue was a man of very forcible character and of high moral principles. As a vigorous writer, he did much to upbuild St. Paul and
Minnesota and made strong personal friends and enemies. Because of his scathing editorial against the U.S. marshal Alexander Mitchell
and Judge David Cooper, a brother of the latter attacked Mr. Goodhue, January 15, 1851, on the street in front of the building in
which the legislature was in session and stabbed him twice, severely wounding him, and being shot in return.
37 As we cross over Prairie Island, the Schaller Airport is a short distance west of the railroad here, on the right (eastbound). We are traversing Mississippi River alluvial sediments, as we are still in the flood plain of the river.
40 At Stroms, you can see Ordovician sedimentary rocks in the buffs across the river in Wisconsin. On the left is the Treasure
Island Resort & Casino, which is owned by Native Americans. Ahead on the left is the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant.
41 Again, the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant is visible on the left (eastbound). The plant is adjacent to the Prairie
Island Indian Community Reservation. The nuclear power plant, which first began operating in 1973, has two nuclear reactors
(pressurized water reactors) made by Westinghouse that produce a total 1,076 megawatts of power. They are licensed to operate
through 2013 and 2014.
The plant is owned by Northern States Power Company,
today a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, and is operated by Xcel Energy and no longer operated by the Nuclear Management Company. In May, 2006, repair workers at the plant were exposed to very low levels of radiation due to inhalation of radioactive iodine-131
gas. The gas leaked from the steam generators, which were opened for inspection. I-131 gas is normally removed by means
of a carbon-based filter; in this case the filter had developed a small leak. The NRC deemed this event to be of very low safety
significance and notes that it did not result in any overdose.
42.5 On the left, across the small peninsula visible in
the Mississippi River, is Mississippi River Lock and Dam no. 3, which was constructed and placed in operation in July, 1938. The site underwent major rehabilitation from 1988 through 1991. The dam consists of concrete 365 feet long with 4 roller gates
and more than 2,000 feet of earth embankment with a series of upstream spot dikes. The lock is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long.
On the right (eastbound) are exposures of the Lower Ordovician Oneota Dolomite Member of the Prairie du Chien Group.
44.5 Cross Cannon River.
46 As we approach Red Wing, exposures of Lower Ordovician-aged Oneota Dolomite are
again exposed in the bluffs on the south (right if eastbound).
48 RED WING station, 420 Levee Street. Elevation approximately 685. Red Wing was named after the Dakota Indian Chiefs who forme3erlt lived in the area. The Chiefs
were known as “Koo-poo-hoo-sha,” which means “wing of the wild swan died scarlet.” The American Indian historian Frances Densmore
, known as “Writing Down Woman,” wrote over 20 books about local Indian customs, and was born in Red Wing. The village became
the site of famous pottery works; the first shop was opened by J. Pohl, a German immigrant potter by trade; the first Red Wing pottery
was that of W. M. Philleo, who moved to St. Paul in 1870 after his shop was destroyed by fire. Initial use of clay from the
township's extensive clay pits is credited to David Hallum, former associate of Philleo, who opened a shop that developed into the
Red Wing Stoneware Company. The city is also the home of the Red Wing Shoe Company, and the red Wing Shoe Museum is located
downtown.
In the early 1850’s, settlers from Mississippi River steamboats came
to Red Wing to farm the lush fields in Goodhue County. They grew wheat, the annual crop of which could pay the cost of the land. Before the railroads crisscrossed the territory, Goodhue County produced more wheat than any other county in the country, and in 1873
Red Wing led the country in the amount of wheat sold by farmers. The warehouses in the port of Red Wing could store and export
more than a million bushels of wheat. Once the railroads connected southern Minnesota with Minneapolis and Saint Anthony, where
the largest flour mills were built, the port at Red Wing lost prominence. In the last half of the 20th century, the United States
Army Corps of Engineers built locks and dams and deepened the channel in the river.
Red Wing was once home to Hamline University, founded in 1854 as the first institution of higher education in the state of Minnesota. It closed in 1869 because of low enrollment due to the American Civil War. It was chartered in St. Paul in 1871 and reopened
there in 1880.
