THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 13 
Rivers always deepen their channels toward the head of the stream, 
and the Falls of St. Anthony have doubtless receded slowly from a 
point near the edge of the main valley at Fort Snelling to their present 
position, As the rate of recession of this fall has apparently been 
fairly uniform, and as the distance which the fall has retreated is 
well known, it has been used in making estimates of the time that has 
elapsed since the river first started to cut its gorge near Fort Snelling. 
According to the best estimate, the fall has been 12,000 years in 
traveling from the vicinity of Fort Snelling to its present position, 
and it has been 8,000 years since glacial Warren River ceased to flow 
and the present river system came into existence. 
When the receding Falls of St. Anthony reached and passed the 
mouth of Minnehaha Creek that stream plunged into the deepened 
gorge and the Falls of Minnehaha originated. Since that time they 
have been worn back about 400 feet to their present position. Each 
day some particle of rock is dislodged or worn away, and gradually 
the falls are working back up the stream. In the course of time they 
will reach Lake Minnetonka, and then this beautiful sheet of water 
will be drained, but that catastrophe will occur so far in the future 
that the owners of the hotels and summer cottages that line its shore 
need not be alarmed. 
westward journey. Lake Minnetonka is easily reached by trolley 
from both St. Paul and Minneapolis, and an afternoon or evening 
spent along its beautiful shores makes a most acceptable break in a 
long transcontinental journey. White Bear Lake, about 6 miles 
north of St. Paul, bears the same relation to that city as a summe 
resort that Lake Minnetonka bears to Minneapolis. ; 
The site of the present city of St. Paul is said to have been a favorite 
gathering ground for the Sioux Indians long before white men invaded — 
as the man recovers strength and resumes | alone has no cutting power. The grains 
his burden, and is carried or rolled along | of sand and the pebbles that are swept 
for a short distance farther. This opera- | along by the current act as a great rasp, 
the grain of sand is finally transported to | which they are carried. Thus grain by 
the sea and finds a resting place upon its in the rocks are worn away and grain 
sandy shore. y grain the material is carried to the sea. 
b 
The method by which a stream cuts The process, though slow, never stops; 
h: ocks is not so obvious as that by | and in time it carves such gorges as that 
which itcutssand and clay. The cutting | of the Mississippi and even the deeper 
1s not done by the water itself, for water canyons found in the western mountains, 
