38 F. W. SARDESON SAINT ANTHONY FALLS 



on the west side of the river. From the angle in the right wall of the 

 gorge, in southeast qi;arter of section 20, township 28 north, range 23 

 west, for three-fourths of a mile to the north line of the section, there are 

 scarps and terraces within the gorge which show quite unmistakably the 

 former presence of falls and the character of the same. At Minnehaha 

 other such evidence exists, as shown on the map, plate 1. 



The best defined evidence is perhaps that near the north side of section 

 20, wliere there is an abandoned gorge which was once an arm of the 

 Mississippi. This gorge does not appear in either name or form on any 

 map known to me. Lately I have heard it called Soldier ravine. It is 

 a clearly defined gorge about 800 feet long and 200 feet wide, flat bot- 

 tomed and with steep slopes. It opens upon the right side of the main 

 gorge at one end and ends blindly at the other. At its lower end it is 

 like a "hanging valley" in relation to the main gorge. There is no stream 

 or line of drainage now entering this gorge, although a steep gulch is 

 cutting at the hanging end. This ravine and a roadway reveal that the 

 floor of the gorge is made up for a depth of 5 to 15 feet of limestone 

 blocks, with a few drift boulders resting on a very uneven or pockety sur- 

 face of the Saint Peter sandstone. On the right and left, at the mouth 

 of this gorge, are terraces about 10 feet above the floor, which consist 

 likewise of blocks and boulders. These terraces have the same height as 

 the bottom of the gorge at its head, namely, 35 to 40 feet below the top 

 of the level limestone ledge. The liead of the gorge has steep slopes like 

 the sides. There appears to have been no filling in of the bottom such 

 as to increase its original height. 



Leading into the head of Soldier gorge, there is a channel 10 feet deep, 

 60 feet wide at the bottom and 100 feet over the top, which appears to 

 represent the final stage of the stream which made the gorge. The chan- 

 nel is cut partly in drift, but mainly in the limestone. It runs now 

 from the head of the gorge 200 feet back to the edge of the next cliff, 

 where it is cut off. The channel is about one-half as wide as the gorge, 

 and correspondingly the head of the gorge is narrowed or rounded. At 

 earlier stages there was probably a larger stream that made Soldier gorge. 



The evidence therefore indicates that Soldier gorge is an ancient aban- 

 doned branch of the Saint Anthony gorge, built by a receding cataract, 

 the height of which was about 35 feet, measuring from the top of the 

 limestone ledge to the bottom of the gorge. The gorge was abandoned 

 somewhat gradually. The history of this gorge from beginning to end, 

 I find, is involved in an interpretation of the bench which was an island 

 on the east side of the gorge. 



There was doubtless a fall on the arm of the river on the east of the 



