264 



FALLS OF MINNEHAHA. 



wood, white ash and butternut. At its lower ex- 

 tremity it leads the winding stream into the Missis- 

 sippi. It is only from the upper ground that the 

 falls now "flash and gleam among the oak trees," 

 and even there the fringe of oaks is scanty. The 

 open banks of the glen near the fall have grown up 

 thickly to nettles, which give a weedy and neglected 

 aspect to the 

 place. These, 

 although native 

 plants, spring 

 up and flourish 

 under the indi- 

 rect protection 

 of the white 

 man. Along 

 the glen grow 

 the choke- 

 cherry, paper 

 birch, river - 

 bank grape, 

 iron wood, the 

 pretty blue 

 harebell, white 

 berried cohosh 

 and other old 

 friends, while 

 the crest of the 

 bank is beauti- 

 fully festooned 

 with Virginia 

 creeper. 



Upon the 

 nearer side of 

 the glen a pho- 

 tographer, with 

 more love for 

 trade than ap- 

 preciation of 

 the charms of 

 nature, has 

 built a little 

 hovel. In front 

 ®f the hovel a 

 small platform 

 is built out from 

 the bank, and 

 upon it the silly 



tourist sits with his family to have his picture taken, 

 with the waterfall for a background ! A contrivance 

 similar to this I have seen at Niagara. Verily, the 

 highest appreciation which some possess of scenery 

 is' to serve as a background for their own vanity ! 

 ' Minnehaha brook is an unpretentious stream some 



Where the falls of Minnehaha 

 Flash and steam anion 0 the oak trees.' 



thirty feet wide. The height of the fall is sixty feet. 

 The name of the stream is Sioux, but the ground 

 adjacent was not the undisputed possession of that 

 tribe. It is said that the brook was the boundary 

 line between the Sioux and the Chippewas, and 

 the scene of many ancient conflicts. A hotel and 

 post office once flourished at the place, but they 



have now given 

 way to ruins of 

 fences and 

 shed-like ice 

 cream stands. 

 And it seems 

 proper that it 

 should be so. 

 The tribes who 

 are associated 

 with the place 

 are also a ruin. 

 They are but a 

 memory at 

 Minnehaha. 

 Day by day in 

 loneliness the 

 little waterfall 

 sings the songs 

 of a wild and 

 ancient p a s - 

 sion, and as it 

 plunges in eag- 

 er abandon 

 down the glen 

 to the Father 

 of Waters, it 

 typifies the pre- 

 cipitate end of 

 the Red Man. 



The Sioux 

 term Mmne sig- 

 nifies " water." 

 Minnesota is 

 the "slightly 

 clouded water"; 

 M i n n e t o nka, 

 " great water"; 

 M i n n e o t a , 

 "much water "; 

 M i n n e i s k a , 

 "water city," 



"white water," while Minneapolis, 

 is an unclassical hybrid of Sioux and Greek. 



There are many handsomer waterfalls than Min- 

 nehaha, but there are no sweeter poems than Hia- 

 watha. Here have met the folk-lore of the savage 

 and inspiration of the white man ! L. H. B. 



