It was an interesting drive south of St. Paul through southern Minnesota; the bluff area along the Mississippi; interesting, historic towns; The National Eagle Center; and, crossing into Wisconsin where we are currently camped.
All of a sudden, as we were driving through southern Minnesota, instead of being flat, the farmland became quite rolling and the contour of the land was much more interesting.
We drove through the town of Red Wing, Minnesota, where, of course, Red Wing shoes are made. On the outskirts of town there was Red Wing Plant #2; in town was the main Red Wing Plant; and, right next door was this Red Wing shoe outlet.
As we follow the Great River Road we are accompanied by the GRR signs. This one is obviously in Minnesota.
After the Minnesota Territory was opened to settlement in 1849, Lake Pepin saw a brisk commercial traffic generated by lumbering and agriculture. Huge rafts of logs, some 1,200 feet long and 300 feet wide, were towed down the river. Steamboats brought in thousands of new settlers and carried out the wheat and flour produced on the rich land. The lake itself provided resources for commercial fishermen and for clammers who sold the clam shells to be used in button making.
We stopped at a Rest Area at the Lake Pepin widening of the Mississippi River. Here Frederick is contemplating where the logs coming down the river were assembled into huge rafts that were floated downstream to mills in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Some rafts contained up to 10 million board feet of lumber-- enough to build 500 houses. The largest raft ever recorded, in 1869, covered 3 acres.
Beautiful Rest Area along the Mississippi at the Pepin River.
Halfway between Red Wing and Wabasha, on the Lake Pepin stretch of the River, is the town of Lake City. This yard caught our attention for its spectacular Halloween display.
In the category of "every town is know for something", Lake City claimed to be the Birthplace of Waterskiing. It is now a resort area, but at one time Lake City and Lake Pepin had an earlier fame as a clamming center. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, more than 500 clammers worked the lake from their flat-bottomed johnboats, using giant combs called crowfoot bars to rake the abundant mussel beds. In this way they gathered mussel shells to sell to the button factories at Lake City.
With thirty-two species in its waters, Lake Pepin was unusually rich in mussels. Many were prized for their beautiful shells and now and then a lucky clammer might land a pearl. By 1898, there were nearly 50 button factories in cities along the Mississippi River. But the industry grew so rapidly that it soon began to exhaust the mussel supply. In 1914, Lake Pepin yielded eight million pounds of marketable shell; by 1929, the harvest was less than one-twentieth of that amount. Here's an interesting fact, most mussels require the presence of fish to survive. They begin life as parasitic larvae, attaching themselves to the gills or fins of host fish for 30 days or more.
Our main event for the day was a visit to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota. The Center is dedicated to educating the public about these magnificent raptors.
Wabasha is one of the oldest towns on the upper Mississippi River. Wabasha was named after a Sioux Indian Chief, Wa-pa-shaw. Over the years the local economy has been based on fur trading, the lumber industry, milling and boat construction. Bald eagle sightings are common along the river during early winter and early spring migrations and from nesting pairs in the area.
When we called the Center about parking it was suggested that we park in a lot under this bridge that connects Wabasha with Tomah, Wisconsin, across the Mississippi River.
Four bald eagles and one golden eagle are the stars of the Center. All the eagles here have been injured in some way and most are unable to fly. Each eagle has a story.
This is Harriet, the senior eagle ambassador, who is 33 years old and showing signs of aging. An eagle in the wild, if it is lucky enough to survive to adulthood, can liver 20-25 years. At 33 years old, Harriet is definitely an elder among eagles. Eagles in captivity have been know to live well into their 40s. Harriet shows signs of arthritis, cataracts and issues with her balance. These are not unusual issues for an eagle her age.
Was'aka the Center's first male bald eagle, was found as a fledgling in Jacksonville, Florida. He had a tumor on his left eyelid that has since been removed. He's now blind in his left eye. Was'aka means "strength" in Dakota. He has been at the Center since April, 2009.
In July of 1999, Angel was a fledgling hanging out on the ground near the nest in which she probably hatched several months earlier. A bone in her left wing had broken and healed improperly, so she could not fly. She probably survived by eating fish scraps that fell from nearby heron nests. She was taken to the University of Minnesota Raptor Center, but after surgery, her muscles were still too damaged for her to be released. She came to the National Eagle Center in March of 2000.
On December 31st, 2001, Columbia was feeding on a dead deer by the side of the road in Dunbar, Wisconsin, when a van struck her. Columbia's wing was broken near the shoulder, and she was admitted to the U. of M Raptor Center. After surgery and physical therapy (?), she was still unable to fly, so she was transferred to the Center in January of 2003. She was named in memory of the crew lost in the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy.
Donald, a golden eagle, was hit by a car near the town of Placerville, California, where Frederick's parents lived. His right wing broke in two places. The California Raptor Center couldn't mend his wing for flight so now he's been at the National Eagle Center since January 2008.
This is Jerry who has been volunteering at the National Eagle Center for almost 14 years. He is a very calm man who obviously has a lot of respect for and knowledge of these magnificent birds.
From time to time the birds will become excited and make loud cawing sounds, ruffle their feathers and stand upright. This is Columbia settling down after such display.
Frederick standing in a life-sized replica of an eagle's nest. Eagles will use the same nest year after year, adding more sticks each year.
There was also this display case with some of my favorites - owls. Remind you of any room at the library?
The National Eagle Center had a display of Indian artifacts that were donated by Wabasha V, the grandson of Wabasha III, who signed the 1851 & 1858 treaties that ceded the southern half of Minnesota to the U.S. This began the removal of this band of Indians from Minnesota to various reservations in the Dakotas and Nebraska.
A woman's saddle, medicine bag and a peace-pipe/axe.
Warrior shirt, moccasins, hat, and Three Feather band of Indians blanket.
Bill, you might like the following -
Arrowheads
Axes
More arrowheads.
During courtship a male and female eagle swoop, call and chase each other. Their most dramatic behavior is cartwheeling. The eagles fly high and lock talons before plummeting to earth. They release their grip just before hitting the ground, only to soar up and cartwheel again.
This behavior may strengthen their bond as well as engage them in playful flirtation.
Most surprising today was the terrain along this portion of the Mississippi. It is called the Blufflands, composed of tall bluffs, dramatic valleys, rivers and majestic rock outcroppings. A beautiful landscape. The glaciers that covered most of Minnesota were enormous ice sheets up to two miles thick that moved slowly across land masses creating lakes, filling in valleys, forming hills, flattening, scraping and pushing millions of tons of rock and soil. But here in the Blufflands, glacial impacts were indirect. The land was affected by erosion and meltwater and also by a swollen Mississippi River, but the last glaciers did not move over the Blufflands. The Blufflands are what all of Minnesota looked like before the Ice Age.
This area is known as the Driftless area, an area without glacial drift. Drift is the rocky debris left by glaciers. It is an area encompassing approximately 15,000 square miles in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.The landscape features sheer rock cliffs, steep valley walls and rolling upland hillsides. Meltwater from the retreating glaciers carved the steep valley walls and the flowing streams that bisected the steep hillsides and contributed to the great Mississippi River.
Typical view along the Mississippi River today.
We are beginning to see some color in the trees as we move south. This is in Rollingstone, MN.
A lone sentinel outside of Winona, Minnesota.
These two bluffs are called the King's and Queen's Bluffs of Great River Bluffs State Park near Winona, MN.
We crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin on Interstate 90, near La Crosse, WI, where there was major bridge construction.
Lovely spot in Wisconsin, looking across the Mississippi to what is now Iowa.
Great River Road in Wisconsin.
This is Jack who was fishing with his Dad at Genoa, WI. He had caught a string of sauger (I had never heard of this fish that is similar to a walleye).
This is Lock and Dam No 8 at Genoa, set on a foundation of sand, gravel and broken rock. It has a 110 foot wide chamber and an 11 foot lift from the lower to the upper pool. This dam is one of 29 locks and dams built by the US Government to improve transportation from Minneapolis to the mouth of the Missouri River. The project, approved by Congressional Act on August, 30, 1935, was largely completed by 1938. In the next fifteen years river traffic increased from 458 to 2,636 million tons.
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