Sunday – Mississippi River Cruise

On our first day in an area we are visiting, John & Sue and Joe & Margaret and Frank & I aim to take a cruise or street tour of some kind to gain an overview of the region. In Minneapolis we elected to take a Mississippi River cruise. The orientation was specific to the river and did not give us a stellar overview of the metropolitan area itself; but the tour was relevant since Minneapolis is rare among cities in that it is split by a river. Everyday life revolves around the Mississippi. Plus Minneapolis is where the only waterfalls on the Mississippi River are located and they are within the heart of the city, not on the outskirts. Per the website of the Twin City Cruises we were enticed to choose a public cruise on Minneapolis Queen.

Take a narrated sightseeing cruise on our historic Minneapolis Queen Paddleboat, a modern day replica of the grand riverboats that used to ply the Mississippi River. Our narrated cruises will take you ... along the U of M Campus riverfront, under the stunning 35W Bridge, showcasing views of the St. Anthony Falls, the historic Stone Arch Bridge, amazing river bluffs with views of the amazing downtown Minneapolis skyline as we show you the best Mississippi River has to offer!

As luck would have it, the 2018 Minneapolis Bike Tour was being held throughout the city of Minneapolis on Sunday, September 16th.

Inaugurated in 2007, the Minneapolis Bike Tour has become a tradition for cyclists of all ages. The tour provides individuals and families the opportunity to enjoy Minneapolis' spectacular park and trail systems at their own pace, unhindered by motorized traffic. Proceeds benefit bicycle education, safety and trail projects.

It was fun to see the bicyclists in all ages, shapes, and sizes out in force, but due to a large number of road closures, we almost missed the boat. We did, however, get to the dock in the nick of time. Actually, once we'd apprised the crew of the event, they kindly held the boat for other passengers in a similar delay situation. We took a deep breath, climbed aboard, and relaxed.

The air-conditioned, comfortable, cabins – two decks' worth – had panoramic views of the Mississippi through the large, arched, palladian-style windows.

The following satellite image gives an overview of the portion of the river we would be exploring. Our cruise starting point is close to mid-image where the red inverted teardrop marker labeled Paradise Charter Cruises and Minneapolis Queen. From here we would travel northwest upstream to the upper left quadrant where the white turbulent foam of the Upper and Lower Saint Anthony Falls is visible. Then we would reverse and travel southeast downstream under several bridges, the final bridge being the Washington Avenue Bridge at the University of Michigan. Our southernmost point would be in the lower right quadrant just beyond and around the bend where the Mississippi changes flow direction from north-south to briefly east-west. 

The five bridges we would learn about are in the rectangular box below. Two of those bridges are designated for pedestrian and bicycle traffic only.

As the Minneapolis Queen heads upstream, the first bridge we pass beneath is Northern Pacific Bridge #9, a former railroad trestle. Its length is the shortest distance between two points, 952 feet, sufficient as a railway span to stretch across the Mississippi. A theme to follow with other civil engineering in the area, the designer is of Scandinavian descent.

Northern Pacific Bridge #9 is a deck truss bridge that spans the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, near the University of Minnesota campus. It was built in 1924 and was designed by Frederick W. Cappelen [a Norwegian-born architect and civil engineer who held the office of Minneapolis City Engineer]. ... Railroad use of the bridge ended in 1981, and in 1999 the bridge was opened to bicycles and pedestrians.

The next bridge we encounter in our upstream journey is the 10th Ave Bridge. It is 2175 feet long and again the proud work of another Scandinavian  civil engineer. It was built in 1929 in close proximity to other bridges to alleviate downtown traffic. 

The bridge connects 10th Avenue Southeast, on the east side of the Mississippi River to 19th Avenue South, on the west side. The bridge is considered the crowning achievement of Minneapolis city engineer Kristoffer Olsen Oustad, ... Norwegian-American engineer who designed major structures in the United States.

The 10th Ave Bridge served as a favored vantage point to witness and catalog recover and repair efforts on the younger,  I-35W Mississippi River Bridge which had been built in 1967 and collapsed in 2007. The revitalized and renamed I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge, opened in September 2008, can be glimpsed from beneath the arches of the 10th Ave Bridge.

To Frank's right underneath the arches of the 10th Avenue Bridge is the section of the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge (1216 feet long) that replaced the previously named I-35W Mississippi River Bridge (1907 feet long). No, I do not understand the 700 foot discrepancy; it is probably a matter of definition and placement of footings and not a narrowing of the river.

The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge had been fabricated of metal trussing. It had collapsed killing 13 people in August 1, 2007. The rivets in a too thin gusset later ripped out during the additional weight due to heavy rush hour traffic. The official report by the National Transportation Safety Board blamed the bridge collapse on a design error by the firm Sverdrup & Parcel, resulting in the gusset plates having inadequate load capacity.

A video of the collapse can be seen by scrolling midway down the wikipedia link for I-35W Mississippi River Bridge. I remember watching this on the news when it was initially reported eleven years ago. A school bus carrying 63 children ended up resting precariously against the guardrail of the collapsed structure on a severed span pinned behind a flaming semi-truck. A twenty-year old staff member, Jeremy Hernandez, kicked out the back door of the bus, methodically and heroically handing the kids one by one out to safety. That bus can be glimpsed in the far right side of the next photo.

After passing under the I-35 W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge, our Minneapolis Queen continued northward upstream and entered the locks at the west side of the Lower Saint Anthony Falls. Per a Wikipedia article and the narration during our cruise we learned that the water churning at the bottom of the falls ate away at the soft sandstone, eventually breaking off the hard limestone cap in chunks as the falls receded. St. Anthony Falls was relocating upstream at a rate of about 4 feet per year until it reached its present location in the early 19th century and engineers replaced the limestone cap with a more durable material that did not erode. 

The Lower Locks would elevate us through a height differential of 26 feet. 

Once through the Lower Locks, we were greeted by a scenic view of the iconic Stone Arch Bridge, a 2100 foot long structure that diagonalizes its gently curved crossing over the Mississippi. It is a former railroad bridge, now dedicated to pedestrian traffic only and initially made entirely of stone. Concerns at the time of construction that vibrations from passing trains would cause the stones to crumb were unsubstantiated and the classic arched structure has withstood the test of time. Built in the 1880s, the Stone Arch Bridge is now one of the oldest surviving bridges over the Mississippi River. Looking through the arches of the bridges yields a view of the Upper Saint Anthony Falls.

A truss section of the Stone Arch Bridge was a retrofit to allow for a shipping channel once the lock passage was in place.

The curvature of the bridge is seen in this walker's point of view photo from the Wikipedia image gallery.

Off to our left/port/west Gold Medal Flour sign. Minneapolis is known as the Mill City because of the dominance of the flour processing industry along the banks of the Mississippi using the hydro-energy to power the mills, grinders, and other equipment. A visit to the Mill City Museum later in the week would greatly expand our knowledge of this aspect of Minneapolis history.

As we turn to head back southward downstream, receding in the distance from the stern of the Minneapolis Queen, we catch a glimpse of the entry for the Saint Anthony Upper Falls locks that we did not go through. The upper falls height is 49 feet. In the far background is the 2223 foot long 3rd (Central) Ave Bridge.

Returning back downstream we pass through the lower falls locks in the southern direction as the Minneapolis Queen enters the flooding chamber to be lowered. Water flows through submerged pipes, prior to opening the gates. When water levels are equal, the gates hinge open. This process is different from other lock systems we have visited in other cities. In the Seattle locks, the ship elevation change mechanism did not use a system of pipes. The gates at the Ballard Locks were hinged opened gradually and the water levels between Lake Union and Puget Sound self-equilibrated through the slowly widening vertical slit between the gates, as I describe in my Seattle post for 8/4/14.  In Chicago, the gates slid apart instead of hinging open, but the entering or exiting water exchange between the Chicago River and Lake Michigan happened in the same way, as I described in my post for the Chicago Harbor Lock for 10/21/17. Note in the next photo the water height differential of the Lower Saint Anthony Falls is neutralized before the gates ever open.

The elevation change is evident from the inset climbing channel within the chamber of the lock. The ladder height is about three stories high at 26 feet.

Heading south before returning to dock, we pass back by or under the four bridges in reverse order – Stone Arch Bridge, I-35W Saint Anthony Bridge, 10th Avenue Bridge, Northern Pacific Bridge #9 – and head toward our final bridge of the cruise, the1130 foot long Washington Ave Bridge. The Washington Avenue Bridge spans the Mississippi River, links the east and west banks of the University of Minnesota, and is painted in the school colors. An upper, covered deck was added for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The original lower deck is restricted to minimal vehicular traffic of an emergency nature.

According to stories, the pedestrian part of the bridge is the location of unidentifiable footsteps and cold spots. Poet John Berryman, for example, took his life by leaping from the bridge. He has been refused the opportunity to move into the afterlife as punishment for scorning another poet, and may not travel more than five miles from the Washington Avenue bridge, where he mopes about and reads poetry. Writer Thomas M. Disch was raised in the Twin Cities, and, between 1984 and 1999, set a series of novels there, collectively called the “Supernatural Minnesota” series. His first novel in the series, “The Businessman: A Tale of Terror,” details a collection of ghosts united to redress a murder, and among them is John Berryman. I have ordered this book from Amazon and intend to read it once it arrives. It will be an experiment.

At the east end of the Washington Avenue Bridge is the Weisman Art Museum. The building is one of the major landmarks on the University of Minnesota campus, situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, designed by architect Frank Gehry, showcasing modern art, and used as a teaching museum. It was named after Frederick R. Weisman a Minneapolis native who became well known as an art collector in Los Angeles. Per the museum's Wikipedia article Weisman wanted to share the experience of living with art – rather than the usual, more formal protocol of seeing art in a gallery or museum. This is a museum we did not include in our places we visited, whether this was lack of awareness or lack of time. There is a Weisman estate in the Los Angeles area so maybe Frank and I can make a point of checking it out one day and getting a flavor of what we may have missed in Minneapolis.

Further downstream from the Washington Avenue Bridge on the east bank – or perhaps I should say the north bank looking at the lower right quadrant of the following map – is the University of Minnesota Boathouse.

This landmark had significance for only me since during this trip I was ensconced in reading The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I completed this book during this trip and I am in the process of writing my highly favorable review of it. The sparse outdoor-only workout conditions during even the bleakest of Seattle weather for those who toiled to win gold, set them apart and toughened them to the most extreme of competition conditioning. Consequently today's crew houses and rowing paraphernalia piqued my interest. 

In stark contrast with the grueling experiences of the nine men from the University of Washington team, the present day University of Minnesota Boathouse athletes have a list of features available that could be neither imagined nor fathomed by their west coast legacy setters. 

• An indoor tank, which seats 12 rowers at a time
• 27 erg (ergonomic or work measuring) machines for a full team practice in the erg room
• Three boat bays for all boats, oars and equipment 
• A "shop" or work bay
• Wood ceilings in the tank and erg rooms with "poster-sized" windows of the Minneapolis skyline and the Mississippi River
• Balcony off of the erg room, which faces the Mississippi River

The University of Minnesota Boathouse was approximately the furthest downstream point of our cruise and, after reaching it, we turned around once again to return to the launching dock. The 90 minute travel time from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm  was packed with so much similar and overlapping information that my head was spinning. At one point I glibly declared, "When you have seen one bridge you have seen them all." I had to research a lot of this info on Wikipedia, refer to multiple map views, and even use the GPS indicator embedded within my cell phone photos to keep it all straight and write it up in some semblance of order. Each bridge does have its own unique features and claim to fame, though, so I am glad I made the effort.

Once docked, we posed to have a crew member take a group photo of us before disembarking the Minneapolis Queen. From left to right, back row John and Frank, front row Joe, Margaret, Sue and me, Diane.

We scurried down the gangplank, and along the shoreline a bit to find a shallow access place where Sue and I could place our hands in the waters of the Mississippi River. This hands-in-the-water tradition is a practice we upheld last year at Lake Michigan in Chicago. It was initiated decades ago at the Atlantic Ocean in our college days. I think there may have been some hand dipping in the chapel moat at MIT, at the beach in Martha's Vineyards, and long after graduation at Pine Mountain Lake in Groveland CA and at Monterey Bay, but those were nowhere near as official nor documented with photos.

We fit in several more activities that Sunday afternoon... Mary Tyler Moore statue, Chain of Lakes, Minnesota Street Car Museum... but those are tales for another post.