Rising Waters

The Mississippi is about to crest again. Of course we had to take a walk to see how high the water is getting. Poor Harriet Island is under water again.Harriet Island under water, March 29, 2011. (Click picture to enlarge)

Nick and I were being dorks the other day and watched two hours worth of PBS documentaries on St. Paul history. We learned that the Mississippi River, back in the beginning of Minnesota being a state, used to be really wide and shallow where downtown St. Paul is. They said that during a drought you could actually wade across it without a boat. There was also a neighborhood right on the banks called "Little Italy" which wasn't filled with Irish, but instead, Polish immigrants. At that time Harriet Island actually was an island but became landlocked when they built up the river to make it a major area for importing goods. It was super interesting!