# Falls of St. Anthony *Waterfall on the Mississippi River at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the subject of an at-issue pair in the Minnesota record.* The Falls of St. Anthony (Saint Anthony Falls; [[Dakota]]: Owámniyomni, "whirlpool") are at the northeastern edge of downtown [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]]. They were the only natural major waterfall on the [[Mississippi River]].[^1] Through the middle and late nineteenth century, dams were built on the east and west faces of the falls to power the mills around which Minneapolis grew. A timber apron laid over the central face in 1880 checked the falls' upstream erosion. It was rebuilt in concrete in the 1950s, and that concrete is most of what is visible today.[^1] In this record the falls appear as a boundary marker. The Wisconsin Historical Society's record of *[[Carver's Grant]]* describes a deed dated 1767 covering land on the east bank of the Mississippi from the falls south to [[Lake Pepin]].[^2] An at-issue item in the record's Carver package sets that description beside the location of Carver County, west of the river on the [[Minnesota River]]. The item is anchored to a May 2026 White House presidential action.[^3] ## Where The spillway, the upper dam and the locks now define the falls. They lie just below the 3rd Avenue Bridge, with the Lower Lock and Dam just above the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge.[^1] The town of St. Anthony grew up on the east bank and Minneapolis on the west. The two combined in 1872 to make full use of the falls' water power for milling.[^1] The surrounding area is the St. Anthony Falls Historic District. It reaches from 8th Avenue Northeast downstream to 6th Avenue Southeast and takes in roughly two city blocks along each shore.[^4] Because river traffic had to leave the water at the cataract, the site became a stopping and trading place between Dakota and Anishinaabe peoples.[^5] A nearby Heritage Trail plaque describes the portage trail used by the Dakota and Ojibwe. It started at a landing below the present steam plant, climbed the bluff, and ran along the east bank on what is now [[Main Street]] to a point above the falls.[^4] The falls did not always stand here. By geologists' account, they formed about 12,000 years ago some 10 miles downstream, where the glacial River Warren met the Mississippi at what is now [[Fort Snelling]]. They then retreated upstream at roughly 4 feet a year and reached their present site in the early nineteenth century.[^6] The 1767 deed's description is also keyed to this location. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, it covered about 10,000 square miles on the east bank, from the Falls of St. Anthony to Lake Pepin and "five days travel" eastward.[^2] ## What The falls are a sacred site to the [[Mdewakanton]] Dakota, who called the Mississippi *hahawakpa*, "river of the falls."[^5] Among the Dakota names recorded for the falls is *owamni*, "whirlpool." The Ojibwe term was recorded as *gakaabikaa*, "split rock."[^5] Without the upper dam, the falls now measure 35 feet. Hennepin had estimated 50 to 60 feet, and later explorers put the height at 16 to 20 feet.[^6] The falls rest on a limestone cap above soft sandstone. That cap thins upstream and ends about 1,200 feet above the falls, and once the falls reach its end they will become a rapids.[^6] The horseshoe-shaped upper dam sits on the cap and adds 14 feet to the 35-foot natural drop. The resulting 49-foot lift at its lock is the largest of any lock on the Mississippi.[^7] ## When - **1680**: Father [[Louis Hennepin]], a Belgian-born Catholic friar, observed the falls and published an account of them. He named them the *Chutes de Saint-Antoine* after his patron saint, Anthony of Padua.[^5] - **1767**: The deed later called Carver's Grant is dated "the Great Cave, May the 1st, 1767," according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. [[Jonathan Carver]] is among the later explorers who documented the falls, as is Zebulon Montgomery Pike.[^2][^5] - **1872**: St. Anthony and Minneapolis merged.[^1] - **1880–c. 1930**: The timber apron was installed in 1880. Through this period Minneapolis was known as the "Flour Milling Capital of the World."[^1] - **1883**: Mark Twain's *Life on the Mississippi* called the falls' industrial capacity "of inestimable value, business-wise," at some cost to the falls as a spectacle.[^8] - **1897**: The Lower St. Anthony Falls Dam was completed about half a mile below the falls.[^7] - **1917**: The Ford Dam (Lock and Dam No. 1) was finished, extending navigation to a little above the Washington Avenue bridge.[^7] - **1956 and 1963**: Locks were completed at the lower dam and then around the falls. Together they opened navigation from the river gorge to north Minneapolis.[^7] - **1971**: The St. Anthony Falls Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the falls count as a contributing resource. The district's national significance is a principal reason the [[National Park Service]] established the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.[^4] - **2015**: The Upper St. Anthony Falls lock was closed permanently to stop the spread of Asian carp.[^7] - **2021**: Water Works park opened above the falls.[^4] ## In the at-issue record The record's at-issue item AI-Carver-025 is ranked 25 in *Block B — The Founding Document* of the Carver package. It sets three statements together: - the deed described land on the east bank of the Mississippi "from the Falls of St. Anthony to Lake Pepin and five days' travel eastward"; - Carver County lies west of the Mississippi, on the Minnesota River; - "The county is named after a deed to land the county is not on."[^3][^2] The item is tagged "outside-the-grant" and "boundary-mismatch." It is anchored to a May 2026 White House presidential action, and the item gives its reason for that anchor as "a name asserting a title to a place it does not describe."[^3] The Wisconsin Historical Society's record supplies the deed's documentary history. According to that record: - the deed was signed by two Sioux chiefs; - Carver's heirs petitioned Congress around 1804; - in 1817, congressional investigators learned from Sioux elders in St. Paul that "no chiefs with the names on the deed had ever existed"; - Congress rejected the claim on January 29, 1823.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Saint Anthony Falls* (revision 1372507976, retrieved 27 October 2026), lead section — location, dams, 1880 apron and 1950s concrete rebuild, 1872 merger, flour-milling designation, present spillway and locks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony_Falls [^2]: Wisconsin Historical Society, *Carver's Grant*, record CS1987 — deed dated "the Great Cave, May the 1st, 1767," signed by two Sioux chiefs, about 10,000 square miles on the east bank from the Falls of St. Anthony to Lake Pepin; heirs' petition c. 1804; 1817 finding from Sioux elders; Congress's rejection of the claim on January 29, 1823. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1987 [^3]: The White House, presidential action (May 2026) — the federal document to which at-issue item AI-Carver-025 is anchored. The item's text, tags and anchor rationale are the record's own. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/ [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Saint Anthony Falls* (revision 1372507976), section "Historic and commemorative markers" — 1971 National Register listing, district bounds, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Heritage Trail plaque, Water Works park (2021). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony_Falls [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Saint Anthony Falls* (revision 1372507976), section "History" — Dakota and Ojibwe names, portage and trade, Hennepin's 1680 naming, later explorers Pike and Carver. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony_Falls [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Saint Anthony Falls* (revision 1372507976), section "Geology" — origin near Fort Snelling, rate of retreat, heights recorded, limestone cap. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony_Falls [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Saint Anthony Falls* (revision 1372507976), section "Locks and dams" — upper dam and 49-foot lift, 1897 lower dam, 1917 Ford Dam, 1956 and 1963 locks, 2015 closure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony_Falls [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Saint Anthony Falls* (revision 1372507976), section "In popular culture" — Mark Twain's 1883 remark in *Life on the Mississippi*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anthony_Falls