[EB] See Bul. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. iv, pp. 423-427, vol. v, pp. 620-626.
A second noteworthy glacial chronometer is found in the gorge of the Mississippi River, extending from the Falls of St. Anthony, at Minneapolis, to its junction with the preglacial trough of the old Mississippi, at Fort Snelling, a distance likewise of about seven miles.
Above Fort Snelling the preglacial gorge is occupied by the Minnesota River, and, as we have before stated, extends to the very sources of this river, and is continuous with the southern portion of the valley of the trough of the Red River of the North. Before the Glacial period the drainage of the present basin of the upper Mississippi joined this main preglacial valley, not at Fort Snelling, but some little distance above, as shown upon our map.[EC] This part of the preglacial gorge became partially filled up with glacial deposits, but it can be still traced by the lakelets occupying portions of the old depression, and by the records of wells which have been sunk along the line. When the ice-front had receded beyond the site of Minneapolis, the only line of drainage left open for the water was along the course of the present gorge from Minneapolis to Fort Snelling.
Here, as at Niagara, the problem is comparatively simple. The upper strata of rock consist of hard limestone, which is underlaid by a soft sandstone, which, like the underlying shale at Niagara, is eroded faster than the upper strata, and so a perpendicular fall is maintained. The strata are so uniform in texture and thickness that, with the present amount of water in the river, the rate of recession of the falls must have been, from the beginning, very constant. If, therefore, the rate can be determined, the problem can be solved with a good degree of confidence.
Fortunately, the first discoverer of the cataract—the Catholic missionary Hennepin—was an accurate observer, and was given to recording his observations for the instruction of the outside world and of future generations. From his description, printed in Amsterdam in 1704, Professor N. H. Winchell is able to determine the precise locality of the cataract when discovered in 1680.
Again, in 1766 the Catholic missionary Carver visited the falls, and not only wrote a description, but made a sketch (found in an account of his travels, published in London in 1788) which confirms the inferences drawn from Hennepin’s narrative. The actual period of recession, however (which Professor Winchell duly takes into account), extends only to the year 1856, at which time such artificial changes were introduced as to modify the rate of recession and disturb further calculations. But between 1680 and 1766 the falls had evidently receded about 412 feet. Between 1766 and 1856 the recession had been 600 feet. The average rate is estimated by Professor Winchell to be about five feet per year, and the total length of time required for the formation of the gorge above Fort Snelling is a little less than eight thousand years, or about the same as that calculated by Messrs. Woodward and Gilbert for the Niagara gorge.
To these calculations of Professor Winchell it does not seem possible to urge any valid objection. It does not seem credible that the amount of water in the Mississippi should ever have been less than now, while during the continuance of the ice in the upper portion of the Mississippi basin the flow of water was certainly far greater than now.
If any one is inclined to challenge Professor Winchell’s interpretation of the facts, even a hasty visit to the locality will suffice to produce conviction. The comparative youth of the gorge from Fort Snelling up to Minneapolis is evident: 1. From its relative narrowness, when compared with the main valley below. This is represented by the shading upon the map. The gorge from Fort Snelling up is not old enough to have permitted much enlargement by the gradual undermining of the superficial strata on either side, which slowly but constantly goes on. 2. From the abruptness with which it merges into the preglacial valley of the Minnesota-Mississippi. The opening at Fort Snelling is not Y-shaped, as in gorges where there has been indefinite time for the operation of erosive agencies. 3. Furthermore, the precipices lining the post-glacial gorge above Fort Snelling are far more abrupt than those in the preglacial valley below, and they give far less evidence of weathering. 4. Still, again, the tributary streams, like the Minnehaha River, which empty into the Mississippi between Fort Snelling and Minneapolis, flow upon the surface, and have eroded gorges of very limited extent; whereas, below Fort Snelling, the small streams have usually either found underground access to the river or occupy gorges of indefinite extent.