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Eastman tunnel

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Hennepin Island Tunnel collapse 1
Hennepin Island Tunnel collapse 1

The Eastman tunnel, also called the Hennepin Island tunnel, was a 2,000-foot-long (610 m) underground passage in Saint Anthony, Minnesota, (now Minneapolis) dug beneath the Mississippi River riverbed between 1868 and 1869 to create a tailrace so water-powered business could be located upstream of Saint Anthony Falls on Nicollet Island. The tunnel ran downstream from Nicollet Island, beneath Hennepin Island, and exited below Saint Anthony Falls. During construction of the tunnel, on October 5, 1869, the river broke through the thin layer of limestone separating the river's bed from the tunnel. The rushing river scoured the tunnel, caving in parts of Hennepin Island and causing the earth supporting Saint Anthony Falls to collapse upstream. There was serious concern that the riverbed would crumble and reduce Saint Anthony Falls to a long set of rapids. Within a few weeks, dams were built to divert the river and stop Saint Anthony Falls from being washed away. The fix was temporary as the 1870 spring floods damaged some of the new dams and swept away more of Hennepin Island. The final fix for the tunnel disaster was a concrete dike constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps also built a protective sloping wood timber apron to create an artificial falls which remain the only major waterfall on the Mississippi River. The Eastman tunnel is a contributing resource to the St. Anthony Falls Historic District. The District is on the National Register of Historic Places The site of the tunnel is about a mile upstream from site of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge that collapsed in 2007.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Eastman tunnel (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Eastman tunnel
West River Parkway Trail, Minneapolis

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N 44.984166666667 ° E -93.2575 °
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Third Avenue Bridge

West River Parkway Trail
55415 Minneapolis
Minnesota, United States
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Hennepin Island Tunnel collapse 1
Hennepin Island Tunnel collapse 1
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Industrial Exposition Building
Industrial Exposition Building

The Industrial Exposition Building was located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The building stood from 1886 to 1940 and was briefly the tallest structure in Minneapolis. In addition to smaller local exhibitions, it was the site of the 1892 Republican National Convention, the only major party convention to be held in Minnesota until the 2008 Republican National Convention. The idea for an exposition in Minneapolis arose in 1885, when it became known that St. Paul had secured the permanent home of the Minnesota State Fair. Prominent citizens of Minneapolis such as Minneapolis Tribune owner Alden Blethen felt slighted, and an open meeting was called to gauge public support for an annual Minneapolis industrial fair, or exposition, to rival St. Paul's agricultural one. Supporters raised funds throughout the fall of 1885 and reached their goal of $250,000 on December 15. The structure was built on the site of the Winslow House Hotel (today the area bounded by Bank Street SE, Central Avenue SE, Main Street SE, and Ortman Street SE). Designed by Isaac Hodgson, the building had eight stories. Its modified Renaissance exterior was dominated by a 240-foot corner tower. The exterior walls were masonry and the interior had metal support structures. The building's capacity was estimated at between 11,000 and 15,000.The entire building was completed in just over three months: the cornerstone was laid on April 29, 1886, and the building was finished on August 3. On August 23 there was a grand celebration for the opening of the new building and its first exposition. 50,000 people were estimated to have attended and much of downtown was turned over to the celebration. Local dignitaries such as Senator Cushman K. Davis and Archbishop John Ireland spoke at the dedication. US President Grover Cleveland and his wife Frances could not attend. However, they sent a congratulatory telegram that was read publicly, and then in a dramatic moment, Mrs. Cleveland touched a special button in her New York location that started all of the machinery in the building.The initial 40-day exposition was very successful, attracting nearly 500,000 visitors. The latest technology and industrial developments were on display, along with a collection of art and sculpture estimated at $500,000 in value. But in the following years, excitement lessened and the exposition began to lose money. Minneapolis could not have attracted the Republican National Convention of 1892 without the Industrial Exposition Building, but the convention was not enough to halt the exposition's decline. By 1893, exhibitors had evaporated and the fair had fallen apart. In 1896, Thomas B. Janney bought the building at public auction for $25,000, a fraction of what it cost to build. For the next seven years, the space was used sporadically as a performance venue. It hosted the first concerts of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra which later became the Minnesota Orchestra and welcomed famous musicians and performers including Johann Strauss and New York's Metropolitan Opera. In 1903, Marion Savage, owner of race horse Dan Patch, bought the building and turned it into the International Stock Food Company. By the 1930s, it was used as a merchandise warehouse for the M.W. Savage Co. mail order company. The structure was finally torn down in 1940 for the construction of a Coca-Cola bottling plant. The bottling plant was torn down in the 1980s and the site has since been redeveloped into condominiums.

Saint Anthony Falls
Saint Anthony Falls

Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony (Dakota: Owámniyomni, lit. 'Three Whirlpools') located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800’s, various dams were built atop the east and west faces of the falls to support the milling industry that spurred the growth of the city of Minneapolis. In 1880, the central face of the falls was reinforced with a sloping timber apron to stop the upstream erosion of the falls. In the 1950s, the apron was rebuilt with concrete, which makes up the most visible portion of the falls today. A series of locks were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s to extend navigation to points upstream.The falls were renamed from their Dakota title in 1680 by Father Louis Hennepin after his patron saint, St. Anthony of Padua. The towns of St. Anthony and Minneapolis, which had developed on the east and west sides of the falls, respectively, merged in 1872 to fully use the power of the falls for milling operations. From 1880 to about 1930, Minneapolis was known as the "Flour Milling Capital of the World". Today, the falls are defined by the spillway, the upper dam and the locks, located just downstream of the 3rd Avenue Bridge, and the Lower Lock and Dam, just upstream of the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge. These locks were built as part of the Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Navigation Project. The area around the falls is designated the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and features a 1.8-mile (2.9 km) self-guided walking trail with signs explaining the area's past.

Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory
Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory

The Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (former name: Saint Anthony Falls Hydraulic Laboratory), or SAFL, is a research laboratory situated on Hennepin Island in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Its primary research is in "Engineering, Environmental, Biological, and Geophysical Fluid Mechanics". It is affiliated with the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering. Research is conducted by graduate students and faculty alike using the 16,000 square feet of research space and 24 different specialized facilities. The laboratory is unique in that its location next to Saint Anthony Falls allows it to use the hydraulic head from the waterfall to provide water for many of the experiments. The experiments performed at the laboratory are varied, and may include: Contract civil and environmental engineering work, such as dam construction and removal Understanding river system dynamics Work with oil exploration to characterize deposits in deltaic systems Work to understand the interactions between fluid flow and the ecology of rivers Work to understand cavitation in fluids in order to build better propellersThe Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory is also the headquarters of the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.The laboratory is a contributing resource of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.