It was a COLD Day in Minnesota...

NPS Rangers were on the scene when the Army Corp of Engineers lowered the pool below St. Anthony Falls by 13 feet on February 20, 2008. John Anfinson, Park Historian, and David Wiggins, Park Ranger, helped chilly visitors connect what they were seeing with the history of this important area that is normally underwater.

Andrew Busan, who works with Mill City Museum, produced several videos of the day's activities and they have been posted on the Internet by our partners, Friends of the Mississippi River.

Park Service staff also made a panorama of the area when the water was low. Look for the water lines on the bridges, shoreline and rocks to see the usual height of the Mississippi River. Looking upstream, the cranes you see are busy building the new I-35W bridge, after the original bridge collapsed in 2007.

See our press release for more information.