2013: Minnehaha Falls

Located in Minnehaha Park and not too far from Minnehaha Creek’s confluence with the Mississippi River, Minnehaha Falls is a 50+ feet waterfall following an unassuming flow set in a pretty horseshoe like canyon amidst the hustle-bustle of Minneapolis. The creek runs from Lake Minnetonka in the west for 20+ miles to the east through several Minneapolis.

The name is often translated as Laughing Water, curling water or waterfall. The name comes from the Dakota language elements mni, meaning water, and ÈŸaÈŸa, meaning waterfall. Thus the expression Minnehaha Falls translates as Waterfall Falls. The Laughing Water translation comes from Mary Eastman’s book Dahcotah, published in 1849. The Dakota called Minnehaha Creek, Wakpa Cistinna, meaning Little River.

The falls became a tourist destination, especially after the 1855 publication of The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. However, Longfellow never visited the falls himself. He was inspired by the stories of Mary Eastman and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and by a photograph of the falls.

Thanks be to

dear friend, Linda Palmer, for taking me out to this waterfall, and helping get a close up view for this photograph.

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