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Science Museum
of Minnesota
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Mile 839.6
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Padelford Riverboats
St. Paul
You depart from our landing across the river from downtown St. Paul and quickly disappear into an island of nature in the midst of this major metropolitan area. Traveling through the heart of the Great River National Park you may spot great blue herons, cormorants, hawks, peregrine falcons, and even a bald eagle. Also, the park area is rich in the early history of Minnesota. See the site of Pig’s Eye Parrant’s cave where the city of St. Paul began and get a river view of Fort Snelling, where just about everything in Minnesota originated.
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Padelford Landing,
Harriet Island West
Home port of riverboats Jonathan Padelford,
Anson Northrup and Betsey Northrup. 4
Lock & Dam #1
Minnehaha
Falls
Fort Snelling
Col. Josiah Snelling took command and began building the fort in 1820. Originally called Fort St. Anthony, Lt. Zebulon Pike selected the area for a fort in 1805 and neotiated a nine square mile land grant with the Indians.
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Henry Sibley Home
Henry Sibley’s home was the first stone residence in the state in 1834. He was Minnesota’s first Governor and partner with Jean Baptiste Faribault, who lived next door. St. Peter’s Church
Minnesota’s oldest existing church,
built in 1853. Harriet Island • St. Paul, MN 55107
(651) 227-1100
www.riverrides.com
Map Legend
1. St. Paul Cathedral:
8. Pike Island:
The Cathedral is located on the highest point in St. Paul. Construction began in 1906
and the first mass was celebrated on Palm Sunday in 1915. It is 306 feet high and can
seat approximately 3000 people.
In 1805 Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike was sent to the area to find a site for a fort. It
was felt a fort was necessary to keep British fur traders out of the territory and to
attempt to keep peace between two warring Native American Tribes, the Dakota and
the Ojibwa. Pike camped on the west end of the island and determined the high bluffs
overlooking the river would be a logical place for a fort. After he selected the site for
the fort he negotiated a nine square mile land grant with the Native Americans. The
Dakota people revered the island as a sacred place where the world began. The
children living at Fort Snelling called the island “Grape Island” due to the abundance
of grapes grown on the island.
2. Smith Avenue High Bridge:
This bridge stands 126 feet above the normal river level. The present structure was
built in 1988 replacing the original bridge that was completed in 1888, which was
designed to carry horse-drawn traffic.
3. Xcel Energy High Bridge Power Plant:
The large structure on your right is the Excel Energy High Bridge Power Plant, it
is a combined cycle plant that burns natural gas to turn a pair of giant turbines,
similar to a jet engine. The exhaust runs through a boiler that powers a pair of
steam turbines, squeezing out even more power. It replaces a coal-fired plant that
has stood near downtown St. Paul since 1923.
4. Caves:
Until recently, the bluffs in this area had a number of caves which served many
functions. Originally they were dug to mine the fine silica sand used in making glass.
Once the mining ended it was discovered the atmosphere inside the caves was ideal for
growing mushrooms, so they were grown there for nearly 100 years. Now, the caves
are sealed for safety purposes. Interestingly enough, it was in those caves that the
University of Minnesota researchers perfected blue cheese.
5. Omaha Railroad Bridge:
When the bridge was built in 1915 it was symmetrical. On the day of the grand
opening, the man who owned the land which the bridge swung over refused to allow
the railroad officials to open the bridge over his property. He was an old steamboat
man who had been put out of a job by the growing popularity of railroads. He refused
to sell his land to the railroad company and they had to reconfigure the bridge to
shorten the swing, balancing it with the huge block of concrete.
6. Fountain Cave, aka “Pig’s Eye Parrant’s Cave”:
In the 1830’s early explorers would fill their canteens with the cool artesian waters that
flowed out of the cave. The cave was occupied by a disheveled fellow with one squinty
pig-like eye, who was known as Pierre “Pig’s Eye” Parrant. He was a bootlegger who
illegally sold liquor to the soldiers at Fort Snelling as well as the Native Americans
living in the area. In 1838, the settlers squatting on the Fort’s land were forced out of
their huts and they gravitated down stream to the natural landing near Pig’s Eye’s cave.
A small community was formed there and the inhabitants referred to it as Pig’s Eye. It
was at this cave that St. Paul began and the city really was once called Pig’s Eye.
7. Chapel of St. Paul:
In 1841 Father Lucien Galtier built a small log chapel about a mile down river from
Pig’s Eye (approximately where Robert Street meets the river). He named it the Chapel
of St. Paul and urged its members to refer to the area as St. Paul.
9. Minnesota River:
In the early 1800’s trappers brought their furs down the Minnesota River to the
American Fur Trading Company. They were then loaded onto keel boats and later
steamboats and taken to ports across the world. The Minnesota River was once one of
the greatest fur trading routes of the country.
10. Fort Snelling:
Construction of the fort began in 1820 and was completed in 1824. The fort is the site
of the oldest existing building in Minnesota, which is the commandant’s house. The
fort was constructed of native limestone quarried nearby and lumber from virgin forest
on the Rum River north of Minneapolis. Fort Snelling was the site of Minnesota’s first
school, church, library, hospital, theater, orchestra, jail and post office. On May 10,
1823 the first steamboat to navigate up the Mississippi River landed at Fort Snelling
loaded with supplies for the troops at the fort.
11. Navigating the Mississippi:
For navigation purposes the navigable portion of the Mississippi River is divided into
two portions, The Upper Mississippi River and the Lower Mississippi River. The
Lower River begins at mile marker zero, 95 miles downriver of New Orleans at Pilot
Town, Louisiana and extends to the mouth of the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois, which is
mile marker 955.8. The Upper River begins at Cairo, Illinois (mile marker zero) to the
Camden Avenue Bridge which is mile marker 857.6. The Padelford Landing is located
at mile 840 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The total length of the navigable section of the
Mississippi River, from Minneapolis to Pilot Town is 1,813.4 miles. The source of the
Mississippi River is at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota approximately 445 miles up
stream from Minneapolis. To travel this section of the river you would need a small
boat to navigate the shallow water and rapids.
Mile markers are all along the river and used to make boaters aware of information
they need to know about a particular area on the river. The shape and color of the
markers indicate to boaters such information as the location of the navigable channel
and which side of the river is deepest. They also inform boaters of their exact location
on the river in relation to mile marker zero. For instance, the mile marker near the
Lilydale Pool and Yacht Club is 843, which means it is 843 miles upstream from
Cairo, IL. The Padelford Riverboat Landing is located at mile 840