MILL RUINS PARK RESEARCH STUDY West Side Waterpower Canal Expansion

MILL RUINS PARK RESEARCH STUDY West Side Waterpower Canal Expansion (1866-1867) Prepared for Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board 3800 Bryant Avenue South Minneapolis, Minnesota 55409-1029 Prepared by Hess, Roise and Company, Historical Consultants Marjorie Pearson, Ph.D., Principal Investigator Penny A. Petersen Nathan Weaver Olson The Foster House, 100 North First Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401 With curriculum program by Dawn Peterson Ann Ericson May 2003 West Side Waterpower Canal Expansion (1866-1867) The Construction of the Expanded West Side Waterpower Canal The initial success of the waterpower canal led to increased demands for water power. But the canal also started eroding the falls and the riverbank itself. Consequently, the Minneapolis Mill Company embarked on two related projects in 1866. Saint Anthony Falls ca. 1865 (Charles Alfred Zimmerman, Minnesota Historical Society) Lucile Kane described the work: In 1866 it moved to halt the erosion, engaging Franklin Cook, a civil engineer, to construct over the falls in the west channel a timbered water slide, called an ‘apron.’ This inclined plane was designed to ease the river’s flow to a point below the caldron where its force would be harmless. As dozens of workmen hammered timbers into place, spectators realized that the mammoth apron would further tame the cataract.1 The impact of the work was lamented in the Saint Paul Press: “Pay your respects soon to old St. Anthony: Part of his rock sides are as dry as a drum head. Soon the heavy plunge of the amber Mississippi will be heard no more around the mills. Frank Cook and his assistant engineers will 1 Lucile M. Kane, The Falls of St. Anthony: The Waterfall That Built Minneapolis (Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1966; reprint 1987), 63. Mill Ruins Park Research Study—West Side Waterpower Canal Expansion (1866-1867) May 2003—Hess, Roise and Company—Page 2 stifle the voice of nature with wooden aprons, and the water power company alone reign supreme.”2 After the apron was completed, the work was described: Another great engineering project . was the construction of an ‘apron’ close against the lower perpendicular fall, as a measure of safety to the dam and mills. The limestone rock constituting the bed of the river rests on a deep strata of sand stone, and the continuous plunge of so great a volume of water against so yielding a substance, in time wears it away, and cuts out the portion underlying the rock, forming a low cavern of considerable extent; so that the limestone above remains suspended only by its adhesive power. In process of time this power is overcome by the weight of water rushing over it, or, receiving a sudden jar from a plunging log, drops off in masses of hundreds of tons in weight. One of a series of aprons has been built. It is situated just below the dry dam, and at the end of the mill platform. In shape it is that of a broad triangle lying upon its side, its base being placed against the rock over which the water pours, and having a height equal to the height of the fall. It is constructed of massive timber, is 400 feet long, 150 feet wide, and 20 feet deep from the base at the fall up to the level above. One million two hundred thousand feet of the largest hewn timber, was used in the construction of this apron; it is built in framework style, the apertures being filled with broken stone, making a solid immovable mass, and over the broad slanting upper surface of the structure is a close covering of twelve inch plank. It entirely cuts off the fall of water; down its slanting surface the Mississippi rushes with the speed of a race horse, and gain the natural level below, flows on to the gulf. Thirty thousand dollars were expended on this work, and four months of hard labor.3 The apron was short-lived, as massive flooding in June 1867 carried thousands of logs from booms further upstream and shattered the apron timbers.4 The other project of 1866 was the extension of the waterpower canal. The Minneapolis Chronicle explained: “The Minneapolis Water Power Company deserve the thanks and good will of this community, for the liberal manner in which they offer inducements to capitalists to make improvements here. They are extending the capabilities of their water power with all possible speed. The work is progressing finely.”5 The Saint Paul Press described the canal: “Working is being driven rapidly onward. The massive walls of the canal already enclose the spacious trench from Cataract street to the steep bluff 2 Saint Paul Press, September 21, 1866, 4. 3 Saint Paul Press, January 26, 1867, 1. 4 Kane, 64. 5 Minneapolis Chronicle, September 1, 1866, 3. Mill Ruins Park Research Study—West Side Waterpower Canal Expansion (1866-1867) May 2003—Hess, Roise and Company—Page 3 below. The heavy explosions in the limestone beds, near Cataract street, startle the visitor in short intervals, and so with powder and levers and the busy hands of man the work goes bravely on. The great walls of the canal run close up to the mill of Perkins, Crocker & Co. This fine piece of engineering will be the glory of the Falls and of Minneapolis.”6 In January 1867, the same newspaper gave a more detailed account: So great had been the demand for new mill sites, and so loudly knocked hundreds of thousands of dollars at the doors of the company for admittance, for the purpose of improved investments, that an extension of the canal was decided upon, and five hundred additional feet of canal contracted to be opened, running down the bank of the river, thus throwing open the lots on either side of the excavation, as sites for manufactories of all kinds. Four months were consumed on the work, and during the month of December last, the coffer dam at the head of the excavation was partially removed, and the water of the Mississippi, with the aid of science, hastened through the flumes of three enormous mills, and again set in motion the looms and spindles of the woolen machinery, and gave impulse to the huge stones of two new flour mills. The masonry of the new canal extension, is of the most massive character. Great blocks of limestone hewn from the solid bed of the canal and from the quarry further down the stream, constitute its walls, which in their narrowest portions are six feet in thickness. The width of the canal between the walls is 55 feet, and its depth, (corresponding with that of the older section,) is 14 feet. Opposite each mill site are gates tapping the canal, and affording the most compete water power known. The sites along the river side of the canal have with but a single exception been sold, while of those on the inland side, a few have been taken. The cost of this canal extension was $35,000.7 The Workers on the Canal Extension and the Apron Numbers, ethnicity, wages Several hundred workers toiled for four months to construct the canal extension and the apron, but information on specific workers is not available. Unlike those in the earlier project, most seem not to have worked directly for the Minneapolis Mill Company. Instead the company contracted for the work, and the contractors hired the workers. There are no surviving records of whom the contractors hired. The Minneapolis Mill Company ledgers listed a number of specialties: J. Barker, labor for canal gate; H. C. Butler of Butler and Campbell, blacksmithing; Franklin Cook, engineering; A. Kelly, powder houses (for storing blasting powder used in the canal excavation); Paul D. Morrison, lumber; S. D. Parker, for building bridge, Andrew 6 Saint Paul Press, September 21, 1866, 4 7 Saint Paul Press, January 26, 1867. Mill Ruins Park Research Study—West Side Waterpower Canal Expansion (1866-1867) May 2003—Hess, Roise and Company—Page 4 McCausland, contractor. Other names listed without specifics may have been the contractors who hired the unskilled laborers. They included George Campbell, R. W. Elder, W. Folsom, R. D. Langdon, W. W. Parker, C. W. Patterson, C. H. Pettit, Simeon Prescott, and R. G. Shuler.8 Demographically, the composition of the workforce had not changed significantly during the course of ten years, although the city itself was becoming more ethnically diverse. The Minneapolis Chronicle cited “Finns, Swedes and Norwegians, Germans, Swiss, Bohemians, Hungarians, Poles, Russians, Danes, Italians, Ancient Britains [sic], Frenchmen, Manxmen, and for ought we know Spanish, Portugese and others from different nations of the old world.” This article continues: “It is almost requisite that businessmen here, should speak half a dozen different languages. The idea has been advocated by some that the German and French languages and studies should be taught in common with English branches, in all our public schools…Many of the merchants in the State are obliged to have clerks who can talk different tongues.”9 Because some of the workers did not speak English as their first language, someone within the work crew would have to be able to convey the work instructions to them in their own language. Probably on the Falls site, the Old Stock Americans, Scots, and Irishmen were joined by Scandinavian immigrant laborers, especially Norwegians and Swedes. By this time, the Irish workers would 10 have been a combination of newly arrived immigrants and children of earlier Irish immigrants. 8 These names are taken from Northern States Power Company, Accounting Records of Predecessor Companies, Minneapolis Mill Company 1865-1872, Ledger “A,” 142.G5.6 F-1 Box 8, Manuscript Collections, Minnesota Historical Society.

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