River of History: A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

Anfinson, John

This historic resources study focuses on the archeological and historic resources in that part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area now included in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. This 72-mile-long, National Park Service corridor extends from the confluence of the Crow and Mississippi Rivers at Dayton and Ramsey, south to the Vermillion River bottoms in Ravenna Township, just below Hastings (Figure 2). It also extends four miles up the Minnesota River valley. The corridor covers some 54,000 acres that are filled with places and stories of local, regional, national, and even international significance. Congress established the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) as a unit of the National Park System (NPS) on November 18, 1988 (Public Law 100-696). In doing so, Congress stated: “(1) The Mississippi River Corridor within the Saint Paul-Minneapolis Metropolitan Area represents a nationally significant historical, recreational, scenic, cultural, natural, economic, and scientific resource.” And, “(2) There is a national interest in the preservation, protection, and enhancement of these resources for the benefit of the people of the United States.”2 This study expands the story of the MNRRA corridor’s significance. It also identifies and provides the context for many sites of local and regional significance, sites that illustrate processes and events that tell much about our national development. Acknowledging the importance of the corridor’s cultural resources, the Mississippi River Coordinating Commission (a MNRRA planning commission established by Public Law 100-696 and which sunset in November 1998) dedicated three of its six guiding purposes to the identification, preservation and enhancement of such resources.

River of History: A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

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