This stretch of the mighty Mississippi is trapped between towering rock bluffs and is home to the only waterfalls on the entire length of the river, St Anthony Falls.  For centuries the magnificent falls were a sacred place for First Nations peoples and a landmark for fur traders then loggers who followed them.  It wasn’t long before enterprising industrialists recognized the value of this fall.  They grabbed up water rights and began harnessing that power first for sawmills and later huge flour mills. Minneapolis has lots of nick names but one most obvious as we walk through is “Mill City”.  The river banks are littered with mill and canal ruins and riverfront streets are lined with warehouses, many now converted to lofts or condos with a smattering of cafes and taverns with industrial-chic decor.   Huge billboards identifying Pillsbury and Gold Medal still dot the skyline.  Canal ways and turbine channels criss-cross beneath Mill Ruins Park where the historical society has worked to stabilize ruins and tell the story of the industry that built this city.  It is worth a visit.  Take a walk across the Stone Arch Bridge.  It is a nice stroll.

Ok, we are not really fans of shopping but who can come to Minneapolis and not stop at the Mall of America?  We spend most of the day wandering about and probably still don’t see everything.  The Lego store is pretty cool.  An $800 Millennium Falcon anyone?  One could try on clothes until their skin chaffed and shoes until they wore holes in their socks.  There is food of every type from popcorn to sushi.  Roller coasters and all manner of swinging and spinning rides fill the middle courtyard.  There is even a water flume ride.  It is a mall on steroids.  We sample the Cinnabon and lunch at Bubba Gumps.  Our feet give out.  MOA, oh yeah, we have been there!

The best!

I got to ride The Mighty 28, a steam tractor.  Standing on the hitch I can feel the rumble radiating up through my feet as steel wheels work against hard earth.  Heat rolls off the boiler just at arms reach.  The steam whistle calls out and the sound is accompanied by a fine mist against my face.  Ash drifts down and soot black coal dust lies in every nook and cranny.  What an amazing machine.

The Edin family owns this tractor and they brought it out into the campground for everyone to get a closer look. Thank you.  I hope that the Reunion organizers know just how wonderful ambassadors these folks are for all that is the Steam Thrashers Reunion.

We had watched the Mighty 28 at the Prony Brake testing its maximum horsepower. They recorded 132 hp on a machine rated for 110.  Not bad for a 100+ years old!

The sandbox.

From our high spot we look out across a rolling open field. Columns of steam and coal smoke rise from four steam shovels busy scooping, swiveling and dumping dirt from one pile to another.  They look like dragons building their nests and even seem to talk when the dump gates squeak as they swing on their hinges.  A bulldozer passes in front of us pulling an earth mover.  What they claim is the largest Dozer in the world, a Euclid TC-12 used on the Panama Canal, takes enormous bites of earth with every pass as he digs a huge pit  When he gets done digging he will fill it back in.  Aptly named the sandbox, this is the place where we get to see this great old equipment work like it did in years gone by.  The operators certainly seem to be enjoying the demonstrations; maybe even more than the spectators.

Spark show

Marion Steam Shovel

Superheated sawdust belched into the night sky from the belly of a steam engine under load, that’s what gives us a spark show. Steam shovels in the sandbox put on the first show.  They actually spin the entire shovel assembly to provide the work load.  That creates some weird shadows in addition to the spark shower.

Night 2 The Mighty 28 steam tractor on the Prony brake puts on a spectacular show.  With a toot, toot, signaling ready to load the engine; a belt begins to move and

The Mighty 28

the brake to apply load. Sparks spew 100 ft in the air.  There are miniature versions of these behemoth steam tractors here at the show.  One of them puts on a scaled version of the spark show too.

Folk, gospel, jazz, these arts and trades gatherings seem to attract many musicians. We check out the organized concerts in the main building then spend an hour or so at the blacksmith shop where a folks gather to make music.  A guitar, another, a banjo, a mandolin, a fiddle…..It is a great demonstration of the joy and camaraderie brought to us by music.

A 600 hp engine built to

Snow 600hp Gas Engine

compress gas delivered to a pipeline now runs just as demonstration of mechanical marvel. These precisely designed and machined parts are just idling now with no work required of them.  The complex motion is interlinked and finely timed.  It creates a most amazing rhythmic pattern, its own kind of music

We wake to the mournful wail of a throttled back steam whistle. Kent is up and starts the coffee.  Thirty minutes later a much more energetic “toot” of the whistle pierces the morning silence.  Plumes of black smoke darken the skies over the show grounds as more and more boilers are stoked and tended.  A faint chuga chuga and low whistle of a steam train engine add to the sounds.  We are here as the Steam Thrashers Reunion comes to life.

I am served delicious wild blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Thank you Kent!

The forecast is a bit questionable but we head out to check out the engines of every size from 25 ton to as small as a toy tractor. Rain holds off for the 10AM parade but the skies look threatening and we hurry off toward home.  We have timed it about right and are in safe and warm when the skies open up.  It rains hard for just a half hour or so then calms to a drizzle but that is all it takes to make for the really unusual part of the day.

Remember, we are camped in a hay field, right. Well combine a lot of rain and a lot of traffic on a rolling field and guess what you get?  A mud bog.  We are parked right on the main thoroughfare into camp and it is an absolute circus to watch people spinning and slipping up the hill.  A 40’ class A is the first to get the Thrashers Reunion treatment; it is pulled backwards by its hitch up the slope, around the corner and into its camping spot.   Individuals continue to attempt to drive past us spinning and slipping very much out of control.  It is a bit harrowing now and then.  Finally someone decides “no more”.   A half dozen tractors show up and they pull every single vehicle into camp.  Class As, lots of 5^th wheels pickup and all, trailers, even 4 wheel drive pickups.  Crowds gather all around us to watch the spectacle.  It looks like this is going to go on all evening.  How romantic!  It will certainly be a memorable anniversary.

We ride on toward Rollag. Sand Hill Cranes are more and more common as two by two they began to come together for their great migration. Turkeys are out in the grain fields fattening up.  Here and there yellow and red patches highlight the marsh and woodlands.  We have no trouble finding the Reunion grounds and are soon settled into a tolerably level spot.  It is a good thing we carry a lot of leveling blocks!  We stroll the grounds as far as permitted since the show hasn’t officially started yet then settle in for the night.  It’s a hay field so there is no power and lots of generators are purring into the evening.  Fortunately most campers are considerate and things quiet down by 10 or so.

We take it easy today and stop in Brainerd MN for a night.  Tomorrow it is on to Rollag

The motor home deposited in a campground near Duluth, we take the car back up Rte 61 along the Lake Superior Shore.  First we check out Split Rock Lighthouse.  The lighthouse itself isn’t very tall but it sits 100 feet above the lake on a magnificent cliff top location. They have Peregrine falcons nesting on their cliff!

Built at the request of ship captains and shipping company owners (mostly steel mills) after a disastrous 1905 on the lake; the Split Rock Lighthouse broadcasts a beacon visible for 22 miles and served as a navigational lighthouse for the north shore. The advent of more sophisticated technology rendered it un-necessary but fortunately it has been wonderfully preserved by the Minnesota Historical Society.  Morning fog lifts as we walk around the site.  A young man dressed the part serves as lighthouse keeper today.  Every 90 minutes he actually winds the works that turn the Fresnel lens and spends many an hour polishing brasswork in and around the lighthouse.  Maybe we should check to see if the historical society needs volunteers!  It is beautiful here.

A short distance south we find Gooseberry Falls State Park.  Recent rains have swollen the coffee-brown stained waters of the Gooseberry River and it tumbles impressively down three rugged rock steps on its way to Lake Superior.  Trails wind along both banks and criss-cross the flow on bridges.  In addition to the spectacular natural scenery, there is impressive CCC work along the trail. 

The most impressive is an enormous retaining structure dubbed “the castle” built of native stone.