This is the old Stone Arch Bridge. Notice that there are no lights or railings.
Every time some national media company comes to town for a sporting event or something else, you can be sure that there will be some aerial photo of Minneapolis and it will include the Stone Arch Bridge (SAB). It is petty and it helps frame the rest of downtown Minneapolis.
It always wasn’t like that. For a long time the SAB was a hold-over from the past and was just part of the rough and wild Mississippi river as it ran by Downtown Minneapolis. That period wasn’t all that long ago either. I was lucky enough to spend time around the SAB before and after its transformation.
A few years ago The Man decided to do some maintenance on the dam located just above the SAB. To do so, they had to draw down the water. Thousands flocked to the area to see what it was like under the SAB. I was one of them. I thought I’d share some history about the SAB and some pics I took of the area when all the water was gone.
History
First a bit about the history of the Stone Arch Bridge. The bridge was built by James J. Hill to bring railroad traffic from the east side of the Mississippi to the west side of the river (aka Downtown Minneapolis). He did this entirely out of the goodness of his heart because it made him sad to see poor people have to walk over the Hennepin Bridge. Hah! Not at all, he built the bridge because he was a big time train mogul and wanted to connect his various rail networks.
The bridge did just that from 1883 to 1978. Sure, there were a few blips, like when a flood in 1965 undermined a few piers and it dropped 14 inches. It may have seemed important at the time, but two years later the I-35 bridge opened just a few hundred yards downriver and it was just fine until 2007 when it dropped quite a bit more than 14 inches.
After 1978 the Stone Arch Bridge was unused and just sat there doing nothing. In 1994 it was converted from a rail bed into a paved road becoming a biking and walking path. It is currently managed by the Minneapolis Park Board and is insanely popular.
My History with the Stone Arch Bridge
I first went to the SAB with some buddies of mine to fish carp. My buddies and I were all students at THE U of M and would decide that the hordes of carp menacing downtown Minneapolis took precedence over our academic studies. We tended to be extra vigilant about the Carp Menace on nice spring days, but we were always willing to do battle with the Queen of the Mississippi. If I have revealed my ignorance here on Glibs, it is because I sacrificed my education for the good of humanity.
In those days, the SAB was closed to the public. The entrances to it were blocked by chain link fences. Luckily the fences all had places cut in them where you could slip through and walk out on the bridge. We’d start fishing by walking out on the bridge and looking down to see how many carp were swimming out on the flats. Then we’d walk down to chum them with corn and begin catching them.
I said we because the river was pretty rough back then. If you were down there fishing alone, there was a good chance that you’d end up “sharing” any beer you had with the homeless bums who infested the area. If you had a few buddies along you’d be left alone.
After a while, I came to the conclusion that I was wasting my gifts on THE U of M and I should move on to greener pastures. Or pastures that were more blue and gray and moved to Memphis to attend Memphis State. During my absence, the city of Minneapolis decided to build on the beautification process I had begun with my departure and really spruce up the river through Downtown Minneapolis. Of course, they spent a bazillion dollars on the clean up, but at the actual end of the project, the bums had been pushed out, trails had been paved and the SAB had been revamped and opened to the public.
The SAB had lights and railings. What a bunch of sissies! It also had several hundred people walking and jogging across it all the time. Being close to THE U of M, a lot of the joggers were young coeds. This led to the SAB being a popular lunch destination with the corporate suits from downtown offices.
Looking down from the bridge all these new people could spy on our favorite spot to fish from. The cops pretty much turned a blind eye to any beer drinking down on the river, but having so many witnesses definitely did curb our usual antics.
Not only are there lights and railings, but they are gentrifying the neighborhood in the background with a new condo high rise.
While the Old Breed were upset with the Public intruding on our secret places, not everyone was against it. The two Altar Boys, definitely thought the hordes of witnesses were a good thing. When they caught a fish and 20-30 people up on the bridge started hooting and hollering, they would puff up and there was no convincing them that they were violating one of the First Principles of Fishing: Secrecy.
Below you can see a picture of them with a freshly landed double. Altar Boy #2 was so happy with the adulation of the crowd that he forgot how mad he was that his dad had hooked a finger in his belt loop to ensure that the carp didn’t win the battle (most of his chagrin was because his older brother hadn’t been subjected to such indignities). A trip to the SAB would erase months of training at home, the two of them becoming insufferable know-it-alls.
The Altar Boys are pretty full of themselves at this point. They just landed a double and everyone on the bridge above are cheering and clapping.
The Drawdown
I forgot exactly how I heard about the drawdown. Might have read about it online or maybe heard about it from an old member of Club Carp. In any event, I was supposed to go down to THE U of M and grab Altar Boy #2 to go hunting, so I decided to drop by and see what was going on.
I got there and was wearing my muck boots because I was pretty sure that it would be muddy as hell down there. Instead, I was surprised to find that it was mostly dry and that the soil was very sandy. Right away I ran across this group that had a metal detector and were looking for stuff. It should be noted that when I showed other people that pic and called them “weirdos”, everyone would burst out in laughter and make some lame “kettle/pot black” joke.
C’mon, the long jacket and metal detector definitely makes him weird, right?
Despite (the real) weirdos milling around, I had a blast walking around the Mississippi bottom. The East end of the SAB is where we did all our fishing. Here is a comparison of it with water and without.
This is the place where we fish. Facing West towards Downtown
This is the same place as the previous photo, just without the water.
These next two shots are of the same place, but taken from atop the bridge. I put stars near a couple of landmarks to help you understand how much the water had come up. The green and yellow stars are a couple of big rocks that have been down there forever. The red star is the base of some stairs that you can take from the top of the bluff down to the river. (I am honestly surprised that the stairs didn’t collapse. They are in horrible disrepair and are supposed to be closed).
This is the place where we fish looking down from above.
With the water gone, you can see the trench that runs right in front.
If you looked north (instead of up), you would see the smaller of the spillways that come out of the old power plant. These next two pics are from the same point we fish off of. You can see that once you get over the trench in front, the rest of the stream is shallow. When the locks are running, the water fluctuates a lot here. We think that is why the carp like it so much. When the water goes down, all the crap that they like to eat settles to the bottom. And they can loll about in the sun and warm water.
Looking north across the lagoon toward the smaller spillway.
Looking downstream back towards the SAB from the small spillway. These two pics are the reverse of the ones above. This is looking back south from the smaller spillway. The fishing spot is on the left end of the bridge.
These two pics are from the other side of the bridge (downstream). The pile you see is an old pier from an old iron truss bridge that used to be there. In the pics you can see how much erosion took place from the water. I guess dropping bridges into the Mighty Mississippi has been a long been a favorite past time of the citizens of Minneapolis.
These two pics are both from when the water was low. They are from the south (downstream) side of the bridge. The same place as the old pier above. In this case, when the water was done, an old dock was uncovered. I couldn’t find anything about this online, but my guess is that this must have been built before the dam was built upstream and this is the natural edge of the river. Once the dam was built the river deepened and the dock was lost.
These pics are just from when the water was low. I couldn’t really get a decent comparison shot from when the water is at its normal level. These trees have been lodged in the base of the bridge about half way across for years and years. At the risk of being accused of being a serial exaggerator, I’d say they’ve been there at least a decade. One is still there. The smaller one on the left has come free and was no longer there last time I was at the SAB.
The last two pictures are from the west end of the bridge. That end is right in downtown Minneapolis. The water below was the main channel, so the water level wasn’t drastically different. So instead of boring you with that, I will show a couple of basic tourista shots from that end of the bridge.
The purple, blocky building to the left of the the old flour mills is the Guthrie Theater. Major fancy pants central there. The flour mills themselves are part of some historic register now, so they can’t be torn down and are only there to give ambiance to the condos nearby. When I started working downtown in ’95, there were at least a half dozen murders in those mills each year. All the murders were the homeless killing each other over booze or drugs.
The picture on the right is a nice skyline picture of Minneapolis. It used to be beautiful and full of people. Now it is a ghost town. There are active talks by the city to turn one of those sky scrapers into affordable housing. Maybe it won’t be long before the river bottom get de-gentrified and is taken over by bums and carp fishermen again?
Chamber of Commerce pictures. Minneapolis before George Floyd riots when people went downtown.
That was a nice story. Thanks!
You’re still wrong about BBQ tho.
Sorry for OT – about to drive in to work – great Adam Carolla podcast interview with Mike Rowe today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZWxDoqsZtI&t=2129s
The lack of socks makes him weird.
Long coat over shorts? cullots? without socks makes him weird.
Interesting stuff, thanks.
What could go wrong?
I say start demolishing the empty buildings and let the lots return to a natural state.
Ask NYC how well the elevators work in high rise public housing.
Shreveport did that with a couple of really nice old buildings. They are abandoned now. The residents trashed them.
One they turned into some kind of arts community housing. That one is still going.
Yeah. It was wretched. You can see that the state of living in hideous poverty row housing was a problem of the people, not the housing. The residents quickly trashed their new shiny housing to resemble where they came from.
The importance of culture cannot be overstated.
Free shit is free shit. This is economics 101, don’t matter who is involved.
I listened to a podcast recently and one of the guests was a long time developer. He said that really , the only buildings that are convertible are smaller, historically interesting ones. Because those condos may be sold to rich people.
The economics just don’t work. Which, of course, won’t dissuade the retards.
When has it ever?
Sowell’s first rule of economics and politics will be forever accurate.
There is no end for rationalizations about solving problems that always ends with the same solution: Give me your money. No matter the problem, not matter the pretzel logic for solving it that is always the answer.
The majority of humanity can only see one solution for getting what they need and want – take it from someone else. That is the foundational principle of barbarism. Take it by force, intimidation or deception.
Think ‘reparations’. “You owe me!”
The folly of productive people taking the bait is incredible. I remember some black dude that escaped the ‘hood’ and used his genius and drive to make millions. Feeling empathetic to his old community he bankrolled ‘affordable housing’ and practically gave it away to long time residents of his childhood community. The article describing the event was headed by a photo of him standing in one of the apts he had built. He was shrugging his shoulders with his palms up asking “Why?”. The apt had all of the fixtures, sockets, outlets etc removed, holes knocked in the walls, carpet torn up and graffiti painted on the walls.
As my grandaddy used to say “Let pigs in the house and pretty soon you are going to be stomping around in pig shit.”
Maybe it won’t be long before the river bottom get de-gentrified and is taken over by bums and carp fishermen again?
The cycle of life.
Good yarn, Your Popeness.
I love the rails to trails projects, and think they’re a great use of the old rail lines that are no longer in use.
For here, you’d need to go out onto the breakwall for your prime carp fishing. You’d also have to become friends with anyone else on the breakwall fishing, because if you hooked a carp, that bastard would start swimming up and down the breakwall as it got reeled in, which could cause some lovely tangles. Generally, all you would wind up catching there were sheepshead and carp. You’d see some lucky bastard pull in a perch or two, while you just tossed back another sheepshead (who would then bite at the same bait and get caught again in a couple of minutes).
I have some fond memories of fishing there, even with the lack of guardrails, safety ropes, life preservers, or any safety equipment beyond knowing how to swim, and lots of people around. There would be old guys who may have been fishing since the last time there was a storm who were always there (high enough winds/rain and you’d get knocked off the breakwall due to the waves).
We did the same in Mpls. Some of the more serious fishermen went closer to the Ford Dam and caught some really nice eating catfish, 3-4 lbs. It was great to be a kid without much supervision.
I don’t think anyone wanted to try to eat catfish pulled out of Lake Erie (especially back then). We would generally pull night crawlers out of our backyard the night before when we were going to go fishing, why buy bait when it’s right there in the ground?
Rarely, we would do one of the charter fishing boats, and get out on the lake going for perch or walleye, those were some good eating.
Boy, does this bring back memories. I was at the U in the late 80s and the SAB was a favorite haunt after drinking at St. Anthony Main. There were always a lot of people up there, despite the lack of railings, etc.
It used to be such a wonderful area. Thanks, Jimbo. I really enjoyed this one. And the pic of the boys is priceless!
I would catch night crawlers around the Falls, be ready for fishing for a day or two. Even that part of the fishing was fun. A buddy, flashlights with red cellophane over the lens and a coffee can. Good days and nights.
Hey Tundra!
https://concerts.livenation.com/the-psychedelic-furs-the-jesus-and-denver-colorado-10-26-2024/event/1E0060CEE23B7363
Hah!
I just got a notice about that from Spotify! I saw the Furs a few years ago when they toured with the Church. They were pretty damn good.
I am not much of Furs fan, but I would love to see Jesus and Mary Chain again.
I saw the Furs for free.
Of course it was on campus about 30 years ago.
That is how and when I saw Janes Addiction and Toad the Wet Sprocket, among many other.
A little further down the Mississippi, near Fort Snelling, was/is an illegal dog park. Everybody let their dogs run leash free. I used to take my dogs down there every night to give them (and me) some exercise. One summer afternoon, a nice family was having a picnic on the shore. My dog, Barney, ran up to the father who was sitting on the corner of the picnic blanket, lifted a leg, and peed on him. I was mortified. I offered the guy my shirt but it would have been too small for him. Barney stayed on the leash for the rest of the walk.
Barney’s song?
I was disappointed not to see a picture of the big Grain Belt sign in Jimbo’s history. That was a part of the Mpls story
https://www.grainbelt.com/our-story/
Mrs. Suthenboy and I went canoeing once on the Ouiska Chitto (pronounced whiskachittah). We stopped on a sandbar and had lunch. Another group was there sitting on a log talking and resting. One of the women raised her right arm up to her shoulder holding a sandwich while she was looking at her buddy on her left. Our black lab Lucy zipped up behind the woman thinking the sandwich was being offered and snatched it out of the woman’s hand. She instantly swallowed it whole.
The woman was pissed. We offered to replace the sandwich with our own, which were much better Philly cheese steak ones and some large cocktail shrimp on ice heavily dosed with Italian seasoning but nope…she preferred to be pissed off.
Sorry. Have a nice day.
Great history, Jimbo, thanks much.
We lived in extreme South East Mpls, our haunts were the crick (Minnehaha Creek) below the falls to the river. We speared carp in the spring in the crick, fished below the Ford Dam around the Old Soldier’s Home. I caught a lot of little bullheads that I brought home and never were eaten except by the cat.
I would have had some pictures had my brother not lost them when Mom died.
Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane. Fourscores would have been there with you.
Caught a lot of walleye and catfish under that dam. Although the ramp at Hidden Falls was pretty exciting when the gates were open.
My friend lived a couple blocks from the crick. Many a crayfish was liberated.
I second this. Very enjoyable story, your holiness.
I was expecting a treastise on architecture and engineering.
I am disappoint.
Thanks Jimbo!
OT – you’ll note that nobody has suggested eliminating draft registration.
Firestorm erupts over requiring women to sign up for military draft
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4730560-senate-democrats-require-women-draft/
It’s a head fake. Something is going on that requires a distraction.
Everyone knows what would happen if they reinstitute the draft.
I miss the 60s. Women burning bras; men burning draft cards.
kinnath:
See, all that burning released too much carbon, which is why we’re in a heat dome now!
Too late for me, I’d already been drafted, though I was a volunteer for the draft.
Actually a number of my friends did the same, get in and get it over with before your start down a different path.
I was talking to my Dad about his Army service this weekend. He was in from 61-63. Got it over with, and would have been among the first to Vietnam had he re-upped.
He and Mom went on their first date the day Kennedy died. And he was pissed about the Cuban missile crisis because he was in the habit of goin home on weekends and they made him stay on base.
I was on leave, on my way to France, when the crisis erupted. I expected to be called back to my unit in GA but instead when on to my new assignment.
Yep. Head fake. The political equivalent of shouting ‘Squirrel!’.
Notice that everyone around here is talking about the 10 commandments in schools instead of the real problems we face.
Blacklisted
The Biden administration on Thursday will announce plans to bar the sale of antivirus software made by Russia’s Kaspersky Labs in the United States, a person familiar with the matter said, citing the firm’s large U.S. customers including critical infrastructure providers and state and local governments.
The company’s close ties to the Russian government were found to pose a critical risk, the person said, adding that the software’s privileged access to a computer’s systems could allow it to steal sensitive information from American computers, install malware or withhold critical updates.
I’m surprised it took this long.
Hell, as long as it isn’t Chen Shen “We Virus, You Buy Us!”
Those are the good guys!
Heh. Likewise, be careful at dachshund picnics: they hardly have to bend down.
Enjoyable piece, Jimbo!
🙄 Meant as reply to Suthen.
We dont have to buy Chinese viruses. You can get them for free, just download, look at, or think about TikTok. I think your computer gets viruses if you simply know someone of Chinese ancestry.
“…a person familiar with the matter…”
Journalism today, ladies and gentlemen.
I just stepped outside and ugh… the sun is beting agressive, and there’s no wind. Nothing to cool you off.
I’m outside at my daughter’s softball tournament. This classic seems to fit.
https://youtu.be/DpktBGInl60?si=4dlKwdDuPrpnPFyQ
I like this one.
https://youtu.be/RRvpcgd9fd8?
And this one.
https://youtu.be/WWuEBcBRkEM?
Volunteers is such a great flick.
“It’s not that I can’t help these people, it just that I don’t want to.”
One of my favorite movies.
And now it’s pouring rain.
Lucky. I’m tired of watering every afternoon.
Unfortunately I’m a hundred miles from home. I’m not sure it’s raining by my house.
I think the South stole your weather. We’ll give it back later. Promise.
Cool, humid and mosquitoes, the way summer is supposed to be.
It is quite nice to be in the low 90’s right now. In fact it is just now 90 and kind of cloudy. It’s been a while since I had a comfortable June in Texas.
84°F and 68% humidity where I’m at. And the sun is back out. I have sweat running down me sitting in a chair under an umbrella.
92, but only 23 percent. Very comfy in the shade.
93 F and down to 42% humidity (the thunderstorms the other day helped). The Lake has managed to break a new high temperature (for this time of year) of 70 (usually low 60’s).
Thanks, Your Holiness. I really liked your writeup. I used to wander on that part of the river when I was at UofM in the 1960s. The winos and fishermen were present in considerable numbers.
Old Man Hill knew how to build a bridge that would last, I’ll give him that.
Thanks, Jimbo the pope. Cool pics of the kidlings.
I have to ask if during the drawdown they found anything interesting.
You know, like Jimmy Hoffa or something.
I was working in the Twin Cities at the time and had a store burglarized where the safe had been stolen. We got a call from the St Paul police, they had recovered 5 safes that had been found after the draw down. Apparently tossed off the bridge, all were opened destructively, all empty of course and none was ours.
RIP Donald Sutherland.
Son of a bitch.
RIP Donald Sutherland
My favorite character.
I loved him in Day of the Triffids. That scream is immortal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEStsLJZhzo
You mean Invasion of the Body Snatchers, don’t you? Triffids is an early 60s British movie.
https://nypost.com/2024/06/20/world-news/climate-activists-spray-paint-private-jets-mistakenly-believe-taylor-swifts-plane-was-at-airport/
They agree that she’s the problem.
A pair of climate activists sprayed two private jets at a UK airport with orange paint Thursday morning – mistakenly claiming that pop superstar Taylor Swift’s jet was parked nearby.
Police were called to Stansted Airport in Essex around 5:10 a.m. local time following reports that two people had broken into the area and damaged two planes, the BBC reported.
The Just Stop Oil group admitted to being behind the incident, and claimed that Swift’s jet was parked at the airstrip during the demonstration.
These people need to experience some real violence. They are able to act only because existing social norms prevent everyday, ordinary people from taking violent action in response to their property being destroyed or their lives being disrupted.
In my heart, I hope it was some Greenie’s jet they vandalized.
Ideally Al Gore’s, or maybe Klaus’s.
I’d be fine with restitution and prison time. None of them look like they could do hard time.
They should have to help clean the jets they vandalized.
https://x.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1803697421551075506
Prison isn’t the right answer.
These two smiling twats look so proud of themselves. There is no fear there. Only smug satisfaction.
This will not go away until these activists start experiencing immediate consequences for such destructive behavior. They need to fear being caught in the act.
Fucking with aviation should be a loooong prison sentence.
Where was security?
DEI seminar, probably.
lulz
I thought we had rules against terrorists.
UK has no RICO, I see.
I think nothing should be done to those two mush-brains. Find the professors that filled their heads full of complete shit and beat the fuck out of them in the street, then the walk of shame…five miles naked and barefoot while being pelted with rocks and rotten eggs. Same for the pols pushing this scam.
Good lord.
Alpine, Wyoming, Man Dies In Tragic Wood Chipper Accident
Why couldn’t it have been Preet?
Because this poor guy sounds like he got dragged in head first, would have been an instant, merciful death.
Working around power machinery, anything with exposed moving parts: No long sleeves. No gloves, no jewelry of any kind, no hats or scarves. No loose, untucked shirts.
And no hems on your pants….
Here in New York we have the Walkway Over the Hudson, and of course several rail trails. I generally only walk the rail trails in the winter when it’s a good break between end of work and dinner; haven’t actually done the Walkway yet.
Of course, I want trails where I’m more likely to be away from everybody else.
Looks like Biden is now up by 2 points in the latest Fox poll. If he doesn’t collapse in the coming debate, President Harris will be in our future?
Polls suck. I did miss a call from Rasmussen the other night. I might have been tempted to participate…
Who answers polls? I get calls all the time and decline. I’m on enough lists.
Biden is up two points. Horseshit.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, your holiness!
I have many fond memories walking the SAB or viewing it from a Mississippi River paddleboat day cruise.
awesome article
entirely out of the goodness of his heart
The Eads Bridge at STL has a similar origin story….also first bridge over Mississippi to use structural steel.
Memphis State
They too call themselves UofM now; still Tiger High for me; I have degrees that reflect both old and new monikers.
There are four bridges here at MEM, but none as pretty or article-worthy as your SAB. The I-55 bridge is closed for repairs, so the I-40 bridge (Hernando deSoto = New Bridge (1973)) is bumper to bumper for another month.