37-The River has a Tummy Ache!

   The Mississippi is mighty!  It is also mighty muddy!

     It wasn't always so.  Early French explorers write about the pristine nature of the river.  Now floating off New Orleans is 'dead zone' the size of New Jersey.  

     How did that happen?  Hypoxia, or lack of oxygen in the water.  Plants need oxygen to grow.  In the dead zone there is none.  When fish swim into the dead zone, they do not leave.  

     At this point, all the people using the River run for the bunkers.  It is  someone else's problem.  Some want to blame nitrates.  There are tens of thousands of farms using nitrate fertilizer in the Mississippi water basin.  "Not us", say the farmer, "Look at the chemical and oil companies off shore".  "Not us", say the chemical and oil companies, "Look to growing population of people using the river". 

     Lots and lots of problems using the river.  The problems this generation doesn't solve, the next generation will! 

36-Jean and I boarding in Dubuque

35-The Mighty Mississip!

     Today we tried to get on the boat in St. Paul.  Slight problem...no boat!  The paddle wheeler could only paddle as far as Dubuque, IA.  It seems a barge ran aground somewhere between Dubuque and St. Paul, so the first leg of our voyage was 269 miles overland.  
     Here is where the problem gets interesting.  How does a barge run aground a month after a 50-year flood?  It's all Wisconsin's fault!  A growing industry is 'fracking', and Wisconsin has great sand, essential to all good 'frackers'.  When the sand is mined, there is some runoff.  Where does the runoff go?  You guessed it, the Mississippi.  
     Why couldn't it flow downstream with the rest of the silt?  I suppose some does; just not enough!  A lot of it stays behind to cause headaches for shipping.
      Fracking is a very powerful tool in America's energy quiver.  Some would say too powerful.  Others would say just the right power.  With all power comes responsibility.  If responsible solutions are not timely, fracking is going to be tossed in the dustbin, probably between the Edsel and the eight track cartridge.

   

34-Fort Snelling

     France sold all the land drained by the Mississippi River in 1803.  At the time, nobody knew how much land that was.  The next year President Jefferson sent Lewis & Clark to the Pacific Ocean to tell him.  They also reported on plants, animals and the people they found.  
     The French acknowledged the American claim. They were the only ones!  The Canadians did not trust the Americans.  The Americans did not trust the British.  The Dakota and Ojibwe Indians had no trust for anybody (including each other)!  When there is no trust, a military fort is the best option.  Fort Snelling began construction in 1820 with the Round Tower.  Built high above the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, the mission was two fold; keep the peace and permit the trade in beaver pelts, fashionable on European hats.  Success was...partial!
     As the frontier moved west, European fashion changed from New World beaver to Chinese silk.  Fort Snelling had other missions until after World War II.  Frontier protection morphs into historical preservation.
          

33-The Flour Mill

     Flour was king of Minneapolis.  From the 1880's until World War II, St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River, provided water to power half a dozen flour mills.  Glaciers were kind to Minnesota, the Dakotas and parts of Canada.  They left behind fertile soil.  The soil grew wheat and Minneapolis milled it.

   After World War II, new mills began in Duluth, at the far western end of Lake Superior.  These mills catered to the desires of the 1950's.  50 pound bags of flour were replaced by smaller, pre-packaged mixes.  The old mills at St. Anthony's falls could not keep up.
     In 1965, General Mills closed the mill in Minneapolis.  It became home for the homeless.  In 1991 a devastating fire gutted the plant.  Out of the rubble grew a museum dedicated to the mill; the people who worked there and the people it fed.

31-Chicago Art

   Chicago has beautiful, vibrant art in the parks.  There is something called the 'Bean' which is so outrageous it defies description.  A good friend of mine said, "Everybody is smiling and laughing when they look at it".  I looked around.  He was so right.
     Another piece was a 21st Century, high tech fire hydrant.  Laughter and squeals of delight were the order of the day!  

32-The 'Bean'

     It is pure, no edges, corners or straight lines; and highly reflective!  The image has wonderful distortions, exciting the laughter and smiles of a carnival funhouse.  It reflects faces, torsos, even lifelong friendships.  The backdrop is awesome, the entire Chicago skyline.  The 'city with big shoulders' twists and turns at our very whim!

     We smile because we know these images are false.  Then, for a moment, we pause and consider what the truth is, for ourselves and the city behind us.