Population (2010) 22,886 Introduction After 43 miles of flowing from east to west, the Mississippi takes a sharp turn at Muscatine and resumes its mostly southward trek to the Gulf of Mexico. Muscatine was a busy industrial town for decades and still has its share of manufacturing, but many
It seems that the Mississippi only makes it in the news when it’s flooding or something happens that slows down barges. You can be forgiven if you think the Mississippi today is little more than a taxpayer-funded shipping canal hidden behind levees. I was reminded of this after a recent 11-day trip along the Upper
Population (2010) 382,578 Introduction Minneapolis has a spirit that sets it apart from most other American cities. It’s a place with a lively downtown, a diverse arts scene, great food, nice people, and a surprising range of outdoor activities for a big city, including the best public riverfront along
Introduction St. Paul and Minneapolis—the Twin Cities—form the center of a dynamic metropolitan area of some 3.5 million outdoor-loving, cold-tolerant people. In spite of what the nickname implies, the two cities are more like fraternal twins, nurtured by the same mother--the Mississippi River--but growing independently. St. Paul is the quiet, responsible older sister,
View along the St. Louis Riverfront Trail The St. Louis Riverfront Trail runs 11 miles from downtown to the Chain of Rocks Bridge, through an industrial landscape, past two 100 year old bridges, and along the only stretch of the Upper Mississippi River south of Minneapolis that has no commercial navigation. Not a
Population (2010) 65,842 Introduction St. Cloud, a city split between three counties, emerged from the union of three distinct cities: one founded by a slave-owning southerner, one founded by an abolitionist Protestant, and one created just to build a sawmill. It’s a wonder the place ever came up with
