The Falls of St. Anthony

The waterfalls (Dakota "haha") shown here are the reason the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are situated where they are. In the mid-nineteenth century these falls set an upper limit to the navigation of the Mississippi River by craft larger than canoes. The portage site became a focal area for trade and eventually for settlement. As the community grew, the falls became the source of power for the mills that ground the wheat and grains grown in the upper Midwest and for the sawmills that turned the great forests of northern Minnesota into lumber.

The painting above is by Albert Bierstadt, a German-American landscape painter perhaps better known for his portrayals of the American West, including Yosemite Valley.

Larger image of painting. Via Sharp as Teeth and Stars.