Whose view? From where? — April 2009

This month was tricky. The water you see in the foreground was actually not the Mississippi River itself, but a lake on an island in the middle of the Mississippi. The landscape is barren for a reason: this is the lake at the Aggregate Industries mine on Grey Cloud Island, and the picture was taken from Grey Cloud Trail.

For decades, Aggregate Industries has mined gravel at the site. The gravel travels upriver by barge, and into the Twin Cities via the Upper Harbor Terminal in Minneapolis, where it is used at construction sites throughout the metro area. Active mining continues at the site, and is expected to expand in the coming years.

On the other side of the island from where this photo was taken is the finish of FMR's annual Mississippi River Challenge, also on the Aggregate Industries' property.

About Whose view? From where?

Each month in this section, we feature a photo somewhere along the river corridor in the Twin Cities that is in some way significant or important or just plain scenic. Individuals may then e-mail us and identify the view and explain why they believe it is significant to the community or important to them personally. Well publish some of your responses in the next issue of Mississippi Messages, where we will also reveal the correct answer.

To submit your guess and response, e-mail Bob Spaulding, River Advocate, through our contact form. The respondent to provide the first correct identification of the view and hopefully some interesting thoughts about its significance will receive a valuable prize for their effort. All entries must be received by the first day of the following month for consideration.