Stay On Target....Almost There

I always enjoy walking over this bridge, that crosses over the Vermillion River, to see the new locks on the fencing. 

Gears

The original mechanics from the Hastings Flour Mill on the Vermillion River.

Spot The Differences

I received a contribution photo from swc over the weekend. On January 16, I posted a black and white photo of the Vermillion River while standing on a walking path bridge facing west. The contribution photo is from the exact same location, facing west, but taking during the peak of summer. One can hardly tell these are indeed the same location. The river bank on the left is fairly easy to make out in both photos. Also on the left bank, there is a crop of birch trees, those are, in my account, the easiest to make out between both season photos.

Arctic Blast

The current temperature at the time of this posting is -19F degrees. They are predicting -22F by morning. The Twin Cities has been below 0F degrees since Tuesday around midnight. The good news is, we should go above 0F sometime in the after noon on Friday. That will be three and a half days of sub-zero temperatures.

This kind of cold temperatures does have a big effect on the state of Minnesota. Many schools close or delay their start times by a couple of hours [I believe to let the air temps warm up a bit before sending the kids outdoors]. Travel is slower due to the exhaust fumes from the vehicles freezing on the roads creating "black ice".

Iced Over Water Fall

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I made my first winter time visit to the Vermillion Falls in Hastings. Today I am posting the lower portion of the falls where there is an observation platform to view the falls from a couple of different vantage points. Here is the same view from the fall of 2006 with out any ice. The difference between the two seasons is massive. If you look closely at the frozen waters, you can clearly see open waters in the bottom right corner. Water is currently flowing over the falls, though you really need a semi clear patch of ice to see the movement of the falling water.

The Land Of Ice And Snow

This is the top portion of the Vermillion Falls in Hastings, which lies next to the Hastings Flour Mill. I've been here many times during the warmer months of the year, but have never made a winter stop here. I had my chance this past week and it was quite a site to see. I'll post more photos during this coming week from this location. It surely is quite a difference with the top layer frozen over. There is water flowing underneath the ice. In some areas, the ice was thin enough to see the water flowing behind it. It was quite a site to see.

Walking Path In Hastings

This walking path at this point runs along side the Vermillion River in Hastings. The road that you see crossing the river is highway 61, which runs through the heart of Hastings. Just beyond the bridge is the Vermillion Falls. And the industrial building you see sits on the falls and is called the Hastings Flour Mill.

Where Did It Come From

Kind of strange eh, an icicle growing out of a rock? I spotted this in Hastings along the Vermillion Falls. It must have been gravity and some dripping water down the side of the cliff that formed this strange piece of ice.

Ramsey Mill On Vermillion River

Hats off to Tara of Baton Rouge Daily Photo for correctly guessing the ancient ruins discovered in the Twim Cities were of a mill of some kind. Indeed, these are the remains of one of Hastings first flour mills. This is the Ramsey Mill, built in 1857 by Governor Alexander Ramsey [construction was started in 1855].It burned down in a fire on December 22, 1894. The mill was rather small and produced about 100 barrels of flour a day. Gardner Mill, located on the Vermillion Falls produced about 1000 barrels of flour per day. I've featured the Gardner Mill, now called the Hastings Flour Mill, as a past Daily Photo.

I found this photo of the Ramsey Mill taken in 1930. Photographer is unknown.

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Ancient Ruins Series Continues

I wanted to continue on with the ruins of a building I found while on a walk with my wife and kids. Standing back to give you a bigger perspective on the area the building is sitting in. I mentioned a river it was built along, this river is in Hastings and empties into the Mississippi River not too far from here. I recall a comment a couple posts ago about how could they let the building stand in fear it will fall on someone. I can honestly say, that thought had crossed my mind when I was standing inside of the building remains.

I would like to return to this site when the sun is nearly setting and the river waters have warmed up a bit more. Looking back on the first two photos of this site, the sun setting with a reddish tint in the sky, standing in the water on the other side of the river bank near the beaver! Did you see that beaver over there on the east side of the bank? Throw in a bit of river water reflection. I can picture the shot in my mind, but I need to be there at the right time and I do need a replacement camera. I brought my broken camera along to the Breakfast Club gathering and described what I did to break the LCD screen.

Tomorrow I will give all of the details on this site that I can find.

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Ancient Ruins Located

Happy Mothers Day

Another angle of the ancient ruins. From walking around the old building, the horizontal lines in the stone is where the floors were located. The open areas were windows at one time. The vertical lines of wood, I believe it was wood, I'm guessing it was to help support the roof when it was there. The building location is located along side a not so well known river.

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Ancient Ruins In The Twin Cities?

Ancient Ruins? 1885 this building was built. Does over 100 years count as ancient? That's debatable for sure. So what and where is this place in the Twin Cities....Especially you locals who are familiar with the area. I can assure you, it is in the Twin Cities metro area. I discovered in using one of the photo areal sites, local.live.com. I was looking at a particular place from the satellite view when I discovered this odd shaped remains of a building. If you think this photo looks mysterious in this photo, try looking from a satellite image and try to figure that out. As I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking at....There it was, I had a mission, I had a quest, I had to discover it for myself....I will let you discover it with me.

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On Top Of The World

Well, maybe not the world, but this photo is the top portion of the Vermillion River, before it becomes the Vermillion Falls. This is a follow up photo to the October 13 photo of the Vermillion Falls.

I've Fallen, And I Can't Get Up

Vermillion Falls in Hastings, it's height is 30 feet. It's located next to a large factory which I believe is a flour mill to the right in the photo. I have pictures of the mill that I will post in the coming days. The falls are part of the Vermillion River and where I am, is in the Vermillion Falls Park located off of Highway 61 and 26th street. There is a walking path in the park which I've traveled down quite a ways before to discover some amazing sites as it follows along the river. Have never brought a camera into the walking path, but one of these days I'll make the hike back there and snap some shots. I've never been to the falls during the leaf color change. The colors that were there were quite a change from the blooming green that is normally there during the warm summer months.

Aerial View of the Vermillion Falls