Tour the old Federal Building-Gangstah’s, Prohibition and Art

A fun tour-Gangstah’s, Prohibitionists, and Artisans

This Federal Building was built with the most elegant materials, with the idea in 1902 to have an impressive building so that the American Public would "trust the Government" (much like banks and insurance companies have to have elegant structures)

When it was ready to be torn down (in the 70's) people objected, raised $12 million

and repurposed it to include ordinary offices, and Artisans, and interesting museums.

It had been court rooms (especially covering all the crime resulting from corrupt government and the results of the prohibition and the gangster activity - especially the kidnapping of the wealthy which earned much more money than the bank robberies.

Elegant rooms furnished with plenty of marble and mahogany

John Dillinger - prominent all over town

Our very own John Dillinger

(actor-guide from yesterday)

Interesting pieces of the history

Even beautiful marble bathrooms--

For a minute I thought I had been locked into a big safe!

Even a Rocking Horse

(well, sort of)

ARTISANS AND INTERESTING MUSEUMS

All kinds of instruments,

some of which we could attempt to play!

Lou knew 2 guys in college woodworking class that made these.

Love the shape and beautiful case

Looks like the one Lou's mom had.

Here is the Theremon that my granddad had!

Spoiler alert-It doesn't sound like music!

To all the wood worker friends, Take a look at "woodturning"

This was an interesting museum. Utilitarian objects become real works of art.

Two person lathe- from the 1700's

Such elegant woodworking

this cute little thing (3" high) was in the 'gift shop' for $300.00

Mississippi River Cruise

It's amazing how wide this river got in the 2-300 miles downstream

And how the flood levels vary so much.

The numbers on the marker to the right range from 40 to 55 feet.

It seemed backwards (to us) until we realized that it measured the height to the bottom of the bridge, not the depth of the water.

"just say'n"

This train bridge was folded up to the edge of the water.

The train can't cross the river now.

After we passed, the train bridge pivoted back to complete the bridge.

 

Quite the grain elevator, especially when you think of the sequence:

1.  Farmer combines his grain, and trucks to local town grain elevator.

2.  Grain elevator puts it in rail road cars and ships to the large one that you see here.

3.  Then it is loaded on barges and shipped down the Mississippi, eventually ending up in world wide destinations.

                                        Scenes along the river

Quite a few homeless solutions.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

         A walk in the park-Minnehaha

The Minnehaha falls are 53 feet.

A beautiful scene (unless there is a severe drought)

Can you imagine???

This is the statue of Hiawatha and Minnehaha featured in  

Henry Wadsworth Longfellows epic poem 

"The Song of Hiawatha"

Since we weren't too familiar with it, we looked it up and the 'poem' was 284 pages long.  So we decided to continue our unfamiliarity!

No plaques to describe him, 

maybe I should make up a story!

The Minnehaha Creek empties into the Mississippi River

just a short way from here.

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul Minnesota

A lovely church built with Georgia marble.

This relief of the 12 disciples took 4 years

and they continued all the work in the winter.

(imagine all that snow and the 40 degree below zero temperatures)

Beautiful Nave and dome.

It seats 3000 people, and one of the seats has JFK's name on it.

The guide mentioned that the electrical bills in the winter  were

 $100,000 per month.

Paul

The inscription at his foot says:

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God"

Luke

One of the many beautiful chapels

City Tour

We had a fun tour with actor/tour guide (John Dillinger)  and learned much about the old crime and corruption of the St. Paul's police force.  Apparently it was so bad that it was known nation-wide for the corruption.

(much like _____ today!)

The man that put Prohibition into effect had his office on the 4th floor of this Landmark Hotel.

He was going to make sure that no one had anything to drink.

And then, directly across the street was the largest bootlegger.

He endeavored to make sure that no one ran out of anything to drink.

It was a good day and tomorrow we get a ride on the Mississippi River while we eat lunch.

Headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi- Lake Itasca, Minnesota

 

Lake Itasca State Park

Headwaters of the Mississipi River

The more we looked at the signs and maps, the more Lou kept asking "how can they possible tell where the actual starting point of the river is?,  

and which of little tributaries is supposed to be the Mississippi"?"

Apparently the native tribes kept wondering why the white people kept searching for the source,

couldn't they just enjoy the river for what it was??

All the tourists are enjoying the 

"I walked across the Mississippi River" routine

The early explorers were warned that going down the river would be experiencing

class 1 rapids, wetland marshes, muddy bogs, wild animals, and native tribes.

Navigating these widely ranging conditions to travel the 2500 miles is apparently 

a big sport today.

The answer to the question of 

"why is it so important to find the beginning of the river?"

is the fact that the treaty of the 1783 following the Revolutionary War 

"PROVIDED THAT THE UNITED STATES NORTHWEST BOUNDARY SHOULD EXTEND FROM THE NORTHWEST ANGLE OF LAKE OF THE WOODS TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.  ITASCA WAS ON THIS BOUNDARY" 

(INSCRIPTION ON THE ROCK)

The marshes at Lake Itasca are quite heavy.

When the tour boat had a problem with a stuck rudder, 

we just enjoyed some time to chat and get acquainted with others on the tour.