Coldwater Spring — a place to learn about the past and present

Story and photos by MARGIE O’LOUGHLIN

Coldwater Spring, between Minnehaha Park and Fort Snelling (5601 Minnehaha Dr. S.), is public land on which to hike, run, dog walk, bird watch, reflect on the twists and turns of history, and enjoy nature.

Photo right: The original stone spring house still stands. The rate of Coldwater Spring’s flow diminished greatly with the reconstruction of Hiawatha Ave., but remains at an output of about 80,000 gallons per day.

Only two years after Coldwater Spring was added to our national park system in 2010, 12 buildings were removed, as were thousands of significant (and lamented) trees. Thirteen of its 29 acres were replanted with trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers. Now part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, the goal of the National Park Service (NPS) was, and is, to restore the area to a prairie oak savanna—a community of scattered oak trees above a layer of prairie grasses and wildflowers. The restoration is ongoing, and will take many years to complete.

Susu Jeffrey, activist and preservationist, wrote in the Coldwater Journal that, “Coldwater became the birthplace of Minnesota when Army troops camped there from 1820-1823. They mined the nearby limestone bluffs to build Fort Snelling. Coldwater Spring furnished water to the fort for 100 years. The water there still flows at a rate of about 80,000 gallons per day.”

“For thousands of years before the arrival of the soldiers and settlers,” Jeffrey continued, “Coldwater Spring had been used by Native people as a traditional gathering place. Called Mni Owe Sni in the Dakota language, tribes that are known to have gathered at Coldwater Spring included the Dakota, Anishinabe, Ho Chuck, Iowa, Sauk and Fox people.”

While the repurposing of Coldwater Spring has both its fans and its opponents, the land remains an outdoor classroom where visitors can experience lessons of natural history and ecology specific to the Upper Mississippi River site.

Photo left: A mature Burr Oak provides an over-story for the seeded prairie below. This is the basis of a prairie-oak savanna, once one of the most common ecosystems in the Midwest. Intact prairie oak savannas are now quite rare.

Friends of Coldwater has been offering full moon hikes there every month for 16 years. In September, they held their annual Harvest Moon Hike and sing-along. (To see their October schedule, visit friendsofcoldwater.org.) They hike in every kind of weather; no registration is required, and the walks are free and open to the public.

The non-profit organization Mississippi Park Connection provides opportunities for people to connect with the river and have a national park experience. In addition to ongoing programs for members, Mississippi Park Connections offers public programming on the second Saturday of each month, June-Oct., at Coldwater Spring.

October’s Second Saturday is about discovering the ancient side of Coldwater through fossil hunting and identification.

Photo right: Native plants like Goldenrod and Purple Aster cover the area in late fall.

Coldwater Spring is what is known as a fossiliferous park (rich with fossils) due to Minnesota having been covered by an ocean some 400 million years ago. Join NPS rangers to see what ancient history can be found in the park, and earn a special-edition Paleontologist Junior Ranger badge. This program is free and open to the public on Oct. 8, 9am-noon.

On Oct. 5, local birding celeb Sharon Stiteler (aka the Bird Chick) will be leading an event she calls The Big Sit at Coldwater Spring from 7:30am-6:30pm. Birders of all levels are encouraged to come by for any amount of time. “This is a great place to learn about bird identification,” Stiteler said, “maybe a few tips and tricks, meet local birders and have fun. We will have binoculars, spotting scopes and digiscopes on hand to try.” Stiteler works as a park ranger, bird tour guide, photographer, and author. For more information, contact her directly at www.birdchickcom.

To visit Coldwater Spring, from Hwy 55/Hiawatha, turn east (toward the Mississippi) at 54th St., take an immediate right, and drive south on the frontage road for one-half mile past the parking meters. Keep going through the cul-de-sac, past the Coldwater Spring entrance sign and into the free parking lot. Park hours are from 6am–10pm. Dogs are welcome, but must be leashed at all times.

Visit www.parkconnection.org to learn more about membership and programming.