A Sylvan Dell near Minnehaha Falls

Abstract

A most interesting and favored collecting spot for mosses and flowering plants in the immediate vicinity of the City of Minneapolis, lies on the Fort Snelling Military Reservation about a mile south-east from the Falls of Minnehaha. Here, on the west bank of the Mississippi River, is a small amphitheatrelike dell. Ravines and dells are common in the picturesque seven miles of the River's course which extends from St. Anthony Falls, Minneapolis, to the Fort. When one reads the story of the Ice Age and learns that, for these few miles, the Father of Waters was turned aside from its original channel into its present or post-glacial gorge, a fascinating tale is unfolded. Thus, it is in this region that the River wears the ear marks of youth-a narrow gorge and high steep banks on which are exposed rocks of Trenton limestone and soft St. Peter sandstone. The dell itself appears, at least, to have been a part of a small pre-glacial valley which lay at right angles to the present gorge of the River. Ferns, mosses, and flowering herbs carpet the floor and sloping sides of our amphitheatre, while overhead the branches of at least six species of deciduous trees provide a lacy canopy for the shade-loving plants beneath. There always seems to be a roaring aeroplane overhead, for the Flying Field is not far away. Whenever in spring or fall I visit this spot, it is always to admire the low clumps of Polypodium vulgare and Woodsia obtusa which grow on the steep, shaded banks near the foot-path which winds along the edge of the Reservation. Farther back from the River and deep in the woods, it is a delight to find fine plants of the favorite Maiden-hair (Adiantum pedatum) and the Virginia grape-fern (Botrychium virginianum). In early May the dainty flowers of Hepatica acutiloba, and the Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) spring up amidst the dead leaves, while, a little later, the banks are abloom with the yellow bells of Uvularia grandiflora and the fragrant blue flowers of Phlox divaricata. Trillium cernuum, Jack-in-thePulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) and Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) are other shade lovers which dwell in the depths of these woods. In some miraculous way the vandal hand of the flower picker has left practically undisturbed these treasures of our Minnesota woods.