Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS, the county seat of Hennepin county, Minnesota, United States, and in 1880 the first city of the State as regards population, lies on both banks of the

Mississippi, at the falls of St Anthony, 14 miles by river above St Paul. The east side was first settled, under the name of St Anthony, which was incorporated as a city in 1860. The west side settlement, named Minneapolis, was incorporated as a city in 1867, and soon surpassed St Anthony in population. In 1872 the two cities were united under the name of Minneapolis. The chief industries are the manufacture of flour and of lumber, for which the falls supply abundant water-power. The Mississippi here flows over a limestone bed resting upon a friable white sandstone; hence erosion is rapid, and the river banks show that the falls have receded from a position at the mouth of the Minnesota river. In 1851 90 feet of the limestone gave way at once; and, as the rock bed extends but 1200 feet above the present site of the falls, the destruction of the water-power was threatened. This has been averted by the construction of an apron, or inclined plane, of timber, with heavy cribwork at the bottom, and the building of a concrete wall in the bed of sandstone behind the falls and underneath the channel of the river. For this work the United States Government appropriated $550,000 and the citizens of Minneapolis contributed $334,500. The city has twenty-seven flour-mills, which can produce 29,272 barrels a day. The total product for the year ended September 1, 1882, was 2,301,667 barrels. The shipments of lumber for 1880 were 164,620,000 feet. The population in 1870 was 18,079; and in 1880, 46,887.