Minnesota River

The Minnesota River is a big river in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is about 332 miles long and flows into the Mississippi River. The river starts at Big Stone Lake near the border with South Dakota and flows southeast before turning northeast. It finally meets the Mississippi River at Mendota, close to the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The land around the Minnesota River is very wide and deep. It was shaped thousands of years ago by a huge glacier called the glacial River Warren during the last ice age. The river’s name comes from the Dakota language, meaning "land where the waters reflect the sky," because of the many lakes in the area.

For a long time, explorers called the river St. Pierre or St. Peter. But in 1852, the United States Congress decided to use the name Minnesota River for the river officially. This river is very important to the history and nature of the state of Minnesota.

Commercial significance

The river valley is important because it helped start the canning industry in Minnesota. In 1903, a man named Carson Nesbit Cosgrove met with others to create the Minnesota Valley Canning Company, which later became known as Green Giant. By 1930, the Minnesota River valley became one of the biggest places in the country for growing and canning sweet corn. Green Giant had five factories in Minnesota, including the first one in Le Sueur. The company was later bought by General Mills. There are also several places along the river where large boats, called barges, can stop. These barges carry farm grains, like corn, to the ports of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and then the goods are sent down the Mississippi River.

Tributaries

The Minnesota River Valley and its smaller rivers can be seen from the air near Redwood Falls, Minnesota. The river itself takes up only a small part of the wide valley shaped long ago by the Glacial River Warren.

You can also see the Minnesota River from Memorial Park, just southeast of Granite Falls, MN.

Cities and towns

The Minnesota River flows through many cities and towns. Some of these include Belle Plaine, Bloomington, Burnsville, Carver, Chanhassen, Chaska, Courtland, Eagan, Eden Prairie, Franklin, Granite Falls, Henderson, Kasota, Le Sueur, Mankato, Mendota, Mendota Heights, Montevideo, Morton, New Ulm, North Mankato, Odessa, Ortonville, St. Paul, St. Peter, Savage, and Shakopee.