not water enough for a mill
from the Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society
In which: Minnehaha Creek does not have enough waterpower
In the summer of 1820 there was not much done towards the building of the fort. The physician and commanding officer thought the location [on the bottomland at the riverside] an unhealthful one, and moved all the troops over to some springs called "Camp Coldwater," nearly a mile above the present fort, on the Mississippi river...a site was selected by the commanding officer on the first rise, about 300 yards west of the present fort, and some timber was hauled to the spot. As the fort was to be built of hewed logs, it would require a large amount of boards for so large a fort. An examination of the Little Falls (Minnehaha) was made, and it was thought there was not water enough for a mill, as the water was very low in the summer of 1820, and St. Anthony was selected. -- from a historical report from 1904
