friends of coldwater

P1: Coldwater reservoir, Spring House and the "Spirit Tree," January 1998 (coldest day of the year—note steam coming off reservoir water since the Spring's sourcewater is warmer than the air). The Spirit Tree (up, right) lost its major limbs in a spring 1998 storm, secondary limbs grew. A Coldwater supporter burned the hollow tree (4/19/09) after placing an offering of lit sage in the cushion of duff inside the shell of the trunk.

P2: Coldwater supporters, December 17, 1989; up, left, corner of huge warehouse that dumps stormwater down the hillside; up right the blonde limbs of the willow tree. The elm, hackberry and other trees around the reservoir have been removed.
Photo: Dick Bancroft.

P3: Coldwater Spring House interior, graffiti on west (orange) and east (white) walls after Goof Off treatment. The North wall is disintegrating under the pressure of emerging groundwater; outflow of groundwater is at the northwest corner of the structure, the only place where people are advised to collect spring water. Tree stump inside Spring House is the "step" for people to scoot down for water collection, August 31, 2011.

P4: Jane Byron, technician with local government authority for ground and surface water, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, standing in the erosion ravine at the top of the hillside behind (west of) the reservoir, May 16, 2005.

P5a: Three photos, all March 20, 2009: Labyrinth rocks atop fist-sized rocks dumped into the erosion ravine, over-looking the reservoir—looking east across the Mississippi gorge.

P5b: Frozen spring meltwater showing eroded path down-bluff to the reservoir. Fire circle rocks barely show at far left edge of snow.

P5c: Dakota men's fire circle with rocks brought to the site from a sweat ceremony location, looking west.

P6: Greg Strandmark, member Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, with one of the carp illegally dumped into the reservoir, standing beside the willow tree and the defaced Minnesota Historical Society plaque (erected 1991); photo taken July 17, 2009.

P7a: Archaeological trench on the hillside west, behind and above Coldwater reservoir, week of August 8, 2011.

P7b: Coldwater hillside shorn of vegetation, trenched, and backfilled by a bulldozer on August 16, 2011. The hillside is a couple of feet lower than the surrounding land with vegetative cover. Note the visitor and the hole left of the Spring House where the 1880s steps are completely eroded.

P8a: Archaeological worker in the deepest of three trenches around the willow tree; note the soil layers, week of August 8, 2011.

P8b: Archaeological trench with seeping water beside the willow tree, week of August 8, 2011.

P8c: Willow tree cutters under the tree with a back-filled trench in the foreground, August 18, 2011.

P9a: Hillside dirt flowing downhill past the Spring House into the reservoir. A seeping grotto has formed behind the Spring House where steps down to the reservoir are completely eroded, August 18, 2011.

P9b: The fist-sized rocks slid downhill. Larger rocks from the labyrinth and Dakota men's fire were considered sacred and had been moved to safer locations by people who don't write letters to bureaucrats, August 18, 2011.

P9c: Fist–sized rocks covered by erosion mat after rye grass seeds were sprinkled around; this part of the hillside will have trouble holding with the spring melt, August 30, 2011.

P10: Around the Spring House where erosion is most extreme, hillside dirt has filled the edge of the reservoir above the water level, September 2, 2011.

P11: Coldwater Spring House needs a roof to shade the Spring and to protect the historic limestone structure from further weathering, August 30, 2011.

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All images by Susu Jeffrey unless otherwise noted.

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Friends of Coldwater is a Minnesota Nonprofit Corporation