The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area is a "well-kept secret," which is something that the St. Paul-based Mississippi River Fund is out to change.

The organization has a mission to build support for the riverfront park that goes for 72 miles between Dayton/Ramsey and Hastings.

Katie Nyberg, who heads the Fund, explains that with three million people living and working within its bounds, "It's not a typical national park that you would drive into" from some kind of main gate.

As just one way to educate people about the park, the Fund teamed up with the National Park Service to create a cell phone tour of the river area, dubbed Ranger on Call, which was launched recently. "We hope it's a good way for people to connect to the fact that the whole area is a national park," she says.

River Lore by Cell Phone and Podcast

The tour describes everything from the wild landscape that Father Louis Hennepin encountered a century before the American Revolution to the river's first lock and dam.

Unlike "live" rangers, Ranger on Call is accessible 24/7. Anyone can explore the 20 stops in any order-- they're marked with signs--in person by dialing 1-877-727-1172, or online via podcast. Downloadable maps are also available on the RoC website.

Don Shelby, a local icon, is the tour's lead narrator.

Other national parks have set up self-guided audio tours as well, but this one is the most ambitious in that it tackles so much territory, she says.

Ranger on Call hones in on little-known sites in and around the Minneapolis riverfront, Meeker Island Historic Site, the St. Paul riverfront and the Southern Corridor. "We thought about, where do we need more interpretation?" she says.

For example, from the 1883-built Stone Arch Bridge in Southeast Minneapolis, people learn that multiple islands and sharp, jagged rocks once surrounded St. Anthony Falls, which is the river's only waterfall.

It's a remnant of a previous waterfall that would've dwarfed Niagara Falls thousands of years ago, RoC states.

Nearby, the old Pillsbury and Gold Medal Flour mills testify to early development along the riverfront during the 19th-century heyday of American heavy industry. In those days, the river was attractive as a power source.

Keeping Up-to-Date with Ol' Man River

Although times have obviously changed, the tour highlights some ways that the river continues to play an important role technology-wise. 

At the University of Minnesota's internationally-known St. Anthony Falls Laboratory on Hennepin Island, for instance, the flowing waters help scientists predict river behavior in response to various conditions, including everything from flooding to human development. (Read our feature on the lab here.)

But some of the river's landmarks are less apparent to passersby.  

In St. Paul, the ruins of the Meeker Island Lock and Dam can be seen when the water level is low enough. The river's first lock and dam was shuttered after only a handful of years. "It's a really cool landmark that hardly anyone knows about," Nyberg says.

Another advantage to experiencing the river through Ranger on Call is that it's able to take into account current events.

For example, the historic Fort Snelling, which stands at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, is an "endangered" site. "There's a big movement to redevelop it," she says, adding, "We hope to build momentum for saving the Upper Post."    

Other tour stops touch on environmental concerns along the river, its sole gorge, and a cliff that's often referred to as the Sandcastle, and more. "We're able to share stories of national significance," she says. "They're not just beautiful, they have a lot of importance."   

Nyberg says that she likes the idea that people will probably stumble upon the stops spontaneously. "It might inspire people to check out places they've never been," she says.

Anna Pratt is Development Editor of The Line.


Photos, top to bottom:

A RangerOnCall site in Saint Paul's Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary

A screen grab of the RoC web page for the Minneapolis riverfront

On the web site, maps point out the points of interest that the phone calls and podcasts describe.

The RangerOnCall logo

Vento photo and RoC logo courtesy of the Mississippi River Fund and the National Park Service