Hannepin Avenue Bridge over the Mississipi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota (United States)

I live by the sea, but the body of water I have the most feeling about is the Mississippi River, where I used to row and skate, ride on the ferry in childhood, watch the logs or just dream.

Susan Glaspell

Aerial Lift Bridge over the Duluth Ship Canal in Duluth, Minnesota (United States)

“The foreman was a short, iron-jawed man. He had once made a trip as far as Duluth. Duluth was far across the blue waters of the lake in the hills of Minnesota. A wonderful thing had happened to him there.”

Excerpt from The Torrents of Spring,

Ernst Hemingway

Aerial Lift Bridge in the Port of Duluth, Minnesota (United States)

“Architectural beauty has been a leading consideration in the plans which we have drawn for it. Of all the many things of interest in this city which the residents may proudly show to visitors next to the lake itself, this will be the most wonderful.”

W.C.Patton

engineer of the bridge

Third Avenue Bridge across the Mississipi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota (United States)

"The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise"

Mark Twain

Hannepin Avenue Bridge spanning the Mississipi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota (United States)

The people lined the banks of the Mississipi
To watch Father Hennepin go over the edge
The people there that day, they all swear they say
Father Hennepin was laughing as he fell to his death.

The Hannepin Avenue Bridge

Song by Brian Setzer

Third Avenue Bridge over the Mississipi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota (United States)

“Unquestionably the discovery of the Mississippi is a datable fact which considerably mellows and modifies the shiny newness of our country, and gives her a most respectable outside-aspect of rustiness and antiquity.” 

In Life on the Mississipi

Mark Twain