Split Rock Creek State Park

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Split Rock Creek State Park
Split Rock Creek State Park in fog.jpg
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Location of Split Rock Creek State Park in Minnesota
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Split Rock Creek State Park (the United States)
Location Pipestone, Minnesota, United States
Coordinates 43°53′52″N96°21′51″W / 43.89778°N 96.36417°W / 43.89778; -96.36417 Coordinates: 43°53′52″N96°21′51″W / 43.89778°N 96.36417°W / 43.89778; -96.36417
Area1,303 acres (5.27 km2)
Elevation1,624 ft (495 m) [1]
Established1937
Governing bodyMinnesota Department of Natural Resources
Yes

Split Rock Creek State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, located in Ihlen, or just south of Pipestone.

Contents

The Works Progress Administration built a dam in 1938 to create a lake, which provided an opportunity for water recreation in an area of the state with few natural lakes. The dam was constructed of Sioux Quartzite, a hard red rock widely found in the area. [2] A nearby bridge, Split Rock Creek Bridge, was also built by the WPA of Sioux quartzite in 1938. The bridge carries County Road 54 over the creek. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Minnesota Masonry-Arch Highway Bridges MPS. [3]

Minnesota Masonry-Arch Highway Bridge Split Rock Bridge.JPG
Minnesota Masonry-Arch Highway Bridge

Split Rock Creek

Split Rock Creek
Split Rock Creek State Park in fog.jpg
Split Rock Creek in Split Rock Creek State Park, Minnesota
Location
Country United States
State South Dakota, Minnesota
Counties Minnehaha County, South Dakota, Pipestone County, Minnesota, Rock County, Minnesota
Physical characteristics
Source 
  location Ihlen, Minnesota
  coordinates 43°59′27″N96°18′22″W / 43.9908036°N 96.3061447°W / 43.9908036; -96.3061447
Mouth  
  location
Pipestone, South Dakota
  coordinates
43°32′59″N96°35′51″W / 43.5496968°N 96.5975458°W / 43.5496968; -96.5975458
Length55-mile-long (89 km)
Basin features
River system Missouri River
Tributaries 
  leftPipestone Creek

Split Rock Creek is a stream that flows for 55 miles from a farmers field near Ihlen, Rock County, Minnesota to east of Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, South Dakota. The native American name for the creek was Eminija. The creek enters South Dakota east of Sherman, South Dakota. West of Sherman it flows over a cement pad on 486th Avenue. It flows around Garretson and through Devil's Gulch. The creek then flows through Palisades State Park and then through McHardy Park in Brandon. East of Sioux Falls Pt finally flows into the Big Sioux River, which flows into the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi River. [4] [5]

See also

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The Sioux Quartzite is a Proterozoic quartzite that is found in the region around the intersection of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa, and correlates with other rock units throughout the upper midwestern and southwestern United States. It was formed by braided river deposits, and its correlative units are thought to possibly define a large sedimentary wedge that once covered the passive margin on the then-southern side of the North American craton. In human history, it provided the catlinite, or pipestone, that was used by the Plains Indians to carve ceremonial pipes. With the arrival of Europeans, it was heavily quarried for building stone, and was used in many prominent structures in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and shipped to construction sites around the Midwest. Sioux Quartzite has been and continues to be quarried in Jasper, Minnesota at the Jasper Stone Company and Quarry, which itself was posted to the National Register of Historic Places on January 5, 1978. Jasper, Minnesota contains many turn-of-the-century quartzite buildings, including the school, churches and several other public and private structures, mostly abandoned.

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References

  1. "Split Rock Creek State Park". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey. 1980-01-11. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
  2. "Split Rock Creek State Park". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources . Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  3. "Minnesota Masonry-Arch Highway Bridges". Minnesota Historical Society. 1989-09-22. p. 12. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  4. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Split Rock Creek
  5. Richardson, Jeanne. "The Creek that thinks its a river". South Dakota Magazize.