This cache area is down stream and across the river from the power plant and dam. The location was okd when I got permission.
There is only room for a logbook, pencils, and a small travelbug. Please no not leave trade items. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE FOOD OR LIGHTERS IN THE CONTAINER. (a camo taped small plastic jar)
You will need ankle supportive hikers as the trail is well defined, but there are rocks, and roots that may impede your progress. Wear waterproof shoes/boots as the trail may be muddy in spots depending on precipitation. The hike in is good for children, but APPROACHING AND AT THE CACHE SITE, HOLD ON TO THEM SO THEY DON'T WANDER OVER THE EDGE AND INTO THE CURRENT OF THE FALLS
Start at the trail by the large single boulder/trail sign, and follow your GPS. The hike in to the cache is about 4/10's of a mile and takes 10-15 minutes one-way. The circle hike is about 1 mile, and you can take a portage trail to Fall Lake to extend your walk.
This is the oldest name I could find for these falls(1899). At a sharp bend in the channel between Garden and Fall Lakes, the waters of northern Lake County and part of St. Louis County, MN, flow in a descent of 71', 35' of which are the falls. From the falls, these waters flow through Basswood,and Rainy Lakes on their way to Hudson Bay.
In June 1922, Minnesota Utilities Power, after 2 years of negotiations, acquired the falls, and 4000 acres of flowage and all property rights from the Fall Lake Boom Co. By December 1922, work was in full swing and the concrete forms in place.
It was in July 1923, that the KAWISHIWI HYDRO-ELECTRIC DEVELOPMENT of the MINNESOTA UTILITIES CO. neared completion. The Siems,Helmert and Schaffner Co of St. Paul, MN built the dam and power plant at the cost of $1,500,000. It still provides power to the Vermilion and Mesabi Range area.
The dam is 30' high and 1000' long. There is an earthen dike 1,700' long which holds the water at White Iron Lake levels. The water that doesn't go into the turbines to make electricity goes through a 176' spillway on the west end and into Fall Lake.
The rock over which the water flows is Ely Greenstone, which if it weren't so weather resistant, would have eroded into Garden Lake and there would be no falls.
Enjoy this beautiful, little known natural treasure of our area.
A friend of mine, Tauno Maki, of Winton, told the story of and Indian man who dared to ride his birchbark canoe down the river to Fall Lake and he invited people from near and far to come and watch this brave deed, which ended in disaster. He says that in 1919, Ivan Benson, was vacationing in Winton, and wrote a poem about this event - which became a classic legend in local Indian lore. In his book SPIRIT OF THE NORTH, Benson wrote this poem:
THE LEGEND OF KAWISHIWI
As I stood on the cliff by the lone tamarack,
Overlooking Kawishiwi Falls,
I thought of the legend, the Indian tale
From the land where the timberwolf calls.
How a young Indian from the Camp of the Loon,
Having scattered his boast far and wide,
Called together the Indians from Basswood to Birch,
To see Blackstone's impossible ride.
In his birch-bark canoe, down Kawishiwi Falls,
The Great Spirit defying, he rode.
But the Master of Waters, with fingers of wrath,
Clutching firmly, drew down his new load,
How the Indians worship this King of the North,
This great wilderness spirit of yore,
How the swirl of the waters, the far-scattered spray,
Are the makers of legend and lore.