Before the dirty old men who built Minneapolis had their way with them, the far side of the Mississippi River Gorge was graced by three delicate attractions. Bridal Veil Falls, Fawn’s Leap and the Silver Cascade provided lovely picnic settings and a much needed respite from the cobble stone hustle and bustle of the big city that was growing up around them.
The three falls found a source in a Southeast Minneapolis Marsh. Tuttle’s Brook, Fawn’s Leap Stream and Bridal Veil Creek were described by an early settler as,
“ Winding through the mud of swamps, and across sandy stretches to the gorge. No rocks enlivened their currents and not a tree nor a bush stood on their banks, except that little part of the Bridal Veil ravine near University Avenue was tree grown.”
No surprise that folks were eager to pave over the wetland, even if it would cost them a waterfall or two. When city engineers began filling in wetlands and laying sewer systems for storm and waste water in the 1880’s the waterfalls began to disappear. The destruction of Silver Cascade was noted in the Pioneer Press on April 24, 1883. City maps were still indicating the locations of Fawn’s Leap and the Silver Cascade as late as 1885 and there are even reports of the falls running as late as 1922, most of their water came from pipes and ditches.
Although the the Silver Cascade, Tuttle’s Brook and Fawn’s leap have been rendered unrecognizable, a somewhat diminished Bridal Veil Falls can still be found emerging from a drain pipe just north of the Franklin Avenue Bridge on East River Parkway.