Placed by: WalkersOnWest

Placement date: July 4, 2007

Location:  Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, South Dakota

Easy: Starting at either side of the falls, total walking distance is 1 mile

 

Sorry

We have reports that this letter box was destroyed over the winter.  5/24/2009

 

Welcome

The City of Sioux Falls frequently ranks at or near the top on national favorites lists.  Check the latest headlines:

   http://www.siouxfallsdevelopment.com/newsSummary.cfm

   http://www.siouxfalls.org

This letterbox welcomes you to Sioux Falls’ two finest attractions, the Falls of the Big Sioux River (the city’s namesake), and the Sioux Falls Bike Trail. 

 

The first buildings in Sioux Falls were at 1st Street and the falls; spring floods soon caused the town center to move 8 blocks south to 9th Street and Phillips Avenue.  At one time we said the river came into town from the north; it made a big bend around the west, south and back up the east side of town.  By the time the river went out of town to the east, it nearly made a circle.  Now the city of 150,000 people spreads beyond the confines of that big bend, but the near circle features a 19-mile paved bicycle trail that winds in and out of the trees and along the flood control dike.

 

Get the map of the bike trail:

“http://www.siouxfalls.org/media/2004 Bike Route Map.pdf”

If you’re not convinced, see a preview, from the live web cam”

http://www.siouxfalls.org/Information/webcam_falls.aspx

 

Clues

Go to Falls Park, the crown jewel of Sioux Falls.

http://www.siouxfallscvb.com/attractionDetails.cfm?ItemID=18

 

Start at the “Lure of the Falls” observation circle.  That’s on west side of the river with the foot bridge on the left and the falls straight ahead.

 

Degrees

Feature

 

10

Visitor Information Center & Viewing Tower.  Sound and light show nightly at 9:30

 

80

Sioux Falls Light & Power, now Falls Overlook Café.  Have some ice cream.

 

145

Turbin House; take this picture. Ruins of the Queen Bee Mill; July and August has Shakespeare in the park.

 

170

Gate House.  Read about Sioux Quartzite and how the mill worked.

 

285

Observe the upper falls from the sidewalk.

 

To go directly to the goal, leave the observation circle walking north.  Hug the river and stay on the sidewalk (0.2 miles).  Don’t cross the foot bridge.  Stop the moment you step under the bridge and face left.  There it is, under the lip of the overhead sidewalk and next to the big rock.

 

You’re standing on the Bike trail.  It goes north toward the Penitentiary and the airport; across the bridge the trail turns south toward downtown.