From Three Fish to Thriving: A Century of Progress
Before the Twin Cities rose, the river was Wakpa Tanka, the “Great River,” to the Dakota people, a place of immense spiritual and ecological abundance. With the arrival of European settlers, this sacred center was transformed into an engine of industry. The growing cities of Minneapolis, Saint Paul and the surrounding area needed a place to dispose of their human and industrial wastes. The Great River became a great sewer.
In 1926, a water quality study identified severe pollution and found only three fish living in the 42 miles of the Mississippi River from the Twin Cities to Red Wing, Minnesota. The results confirmed what scientists and residents already suspected: the Mississippi was effectively dead. The study sparked collective action to restore, and eventually protect, this vital waterway and improve the health of the river over the next one hundred years.
In 2026 the Sacred Water Shared Future campaign is honoring the central role the Mississippi River has played in our region while acknowledging its deep history, sacredness, and resilience. By bringing communities together through storytelling, education and conservation, our hope is that the campaign will inspire collaboration and shared action in 2026 and set the stage for the next 100 years of healing for both the river and the life it supports.
Learn More
Delve deeper into the river’s history with these excellent resources:
Learning from the Dakota: Water and Place — Open Rivers Journal
River of History – A Historic Resources Study — U.S. National Park Service
The Corps, the Environment, and the Upper Mississippi River Basin — U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (PDF)
Biological Survey of the Upper Mississippi River, with Special Reference to Pollution — The original 1926 “three fish” study (PDF)