Landscape
Today the bottomlands of the river confluence boast a floodplain forest of cottonwood, silver maple, green ash, wood nettle, jewelweed, and willow. There are also marshes, backwater lakes, and wet meadows. Abundant wildlife includes white-tailed deer, fox, woodchuck, badger, and skunk. Reptiles include the snapping turtle, painted turtle, soft-shelled turtle, and the non-venomous western fox snake. In 1864 a railroad was built through the area, connecting St. Paul with the riverboat landing.
Read more about this topic: Fort Snelling State Park
Famous quotes containing the word landscape:
“While the focus in the landscape of Old World cities was commonly government structures, churches, or the residences of rulers, the landscape and the skyline of American cities have boasted their hotels, department stores, office buildings, apartments, and skyscrapers. In this grandeur, Americans have expressed their Booster Pride, their hopes for visitors and new settlers, and customers, for thriving commerce and industry.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“The horizon is more than a convention of landscape painting, less than truth.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The landscape of the northern Sprawl woke confused memories of childhood for Case, dead grass tufting the cracks in a canted slab of freeway concrete. The train began to decelerate ten kilometers from the airport. Case watched the sun rise on the landscape of childhood, on broken slag and the rusting shells of refineries.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)