History in Flow Motion

-By Carl J. Nelson
Independent Staff Writer

MARSHALL — Researchers and students of the Minnesota River have the opportunity to investigate its impact in a new volume titled Cloudy-Sky Waters published by the Rural and Regional Essay Series at Southwest Minnesota State University.

The 122-page annotated bibliography compiled by Kris Bronars Cafaro of Fort Collins, Colo., combines a synopsis of sources from geology to American Indians, early exploration, trading, navigation, even pollution and watershed concerns.
An essay by professor Anthony Amato of SMSU — “The Flow of History; An Essay on Rivers, the Past and the Present” — completes the work.

“Several years back I took over the Rural and Regional Studies editorship — I had an interest in rivers and writing history ...using them as ways to organize the history,” Amato said.

“I began looking into the Minnesota and in the last few years I wrote conference papers and an essay on it.”

Amato said the annotated bibliography and essay are good starting points for future research.

“I think it’s a wonderful addition to the series and it takes it in a new direction,” he said.

In the preface, Amato said the work “aims to start conversations, encourage questioning, and open investigations, not end discussions, resolve questions or close cases.”

The original idea for the researching tool started with his father.

“He was interested in bibliographies for environmental history, and he connected with Kris Bronars Cafaro,” said Amato.

“Joe wanted to launch a long-term effort about research on the Minnesota River,” Cafaro said.

“I took a look at what had already been written about it in history and today to be used for future references in books and for teachers in the classroom.”

During her time at SMSU, Cafaro and her husband, Phil, were interested in getting to know their southwestern Minnesota surroundings.

This personal connection to the work also motivated the research effort.

“I’m excited to see it come out in print,” said Cafaro who compiled the bibliography in eight months.

“Hopefully the benefits that come out of this publication are that more people that learn about the river will come to appreciate it and take steps in its preservation and improvement,” she said.

When asked about the range of his essay, Amato said “its regional content is larger than Minnesota.”

The waters of the Minnesota flow into the Mississippi and finally become part of the ocean, and therefore the resource has more of a global impact, he said.

“I would hope the essay would speak to those all over the world,” said Amato.

“It starts from a narrow pinpoint source that really speaks to everyone on the planet — it really shows the advantage of a local/regional approach and how global that approach can be.”

In the river discussion, Amato will be joined by National Park Service cultural resources specialist and historian John O. Anfinson for a reading/seminar on Thursday, Nov. 4, in Charter Hall 201 at SMSU.

Anfinson will discuss his research and work on the upper Mississippi River.

He is the author of “The River we have Wrought.”

“Both he and I will create an evening of rivers for people interested in the past, present and future,” Amato said.

“Rivers make history by themselves — they flood and dry up, carry sediment and create land elsewhere ...they become an axis around which humans organize their lives.”