CBS Minnesota: Rare Look Inside Minneapolis’ Century-Old Tunnels

CBS Minnesota interviews Greg Brick, author of SUBTERRANEAN TWIN CITIES.

Brick_Subterranean coverMINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Before the Twin Cities had skyway systems or mega malls, we had tunnels. There are hundreds of them, with many of them man-made in the 1800s.

WCCO’s Jamie Yuccas had a rare chance to go inside the historic Pillsbury A Mill in Minneapolis. While it was dark and somewhat dangerous, the tunnel has a fascinating past and uncertain future.

Greg Brick explores tunnels and has delved deep into the subject for 20 years.

“The kind we’re going to be visiting today is a hydro power tunnel, and that was, interestingly enough, one of the very earliest kinds of tunnels. They predate the civil war in the St. Anthony Falls area,” said Brick.

With each step, there are new discoveries in the Flour Mill, which was built in 1881.

“A lot of times when (the tunnels) went out of use, as this one did, they were walled off, so people completely forgot about them” said Brick.

Read the full article.

Published in: CBS Minnesota