ONE HABITAT THAT’S FACINATED VISITORS FOR DECADES IS DEVIL’S KETTLE IN MINNESOTA – IT APPEARS THAT HALF OF A RIVER THERE JUST DISAPPEARS!
IT REMAINED A MYSTERY, UNTIL SCIENTISTS STEPPED IN -- AND DISCOVERED IT WAS ALL AN ILLUSION! BILL HUDSON EXPLAINS.
IF YOU'VE EVER VISITED THE NORTH SHORE, YOU'VE NO DOUBT BEEN IN AWE OF THE JAGGED ROCK AND TUMBLING WATERFALLS.
AND PERPLEXED BY ONE IN PARTICULAR.
WOMAN:
"IT'S A BIG HOLE, BLACK HOLE."
MAN:
"THERE'S STILL NO REAL CONFIRMATION AS TO WHERE THE WATER GOES ONCE IT GOES IN."
THIS IS DEVIL'S KETTLE ON THE BRULE RIVER NEAR GRAND MARAIS. WHERE WATER IN THE LEFT FORK OF THE RIVER APPEARS TO JUST VANISH INTO ROCK.
MIKE BINKLEY:
"WE'LL SEE IF ANYBODY CALLS ME FROM CHINA "
IN 2012, MIKE BINKLEY EVEN TOSSED IN A PING-PONG BALL WITH HIS PHONE NUMBER. HE'S STILL WAITING FOR THAT CALL.
OTHERS HAVE TOSSED IN LOGS, EVEN DYE, BUT NOTHING SURFACES.
CALVIN ALEXANDER/UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA:
"IT GETS GROUND UP. IT'S A VERY POWERFUL CHURNING "
U OF M PROFESSOR CALVIN ALEXANDER CALLS IT A GIANT BLENDER, SHREDDING WHATEVER ENTERS. BUT WHERE DOES IT EXIT?
CALVIN ALEXANDER:
"THE FIRST THING THAT YOU DO IS YOU MEASURE THE WATER AND IT TURNS OUT NOBODY HAD EVER DONE THAT."
HE AND THE D-N-R'S JEFF GREEN DID, AND FOUND THE RIVER'S WATER VOLUME IS THE SAME ABOVE THE FALLS AS BELOW, DEBUNKING THE MYTH.
SO TO VISUALIZE WHERE THE WATER'S COMING OUT, THEY'LL POUR IN A BRIGHT GREEN DYE, AND WE'LL BET IT COMES OUT HERE.
CALVIN ALEXANDER:
"IT'S COOL, IT'S NEAT. WE NOW KNOW SOMETHING WE DIDN'T KNOW BEFORE. THAT'S WHAT TURNS A SCIENTIST ON."
IN A PART OF THE STATE THAT'S MYSTICAL TO THE CORE.
Instructional Links
Website Article: Mother Nature Network, the Mystery of Devil's Kettle Falls
Online Reference Book: Occupational Outlook Handbook, Hydrologist