OF THE TWIN CITIES
In ascending from the level of the Mississippi River, to the highest points in the Twin Cities, you pass through seven belts of springs at successive elevations, depending on the contact of geological layers. The "Diamond Necklace" is the cutesy name I came up with years ago to describe an eight-mile long spring-line, along the 850-foot contour, that loops around the neck of St. Paul, containing about two dozen sparkling springs at the contact of glacial drift with underlying Decorah Shale. Some of the springs are small, with a discharge of one gpm, but others, as at the Town & Country Club Golf Course, are quite large.
"There is one serious objection to the back-grounds of St. Paul, at present, though in time, it will prove to be a great blessing. A great many springs of 'pure cold water' are continually gushing from the base of the above-mentioned hills, forming several bad marshes..."
It did indeed ultimately prove to be a blessing! Highland Spring, located on this spring-line, near the intersection of Randolph and Lexington, gave rise to St. Paul's first commercial spring water company. But then it must have gone right back to being a nuisance, for today the spring is routed into a storm sewer--see photo below, looking downwards into a manhole at Montcalm Estates.
