Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota

This post is a part of A-Z Challenge for bloggers, that takes place every year in the month of April. Bloggers take part in this challenge for self improvement and to overcome the “writer’s block”. Each one of us writes one article everyday, starting from the alphabet ‘A’, right up to ‘Z’. My theme for this year’s challenge is – mind-blowing facts and theories.

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Waterfalls are so serene to watch & have always mesmerized me. However, for the first time, a waterfall has left me astounded! Minnesota’s Brule River is the source of a unique phenomenon that’s been puzzling locals, tourists, and scientists alike. The river hits a divide as it travels through a cluster of volcanic rocks and splits into two by the rocky fork. The river then flows in two directions – east and west. To the east, a waterfall is born which eventually meets up in the lake below. But, the western fork flows into an underground water system (through a rocky void) which no one has yet figured out.

Geologists and tourists have dropped ping pong balls, casting dyes, huge wood logs and many more objects to trace the path of the western part of the waterfall, but they were never found anywhere. Can you imagine an entire waterfall disappear!

Many theories have been proved wrong to explain this disappearance. However, Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources measured the water volume above and below the Kettle, and found the numbers at each location to be nearly identical. Which made them believe that all of the flow that tumbled into the Devil’s Kettle and seemed to disappear actually rejoined the stream at the base of the falls. However, this was still to be confirmed as they didn’t know exactly where it re-emerged. In the fall of 2017, two hydrologists, Jeff Green and Calvin Alexander were planning to pour a biodegradable dye into the Kettle to get a more accurate reading on where and how the water meets back up with the river downstream. But, the plan was abruptly called off without an explanation. Hence, the Devil’s Kettle continues to remain a mystery for all.