 Minnehaha Falls is geologically linked to Saint Anthony Falls , which was the only natural major waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River until being replaced by a concrete overflow spillway in 1869 , and then by a series of locks and dams in the 1950s and 1960s . St. Anthony Falls first appeared roughly 10 @,@ 000 years ago several miles downstream of the Mississippi River at the confluence of the glacial River Warren ( at present @-@ day Ft . Snelling ) . The water churning at the bottom of the falls ate away at the soft underlying sandstone eventually breaking off the hard limestone cap in chunks and the falls receded , moving upstream at a rate of about 4 feet ( 1 @.@ 2 m ) per year . As the falls on the Mississippi River moved past Minnehaha Creek a second falls was created , Minnehaha Falls , which also continued to move upstream to its present site in the park . 
