Great River Bluffs State Park

Great River Bluffs State Park
Minnesota State Park
The Mississippi River from Great River Bluffs State Park
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
County	Winona
Location	Winona
- elevation	1,270 ft (387 m)
- coordinates	43°56′47″N 91°23′58″W / 43.94639°N 91.39944°W / 43.94639; -91.39944Coordinates: 43°56′47″N 91°23′58″W / 43.94639°N 91.39944°W / 43.94639; -91.39944
Area	3,067 acres (1,241 ha)
Founded	1971
Management	Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Location of Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota

Great River Bluffs State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, on the Mississippi River southeast of Winona. Originally known as O. L. Kipp State Park, it was renamed in the late 1990s to describe better its resources. The park preserves steep-sided bluffs rising 500 feet (150 m) above the river and the narrow valleys between them, which support rare and fragile plant communities. Two of the bluffs have received further protection under the Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas program, which are known as King's and Queen's Bluff Scientific and Natural Area.

The region lies on sedimentary rock layers deposited on the floor of a shallow sea 500 million years ago. The lower, older layer is sandstone overlain by more recent dolomite rock. Much later a deep channel was carved into this stone by the ancient Mississippi River, which 10,000 years ago was greatly swollen from the melting glaciers to the north. The softer sandstone was eroded more easily, undercutting the dolomite on both banks of the river. The dolomite fractured off along vertical joints, leaving sheer rock faces still visible today. Side streams flowing into the Mississippi cut gullies into the river banks, creating a series of bluffs capped with erosion-resistant dolomite. Located in the Driftless Region of southeast Minnesota, the area was missed by the most recent Wisconsonian glaciation, and therefore is a region of deep river valleys dissecting the upland plains.

In the 1960s a state park was envisioned on the Mississippi river bluffs in the proximity of a highway bridge which carried many westbound travelers into Minnesota. Legislation authorizing a 1,350-acre (546 ha) park was passed in 1963. The layout was a long, narrow strip along the blufftops between La Crescent and Dresbach, sandwiched between U.S. Route 61 at the foot of the bluffs and a county road atop them. To befit a roadside park, the state highway department was asked to provide a name. They suggested O. L. Kipp State Park after Orin Lansing Kipp, who had worked for them from 1916 to 1955 and helped establish the Minnesota state highway system. However, when the state contacted the current private owners of the designated land, they proved unwilling to sell their river views, and none of the property was ever acquired.