Waterfall Coverage for 6 States
Posted by Bryan Swan | January 8th, 2012Initially what we wanted to do whenever we posted new data sets was talk about the waterfalls which were put online a bit in order to bring some more attention to what’s new. So far that had been working pretty well enough, but since our last data post was California – which currently features nearly 1,000 waterfalls – there’s a lot we wanted to discuss here. Since we’ve been working on preparing our data sets while simultaneously talking about it on the blog, we found that this is going to create a bit of a backlog. So, with that in mind, we’re going to put off discussing the California data for the time being (don’t fret, we will come back to it shortly) and instead post a new chunk of data. What we have here is data for six whole states – Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as a couple dozen additional falls being posted for Washington State. None of these six new states feature a significant number of waterfalls (some of you may even be surprised that there are in fact waterfall in these states) so we won’t be doing in-depth posts about them and will instead do a rundown of what all is included below. Prepare to be wowed.
Florida
Yes, you read that right. Florida has waterfalls. Well, three waterfalls at least. Okay really two and a half waterfalls. Sort of. Florida is one of the flattest states in the United States, so naturally one would not expect to find waterfalls there. There is basically only one waterfall of note, called Falling Water, which drops 67 feet into a sinkhole from a small spring. Geologically it’s unique in that the stream starts and ends almost simultaneously, but were it in practically any other state in the country it wouldn’t be considered significant. The state also features Falling Creek Falls, which is a small plunging-type fall of maybe 5 feet. Whoopie. The third candidate, Look-and-Tremble Falls sounds menacing and impressive enough, but really it’s nothing more than a minor riffle along an otherwise placid stream. Actually, it used to be a minor rapid. Now it’s not even that. So there you have it, Florida’s glorious waterfalls. We don’t currently have streamflow data for these falls so we can’t set up a Rating scale for these falls, but rest assured none of them are scoring high. At all.
Louisiana
Like Florida, Louisiana doesn’t have many waterfalls at all. We currently have all of five entries for the state, but other than the geodata for each one, we don’t know a whole lot about them. The state’s tallest waterfall is probably Odum Falls but it’s found within an Army Reservation and is not publicly accessible. We don’t know a whole lot about Sicily Island Falls but it’s claimed to be 17 feet tall, which is the tallest one we can confirm at this point, but outside of Hurricane season it doesn’t feature much volume at all. Others are nothing more than minor rapids. So really not much to talk about regarding Louisiana’s waterfalls.
Mississippi
In Mississippi we’ve got a little more substance to work with. Currently we’ve got eight falls recorded in Mississippi, at least half of them featuring drops of 10 feet or greater. The state’s tallest is Dunns Falls, which is actually a partially man-made waterfall that drops 65 feet into the Chunky River having had its watercourse diverted from its natural channel over 150 years ago. When it flows, it’s not a bad looking waterfall, but there needs to be some consistent rain to bring it up to that level. The other falls in the state are for the most part significantly lesser in volume, height or are obscure enough that not a whole lot of data is available for them.
Nebraska
The plain states are probably not where one would expect to find waterfalls, but there are actually a higher concentration of waterfalls here than there is in places like Mississippi and Louisiana. We currently have 11 waterfalls listed in Nebraska – many of them are relatively small, spring-fed trickles but there are a few substantial falls. Smith Falls is the best in the state, dropping 63 feet over a sandstone bluff in the Niobrara River Valley (where most of the waterfalls in the state are) in a scenic veiling shape. Similarly, Fort Falls drops about 45 feet over a similar sandstone formation. In contrast, the river-wide Snake River Falls plunges only about 8 feet, but stretches 30 feet wide and creates a significant roar and spectacle (considering the lack of topography).
North Dakota
Really the odd-man-out of the group, North Dakota may have a higher average elevation than Florida, but overall it’s a flatter state. North Dakota features only one known waterfall – Mineral Springs Falls – which seeps out of the side of a narrow glen and tumbles about 15-20 feet. While it’s a legitimate waterfall in its own right (and certainly in the state), were it found elsewhere it would not be highly regarded, much less commonly recognized as a waterfall.
South Dakota
South Dakota actually features some significant mountains – the Black Hills – which reach elevations of over 7000 feet at Terry Peak, the high point of the state. But even the added topography doesn’t do much for the state in terms of generating waterfalls. While there could certainly be more that we are not familiar with, there seems to have been very little documentation done to find them. We have 10 waterfalls currently listed in South Dakota, and while none of them are terribly significant (at least on a global scale) there are several that are quite attractive. Sioux Falls, found right in the middle of the state’s largest city which takes its name from the falls, is a fairly powerful river-wide waterfall that drops about 50 feet. Three of the best falls in the state, Bridal Veil Falls, Roughlock Falls and Spearfish Falls, can all be found in Spearfish Canyon in the heart of the Black Hills amid the unique geology of the area. Several of the other waterfalls in the state are lesser known and harder to access, so we can’t quite effectively comment on their statures.
