Location
Winnewissa Falls is in Pipestone County At the quartzite bluff between Pipestone Lake and the quarry, this stream "passes over the ledge from the upper prairie to the lower with a perpendicular fall of about 18 feet," as noted by Prof. N. H. Winchell (Geology of Minn., Final Report, vol. 1, 1884, p. 539). His later map of the pipestone quarry names this cascade as Winnewissa Falls (Aborigines of Minn., 1911, plate at p. 564), from the Dakota verb winawizi, "to be jealous or envious." The name had been used much earlier in an excellent poem by Adelaide George Bennett of Pipestone, titled "The Peace-Pipe Quarry," first read at a celebration there July 4, 1878, which was reprinted as pp. 77-85 in Indian Legends of Minnesota, compiled by Cordenio A. Severance and published in 1893. In the reprint Mrs. Bennett inserted new lines with this name, "Falls of Winnewissa." From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
