Archeological dig set to begin on Water Works Park project

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - With archeological digging set to begin on the new Water Works Park in downtown Minneapolis, the city is trying to turn a significant piece of the area's past into a central point of its future.

The project will reclaim an old mill site near the abandoned Fuji-Ya restaurant, transforming what used to be six-story granaries into a park pavilion and restaurant within the ruins. The first stage is to find out how deep the mills' stone walls go, with the hope that the existing structures can be incorporated into the new project.

Crews are already talking about finding buried treasure beneath the project site--a place Native American tribes had called home for hundreds of years before western settlement.

"I hope we find archives--historic Native American archives that we can incorporate into the site," Minneapolis Parks Board Superintendent Jayne Miller said. "That would be very exciting."

The project comes with a hefty price tag--$20 million to be exact--and a little over two million left to raise in private donations.