Layers of sediment, hundreds of feet thick, were deposited on the sea bed and became cemented together to form the limestone bedrock.

These fine particles, blown by the wind after the retreat of the glacier, were deposited over southeastern Minnesota in a thick blanket of soil known as loess.

In 1851, the United States government and the Dakota tribe signed a treaty that opened most of southern Minnesota for European settlers.

The nearest settlement to the park, Plainview, was named for the large, upland fields of prairie grass that surrounded the river valley.

The stand of white pines towers in the steep, rugged valley of the Whitewater River, opposite the picnic area, and can be seen from the trail observation platform.