For Schanilec the project began as a commission from the Minnesota Historical Society Press to illustrate a children’s book. Knowing for the past couple of decades each of his books had taken on average five years to make, It was obvious a second edition of the book would be necessary—the modest illustrator’s commission offered could not sustain the project. A second institution, The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, became involved and scores of interns emerged, some remaining to become partners in the project, and others far overstaying their original six month consignment for the fun of it. The formula was simple: when a decision needed to be made, everyone, from the oldest hand to the greenest intern, was asked, sincerely, what they thought, and given the freedom to work out their ideas. In this way the book took on a life of its own, and became a live river monster.

Much of the imagery was printed from objects collected along the course the waterfalls had traveled, things like rotten driftwood, fossil-encrusted limestone, discarded bricks and cottonwood bark. These objects, made into type high blocks and printed on a letterpress, provided an organic backdrop of sky, stone, and water, that flows through the entire 12,000 year length of the story. It wasn’t until 1680 that Louis Hennepin became the first European to see the falls. Until his arrival the images were exclusively composed of this organic backdrop. With the arrival of the Europeans it felt appropriate for the artist to begin rendering things using woodcuts, and finally turning to wood engraving toward the end of the journey.

Native people had been present for the entire 12,000 years. It was clear the Native perspective needed to be included. John Coy’s writer friend Dianne Wilson, a member of the Dakotah Tribe, was at the time the director of Dream of Wild Health farm near Hugo, Minnesota, an organization whose aim is to introduce healthy life ways to Native kids. Through Dianne we were introduced to Ernie Whiteman, Arapaho Elder and artist. From our friends at the farm we received plants for Three Sisters (corn, beans, & squash), as well as the four sacred plants: sage, sweetgrass, cedar, and Ernie’s beloved sacred tobacco. From these plants we respectively printed, and that is how we gained the Native perspective.