>> ABOUT 150 YEARS AGO, MINNESOTA FARMERS DID SOMETHING THAT STILL IMPRESSES ME.

THEY WENT INTO NO, SIR FIELDS, WITH NOTHING MORE THAN SHOVELS, ROPES, AND THE OCCASIONAL BEAST OF BURDEN A.AND THEY EMOVED THE ROCKS FROM MILLIONS OF ACRES OF TOP SOIL.

THESE ROCKS ENDED UP IN PILES OFTEN WITH A SINGLE OAK TREE GROWING OUT THE TOP AND GENERATIONS LATER WITH THEIR FARM HOUSES GONE AND THE EDGES OF THEIR FIELDS REWORKED BY TECHNOLOGY, THESE PILES HAVE BECOME THE FARMER'S LONGEST LASTING IMG PRINT ON THE PHYSICAL WORLD.

TODAY AN EQUALLY AMBITIOUS PROJECT IS UNDER WAY.

AND IT'S TAKING PLACE MOSTLY IN THE SUBURBS.

FOR REASONS I DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND, MINNESOTANS HAVE DECIDED THAT GENTLE INCLINES LIKE THIS, THEY'RE OFFENSIVE AND MUST BE DESTROYED.

IN THEIR PLACE, WE'RE INSTALLING STONE RETAINING WALLS AND IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THE EFFORT COSTS THOUSANDS OR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.

SOCIAL DECENCY DEMANDS IT.

THESE RETAINING WALLS WHICH HAVE TAKEN DECADES TO CONSTRUCT ARE ACTUALLY THE CULMINATION OF A THREE-STAGE PROCESS.

FIRST THE GLACIERS SPREAD ROCKS ACROSS THE STATE.

SECOND, EUROPEAN SETTLERS MOVED THE ROCKS INTO DISCRETE PILES.

AND THIRD, THE FARMERS' DESCENDANTS IN THE GRIPS OF OF A SELF-ENS FORCED FORM OF PEER PRESS YOU, THAT MAKE IT DANGEROUS TO PLAY BOCCE BALL.

NOW, HERE'S A PREDICTION FOR THE CENTURIES TO COME.

JUST AS THE ORIGINAL SCATTERED PILES OUTLIVED THE FARM HOUSES THAT CREATED THEM, RETAINING WALLS WILL OUTLIVE THE CITIES THEY SURROUND AND WHEN WE LOOK BACK AT THE OVERALL STORY OF HUMANITY, IT WON'T BE OUR COMPUTERS OR AIRPLANES OR ELECTRIC TOOTH BRAWB BRUSHES OUR REMEMBER.

IT ILL BE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ROCKS AND WHAT A STRANGE EULOGY THAT WILL BE.

WE CAME, WE MOVED SOME ROCKS AROUND, AND THEN WE W