Just north of Hinckley is the small town of Sandstone and Banning State Park. Both places owe their existence to the fact that the surrounding area contains large deposits of highly desirable pink colored sandstone. In the late 1800’s the sandstone along the Kettle River was in such high demand, that the Kettle Quarrying Company employed over 500 stonecutters.

Banning Park preserves the remains of the area's historic sandstone quarry. It was somewhat bewildering to see so many slabs of neatly stacked sandstone … which gave us the impression that the stonecutters abruptly stopped working and walked off the job.

It was interesting to see the vertical slices in the face of the sandstone ... the end product of 15 years of quarrying.

Banning Park’s main attraction is a ten mile stretch of the wild and scenic Kettle River. The water was low we were unable to see the Class IV rapids so popular with canoeists and kayakers.

Destroyed during the Great Hinckley Fire, the town of Sandstone was soon rebuilt. This vintage pink sandstone building ... once a bank ... is now a bar called The Gas Light.

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