Know Your Bridges Galena — in Its Prime Tundra Swans River Book Reviews Keep an Eye on Nature with Peterson Field Guides

Home , 10th Avenue Bridge, Black Hawk Bridge, Intercity Bridge, Mathias Ham House, Perrot State Park, Stonefield (Wisconsin)

Exploring the Mississippi from the Twin Cities to the Quad Cities

November-December 2007

Know Your Bridges Galena — In Its Prime Tundra Swans River Book Reviews www.big-river.com Keep an eye on nature with Peterson Field Guides

Comprehensive and authoritative Peterson Field Guides are essential additions to any naturalist’s bookshelf or backpack.

Houghton Mifﬂ in • www.houghtonmifﬂ inbooks.com/peterson/ njoy a guided tour of a rare and remarkable restoration—made museum of agricultural history and village life Epossible by an unparalleled archive of family photographs and Awhere you will discover a few 19th-century risk records—that puts Villa Louis in a class by itself, truly one of the takers who helped shape Wisconsin’s agricultural most authentically restored Victorian mansions in America. identity.

Open daily May 5 to October 31, 2007 Open daily May 26 to September 3 (Labor Day), 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; A lively round of special events throughout the summer including open weekends only September 8 to October 14, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. the War of 1812 Battle of Prairie du Chien and theVilla Louis View the Great River Road Carriage Classic. Interpretive Center exhibit A fine selection of books “River Connections.” and gifts related to the Mississippi River, See the oldest tractor in Villa Louis and North America, located Wisconsin in the State Agricultural history in the Museum. museum store. Browse the Museum store of agricultural related books and Villa Louis is located gift items. on St. Feriole Island, on the banks of the Stonefield is Mississippi River,in located on Prairie du Chien. County Road VV For more information about the 2007 season callVilla Louis at in Cassville. (608) 326-2721 or toll free (866) 944-7483 For more information about 2007 season call Stonefield at visit our Web site at www.wisconsinhistory.org/villalouis/ (608) 725-5210 or toll free (866) 944-7483 Email: [email protected] visit our Web site at www.wisconsinhistory.org/stonefield/ Owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society Owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society

Do you like what you see in Big River? We do custom publishing, too.

The same crew that designs and produces this magazine also designs books, promotional materials, interpretive signs, logos and websites. Let us help with your projects. We can write, edit, design and lay out your documents. We take the same care with each project as we do with our own magazine. Riverwise, Inc. Two companies, one crew Books • Brochures• Business Cards Logos • Newsletters • Websites www.riverwise.com Give us a call about your next project • 800-303-8201 • 507-454-5949

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine

C o v e r i n g t h e U p p e r M i s s i s s i p p i s i n c e 1 9 9 3

November-December 2007 FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 16 Galena — Preserving History and 5 From the Riverbank Thriving on It In search of the Big Picture. Urban renewal? Clear out old buildings for park- By Reggie McLeod ing lots? Not in Galena, Ill. By Pamela Eyden 7 River News Bluffline protection, rivertown restaurants on the The Day World War II Came to Lake small screen, islands restored. 20 Pepin Know Your River: A B-24 bomber went down in nasty weather one 25 day in December 1944. Sizing Up the Bridges By Bob Parrott A survey of bridges from the Twin Cities to the Quad Cities. 22 Tundra Swans By Reggie McLeod Tundra swans spend half of the year migrating. They’re on the river for just a month in the fall. 48 Big River Places: Mounds Park By Molly McGuire Transportation is the theme of this overlook. By Reggie McLeod 28 Reviews of a Raft of New River Books It’s a good year for river books — history, travel guides, adventure guides, fiction, birds and children’s books. City Page Ads By Pamela Eyden, Molly McGuire and Reggie McLeod 36 Discover the delights of Upper Mississippi On the cover: River bridges in Minneapolis. communities. The Stone Arch Bridge (a former railroad bridge) is in the foreground; the Third Avenue 36 Advertiser Index Bridge is above it. (Robert J. Hurt) Where did I see that ad…? This page: Carolers in Galena, Ill. (Jo Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau) Wild Rose Timberworks Wild Rose Timberworks

Wild Bird Store Hours: Products Closed Monday & Gifts Tuesday 9-7 Traditional timber construction Traditional timber construction Wed - Fri 9-6 525 Junction Street Saturday 9-4 for homes, barns, and shelters. for homes, barns, and shelters. Winona, MN 55987 Sunday 11-3 507-454-6711 / 800-820-8530 GPS Coordinates N44 02.997 W091 40.587 Wild Rose Timberworks Wild Rose Timberworks Located in Decorah, Iowa Located in Decorah, Iowa The little store that brings you (563) 382-8500 or (563) 382-6245 (563) 382-8500 or (563) 382-6245 closer to nature's songbirds www.wildrosetimberworks.com www.wildrosetimberworks.com

Wild Rose Timberworks Wild Rose Timberworks

• 40' - 50' Slip Rental • Full Service Gas Dock Open Seven Days A Week • Marine/Gift Store 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Mechanical Services Visit our new building and meet our eagles Harriet, Angel and Columbia Join us for our 2007 Deck Opener to celebrate the arrival of eagle season • Inside/Outside Winter and eagle counting Storage on Site • Protected Harbor Nov 3rd & 4th, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. bordered by Mississippi Traditional& Sabula Lakes timber construction Traditional timber construction • Rent our FLOATING 50 Pembroke Street, Wabasha, MN 55981 COTTAGEfor homes, barns, and shelters. for homes, barns, and shelters. 651-565-4989 For more National Eagle Center information: ISLAND CITY HWildARBOR RoseSABULA Timberworks,IOWA 563-687-2825 Wild Rose Timberworks WWW.ISLANDCITYHARBOR.COM MILE 534.7 RBD www.nationaleaglecenter.org Located in Decorah, Iowa Located in Decorah, Iowa (563) 382-8500 or (563) 382-6245 (563) 382-8500 or (563) 382-6245 www.wildrosetimberworks.com www.wildrosetimberworks.com Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 From the Riverbank

™ In Search of the Big Picture Big River Big River Magazine (ISSN 1070-8340) is published six times a year by Open River Press with Reggie McLeod assistance from Riverwise, Inc., 70 1/2 E. Fourth Editor/Publisher St., PO Box 204, Winona, MN 55987; (507) 454-5949; fax: (507) 454-2133; email: [email protected]; website: www.big-river.com ou might think of biology and them that Big River centers on the geography as two entirely dif- river, but explores it from every angle, Reggie McLeod...... editor/publisher ferent subjects, but the story because all of these activities affect Molly McGuire...... managing editor Y Pamela Eyden...... news/photo editor about migrating swans in this issue all the others. I’m trying to get them of Big River looks at an intersection to “think outside of the boxes” and to Contributing editors of those two subjects. You might see the connections — to see the big Marc Hequet...... Twin Cities also think of history and economic picture. Becky Sisco...... Dubuque, Iowa development as unrelated, but the Lately, I find myself doing this Maureen J. Cooney...office/sales story about Galena, Ill., in this issue more often. Twice this summer Kathy Delano...... sales/design explores an intersection between Pamela Eyden and I took groups of Jenni McCool...... bookkeeping/subscriptions those two subjects. Patricia McGuire...... bills & renewals assistant While it’s often convenient to cat- With a group of bright, Subscriptions are $27 for one year, $49 for two egorize knowledge into subjects, you years or $4.95 per single issue. Send subscrip- do so at the expense of the big pic- curious people, and maps, tions, single-copy orders and change-of-address requests to Big River, PO Box 204, Winona, MN ture. There are not little cubbyholes mussel shells, plants and other 55987. in your brain labeled “mathematics,” river things in front of us, and Second-class postage paid at Winona, MN. “economics,” “history,” “physics” and POSTMASTER: send change-of-address so on. All knowledge is linked up to the river itself all around us, it requests to Big River, PO Box 204, Winona, MN all other knowledge. If your house is was the perfect setting to look 55987. damaged by a flash flood, then mete- Big River Magazine, Volume 15, Number 6, orology, physics, economics, biology, at the big picture. copyright November 2007. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of engineering, political science, geol- the publisher is prohibited. ogy and knowledge from many other people out on the river as part of fields suddenly become very impor- Winona State University’s “University tant, but not as separate enterprises. on the River,” where we talked about They become important where they bugs, birds, plants, history, develop- us, it was the perfect setting to look at all intersect, at your wet house. ment, engineering and agriculture the big picture. Sometimes when I speak to a while highlighting the connections — This issue of the magazine pro- group of people about the river, I trying to show them the shape of the vides peeks at the big picture from begin by telling them that the river is big picture. Many of the people on many different perspectives. We go many things to people, and we make the trips had a lot of river experience, from a B-24 crashing in Lake Pepin, a list: swimming spot, highway, fish- which they contributed to the discus- to giant ferrets, to migrating swans, ery, campground, bird flyway, hunt- sions. With a group of bright, curi- to a view of the urban river, to a trip ing spot, source of drinking water, ous people, and maps, mussel shells, to Galena, and that’s without even scenic backdrop, and so on. You can plants and other river things in front considering the news shorts. We hope easily make a long list. Then I tell of us, and the river itself all around you enjoy the views. F

Contacts (800) 303-8201. For information about stories, columns and River News, contact Reggie McLeod, Pamela Eyden or Molly McGuire ([email protected]). For information about placing an ad in Big River or for information about selling Big River Magazine contact Kathy Delano or Maureen J. Cooney ([email protected]). We must receive ads by Nov. 9 to get them into the January-February 2008 magazine.

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine Big River News .JOOFTPUB.BSJOF"SU.VTFVN Trempealeau,Wisconsin on the Mississippi

Come and enjoy Featuring four galleries of local, regional and international all this area has to offer ..... marine art and artifacts from four centuries Burrichter-Kierlin Marine Art Collection

Leo and Marilyn Smith Folk Art Collection Great River Road Rare, historic 19th-century photographs of the upper Mississippi River by Henry Peter Bosse Perrot State Park National Wildlife Refuge Great River State Bike Trail Lock and Dam 6 US Army Corps of McGilvray Road Bridges Engineers dredged barge William A. Thompson (2008) Lodging, dining and specialty shops Tues 10 am-8 pm, Weds-Sat 10 am-5 pm Sun 11 am-5 pm Closed Mondays Family Friendly Group rates and tours Gift shop Self-service cafe Trempealeau Chamber of Commerce

800 Riverview Dr. Winona, MN 55987 (507) 474-6626 (608) 534-6780 www.minnesotamarineart.org www.trempealeau.net [email protected]

Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 Big River News

New EcoPark & Zoo St. Paul

La Crosse, Wis. — With $4.8 million Minneapolis Prescott in funding, La Crosse’s old Myrick Hastings Diamond Bluff Hager City Park Zoo will be renovated and Bay City Red Wing Maiden Rock transformed into an environmental Stockholm Lake City Pepin Reads Landing Nelson education center that will serve as the Wabasha WISCONSIN main entrance to a 1,100-acre wetland Kellogg Alma Minneiska Buffalo City and 800-acre forest. The new Myrick MINNESOTA Fountain City

Hixon EcoPark and Zoo is scheduled Winona Trempealeau to open in 2008. Onalaska La Crescent Visions of the ecopark are based Clair River, a major shipping La Crosse on Myrick Park’s location on the channel connecting Lake Huron Brownsville Stoddard La Crosse River Marsh, which bisects with Lake St. Clair, which connects Genoa New Albin Victory the town, and its proximity to Hixon to Lake Erie, via the Detroit River. It Desoto Lansing Ferryville Forest Nature Center, along the bluffs. planned to place big boulders on the Lynxville Both facilities needed updating, so bottom of the river after the dredg- Harpers Ferry instead of competing for funds, they ing, to prevent erosion and maintain Marquette Prairie du Chien McGregor Wyalusing joined forces. water levels, but it didn’t finish the Clayton Bagley Plans include displaying animals project, because lake levels rose in Glen Haven Guttenberg Cassville that are native to northern North succeeding years. Since then, studies Potosi North Buena Vista America; creating an energy-efficient have shown that parts of the channel Dickeyville Dubuque building that will be a model of con- have eroded from a depth of 27 feet East Dubuque Galena servation and native landscaping; to 60 feet. Environmental groups now IOWA Elizabeth Bellevue adding a nocturnal-animal building charge that the erosion has created a Hanover and a modern aquarium; and pro- big drain hole that must be plugged. Savanna Sabula ILLINOIS viding environmental education to The International Joint Commis- Thomson adults and children. sion, an independent U.S.–Canada Clinton Fulton Camanche Seven La Crosse-area Rotary Clubs organization set up in 1909 to help Albany LeClaire Cordova Port Byron are helping to raise funds for the resolve water problems and disputes, Bettendorf East Moline project. is investigating. Other possible con- Davenport Moline Buffalo tributing causes are global warming Muscatine Rock Island Great Lakes Leaking and drought. Its report is due out in Toronto — The Great Lakes are deep, 2010. Environmental groups say that’s but not as deep as they were last year. not soon enough. They say 2.5 bil- Minn., slid halfway down the slope. Lake Superior, the world’s largest lion extra gallons of water each day Houses perched on steep slopes freshwater lake, has dropped to its are flowing out of lakes Michigan and over the river have great views, but lowest level in 81 years — 20 inches Huron because of the drain hole. how stable are they, and how well do below average and 12 inches lower in they stand up to intense rainfall? the summer of 2007 than 2006. Shore- Popping Hillsides In terms of stability, everything lines have receded more than 50 feet La Crosse, Wis. — Some people are depends on how steep the slope is, in places, and the sinking water lev- calling the torrential rainfall that tore how much moisture is in the soil and els have wreaked environmental and through areas of southeast Minnesota what kind of soil it is. The clay and economic hardship on power plants, and southwestern Wisconsin in Au- silt soil that covers much of the lime- cargo ships, wild rice beds and recre- gust 2007 the “1,000-year flood.” The stone bedrock in the Upper Missis- ational boaters. Some people on Lake rain and the runoff killed 18 people sippi River Valley tends to slip when Superior suspect that their lake is and dumped unprecedented amounts it gets wet. When it gets wet suddenly being drained to benefit lakes Michi- of rain on small areas. The little town after a long dry period, as happened gan and Huron. But those lakes have of Hokah, Minn., just a few miles this year, the soils can act more like also seen water levels drop about two from the river, got 15.1 inches of rain liquid than solid. feet since 1970. in less than 24 hours. “If those soils are already a bit All of the Great Lakes are suffer- A house overlooking the river in fluid, they flex, they give a little bit,” ing lower than average water levels. Stoddard, Wis., slid down onto High- said La Crosse County Planner Char- Could dredging on the St. Clair River way 35, taking its neighbor’s drive- lie Handy. “If they are dry and get have something to do with it? way with it. saturated that quickly, it’s like they In 1962, the Army Corps of Engi- A newly built dream home on a pop. They explode.” (WCCO-TV, neers dredged a channel in the St. bluff over the river in Brownsville, 9-2-07)

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine When they do, the slope slides miners slept in “badger holes,” holes Riverfront Exposed downhill. dug into the ground, about four feet Rock Island, Ill. — When Internation- La Crosse County currently lim- deep and lined with rocks, with a al Harvester built its massive Farmall its building on 30-percent slopes, roof overhead. plant on the river 100 years ago, the although the planning board was At the end of the day, the volun- riverfront was dominated by industry scheduled to hold a public hearing teers went back to the river to their and transportation, so people didn’t in October, and if a new ordinance simple bunks in the dredge. The object to the factory blocking their is approved, development would be museum staff played host to the view. But citizens here are cheering limited on slopes greater than 20 per- group, sometimes making popcorn the demolition of the giant plant on cent. The City of Winona prohibits and bringing in movies. Fifth Avenue. development on slopes greater than “They work hard, but they’re still The Farmall plant closed in 1986 25 percent. young and need to have some fun, and since then has been owned by Many towns and counties have too,” said a staff member. LRC Development, which retained modest slope restrictions in place, but The museum offers rooms on the office space in the plant. The plant many may be taking a second look William M. Black to visitors and tour- was demolished this fall, and many after the disastrous downpours of ists during warm-weather months. of its materials were recycled. late summer. The Americorps volunteers served The city will use tax-increment five months on hurricane-recovery financing to convert the open area Brain Bug from industrial to commercial and Phoenix, Ariz. — Six people died residential use, as part of a 20-year this summer after coming in contact Lead miners slept in “badger plan known as the Columbia Park with an amoeba that enters the body holes,” holes dug into the Project Redevelopment Area. through the nose and attacks the ground, about four feet deep brain. The amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, The Pill in Tinseltown was discovered in Australia in the and lined with rocks, with a Hollywood, Calif. — This town’s 1960s. The Centers for Disease Con- roof overhead. resident population of 5,000 pigeons trol have recorded 23 deaths since will be reduced by half by the year then. 2012, if plans to put the birds on birth This summer’s six victims lived projects along the Gulf Coast before control succeed. It’s not the pigeons in Arizona, Texas and Florida. The moving to Dubuque and working on that bother people so much as the amoeba lives almost everywhere in the Ham House for six weeks. After pigeon poop. The answer may be a lakes, hot springs and dirty swim- that, several returned to the Gulf birth control pellet called OvoControl ming pools. It prefers warm, quiet Coast. P, manufactured by Innolytics LLC in waters. Once infected, people have Local Americorps teams pitch in collaboration with the U.S. Depart- little chance of surviving. and help throughout the year, but this ment of Agriculture (USDA). was the second year a national group The birth control pellets are sized New Corps on Black has worked at the museum. and distributed in ways that elimi- Dubuque, Iowa — A team of eight “We’ll probably apply for their nate the possibility that other birds Americorps workers lived on the his- help again next year,” said Mark Han- will eat them. Studies of the active toric dredge William M. Black, which telmann, projects manager. ingredient, nicarbazin, show that the is docked on the Dubuque riverfront, drug’s effect is reversible, and that this summer. Baby Mussels there are no effects on other species, Half the team worked at the Fairport, Iowa — Researcher Tat- including species that eat the pigeons. National Mississippi River Museum suaki Nakato of the University of Innolytics worked with the USDA and Aquarium, helping educators Iowa released 5,000 baby Higgins Eye National Wildlife Research Center to give tours. The others went to the mussels into the river in Pool 16 in develop a similar pellet for control- Mathias Ham house site, where they October, in an attempt to revive popu- ling Canada geese, which also gather built a retaining wall to protect a his- lations of the endangered native mol- in cities and create messes that annoy toric log cabin, repaired and painted lusk. The baby mussels should help people and create human health an old schoolhouse, and helped bolster the mussels in a limited area problems. rebuild a living-history exhibit. The near Buffalo, Iowa. The Iowa Depart- exhibit recreates a kind of primitive ment of Natural Resources will help Cleaning Up After Ford lodging used in the early 1800s. Lead monitor the mussels’ growth. St. Paul — Earlier this year the Ford Higgins Eye mussels were almost Motor Company announced that next wiped out by the pearl button indus- year it will vacate its 138-acre manu- Visit www.big-river.com for links to try in the late 19th and early 20th cen- facturing facility on the Mississippi information about stories marked tury, when more than 60 button facto- River in St. Paul. The announcement with the mouse 8. ries employed thousands of workers. prompted a flurry of exuberant ideas for redevelopment. The City of St. Paul

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November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine developed five scenarios. Now pollu- saved, despite a series of frustrating tion will be part of the discussion. surprises. The Minnesota Pollution Control The Lone Star has been sitting in Agency has been reviewing a com- the open on the banks of the river pany report on pollution at the facil- near the Buffalo Bill Museum for ity, including several sites that were many years. After a prolonged fund- used to store and dispose of chemi- raising campaign, the museum raised cals, paints and solvents, some of $700,000 from the Vision Iowa fund which are known carcinogens. Exten- and $50,000 from the city to design a sive clean-up may be required. new shelter for the boat. In August, Ford closed three youth Then it discovered that the boat baseball fields after tests found some was too decayed to lift or move in soil samples with slightly higher lev- order build anything under it. The els of arsenic, copper and iron than second stumbling block was the dis- the state standards allow, although covery that the ground under the the Minnesota Department of Health boat is unstable, making the origi- said the amounts were so small it nal shelter design both expensive had no reason to believe the condi- and impractical. It was designed to tion of the field posed a community be asymmetrical, light and airy, with health risk. wide views of the river — in other words, with a lot of glass. Adjust- Drawdown on 6 ments to make the building more Winona, Minn. — Pool 6, between stable created a $189,000 shortfall. It Winona and Trempealeau, Wis., is was time for fundraisers to beat the scheduled for a water-level draw- drum again. down next summer. Water levels In late August the City of LeClaire would decrease a maximum of one donated $204,000 from its capital foot at Lock and Dam 6, and one-half improvements fund to complete the foot at the Winona gage. Lowering building, noting that the boat is the the water level stimulates the growth city’s top tourist attraction. of aquatic plants, which helps fish, After the building is ready, the waterfowl and other wildlife and museum will seek funds to restore helps stabilize shorelines. the Lone Star. Public meetings were held in the fall; more will be held in the spring Easier Stamps before the final level of the draw- Washington, D.C. — You don’t even down is set. have to go to your local sporting Before a drawdown is approved, goods store to buy a duck stamp, scientists will have to assess the pos- now that agencies in Wisconsin and sible impact on freshwater mussels in Minnesota are selling them electroni- the pool. A similar drawdown in Pool cally. The new three-year program, al- 5, in 2005, stranded and killed many so initiated in seven other states, aims mussels in some areas. to make it easier for hunters, birders Reports on the drawdowns in Pool and stamp collectors to get stamps. 8 and Pool 5 were recently completed Customers can buy an electronic and released by the Army Corps of duck stamp on the internet or by Engineers. The reports detail a reduc- telephone, as well as through post tion in open water and an increase in offices and sporting goods stores. the area dominated by marsh plants They receive a proof of purchase and submerged vegetation. Water- that works like a duck stamp for 45 fowl used the areas more extensively. days, long enough for the real stamp For copies of one or both reports, to arrive in the mail. Duck stamps email [email protected]. are required for duck hunting and mil. for access to some National Wildlife Refuges. Star, but not Alone Since the program began in 1934, LeClaire, Iowa — It looks like the last more than $700 million has been wooden-hulled steam paddlewheel raised for the purchase of wetlands workboat on the Mississippi will be and other waterfowl habitat.

10 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 Corporate River Research To bring coal from Wyoming’s Beacon, New York — IBM is joining Powder River Basin, Sioux Falls- with the Beacon Institute for Rivers based DM&E had proposed rebuild- Visit Winona, Minnesota and Estuaries to create a collabora- ing about 600 miles of track across tive center for river research along the South Dakota and Minnesota, and Hudson River. The immediate objec- building 260 miles of new track south tive of the River and Estuary Obser- of the Black Hills, at a cost of $6 bil- vatory Network (REON) is to create lion. The project raised opposition a system of sensors, robots and com- from a number of towns and cities puters that will continuously monitor coal trains would pass through. The There’s always something new 315 miles of the river. REON will use current route would bring the coal to discover in Winona. new IBM technology, including com- through downtown Rochester, Minn. Upcoming Events putational tools that allow scientists — despite Mayo Clinic’s fierce objec- November 8 Gesel Mason - Dancing the Visions of Contemporary to analyze disparate bits of data as it tions — to Winona, Minn., and then Black Choreographers is being collected. A new educational south along the river to the Quad Cit- November 17 Tundra Swan Bus Tour center has been built inside an old ies, before crossing to Illinois and November 17 Koresh Dance Company brick factory, and two more buildings markets to the east. November 23-25 Old World Christmas will be built, including a state-of-the- DM&E applied for and was Downtown art research laboratory. refused a $2.3 billion loan from the December 1 Artists’ Holiday Sale “This is the future. If you can pre- Federal Railroad Administration, December 1-2 Holiday Lighted Parade dict, you can protect,” said John Cro- which expressed doubts that DM&E December 1-2 Christmas Art Walk FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MINNESOTA’S nin, Beacon Institute director, in a could repay the loan. The railroad HISTORIC ISLAND CITY, AT New York Times story (8-16-07). then sought private financing. www.visitwinona.com Data collected by the sensors will The Powder River Basin coalfields CALL be used by businesses and towns in are so large that DM&E estimated it 800.657.4972 or 507.452.0735 the region, but REON hopes to create could ship about 100 million tons of for a free Visitors Guide tools that could be used anywhere in low-sulphur coal per year along the Journey Through Times.... the world, for example, to detect para- lines, without cutting into the busi- At the Winona County sites and pollution, and to monitor ness of either the Union Pacific or the Historical Society invasive species. Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads, which together carried 450 Awards & Grants million tons of coal from Wyoming • Princeton, Iowa, native Nancy in 2006. Purington was awarded a $6,500 The Canadian Pacific was also matching grant from the Iowa attracted by more than a dozen eth- Arts Council, for development of anol plants being built along the an exhibit called “Twelve Views of tracks, which could boost DM&E’s Water,” based on the artist’s four revenue forecast by 18 percent next decades of river photography. The year. exhibit will open at the Muscatine The U.S. Surface Transportation Upcoming Events Art Center in the summer of 2008. Board is expected to approve the sale December 2 Christmas House Tour • Jim Haring of Clinton, Iowa, was by mid-December. Dec. 22 - Feb. 2 Key Ingredients: America By Food Exhibit awarded the Izaak Walton League of Swan Stage Immerse yourself in the past in the region’s America’s 54 Founders Award in Sep- largest and finest historical museum. Enjoy tember. Haring, 72, has been involved Brownsville, Minn. — A new over- award-winning exhibits. Research Winona’s in river clean-up projects and river look of Pool 8 opened this fall, just in colorful past in the museum’s library and education since he was a boy. His time for the arrival of thousands of archives. Visit the museum shop and the “pre- viously read” bookstore. father Ralph was a charter member. tundra swans and other waterfowl. The overlook, a joint project of the www.winonahistory.org CP Buys DM&E U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 507.454.2723 Sioux Falls, S.D. — The Dakota, Min- Minnesota Department of Transporta- Open Monday - Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. nesota and Eastern Railroad was sold tion and the Iowa, Chicago & East- Open Weekends noon - 4 p.m. in early October to Canadian Pacific ern Railroad, is three miles south of Railway, Canada’s second largest rail- Brownsville on Highway 26. The new road, for $1.48 billion cash. If Cana- lookout features a parking lot, safety dian Pacific completes DM&E’s plan railing, informational kiosk and inter- Visit Winona and the Winona County to rebuild tracks and haul coal from pretive signs. It complements an exist- Historical Society are located at the Wyoming coal fields, it will pay ing overlook about 1.5 miles south. 160 Johnson St., Winona, MN 55987 DM&E another $1 billion.

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 11 Going Alien October 15, with the new bridge fin- California — We write in every issue ished by December 2008. of Big River about Asian carp, round gobies, zebra mussels and other in- New Resources vasive species that have hitched rides • A Watershed and Wetland Protec- to the Upper Mississippi River and tion Information Kit is available at the wreaked destruction on native species website of the Center for Watershed and natural habitats here. We hardly Protection. The guidebooks, bro- ever get a chance to write about a chures and manuals in the kit include river species making a pest of itself a User’s Guide to Stream Assessment Organically grown coffees somewhere else. and Smart Watershed Benchmarking tea • espresso • soup • salad As anglers on the Upper Missis- Tools, among other practical tools. sandwiches • pastries sippi know, our native northern pike • The Peterson Ornithological Made from scratch using fresh, is a tough customer. Californians Collection at Western Illinois Uni- organically grown, local ingredients, would probably agree, after fighting versity in Macomb, Ill., was opened whenever possible this toothy, cool-water predator for to the public in October. The collec- more than a decade. Millions of dol- tion includes 1,000 rare ornithological 162 West 2nd Street, Winona, Minn. lars and thousands of labor hours books, periodicals and records dat- 507-452-7020 have been spent trying to eradicate ing back to 1886. The collection was Hours: Tuesday - Friday the fish from Lake Davis, a reser- a gift of well-known bird scholar and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. voir in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, birder Peter Peterson before his death Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. using poison, electro-fishing and in 1997. Sunday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. explosives. The State Department of • The Army Corps of Engineers Closed Mondays Fish and Game fears that the pike has released a 2007 edition of the Mis- Check our website for our music will destroy local trout-fishing and sissippi River Flood Control and Naviga- and events calendar tourist industries, and then migrate to tion Maps, which was last published website: www.blueheroncoffeehouse.com other fragile ecosystems downstream, in 1998. The book contains 111 maps, email: [email protected] such as the San Joaquin-Sacramento covering the river from Cairo, Ill., to delta, where it could dine on local the Gulf of Mexico, and a lot of infor- salmon and smelt. mation about landings, access points The northern pike’s native range and facilities. The book costs $22 extends from Alaska to Labrador, and is also available on CD, through and south across the Midwest to the the Corps’ New Orleans District and Northeast states. In California, it is Memphis District websites. 8 classed as a “detrimental animal.” (New York Times, 9-12-07) Small is Beautiful St. Paul — St. Paul’s rejection of The Bridge Fell, Money Lost Bridges, a massive mixed-use project Minneapolis — The Interstate I-35W on its Mississippi riverfront, sends a bridge collapse into the Mississippi message to other developers that the River on August 1 killed 13 people. city will stick to its plan for smaller- Other effects were felt throughout the scale riverfront development. Twin Cities. Among them, 35 work- “The city’s public policy over rivers for Aggregate Industries were laid erfront development on the West Side off for six weeks. The downed bridge Flats over a 20-year period is staying cut off the company’s distribution the course,” said Patrick Seeb, execu- yard from the quarry on Grey Cloud tive director of St. Paul Riverfront Island. Aggregate Industries supplies Development Corp., a nonprofit that limestone, sand and gravel to con- promotes the city’s riverfront. “Other struction companies in the area. (St. developers can proceed with confi- Paul Pioneer Press, 8-1-07) dence that the city remains commit- River Services, Inc., lost $240,000 ted to the master plan.” in gross revenue during the six-week St. Paul developer Jerry Trooien channel closure, mostly due to a ship- sought zoning changes and $125 ment of 30,000 tons of icing salt that could not be completed. Visit www.big-river.com for links to The Minnesota Department of information about stories marked Transportation expected construc- with the mouse 8. tion of a replacement bridge to begin

12 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 million in tax-increment financing tific and Natural Area (SNA), owned for his $1.5 billion “lifestyle center.” and administered by the Minnesota Plans for the 40-acre site included a Department of Natural Resources. 30-story hotel, condos, entertainment The area is an unusual dry sand and and 430,000 square feet of retail space gravel prairie in a shallow, sandy across the Mississippi River from ravine, or coulee, two miles south of downtown St. Paul. Hastings, where the Vermillion River In September, the St. Paul City enters the Mississippi. Sand Coulee’s Council rejected rezoning with a 5-2 13 rare species include James’ pola- vote. nisia, or clammyweed, a prairie regal The Bridges’ backers decry what fritillary butterfly and the gopher they say will be lost jobs and a snake. missed chance for greater prosperity Only two percent of Dakota Coun- in downtown St. Paul and the city’s ty’s prairie remains. The Sand Cou- West Side neighborhood across the lee is the largest remaining tract. It Mississippi. is part of a 20-mile greenway along River advocates, however, say the Mississippi River that allows ani- denying the project as proposed was mals and plants in one natural area to a good decision. move to other natural areas and the More development along the riv- river. erfront is all but inevitable. However, SNAs preserve significant biologi- cal and geological areas. About 10 of Minnesota’s 140 SNAs are as close to The Bridges’ backers decry the Mississippi as the Hastings Sand what they say will be lost Coulee. jobs and a missed chance The areas are open to the public, but “it’s a very light-on-the-land expe- for greater prosperity in rience,” said Peggy Booth, who super- downtown St. Paul. vises the program for Minnesota’s DNR. “There aren’t trails and picnic areas like there are at many others.” the decision re-enforced the city’s Hastings is observing its ses- Hawks View intention to limit building height, quicentennial this year. Part of the Cottages & Lodges extend neighborhood street grids to charm of the new natural area for Deluxe forest cottages high above the river and maintain neighborhood Hastings residents is that it allows the Mississippi, overlooking character. Critics of The Bridges say people to see what Dakota County historic Fountain City, Wisconsin it would have privatized the river- looked like 150 years ago. front and blockaded the street grid on a scale so massive, scoffed one critic Smart Turtles earlier, “that it would create its own Brownsville, Minn. — The five-mile weather.” stretch of river between Brownsville Developing to the more mod- and Genoa, Wis., was once full of 625 est scale of the city’s master plan acres of islands. By 1989 all but 130 “may take longer and require more acres had eroded and washed away patience,” said Whitney Clark, execu- in the high water levels created by tive director of Friends of the Mis- the lock-and-dam system. The Army sissippi River, a St. Paul-based river- Corps of Engineers and other agen- advocacy group, “but you don’t build cies have worked for several years to meaningful, connected, organic com- restore the islands. This fall they’re munities overnight.” building 12 new islands in the Raft www.hawksview.net Channel below Brownsville. Another Link Phase I and Phase II of the Pool [email protected] Hastings, Minn. — A 77-acre tract of 8 islands project created Horseshoe CALL US TOLL-FREE: unusual Minnesota prairie has been Island, Boomerang Island and a set of 1-866-293-0803 protected and linked with a greenway islands near Stoddard, Wis. The first ALSO AVAILABLE, 2 AND along the Mississippi River in Minne- stage of Phase III was finished last 4-BEDROOM LODGES OVERLOOKING sota’s Dakota County. year, just downstream of Stoddard. OUR SEVEN HAWKS VINEYARDS AND The Hastings Sand Coulee was New islands increase fish and aquatic THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY to open in October as a state Scien- vegetation, and reduce suspended

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 13 HELL GATE of the MISSISSIPPI by Larry A. Riney

Be taken back in time to one of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous trials. The Effie Afton case of 1857 pits steamboats against the railroads in a battle for western justice. It’s a great combination for the history buff, any- time.

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14 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 sediments in the water. have returned The Pool 8 project is just one of to the artifi- many similar projects the Corps has cial islands in taken on between St. Paul and Cairo, only a year or Ill., in the last two decades. Island two in some construction zones have become cases. The Fish familiar sights on the river. You can and Wildlife sometimes watch from the shore as Service has dredges, barges and helper towboats tracked grow- maneuver about, excavating and ing game shaping artificial structures that have fish popula- been carefully designed to withstand tions near the the forces that washed away the orig- structures. inal islands. The new The Corps dedicated five new islands are islands in Spring Lake near Buffalo away from the Island building is serious work, but it sometimes looks like big toys playing in the City, Wis., in October, and gave river Main Chan- mud. (Army Corps of Engineers) lovers a chance to name them. nel and so The Spring Lake project — a col- won’t affect commercial navigation. Boat Accidents laboration of the Corps, U.S. Fish and Fifty to 200 feet wide and up to two • Waupeton, Iowa — Two Iowa Wildlife Service and Wisconsin and miles long, the artificial land forms men were thrown from a boat near Minnesota departments of natural are clearly visible at normal river lev- Waupeton on August 30 after cross- resources — built the islands out of els — but high water may submerge ing over the waves created by a tow- dredged material, 32 acres all told, at them, cautioned Powell. boat on the Mississippi. The driver of a cost of $4.3 million. What’s to prevent the artificial the boat, Robin Peterson, 56, of Sher- Why did the natural islands disap- structures from washing away just as rill, was rescued by towboat workers, pear? Construction of the locks and their predecessors did? Rock riprap but Douglas McMurrin, 44, also of dams, beginning in the 1930s, kept and willow and other vegetation line Sherrill, drowned. the water in the Main Channel at the artificial islands to hold soil in According to Dubuque County least nine feet deep — but an unfore- place. Also, rock wings extend at 90- Sheriff Ken Runde, Peterson and seen result of the permanent higher McMurrin were heading upriver on water was more open water and con- The other hard part the Wisconsin side of the river in a sequently greater wind and wave ero- 16-foot, V-bottom boat when they sion. Meanwhile, silt from the vanish- was building islands in passed a towboat heading down- ing islands became suspended in the backwaters, which means river. When Peterson crossed over the water blocking sunlight, killing veg- towboat’s wake in order to dock at etation and destroying fish and wild- operating barge-borne heavy Waupeton on the Iowa bank, the men life habitat. As the plants vanished, equipment in shallow water. were dumped into the river. so did their buffering affect on wind Crew members on the towboat and waves. noticed an unoccupied boat and How do you build an island? Engi- and 45-degree angles from the main deployed a life boat. They picked up neers looked at existing river flow body of the islands to encourage the Peterson but did not find McMurrin. conditions and examined old aerial river to sculpt natural-appearing Peterson was charged with photos to pinpoint where islands areas. Rebuilders hope their isles will drunken driving. Neither of the men used to be. Thereafter, one of the hard last at least 50 years. was wearing a life vest. parts was coordinating several agen- The contractors left some areas Runde said crossing a towboat’s cies and the public, said Don Powell, deliberately bare for turtles and other wake is dangerous. The more weight project manager for the Corps’ Envi- beach lovers. a tow is pushing, the more danger- ronmental Management Program. In fact, Turtle Island may be a ous the wake can be, especially when The other hard part was building good name for one of the new struc- boaters aren’t paying attention, he islands in backwaters, which means tures. Sharonne Baylor, an environ- said. operating barge-borne heavy equip- mental engineer based in Winona, • Stillwater, Minn. — Nine people ment in shallow water. “They can Minn., with the Fish and Wildlife Ser- were taking a fast ride on a 41-foot load ’em light when you’re drafting vice, marvels that turtles found one sport yacht on the St. Croix River one only four feet of water,” said Powell. artificial beach while the contractor late June night, when the boat ran “Or else you have to dredge your way was still building it. ashore full speed, plowing 60 feet up into those areas.” “How did those critters know a rocky, wooded shore before coming Powell is pleasantly surprised where to come?” asked Baylor. to a stop. The $250,000 Sea Ray Sun- that vegetation, fish and waterfowl (River News continues on page 34)

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 15 Galena Preserving History and Thriving on It By Pamela Eyden

(Galena-Jo Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau) n the mid 1800s, Galena, Ill., the first traffic jam in town, was a showpiece of prosperity which local papers described as and civilization on the edge of “impassable.” the frontier. With a population The first step in reviving of 14,000, it was half the size Galena came when the Army Iof Chicago. Nearby lead mines had Corps of Engineers built a 25- created enormous wealth. The town foot-high flood wall in 1951. levee was crowded with 200-foot Until that time steamboats, many of them carrying the town settlers into the frontier that would suffered become Wisconsin and Minnesota. periodic, Then the Civil War took the severe Ulysses S. Grant and his family lived in the house wind out of the economy, railroads floods above, when he came to help his brothers run trumped steamboats, and steel that the family leather goods business. (Alfred Mueller trumped lead. The mines closed. The dam- collection, Galena Public Library) levees were empty. One hundred aged years after its heyday, the city was in much of the doldrums. the down- River towns north and south of town. The Galena suffered similar downturns. Galena River But Galena, current population 3,400, runs at a fairly managed to turn its economic fate fast clip down out of the hills, around. With 1.3 million visitors a but it levels out at Galena and year, it is the third most visited city in drops just one inch in the Illinois, after Chicago and Springfield. 3.5 river miles to the Missis- Galena is set into gentle, rolling sippi. When the Mississippi hills above the Galena River (formerly rises, water backs up to Gale- called the Fever River), just a couple na’s doorstep. The flood wall The first Grant home has been restored as a private residence. miles from the Mississippi. Cars and boosted confidence that resto- (Galena Public Library) RVs creep along narrow streets that ration might be worthwhile. were built for horses and buggies. Traffic was an issue in the Visitors stay in bed-and-breakfast 1960s, when federally-funded inns and historic hotels in town, or in “urban renewal” became popu- new motels just up the hill. They visit lar. Galena’s mayor applied for galleries and spas, eat well and shop federal money to demolish two a lot. But mostly they come to see the blocks of Main Street to pro- restored 19th century beauty of the vide parking for tourists. He town. About 85 percent of this pictur- asserted that people wouldn’t esque town — more than 1,000 build- bother with the town if they ings — is on the National Register of couldn’t easily park their cars. Historic Places. Stair-step sidewalks The application was so contro- climb from Main Street to Bench versial, it led to a city-wide ref- Street to Prospect and High Street. erendum resulting in a four-to- one vote against tearing down Grant used this house as an occasional retreat later in his Momentum for Restoration the Main Street properties. life. It is now a Galena State Historic Site. (Jo Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau) Two factors account for much of Frank Einsweiler, then a 68- Galena’s turnaround: it refused to year-old retired contractor, is credited teaches local history at a community tear down its old buildings, and it with providing strong direction to college. attracted new wealth, in the form of renew the town instead of gutting it By that time, the state of Illinois visitors and investors from Chicago. for parking. He became mayor a few had already restored two prominent To hear local historian Daryl Wat- years later. buildings — Ulysses S. Grant’s home son tell it, Chicagoans have always “Frank Einsweiler insisted that if and the Old Market House. been attracted to Galena. Back in the Galena didn’t use its history and its There are really two Grant houses 1920s when U.S. Route 20 was newly historic architecture as the means to in Galena. Ulysses S. Grant was down paved, Chicago motorists streamed an end, it would have nothing over on his luck when he arrived in 1860 in to see the fall colors and Ulysses other communities,” said Daryl Wat- with his wife and children to help S. Grant’s home, which was then son, who worked as Einsweiler’s run the family leather-works busi- managed by the city. They created assistant for many years. Watson now ness. He’d given up a military career

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 17 and failed in several endeavors after- ward. The Grants rented a modest, two-story brick house (now restored) on the west side of the Galena River. After the Civil War, local business- men gave Grant a fine Italianate-style home, which he visited occasionally until the end of his life. The state of Illinois took over the house in 1955 and restored it — complete with original furniture — to its 1868 appear- ance. It is referred to as the “Grant Home.” The state’s second restoration was the Old Market House, a Greek The DeSoto House was just a brick shell sinking into unstable soils Revival-style public building built when a group of investors took it over. The hotel prizes its past guests, including Abe Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan and Stephen in 1845. Ideas had circulated for A. Douglas. (Jo Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau) years about remodeling the building, replacing it with something modern or just tearing it down and building a parking lot. Restored in 1957, the Old The Old Market House, left, was neglected for Market now serves as a museum and many decades. (Alfred Mueller Collection, Galena exhibit hall. Public Library) Now restored, below, it operates These projects added momentum as a museum and exhibit hall. (Jo Daviess County to the idea of broader restoration, but Convention and Visitors Bureau) there was still pressure to clear the way for more cars. The turning point came with the painstaking restoration of two Main Street buildings — the Coatsworth Building and the DeSoto House Hotel. “Main Street looked pretty rough at that time, but Einsweiler set these two buildings as top priority. Both of them were very difficult to restore,” said Watson. The city found federal and state aid, as well as private money, to restore the Coatsworth Building, but many people still had doubts about the project. Some wanted to build a multi-level parking structure. The Coatsworth Building finally reopened in the 1980s, faced with white The old Waterworks Building now houses the Milwaukee brick, like the original. It Convention and Visitors Bureau. (Alfred Mueller now serves as a senior residence and Collection, Galena Public Library) public meeting space. The DeSoto House Hotel, built in 1855, has a rich history. As the hotel website points out, Abe Lincoln spoke from the hotel balcony in 1856, and his rival Stephen A. Douglas stayed at the hotel in 1858, before the two debated in nearby Freeport. It served as Ulysses Grant’s presidential campaign headquarters in 1868. But by the 1960s it had declined into a “traveling salesman-type hotel — with bare light bulbs, metal frame beds

18 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 and knotted-rope fire escapes,” as local historian Scott Wolf character- ized it. Wolf works for both the hotel and the public library. By the 1970s, he said, most archi- tectural fixtures had been scavenged, the interior had been gutted and the walls were bowed. Then a group of

When restoration was complete and the hotel reopened in 1985, the value of surrounding Main Street properties went up. That attracted investors for other projects.

Quiet streets, footpaths and parks make Galena a very walkable city. (Jo Daviess County Convention investors from Rockford, Ill., stepped and Visitors Bureau) in. They spent “probably millions” to stabilize and rebuild it. When restoration was complete and the hotel reopened in 1985, the value of surrounding Main Street properties went up. That attracted investors for other projects. Today the DeSoto House is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Illinois. Guests park their cars in a modern, enclosed, four-level parking garage that was carefully built inside the facade of a historic stable next door. The Chicago Influence Most funding for restoration seems to The Fiddick House is on “Quality Hill,” one of many 1800s neighborhood nicknames that are still used. (Jo Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau) have come from individuals invest- ing their own money on their own property. Wealthy Chicagoans were, and still are, one source of money to restore the mansions and homes that are the most historically and architec- turally significant buildings in town. After all, they have been buying second homes in Galena to escape the pressures of city life for more than 100 years. Some homes have been in the same Chicago family for generations. Others have been purchased for more short-term, speculative purposes. “It would be interesting to know the percentage of Chicago people who’ve bought in here in the last 30 An old fire station was turned into a stylish years. It’s probably quite high,” said home, without sacrificing its historic Watson. character. (Jo Daviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau) (Galena continues on page 47)

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 19 The Day WWII Came to Lake Pepin

By Bob Parrott

f you were to canvass people in ice, extending upstream the Lake Pepin area today, chances from the point of Iare you couldn’t find anyone who impact. The plane was remembers the day in 1944 that a B-24 demolished by a second Liberator bomber crashed into the ice explosion as its wing of Lake Pepin. tanks blew up. For those not familiar with mili- Snow was blowing tary aircraft, a B-24 was a four- over the lake, and vis- engine, propeller-driven plane built ibility was very poor. for long-range bombing runs. It had a Watchers on shore 110-foot wingspan and ten 50-caliber could hear the plane, machine guns, and could carry 8,800 but could not see it. pounds of bombs. It was normally Although the Army flown with a crew of 10. occasionally flew planes On December 15, 1944, there were in the area, hearing This Air Force photo shows a four-engine B-24 Liberator, the same no bombs falling or bullets flying bombers was unusual. model that crashed into Lake Pepin. (Air Force Link) — at least not in Minnesota — but Three Lake City fire- the war was on everyone’s mind. men, Ben Simons, Woody Key and on the lake bottom handicapped the The front page banner of the Lake Willard Peterson, pushed their boat diver’s efforts, as did working under City Graphic newspaper read, “One 24 feet of water in total darkness Week Nearer Victory.” Full-page ads After three days of beneath the ice-capped and snow cov- encouraged people to “buy at least ered surface. one extra $100 war bond over and searching, Army officials The official military report said above your regular purchases.” Meat, gave up hope that the crash was caused by the inexperi- butter, sugar, fruit and alcohol were any of the crew had ence of the crew and bad weather. It luxuries, and the local hardware store cost the lives of the pilot, captain Dan was suggesting practical gifts. People escaped the crash. D. Mitchell, Houston, Texas; flight were planning for another war-time officer Buddy Bob Beasley, Lubbock, Christmas. ahead of them across the ice to reach Texas; and flight engineer Sergeant A B-24 was being ferried from St. the scene, which was about two- Edward A. Demski, Trenton, New Jer- Paul to Kansas City, with a three-man thirds of the way across the river sey. Their remains were not recovered skeleton crew. It was a cold, snowy between Maple Springs, Minn., and until April 23, 1945. Friday afternoon, and a brief, squally Pepin, Wis. They were the closest The Army recovered about 60 per- snowstorm had kicked up over the responders, since Pepin had no fire or cent of the plane using a barge with lake. Less than half an hour into rescue service. When they arrived at a clam shell dredge, also in April its flight, the plane circled low over the crash site, they found nothing but 1945. The Army was quite secretive Pepin, Wis., and turned westward, oxygen tanks floating amid the bro- about the salvage operation, because, possibly in an attempt to reach an ken ice, and parts of the plane scat- according to some, it wanted the emergency landing field at Frontenac, tered over a wide area of ice. pieces back as a matter of national Minn. After three days of searching, security, because the plane had been At about 2 p.m. the plane went Army officials gave up hope that any modified at Wold-Chamberlain Air- down, struck the ice and exploded in of the crew had escaped the crash. field in Minneapolis for a special mis- a mass of flames. It plowed a quarter- A diver was called from Chicago to sion. Just two years earlier, 16 B-25s mile-long hole in the two-inch-thick search for the bodies. Knee-deep mud had been modified at Wold-Cham-

20 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 “...It must have banked left over the south side of town, because a few moments later I heard it again and the noise was coming from the east side of town and was getting louder. Then I saw it again and it was headed out over the lake in a southwesterly direction. The plane seemed to be climbing and when it was about one-half mile off shore, it began banking to the right, and the bank and turn kept increasing and the ship just kept spiraling down and crashed through the ice. It made a terrific crash and immediately after it hit, there was another explosion and smoke and flames erupted from the spot.” — L.M. Potter, Pepin, Wis. (statement to Maynard Bauer, Major, Army Air Corps, Sta- tion Accident Officer, December 16, 1944, in the Army report of the accident)

berlain for use in the famous Jimmy Doolittle bombing raid on Japan. The Army quit making B-24s at the end of the war. In the 62-plus years since this incident, divers and treasure hunters have made many attempts to find any pieces the Army Above: An aerial photograph of the crash might have missed. Most all of those site shows the lake ice attempts have been futile. As time broken up “in concentric goes by, the chances of finding any circles for a quarter remaining pieces of this aircraft are mile around the spot,” fading just like the memories of the according to the Lake City Graphic story of 12- event. F 21-1944. Bob Parrott works for the Lake City Left: The debris was Graphic newspaper in Lake City, retrieved from the lake Minn. He was a youngster when these bottom the spring after events occurred. This is his first story the crash and towed back to Lake City. for Big River.

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 21 Tundra swans’ dense white plumage insulates the bird against the cold and also provides buoyancy. Their long necks have more vertebrae (60) than any other animal, including the giraffe — very useful for maneuvering roots and tubers out of soft mud on the river bottom. (Don Poggensee)

22 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 Tundra swans vary in size from 4 to 4.5 ft. long, including a four-inch bill and an eight-inch tail. They have wingspreads of about seven feet. (Allen Blake Sheldon)

They’re Here, Then Gone — Listen for These White Swans’ Songs By Molly McGuire

n crisp November nights, lis- them to move south to the northern forces them out, usually in December. ten closely and you may hear boreal forest where they stay more Researchers believe the swans are in Othe high, quavering who-oo- than a month. Then they fly through good condition when they arrive here who of migrating tundra swans. Look the prairie provinces of Canada, in the fall, and do not need to store carefully into the sky for a glimpse some through eastern Canada, and up nutrients as they do during spring of moonlit white birds as they make some through the Dakotas and Min- migration, when they need to have their annual trip from the Arctic nesota; and on to wintering grounds enough energy to start a new brood across the prairies and Great Lakes to stretching from New Jersey to South as soon as they arrive on the breeding the Atlantic seaboard. Tundra swans Carolina. grounds. In the fall, weather dictates number about 100,000; about 25 to 50 Their 4,000-mile migration takes when they leave the Upper Miss area percent stop to rest and feed in a few about 73 to 84 days, nearly one quar- — there is no real advantage in arriv- pools of the Upper Mississippi River. ter of the year. It is estimated they ing early at the wintering grounds. The Eastern Population (EP) of spend about 100 hours in the air, fly- tundra swans nests on the Arc- ing at speeds of 30 to 37 mph. They Camping on the tic coast from the North Slope of can maintain sustained speeds of 50 Upper Mississippi Alaska, along the northern tundra of to 60 mph, and more with a good tail the marshy deltas of the Mackenzie wind. Aerial counts by the U.S. Fish and and Anderson rivers in the North- About halfway through the trip, Wildlife Service (FWS) show more west Territories, and along the Nuna- thousands stop on the Mississippi and more swans on the Upper Miss vut coast to Hudson Bay, breeding River between Wabasha, Minn., and during fall migration. In the early between latitudes of 68° and 72° N. Clinton, Iowa, where they rest and 1980s, swans rested mainly in Pools By early September, before the feed mainly on aquatic plants — 4, 5 and 5a (Red Wing to Winona, young cygnets are strong enough for arrowhead, sago pondweed and wild- Minn.) There was a 700 percent the long flight, the temperatures force celery. Many will stay until freeze-up increase from the early 80s to 2002,

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 23 Tundra Swans on the Upper Mississippi River

That far north, climate change is bluffs along the Upper Mississippi River expected to have a sharp effect. The Swan Research Program is studying trumpeter and tundra swan hybrid- ization, observing that adjacent but separate habitats are blending relatively undisturbed resting sites make together, and are likely to cause simi- Eastern lar species once isolated to interbreed. The traditional wintering grounds ) during fall migration. Prior Population for the tundra swan was in Chesa- tundra swans consistently stopped along peake Bay, Maryland, but since of Tundra aquatic plants started declining in the 1970s, most swans go further south Bay. In recent years, fall swan numbers Swans to coastal North Carolina. Swans also began flying inland to feed in fields. From 2002 to 2006, an average of 67 percent of EP swans wintered in Tundra swan viewing North Carolina, many in the Pocosin Breeding grounds Wildlife Refuge, where about 25,000 swans spend the winter. Recently, the Migration route increasingly popular Navy had its sights on a new land- Wintering grounds ing field close to the refuge, but the outcry from state officials and the TundraRange swansof the spendEastern nearly Population half their of livestundra migrating swans. betweenThis map their is an breeding interpretation grounds of and an electronicwintering public convinced the Navy to look activity on the Upper grounds. (Courtesy of USGS) elsewhere. with the major increase in Pools 7 tives from the Mississippi Flyway, About 3,500 to 4,000 EP swans are through 9 (Trempealeau to Genoa, largely because of the numbers of shot every year during hunting sea- Wis.). The November 2006 aerial sur- swans staging on the Mississippi. sons, and many are also killed in sub- vey showed a one-day record, 52,000 This group determines what size of sistence hunting in Alaska and Can- swans, on the Upper Miss Refuge, population to maintain, then how ada. Lead poisoning is the next most 31,000 of which were in the Wiscon- many can be killed by hunters each commonly-reported cause of death. sin Islands Closed Area in Pool 8 near year. Tundra swans are hunted in six Since the mid-1950s, tundra swans Brownsville, Minn. Wildlife manag- states: Montana, North Dakota, South have fed in agricultural fields on their ers credit good food supplies, thanks Dakota, North Carolina, Virginia and spring migration. Many believe that to the 2001 Pool 8 drawdown; shel- New Jersey. the aquatic vegetation is not gener- ter from restored islands; and less ally available then, and that grain disturbance by people in the Closed Home on the Road helps them bulk up for nesting and Area. After Pool 5 drawdowns in 2005 Tundra Swans spend about half their restore body mass lost during the and 2006, swan use increased in the life migrating. Radio collars help winter. There is also speculation that pool, between Alma, Wis., and L&D researchers determine the route of eating more grain contributes to their 5 (Whitman Dam). This area includes individual birds, and aerial surveys increasing numbers, may influence the Weaver Bottoms, which was one tell us how many are where at a given their route and reduces their depen- of the hot spots for viewing tundra time, but a lot of research still needs dence on wetlands. swans in the early 80s, then declined to be done. Swans take longer on their spring as vegetation declined. Their numbers seem to be healthy trip, and may be held back by win- Researchers found that often and even growing, but several factors ter conditions. Because the FWS does swans will rest in hunting Closed could change this. Tundra swan cyg- few aerial bird counts in the spring, Areas during the day, but if there is nets take a long time to mature, and it has no accurate count of swans that a lack of food, they will move to the must start their trip south before they use the river then. In March 2000, a open hunting areas at night. After are fully grown. There is barely time survey of Pools 4 through 11 found duck-hunting season, swans some- for one clutch of chicks, so if anything almost 23,000 swans. Eighty-two per- times leave the Closed Areas to more happens to all the cygnets, that’s it cent of these were in areas that are productive backwaters, but stay put for the year. Swans don’t breed until open to hunting in the fall. F 8 when there is plenty of food available. they are two to three years old. Some For the first time, the “Manage- of their nesting area is near gas/oil Molly McGuire is managing editor of Big River. ment Plan for the Eastern Popula- exploration, and the development that tion of Tundra Swans,” by the Ad comes with it. One researcher found 8 Hoc Eastern Population Tundra Swan that nesting swans are sensitive to Visit www.big-river.com for links to more information about tundra swans. Committee, includes representa- human disturbance within 1,600 ft.

24 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 Know Your River

Sizing Up the Bridges By Reggie McLeod

ridges become an important part of your life when you live Bnear the Mississippi River, but the collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis on August 1 brought the subject into sharp focus. People stud- ied bridge ratings like baseball scores Above: Black Hawk Bridge crosses the and for a few days, at least, breathed river at Lansing, Iowa. (Reggie McLeod) a little more shallowly as they drove Left: You can get a magnificent view of across bridges. the St. Paul skyline from the High Bridge. (Reggie McLeod) Thirteen people died in that trag- edy, and many of us thought, “That could have been me. How safe are other Mississippi River bridges?” venience during the warm months, island in the same state, as in Win- On the following two pages is a but most of the year a drive from ona, Minn., and La Crosse, Wis. Then table with information about the 43 Cassville to Guttenberg, Iowa, will the highway continues on causeways traffic bridges between Coon Rap- take well over an hour by car, while a and across smaller bridges to the ids, Minn., and Muscatine, Iowa crow with a GPS would only need to other side. In these cases we ignored — excluding railroad and pedestrian fly 6.5 miles. the islands and listed the cities on bridges. The first thing one notices is It could be worse, and it was in each side of the river. Where the that 23 of those bridges cross the 35 the 1970s, when the Marquette-Joliet bridge ends near two or more cities, miles of urban river in the Twin Cit- Bridge was being built between Prai- we usually listed the larger city. ies. The other 20 cross 358 miles of rie du Chien and Marquette, Iowa. For bridges that actually span from river from Hastings, Minn., to Mus- Shortly after the bridge was opened, one state to another, the states usu- catine. About three times as many inspectors discovered that some of ally agree that one or the other will people cross those urban bridges on the steel wasn’t up the specifications, take responsibility for that bridge’s an average day than cross the other and the bridge was closed while parts maintenance. 20 bridges. were replaced. A ferry helped when The “sufficiency rating” in the While the Twin Cities’ bridges the weather and river allowed, but National Bridge Inventory uses four are, on average, only 1.5 miles apart, about 80 miles of river was bridgeless factors to generate a value between below Hastings they tend to cross the for some time. 0 and 100, with 100 being a perfect river about every 30 miles. The big- We usually take bridges for score. The rating considers lane width ger river cities — La Crosse, Wis.; granted, but they are very expensive and other measures in addition to a Dubuque, Iowa; and Clinton, Iowa and very important to communities bridge’s structural condition. — have two each. Appropriately, the and individuals that depend on them, The term “functionally obsolete” Quad Cities area has four bridges, which frequently leads to disputes. refers to the bridge design, judging one of which, the Government Bridge, Contractors, agencies and politicians that in some way it is not functioning has the distinction of being the oldest in the Twin Cities are currently bat- as well as a bridge at that site might. and lowest rated open bridge in our tling over plans for the new I-35W Perhaps it has too few lanes, which survey. It’s a beautiful old double- Bridge and the partially completed causes traffic jams. The term does not decker swing bridge that carries both I-494 Bridge. Because of the low vol- refer to its structural safety. railroad and vehicular traffic from ume of traffic using them, the com- The term “structurally deficient” Davenport to the downstream end of munities near Lansing, Iowa, and refers to a structural defect or defects Arsenal Island, near the site where Savanna, Ill., have sometimes had to that may affect bridge safety. the first bridge was built across the battle for funds to keep their bridges We collected most of the infor- river in 1856. open. mation for the table from Nation- The longest stretch of river The table on the following pages albridges.com, a website that pro- between bridges is from Prairie du lists the cities linked by a bridge, vides searches of the National Bridge Chien, Wis., to Dubuque — 53.4 but it’s often not that simple. Many Inventory, and from the Army Corps miles. A ferry at Cassville, Wis., about bridges cross the Main Channel from of Engineers Navigation Charts. F 8 midway, relieves some of the incon- a city to an island, sometimes an

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 25 Bridges Over the Mississippi — Twin Cities to Muscatine

Avg. West to River Year Length (Spans) Name(s) Sufficiency Rating Daily East Mile Built Navigation Span Traffic Richard P. Braun Bridge Brooklyn Park to 865.0 1985 1,326 ft. (11) 84 42,000 Minnesota Highway 610 Coon Rapids, Minn. 122 ft. (2004) I-694 Highway Bridge Brooklyn Center to 860.4 1963-w 776 ft. (5) 82.8-westbound 71,000 Fridley, Minn. 1988-e 194 ft. 90.3-eastbound (2004) Camden Bridge Minneapolis to 857.8 1975 1,450 ft. (10) 76.6 11,000 42nd Avenue North Bridge Minneapolis 244 ft. structurally deficient (2003) Lowry Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 856.4 1905 889 ft. (5) 41.3 15,300 Minneapolis 145 ft. structurally deficient (2003) Broadway Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 855.4 1986 857 ft. (4) 77.3 22,600 Minneapolis 186 ft. (2003) Eighth Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 855.0 1980 944 ft. (5) 82.8 9,700 Plymouth Avenue Bridge Minneapolis 141 ft. (2003) Father Louis Hennepin Bridge Minneapolis to 854.3 1988 1,037 ft. (1) 85.4 25,800 Minneapolis 485 ft. (2003) Third Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 854.1 1917 1,887 ft. (7) 80.2 15,500 St. Anthony Falls Bridge Minneapolis 150 ft. (2004) (National Register of Historic Places) I-35W Highway Bridge Minneapolis to 853.2 1967 1,907 ft. (3) 50 141,000 (collapsed August 1, 2007) Minneapolis 390 ft. structurally deficient (2004) 10th Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 853.1 1929 2,153 ft. (7) 76.9 11,600 Cedar Avenue Bridge Minneapolis (2003) (National Register of Historic Places) Washington Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 852.6 1965 1,131 ft. (3) 93.9 21,500 Minneapolis 228 ft. (2003) I-94 Highway Bridge Minneapolis to 851.7 1963 1,001 ft. (6) 85 167,000 Dartmouth Bridge Minneapolis 286 ft. (2004) Franklin Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 851.5 1923 1,054 ft. (5) 50 9,500 Cappelen Memorial Bridge Minneapolis 275 ft. structurally deficient (2004) (National Register of Historic Places) Lake St./Marshall Avenue Bridge Minneapolis to 849.9 1989 1,484 ft. (2) 89.9 13,200 St. Paul 228 ft. (2004) Ford Parkway Bridge Minneapolis to 847.8 1927 1,524 ft. (5) 77.4 22,500 Intercity Bridge St. Paul 188 ft. functionally obsolete (2003) West Seventh Street Bridge Ft Snelling, Minn., to 845.6 1961 1,198 ft. (7) 67 56,000 Fort Road Bridge St Paul 258 ft. (2004) I-35E Highway Bridge Mendota Heights, 843.3 2001 1,406 ft. (6) 85 75,000 Lexington Bridge Minn. to St. Paul 330 ft. (2004) Smith Avenue Bridge St. Paul to 840.5 1986 2,770 ft. (3) 85.3 18,000 High Bridge St. Paul 210 ft. (2004) Wabasha Street Bridge St. Paul to 839.5 1996 1,253 ft. 97.5 5,800 St. Paul 316 ft. (2001) Robert Street Bridge St. Paul to 839.2 1926 1,429 ft. (8) 73.6 19,000 (National Register of Historic Places) St. Paul 158 ft. functionally obsolete (2004) Lafayette Bridge St. Paul to 838.8 1968 3,366 ft. (3) 49.5 81,000 Federal Highway 52 Bridge St. Paul 350 ft. structurally deficient (2004)

26 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 Avg. West to River Year Length (Spans) Name(s) Sufficiency Rating Daily East Mile Built Navigation Span Traffic I-494 Highway Bridge S. St. Paul to 832.4 2003 1,892 ft. 82 89,000 Wakota Bridge Newport, Minn. (2004) (under construction) St. Paul Park Bridge Inver Grove Heights to 830.3 1895 1,661 (1) 3,900 (closed in 1999) St. Paul Park, Minn. 192 ft. (1998) Federal Highway 61 Bridge Hastings, Minn., to 813.9 1950 1,857 ft. (3) 49.1 32,500 Hastings High Bridge Prescott, Wis. 502 ft. functionally obsolete (2004) Federal Highway 63 Bridge Red Wing, Minn., to 790.6 1958 1,631 ft. (3) 44.8 11,500 Eisenhower Bridge Hager City, Wis. 420 ft. (2004) State Highway 25 Bridge Wabasha, Minn., to 760.2 1987 2,462 ft. (1) 73.5 4,750 Wabasha-Nelson Bridge Nelson, Wis. 402 ft. (2004) State Highway 54 Bridge Winona, Minn., to 725.8 1941 2,288 ft. (3) 49.8 11,900 Bluff Siding, Wis. 534 ft. (2004) I-90 Highway Bridge Winona Cnty, Minn., to 701.8 1967 2,490 ft. (12) 77 26,000 Dresbach Bridge Campbell Tnshp, Wis. 411 ft. (2004) Cass Street Bridge (westbound) La Crescent, Minn., to 697.5 1940-w 2,532 ft. (3)-w 65-w 22,296 Cameron Avenue Bridge (eastbound) La Crosse, Wis. 462 ft. (2003) 2004-e 2,573 ft. (3)-e 86-e 19,800 475 ft (2003) State Highway 82 Bridge Lansing, Iowa to 663.4 1931 1,631 ft. (3) 39.9 2,290 Black Hawk Bridge Vernon County, Wis. 640 ft. functionally obsolete (2004) Federal Highway 18 Bridge Marquette, Iowa, to 634.7 1974 1,916 ft (10) 74.7 12,000 Marquette-Joliet Bridge Prairie du Chien, Wis. 450 ft. (2002) City Island Bridge Dubuque, Iowa, to 581.3 1982 2,951 ft. (1) 87.4 18,400 Federal Highway 61 Bridge Grant County, Wis. 635 ft. (2004) Julien Dubuque Highway Bridge Dubuque, Iowa, to 579.3 1943 5,761 ft. (3) 43.4 26,800 East Dubuque, Ill. 803 ft. functionally obsolete (2004) Savanna Highway Bridge Sabula, Iowa, to 537.8 1932 2,481 ft. (4) 45.9 2,450 (National Register of Historic Places) Savanna, Ill. 508 ft. functionally obsolete (2005) North Clinton Bridge Clinton, Iowa, to 520.0 1974 3,013 ft. (3) 65.7 9,800 Lyons-Fulton Bridge Fulton, Ill. 450 ft. functionally obsolete (2004) Clinton Highway Bridge Clinton, Iowa, to 518.1 1956 4,166 ft. (1) 56.6 10,000 Gateway Bridge E. Clinton, Ill. 568 ft. functionally obsolete (2004) I-80 Highway Bridge LeClaire, Iowa, to 495.4 1967 3,488 ft. (16) 65 26,000 Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge Hampton Township, Ill. 350 ft. (2005) Iowa-Illinois Memorial Highway Bettendorf, Iowa, to 485.8 N: 1935 5,149 ft. (3) 60.6 32,900 Bridge Moline, Ill. S: 1960 710 ft. functionally obsolete (2005) 5,018 ft. (3) Iowa Interstate RR and U.S. Govt. Davenport, Iowa, to 482.9 1896 1,848 ft. (1) 26.4 18,415 Railroad and Highway Bridge Rock Island, Ill. 110 ft. functionally obsolete (2003) (National Register of Historic Places) structurally deficient Centennial Highway Bridge Davenport, Iowa, to 482.1 1940 3,854 ft. (5) 43.5 25,500 Rock Island, Ill. 517 ft. (2005) I-280 Highway Bridge Davenport, Iowa, to 478.3 1970 4,194 ft. (1) 67.9 21,200 Rock Island, Ill. 519 ft (2004) Muscatine Highway Bridge Muscatine, Iowa, to 455.9 1972 3,018 ft. (1) 66.6 4,150 Norbert F Beckey Bridge Rock Island County, Ill. 500 ft. (2004)

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 27 Reviewing a Raft of New Books for River Lovers (Stay Close to the River This Winter) By Pamela Eyden, Molly McGuire and Reggie McLeod

The River Wife Jonis Agee, Random House, New York City, 2007, 393 pages, $24.95, hardcover.

blurb on the back cover of Jonis Agee’s novel The A River Wife says, “Make sandwiches and turn off the phone, because this is a novel you won’t put down.” Blurbs like that are usually hyperbole, but this one proved true for me. I just wish I’d followed its advice and found a place to read undisturbed, which is what I wanted to do from the first page. The time and the setting couldn’t be juicier for a novel that takes place on the Mississippi River. After a framing prologue, the story begins during the great earthquake at New Madrid, Mo, in 1811. A teenaged girl cries for her mother as the house shakes and the river hisses. “Her narrow iron bed, with its lovely white scroll- work — a luxury somehow accorded a girl of 16 though her father was against it from the beginning — slid back and forth behind the partition as if they were on the river, the roar so loud it was like a thousand beasts from the apocalypse set loose upon the land, just as her father had predicted.” The roof beam collapses on top of her, crushing her legs. Believing, like their neighbors, that judgment day is upon them, the crazed family flees, taking all the clothing and food. “Farewell, dear girl, we shall meet on the far shore, clothed in His bright joy,” her father says. The rasp in his voice, a candle and a wet deerskin is all he leaves to com- fort his daughter. Poor Annie Lark. This is only the first of many chilling betrayals and surprises in store for her and the characters that succeed her through this 393-page novel, which tra- verses 120 years on the river. Annie is crippled for life, but she’s no victim, and it’s a wild and gritty life she leads. Her husband, One-Armed Jacques Ducharme, is a French fur trader who becomes an inn keeper, then a trader, then a pirate, always making the most of his location on the river, as riverboats, slave traders, and Confederate and Union soldiers move up and down. One-Armed Jacques is the pin around which the whole story centers. John James Audubon, wandering about, looking for birds, plays a key part at one point. Agee’s done plenty of historical research for this imagi- native tale. The book meanders like a river through more

28 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 than a century of the fortunes and misfortunes of a host of complicated, peculiar and unpredictable characters — Annie, One-Armed Jacques, Omah, Laura Burke Shut, Little Maddie, L.O. Swan. Agee’s writing is fine. Her previous books include Sweet Eyes, Strange Angels and The Weight of Dreams. For a person who loves to read, there’s nothing so luxu- rious as a book so absorbing that the rest of life seems pale in comparison, at least for a few days. This is one. (PE) A Guide to Effigy Mounds National Monument

Dennis Lenzendorf, Eastern National, Fort Washington, Penn., 2007, 130 pages, $15.95, paperback.

he Effigy Mounds National Monument, just upriver Tfrom Marquette, Iowa, is a remarkable place for a number of reasons: it has the largest collection of Indian mounds, the largest collection of effigy mounds, a great little museum, amazing Mississippi River overlooks and miles of scenic hiking trails. The area is also sacred to some people. This guide is a bit of a hodgepodge, but it covers a lot of ground in its slim package. The first 30 pages gallop through 12,000 years of history before the settlers arrived. Then a timeline summarizes highlights in history from 1673, when Marquette and Joliet arrived at the Mississippi River nearby, to 2002, when the Yellow River Bridge Boardwalk Trail was completed. Then follows a history of white people discovering and trying to under- stand the mounds, then a history of how the monument came into being and how it came to be what it is today. A couple of pages offers ideas about the mounds from a member of the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) Tribe of Nebraska. The final section of the book describes places and trails in the monument. Several individuals who were important to the monument and local archaeology are profiled briefly, including Ellison Orr, who explored and documented countless sites over most of his long lifetime. He and his son, Fred, con- ducted field studies until the elder Orr was well into his 80s. As someone who usually visits the monument at least once a year, I enjoyed the book, especially learning about the history of the Yellow River Valley. A casual visitor to the monument might wonder why people built so many mounds here — what makes this place special. The book does a good job of explaining that the monument is on the edge of a huge area stretching across southern Wisconsin that was rich with effigy and other types of mounds. The more important question might be “Why is this the largest intact group of mounds, and why were nearly all the others destroyed?” This book does a good job of answering these questions. “Today, Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves rem- nants of a cultural tradition of the people who built mounds of earth. Within the national monument, 206 known mounds are preserved, 31 in the shapes of animals. At one time, an estimated

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 29 10,000 mounds existed in northeast Iowa alone, today less [sic] than a thousand remain.” (RM) Maiden Rock Mary Logue, Bleak House Books, Madison, Wis., 2007, 240 pages, $24.95, cloth, $14.95, paperback.

etective and crime writers often turn the locale into a Dmain character of their books. The map has become speckled with writers covering their stomping grounds, from Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles to Tony Hiller- man’s four-corners. Mary Logue has staked out Pepin County, the smallest county in Wisconsin and one of the most picturesque — with its steep bluffs rising from Lake Pepin. This fifth book of the Claire Watkins series sets piv- otal events in the story on the edge of Maiden Rock, the dramatic cliff towering over Lake Pepin (See “A Hike on Maiden Rock Bluff” Big River September-October 2007). Watkins is a deputy sheriff and mother of a teen- age daughter who goes missing after a Halloween party. Methedrine, missing persons and deaths keep the county stirred up from early in the book until the last page. Logue does a good job of capturing the attitudes and speech of the local people, but doesn’t devote a lot of energy to the sights, smells and sounds of the area. The book is a light, enjoyable read. The perspective constantly shifts between the points of view of a half-dozen characters, giving the reader enough information to keep a step or two ahead of Watkins. Readers from the area will enjoy the scenes taking place in Wabasha, Durand, Pepin, Nelson and other familiar spots. (RM) Water Women Wisdom: Voices from the Upper Mississippi

Nancy Scheibe, Singing River Publications, Inc., Ely, Minn., 2007, 243 pages, $16.00, paperback.

his book records the first leg of Ely artist Nancy TScheibe’s paddle down the Mississippi to celebrate her 50th birthday. The 2004 journey took Scheibe and traveling companion Heather Jeske from the headwaters at Lake Itasca to Red Wing, Minn. Along the way, they were joined by numerous other canoeists and kayakers for portions of the trip, and organized gatherings with women to talk and share personal stories. The first women invited to speak at these groups were “grandmothers,” from the Native Amer- ican tradition of calling any woman over 50 a grandmother, whether she has children or not. Stories from the gatherings are sprinkled throughout, while the narrative flows as a journal through the book. The reader can choose to read the stories, or just the travel journal, or go back and forth. I skipped some of the personal stories, then went back to read more later. Many of the women told stories of painful life experiences, what they had learned and how they had found personal strength.

30 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 A powerful spiritual theme runs through both the grandmother stories and the river travels. Scheibe often sees messages and connections in nature, such as a bird showing them the way, a lone basking turtle reminding her that being alone is okay, a snake in the road giving her the message that taking no action can have negative results. Thankfully, she did not interpret all her animal encounters this way. I read over these parts pretty fast, as well as some of the detailed descriptions and personal experiences about the paddlers. Self-renewal, getting closer to one’s real self, community and women’s wisdom were motivations for taking and sharing the journey. Their experiences with the river itself gave me a good idea what to expect if I ever think of taking such a journey. In this way, the account serves as a helpful guide. A windy crossing of Cass Lake became a little dangerous, a warning for others. Scheibe’s descriptions of campgrounds, wildlife, weather events, paddling challenges and locking through are interesting for both real and armchair Mississippi River paddlers. This September, Scheibe resumed her river trip at Red Wing with another traveling partner, and planned to arrive in St. Louis mid-October. She planned gatherings along the way, as in 2004. Two more jaunts will complete the journey in New Orleans. (MM) Ferret Island Richard W. Jennings, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2007, 227 pages, $6.00, hardcover.

ississippi River sandbars and islands are not exactly Mwild around here, but wild enough to keep an eye out for snakes and turtles and various furry, four-legged critters that may be wandering about. But when young Will Finn is washed up on an island down by Memphis he finds fierce mutant ferrets the size of golden retrievers. The island also harbors Daschell Potts, a reclusive, probably demented, author whose claim to fame is his notoriously popular book Folderol, a philosophical and inspirational story about a duck swimming in a circle. Will makes do on the island, using flotsam that washes up on shore, including a BarcaLounger and assorted junk food. As he says, “On the Mississippi River, if you keep your eyes peeled, whatever you’re likely to need will even- tually pass by.” He is overjoyed to discover Potts, his favorite author, but is aghast at the man’s missing ear, removed by a particularly nasty ferret. Trying to get a peek at what he thinks is Potts’ new manuscript, Will stumbles into trouble, but always figures something out or is rescued in the nick of time. (He’s proud of his personal motto, courtesy of his fourth-grade teacher, “Where there’s a Will there’s a way.”) It takes Will a while to figure out what kind of scheme Potts is organizing involving ferrets, fast food and burger wrappers. Richard Jennings tips his hat to Mark Twain more than a few times in this juvenile novel. Will Finn’s best buddy on the island is a friendly and helpful ferret, Jim; Huckle- berry Finn and Folderol are the two books that a local town

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 31 council deem worthy of destroying. Not to mention the chapter titled “Life on the Mississippi,” and the pretty, blond girl who also lands on the island and gets lost in a cave with Will. The action really gets going after Will (barely) escapes the island (Warning: SPOILER ahead) through a tunnel under the river dug out by thousands of sharp ferret teeth. He catches a ride on a turnip truck and falls off, meets a misguided federal officer in hot pursuit of rampaging parrots, and enlists the help of a former-congressman/ex- con-turned-Homeland Security agent, Pierre Narf. In an attempt to save the world, Will must pursue Potts and his school bus full of giant hungry ferrets. Yes, it’s a wacky ride, and adults will chuckle along with the younger readers for whom this book is written. Along the way, I learned a few fun facts about ferrets: they steal things; they smell bad; and they smell really bad when they are really big: “…you learn that a ferret’s smell is not a rancid stink like the monkey house at the zoo, but a rich and com- plex bouquet on the order of Ethiopian coffee, Honduran cigars, or Parmesano Reggiano cheese, an aroma that’s immediately identifiable, a musky essence that announces, ‘I am weasel, smell me more.’” Jennings sneaks in a plug for a previous novel, Stink City, about a boy whose family has a secret recipe for an incredibly stinky and successful catfish bait. Mmm… there’s no denying the olfactory possibilities of the Missis- sippi River. (MM) Biking Illinois David Johnsen, 2006, 132 pages; Biking Iowa Bob Morgan, 2006, 116 pages; Paddling Iowa Nate Hoogeveen, 2006, 183 pages; Paddling Southern Minnesota Lynne and Robert Deibel, 2007, 198 pages; Paddling Southern Wisconsin Mike Svob, 2006, 180 pages; Trail Books, Madison, Wis., $19.95, paperback.

ll of these books suggest dozens of outdoor excur- Asions, each of which are sketched with a clear map and detailed explanations of what to expect, points of interest and useful information, including campgrounds and rentals. They all include trips on or near the Missis- sippi River. To take in a pannier or canoe, you’d probably prefer to copy the pages you need, but the descriptions include enough detail to tempt you to while away a frigid afternoon daydreaming of summer adventures. (RM)

32 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 The uncommon birds that are the subject of the book Hell Gate of the Mississippi — The Effie are uncommon because their numbers have decreased Afton Trial and Abraham Lincoln’s Role (red-headed woodpecker), or because they may be here one year and not the next (snowy owl) or because they’re in It just plain hard to find (Townsend’s solitaire). Larry A. Riney, Talesman Press, Geneseo, Ill., 2006, 323 It’s a very satisfying book just to sit and look at. Dana pages, $19.95, paperback. Gardner’s watercolor illustrations are beautiful, evocative and stylish. Gardner paints distinctive details of each bird ell Gate of the Mississippi is a meticulous, engaging and its plumage, along with a few key elements of a typical Hbook about the who, why and how of one of the most place where it might be seen. A kind of silence surrounds famous trials on the Mississippi River. In May of 1856 the each bird — the backgrounds are left serene and dreamy, Effie Afton steamboat crashed into a railroad bridge over like the wide open spaces of nature. For example, the Aca- the Mississippi. Captain Hurd, owner and pilot of the boat, dian flycatcher perches on an oak twig, from which dangle sued the Railroad Bridge Company for building the bridge old, curled, brown oak leaves. The bird’s soft brown back at a treacherous location and thereby endangering river and slight head crest, its white eye ring and the configura- traffic. Abraham Lincoln, a young, relatively inexperienced tion of white bars on its black wing are all concisely por- lawyer from Springfield, Ill., was recruited to join the legal trayed. The background is a hazy blur of spring green. team defending the Railroad Bridge Company. The text by Nancy Overcott is amiable, informative and The trial was important because the privately funded easy to read. She tells about each bird and recounts at least bridge was the first railroad bridge to span the river, link- one birding adventure involving it. Her friends and neigh- ing the expanding agricultural areas of Iowa with markets bors, and other birders are characters in these little sto- in the East. Railroads were poised to triumph over river- ries, most of which take place near her home in Fillmore boat shipping, and river people up and down the Missis- County, Minn., where she writes about birds for the Fill- sippi knew it. They protested the bridge before it was built. more County Journal. Two weeks after it was completed, the Effie Afton crashed The book is a companion to Gardner and Overcott’s into it, burst into flame and burned up the bridge. The earlier book Fifty Common Birds of the Upper Midwest, pub- steamboating community celebrated the bridge’s demise lished in 2006. (PE) and supported Captain Hurd throughout the first, high- profile trial, which ended in a hung jury, and through suc- Vulture View ceeding attempts to win the case. April Pulley Sayre, Illustrated by Steve Jenkins; Henry Holt Abraham Lincoln was one of several lawyers arguing and Company, LLC, New York City, 2007, 32 pages, $16.95, the case, and gave a summary speech for the defense. He softcover. was paid $800 for his labor, not nearly as much as he was paid for other work. The author points out, however, that t first glance, vultures don’t seem a plausible subject it was no doubt good strategy for a country lawyer with Afor a book for small children. After all, they’re kind of political ambitions to work for influential Chicago railroad bizarre-looking, with a preference for food that been dead interests. awhile and therefore stinks. But Sayre tells their story in To the author’s credit, the book was far more absorbing light-hearted rhymes suitable for young children. than one might expect from a story about a long-past legal “Up, up! Turkey vultures tilt, soar, scan to find the food that dispute. I’ve heard about the Effie Afton incident, but didn’t vultures can... eat! know why the trial was still in public memory 150 years That snake over there? No, no. after it happened. That fox over there? No, no. For my taste, though, the book exhausted me with That bear over there? No, no. details in places, such as an explanation of exactly where Vultures smell the air. They sniff, search, seek… for foods the stones for the short piers supporting the bridge spans that…REEK!” were quarried. The story is good enough that I just wanted Turn the page and there’s a gorgeous paper collage of a the author to get on with it and not slow down for such rotting deer carcass. historical footnotes. (PE) This would be a great book to read to a child who lives in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, where turkey vul- Fifty Uncommon Birds of the Upper tures soar. (PE) F Midwest

Watercolors by Dana Gardner, Text by Nancy Overcott; Uni- versity of Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa, 2007, 112 pages, $34.95, hardcover.

hile you are holed up in a heated room under artifi- Wcial light this winter, you might want to pick up this book and dream of birding days to come.

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 33 Photo Contest Winner

This photograph was taken on Lake Pepin by Kate Halverson of Lake City, Minn.

Send entries for the January-February contest to Big River “PHOTO CONTEST” in the subject line. by November 16. If we select your photo to print in these Or send a print to Photo Editor, Big River, PO Box 204, Wi- pages, we’ll send you three free copies of the magazine. nona, MN 55987. (We cannot return photographs, though.) The contest is open to amateurs, professionals, adults and Include your name, address, phone number and a short kids. Email a digital JPEG (.jpg) photo file — high-resolu- description of the photograph — who or what it is, when tion photos only, please — to [email protected]. Write and where it was taken, etc. F

(River News continued from page 15) dancer was owned by Bradley Smith, Instead of tying off their boat on Upper Mississippi River region: who also owns a bar in Bayport, the ropes, the couple had grabbed • Breitbach Brother’s Country Minn., and was on board at the time hold of them and let the boat go. They Restaurant in Balltown, Iowa, a Ger- of the accident, a mile south of the were soon rescued, although their man community north of Dubuque. Stillwater Lift Bridge. (St. Paul Pioneer boat got lodged in debris seven feet Besides being known locally for its Press, 6-12-07) in front of the dam and had to be tied great fish fries, soups and pies, Breit- • Rock Island — A couple on a off there until water levels dropped. bach’s is the oldest restaurant in Iowa pleasure boat above Lock and Dam It was retrieved in October. and has been in the same family for 15 were getting ready for dinner on According to the Army Corps of six generations. August 26 when they discovered they Engineers, people were rescued at Mike Breitbach, owner of Breitbach were drifting into the dam. Their Rock Island District dams four times Brothers, said Brown and his crew anchor rope had gotten tangled in the this summer. (Tower Times, July-Sep- spent nearly five hours at his place. engine’s propeller and been cut. They tember 2007) Brown interviewed Breitbach, while called a lockman, who told them to crew members sampled each of the put on their lifejackets and stand out Feasting on Asphalt pies. on deck to grab the “last chance” The Food Network’s zany and per- “He didn’t eat because he was too ropes hanging from Arsenal Bridge. snickety Alton Brown rode his mo- busy being entertained by the build- He also called 911 and alerted bridge torcycle up the Great River Road last ing,” Breitbach said. employees, who grabbed ring buoys summer on a hunt for good, locally- Other restaurants included in the and headed to the Iowa side. Mean- made food. Calling his motorcycle ex- tour were: while, a towboat sped toward the cursion “Feasting on Asphalt,” Brown • Kalmes Restaurant, located in scene to help. stopped at eight restaurants in the St. Donatus south of Dubuque, where

34 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 Brown feasted on fried chicken livers gests developing a tree and vegeta- 49.156 seconds. and Luxembourg noodles. tion plan for the areas and helping The first world championship took • The Whistle Stop Cafe, a small- bluff-area property owners eliminate place in Yueyang, China, in 1995. The town, down home restaurant near the invasive tree species. competition occurs every two years. railroad tracks in Frontenac, Minn. The committee recently collected Carstens said dragon-boat racers • Russian Tea House in St. Paul, public input. It will send its final rec- are dedicated to the water. “We’re like where one can get authentic Russian ommendations to the city’s zoning Canadians. When we have children, food, such as piroshki, cabbage rolls board. The zoning board will then we like them to be born with paddles and borscht, for take-out. decide what, if any, changes to make in their hands,” he said. • Olsen Fish Company, a northeast to the plan before passing it along to Minneapolis company that boasts the Dubuque City Council. Slow Boat to Everywhere of being “the world’s largest lutefisk St. Paul — David Nelson is trying to producer.” Dragons Rule float a deal that would turn retire- • Mickey’s Diner, a classic diner Dubuque, Iowa — Four members of ment into a river cruise for 200 well- in downtown St. Paul that serves big Dubuque’s dragon-boat racing crew heeled drifters on “a slow boat to breakfasts and other classic American qualified for the national team this everywhere,” as his website puts it. diner food. year and in September went to Syd- His proposed river vessel, the • Bob’s Java Hut in south Minne- ney, Australia, to participate in the Marquette, would be the first resi- apolis, where one can watch races on world dragon-boat competition. Tom dential cruise ship traveling inland a big-screen television while sipping Weitz and Sue Miller, Dubuque; Rod waterways continuously throughout on espresso. Reicher, Dyersville, Iowa; and Ken the year, said Nelson, a St. Paul real- • Viking Inn, a restaurant, bed- Mulholland, Hanover, Ill., made the estate developer and longtime house- and-breakfast inn, and dinner theater team. The team, named Solid Steel, boat resident. rolled into one in Crosby, Minn. The practices on the Mississippi River Live-in passengers, including Nel- Viking serves mead, or fermented three times a week during the open- son and his wife, would ply the Mis- honey brew, along with meat pies and water season. sissippi from St. Paul to New Orleans other food with a Medieval flair. Teams consists of 22 paddlers, a and continue to Gulf of Mexico desti- drummer and a stern person. Their nations on inland waterways. Bluffs Reconsidered boats are long and narrow and weigh The $90 million, live-on vessel Dubuque, Iowa — The City of would feature up to 200 residential Dubuque is considering measures A carved dragon’s head units. Prices would range from about to protect three bluff areas along the decorates the front, and the $300,000 for 500-square-foot studios Mississippi River and along U.S. to $500,000 for 900-square-foot units highways 20 and 52. “tail” holds the drummer. with two bedrooms and two baths. Bluff preservation became an Annual fees for buyers in this water- important issue after the city gave 400 to 600 pounds. A carved drag- borne condo would be an additional developer A.J. Spiegel permission to on’s head decorates the front, and the $13,000 to $23,000. build a condominium by the bluff “tail” holds the drummer. (In tradi- The Marquette would include a along the Mississippi, at the base tional Chinese culture, dragons rule deli, restaurant, grocery store, fitness of Eagle Point Park, and to build the river.) center, beauty salon and theaters. A high-rise condos for seniors on top The United States team did well, bus and a rental-car hauler would fol- of the bluff overlooking downtown winning the Nation’s Cup, which low on land for residents who want Dubuque and the river. is much like a “best in show” prize ground transport at the next stop. The first thing a city-appointed based on its overall performance. Nelson is targeting retirees but advisory committee did was to define The team also picked up a gold notes that you could work from the what a bluff is: an area that rises at medal in the 500-meter race, which boat. It will have a satellite dish, high- least 10 feet for each foot of ground it was the last race of the four-day definition TV, fast Internet and phone covers and is at least 20 feet high. event. About 20 nations sent crews to service. In its preliminary recommenda- the competition. Nelson says he will go ahead with tions, the committee included land “That was a photo-finish race, the project if he can bank $5,000 in 50 feet from both the top and bottom with the U.S. team coming in just earnest money from prospects inter- of the bluff for protection. It said the an inch or two ahead of the second ested in 60 percent of the on-board city should consider adding build- team,” said Gary Carstens, Dubuque, units. As of early October, he had ing setback requirements, limiting president of the U.S. federation and signed up six. F the height of buildings near the bluffs an international official.. The U.S. and minimizing the visual impact of team covered 500 meters in just 1 Visit www.big-river.com for links to new development from the Missis- minute and 48.748 seconds, while the information about stories marked sippi River. second-place team, from the Philip- with the mouse 8. The preliminary plan also sug- pines, did the stretch in 1 minute and

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 35 River’sRiver’sEDGE Serving Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Great View & Food • Fun! Docking Available Open 6 AM – 2AM Mon-Sat; 7AM – 2AM, Sun. 10 South Front Street Lansing, IA • 563-538-4497

YOUAREINVITED 6th Annual RIVERS & BLUFFS © All photos by River Road Gallery. All rights reserved. FALL BIRDING FESTIVAL November 9, 10 & 11, 2007 Tens of thousands of Tundra Swans, Hundreds of Thousands of Ducks & Geese • Explore MN, WI & IA via Half-Day Field Trips • Expert Naturalists with Live Birds • Vendors & Artists • Cruises on Mississippi River for Close-up Views • Door-Prizes, • Gift Certificates • Silent & Live Auctions to Aid Conservation • Live Music Sponsored by “Friends of Pool 9” Full itinerary & registration details: www.lansingiowa.com

Advertiser Index 6th Annual River & Bluffs Fall Birding Festival . . .36 Natural Gait (The) ...... 6 Alma Leather ...... 39 Old Man River Brewery ...... 13 Alma Tourism ...... 39 On-Deck Sailing Charters ...... 41 Alma, Wis...... 39 Paper Moon Gifts & Books ...... 38 Bird-Song.com, Inc...... 4 Pearl of the Lake Paddleboat ...... 42 Blue Heron Coffeehouse ...... 12 Pendleton’s Boutique & More ...... 37 Bluff Country Co-op ...... 12 Pepin Heights Orchard ...... 42 BNOX ...... 40 Pepin Hometown Holidays ...... 40 Business Card Gallery ...... 44 Pepin, Wis...... 40 Century 21 Pepin Office ...... 41 Pepin Realty ...... 40 • Christmas at Dan’s Pepin Marina ...... 40 Peterson Field Guides . . . . . inside front cover the Villa Louis Eagles Landing B&B and Winery ...... 38 Pickle Factory ...... 41 Eagles Landing Condominiums, LLC ...... 9 Pieces of the Past ...... 37 Dec. 1-2, 8-9 Galena Cellars ...... 14 Prairie du Chien Chamber & Tourism ...... 36 • Christmas Galena Illinois CVB ...... 14 Rather Bee Quilting ...... 42 Shopping Golden Frog Restaurant & Saloon ...... 37 Richards House B&B ...... 49 Gordian’s Knot LLC ...... 2 River Cities Floating Condos ...... 50 • New Year’s Great River Organic Milling ...... 37 River City Vacation Rentals ...... 6 Eve Carp Drop Great River Roasters & Cafe ...... 41 Rivers Edge Restaurant ...... 36 • Riverboat Casino Grumpsters Log Cabin Getaway ...... 38 Riverwise Publishing ...... 1 Hartland Visions Log Homes ...... 38 Signatures Restaurant ...... 10 Hawks View Cottages & Lodges ...... 13 Smith Brothers Landing ...... 40 Hell Gate on the Mississippi ...... 14 Stauer House Bed & Bath ...... 38 Hillcrest Motel ...... 39 Stonefield Village WI State Historical Site . . . . 1 Hotel De Ville ...... 39 Stoney Creek Inn ...... 49 Island City Harbor ...... 4 Swan Jewelers ...... 42 • Winter Getaway Jefferson Pub & Grill ...... 37 T&C Latane ...... 41 Packages Lake City Chamber of Commerce ...... 42 Traxx Restaurant & Lounge ...... 39 • Hiking at Lake City Tourism ...... 43 Trempealeau Chamber of Commerce ...... 6 area parks Lansing, Iowa ...... 36 Villa Louis WI State Historical Site ...... 1 Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum ...... 41 Vintage Cottage Boutique ...... 42 • Bald Eagle Magnolias ...... 37 Visit Winona ...... 11 viewing Marcou Realty ...... 9 Water Lily Gifts ...... 39 • Ice Fishing Marquette McGregor Tourism ...... 38 Waterways Journal ...... 9 McGarrity’s Inn ...... 36 Wild Rose Timberworks ...... 4 1-800-732-1673 McGregor/Marquette, Iowa ...... 38 Willows on the River Condominiums ...... 42 www.prairieduchien.org McGregor’s Landing Bed & Bath ...... 38 Wings Over Alma ...... 39 Minn. Weather Guide & Environmental Calendar . 9 Winona, Minn...... 37 Prairie du Chien Area Minnesota Marine Art Museum ...... 6 Winona County Historical Society ...... 11 Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Council National Eagle Center ...... 4 Yellow Bird Art Shop ...... 36

36 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 FountainFountain City, City, Wisconsin Wisconsin FoundedFounded 1839 1839

DowntownDowntown Winona,Winona, MinnesotaMinnesota Jefferson Pub and Grill Located at 58 Center St. on the Levee in Winona Casual Dining, Steaks and Seafood, Burgers, Soups and Salads, Kids Menu Banquet Facilities Boaters Welcome • Free Docking Available at the Levee www.jeffersonpub.com 507-452-2718

Pieces of the Past Walk through our door and enjoy the colors, sounds, aromas, tastes, and textures of the season. Furniture Home & Garden Décor Gifts & More Corner of 2nd & Lafayette Streets www.piecesofthepast-winona.com (507) 452-3722 Mon. 12 - 5:30 p.m. Tues. - Fri. 9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 37 38 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 Alma, Wisconsin

Alma Leather Chaps, Moccasins Belts, Sandals Handbags Backpacks Biker & Hunter Accessories phone: (608) 685-4775 web: www.LeatherAlma.com email: [email protected] 121 N. Main St., Alma, WI

REASONS VISITORS LIKE COMING TO ALMA Ice Fishing, Hunting, Birding Hiking Trails, Shopping Fine and Casual Dining Museums & Art Galleries Historic “Stair Steps”streets connecting Main with 2nd Street Buena Vista Park Overlook www.wingsoveralma.org Kenny Salwey Film - Mississippi: The Last River phone: 608-685-3303 Rat, Nov. 11th, refreshments at 3 p.m., film at 4:30 p.m. Information: 608-685-3303 Wings Over Alma is a Nature & Art Center located in downtown Alma on Main Street. The Center has a viewing deck overlooking the Mississippi River just Travel State Hwy 35, Wisconsinʼs Great below Lock & Dam#4 and is equipped with observa- River Road and National Scenic Byway, tion scopes for nature viewing. Wings Over Alma is to beautiful and historic Alma, WI. also a local and regional art center with rotating exhibits and a gift shop. Visitor information is avail- ADDRESS: P.O. Box 191, Alma, WI 54610 able and the center is open everyday all year around. E-MAIL: [email protected] WEB: www.almawisconsin.com Art work by Gail Pommerening, Mississippi Sunset TELEPHONE: 608-685-3303

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 39 40 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 41 LAKE CITY, MINNESOTA

Pepin Heights Orchard: The HoneyCrisp Place!

Open 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. EVERYDAY!

Located directly off of Hwy 61 just south of downtown Lake City... Stop in and sample the region's favorite apples!

(800)-369-4123 • www.lakecitymn.org

42 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 43 DUKE ADDICKS’ Native American EAGLE TALES CD May Be Purchased From The National Eagle Center 651-565-4989 [email protected] www.nationaleaglecenter.org Information about Duke’s CDs and the many public events where Duke will tell his stories: www.DukeAddicksStoryteller.com

The hisToric Home of the Famous Trempealeau HoTel Walnut Burger resTauranT & saloon

• Fine Dining Along the Mississippi River in the historic Village of Trempealeau Serving lunch and dinner daily • Accommodations Luxury suites, Kingfishers Riverside Rooms, Pines Cottage, and European-style rooms • Stars Under the Stars Concert Series starts May 12 150 Main Street, Trempealeau, WI • 608-534-6898 www.trempealeauhotel.com • www.walnutburger.com Performance Marine & Machine, Inc.

455 Jefferson Street Shop: 507-474-7110 Winona, MN 55987 Fax: 507-474-7515

Email: [email protected] www.performancemarineandmachine.com

Setzer Architects commercial • residential licensed in Minnesota and Wisconsin 2000 W. Main St., Red Wing, MN 55066 651-385-2218; e-mail: [email protected] website: www.setzerarchitects.com Steven Setzer, AIA

Driftless Land Stewardship LLC Natural Areas Management since 1997 Serving portions of WI, IA, MN, and IL

608-996-2135 [email protected]

www.driftlesslandstewardship.com Natural Areas Management Ecological Restoration Invasive Species Control The Barn Restaurant Prairie du Chien,WI Fine Dining in a Relaxed Atmosphere Drive in...sail in...So come in to enjoy fine dining in a rustic atmosphere surrounded by antiques and For information or reservations call collectibles inside and spectacular (608) 326-4941 scenery outside. All major credit cards accepted Public Dining all year round Tuesday - Sunday 5 p.m. to Close BBANQUET ROOMS AVAILABLE Seasonal Sunday Champagne FOR 50 TO 500 GUESTS Brunch, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m Learn about this new great national park initiative in Wisconsinʼs magnificent Driftless Area and see why and how this dream could become a reality. TheThe Becoming Becoming of of the the Driftless Driftless RiversRivers National National Park Park

Written by Bryan J. Stanley Original art work by Frank Mittelstadt Stunning aerial photography by Robert J. Hurt Give the gift of the River 277 pages $50, $6 S/H all year long 30 day return policy if not satisfied VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.driftlessrivers.org EMAIL: [email protected] PHONE: 608-301-1000 ext. 12630 ADDRESS: 301 Troy Drive, Madison WI 53704

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46 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 (Galena continued from page 19) Carl and Marilyn Johnson moved macies — as well from Chicago in 1970 with four chil- as antique shops dren, and bought an 1850-vintage that gave the town house with five bedrooms and space a reputation for for Carl’s art studio. Since then they being an antique have worked on two homes, done hunter’s para- major restoration on three down- dise. They oper- town buildings and have “materially ated with small- improved” two more. They now live town casualness, above Carl Johnson’s Gallery on Main posting signs in Street. the window, say- “We moved here because it was a ing “Back in 10,” place where we could get out of the or “Catch me at suburbs and dig into a project and home.” Today, make it happen,” Marilyn said. both the practi- Marilyn, who is passionate about cal businesses and history, has researched all of the the antique shops buildings the Johnsons have worked are gone. Antiques on or lived in. She is particularly were pushed out fascinated by the 1820s upright tim- by eBay and high Even the second and third floors of most downtown Galena buildings are ber building they restored, called rents. If you stroll occupied, as they were in the 1800s. (Jo Daviess County Convention and the Stockade, which was used in the down Main Street Visitors Bureau) Black Hawk War. Having accumu- today, you’ll find lated copies of letters and ledgers restaurants and shops that sell every- of 3,400 residents has to provide utili- from the original builder, Indian thing from local wine to French lin- ties, water and sewage treatment for trader Amos Farrar, she is consider- ens, from T-shirts to teapots. Deep, 40,000 people. There’s little industry ing writing a book about him. wide 19th century-style storefronts in town to help shoulder the bur- “We’ve had the good fortune to make for great window shopping, but den. The city council has refused to live out here in the boondocks, really, it’s a whole different scene now. increase property tax rates for three and still make a living,” Marilyn said. “Residents drive across Main years now, and a referendum to “But it’s very intense, living on Main Street, but we don’t go there. All the increase the local sales tax by a half Street. Now that we’re in our 70s, percent failed. Galena retains just 1.5 we’ve bought a condo in Chicago, so To accommodate visitors, this percent of the total 6.75 percent sales we can go there to relax.” tax — and that’s not enough to keep Carl Johnson is currently chair city of 3,400 residents has to up with infrastructure demands, of the town’s Historic Preservation provide utilities, water and according to city administrator Mark Commission, which decides what sewage treatment for 40,000 Moran. kinds of alterations can be made to “Without new sources of revenue, buildings inside the commercial his- people. we’re just putting bandages on ser- toric district. It is sometimes a very vices,” he said. The search for fund- contentious process. businesses are tourist-oriented,” said ing never stops. Galena’s prominent “Meetings in Galena are very Scott Wolf, who restored and lives in position and reputation helped win lively,” Watson agreed. “People care, an 1850s-era house in the old German federal and state grants to help pay and they care a lot.” Persistent hot neighborhood still called Cabbage for a $15-million sewage treatment buttons include: what should and Town. Wolf is not alone in his wry plant a few years ago, but a new plant should not be changed, which streets disappointment in the shift. for a less popular city would have to improve, zoning and taxes. “Peo- Parking continues to be an issue. cost half as much. ple are always trying to strike a bal- When 25,000 visitors come to down “We want to be as good as we can ance between livability and tourist for special events, they have to park be to attract visitors, and tourism is a development.” somewhere. Competition for free very competitive business. We want three-hour parking spots on Main more bike trails and pleasant down- Livability versus Tourism Street is fierce. For those not willing town parks, but we have to pay for That balance point keeps shifting. In to walk, trolleys carry people from it,” Moran said. F the 1970s and early 1980s, Main Street the visitors center into and around was populated with locally-owned the town. Outlying pay lots at least Pamela Eyden is Big River’s news and photo editor. businesses that served the community help generate some city revenue. — hardware stores, shoe stores, phar- To accommodate visitors, this city

November-December 2007 / Big River Magazine 47 Big River Places

Indian Mounds Park Modern Transportation and Ancient Mounds

By Reggie McLeod Indian Mounds Park presents a panoramic view of the river and downtown St. Paul. (Courtesy of the National Park Service)

ost popular river over- trains. Across the river, corporate jets In the mid 1800s scientists exca- looks offer broad expanses zoom into and out of Holman Field. vated the mounds and found numer- Mof islands and backwaters, The view upriver is interrupted by a ous graves and artifacts, including where there is not a lot happening succession of busy bridges, with the copper, projectile points and a skull other than the passing of an occa- High Bridge in the distance climbing covered with red clay molded into the sional boat or flock of birds. However, to Cherokee Heights. The Delta Queen, shape of a face. Indian Mounds Park, perched more Mississippi Queen and American Queen Many of these large, round than 200 feet above the river on Day- mounds found near the river in ton’s Bluff in St. Paul, provides a view In the park, just up the hill the Upper Midwest are Hopewell of an urban river full of activity. mounds. The Hopewell Culture Transportation is the theme of this from the overlook, lie six large originated in Ohio, but it’s unclear overlook. On the river below, barges burial mounds that may whether the people or just their ideas line the shore and tows push them and culture spread out over a larger back and forth. Pleasure boats head have been built as long as area. for the St. Paul Yacht Club. In switch- 2,000 years ago by Hopewell At the base of Dayton’s Bluff, Carv- ing yards at the base of the bluff, rail- people. At one time at least 37 er’s Cave probably served as a kind road cars are shuffled into and out of of cathedral for hundreds of years. It mounds graced this area. contained a lake and many rock carv- ings on its walls and ceiling. It was tie up at the Lower Landing, on the damaged by railroad construction downstream side of downtown. You and much of the artwork was dam- may see bicyclists on the path along aged or destroyed, though it is still the river. The downtown St. Paul sky- considered a sacred site by Dakota line serves as a backdrop. A beacon people. The entrance is closed. atop a tower marks the crest of the A Dakota village, Kaposia, was hill in the park. located just downstream in the 1800s. Downtown St. Paul is on a bluff, The park itself is 117 years old. It too, though not as high as the park. has 2.9 miles of trails, a large shelter Looking at the river from downtown, and picnic areas. the rocky face of Dayton’s Bluff is a The Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, prominent landmark. at the base of the bluff, offers more Despite the modern bustle, signs trails and public land. of the ancient past are close at hand. To get there take East Seventh In the park, just up the hill from the Street east from downtown St. Paul to overlook, lie six large burial mounds Mounds Boulevard. Turn right onto that may have been built as long as Mounds and follow it to the park, 2,000 years ago by Hopewell peo- which will be on the right. Take the The beacon in Indian Mounds Park guides ple. At one time at least 37 mounds first right into the park to park near airplanes overhead. (Suzanne Hequet) graced this area. the overlook. F

48 Big River Magazine / November-December 2007 The Richards House Bed and Breakfast Welcomes You

ou’ll step back in time ... when you enter this Victorian mansion in Ybeautiful and historic Dubuque, Iowa. Constructed in 1883, this four- story mansion boasts of eight varieties of varnished woodwork, eight fireplaces, original chandeliers, embossed wallcoverings, antique furnish- ings, elaborate built-ins and over 80 dazzling stained glass windows.

Most rooms include working fireplaces, queen-size beds, private baths, concealed televisions, phones

Complimentary beverages and snacks

Weekday discounts

1492 Locust Street, Dubuque, Iowa, 52001 888.557.1492 www.therichardshouse.com

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