Big River Magazine, November-December 2006 · 2009-05-13 · November-December 2006 / BIG RIVER MAGAZINE 3 FEATURES 20 Really Big Park Civic boosters are trumpeting the idea of turning

Exploring the Mississippi from the Twin Cities to the Quad Cities

November-December 2006

www.big-river.comwww.big-river.com

’Tis the Seasonfor Dogs, Ducks andBoats

’Tis the Seasonfor Dogs, Ducks andBoats

A Raft of New River BooksA Raft of New River Books

St. Paul Dreams of a Really

BIG PARKBigger than New York’s Central Park

St. Paul Dreams of a Really

BIG PARKBigger than New York’s Central Park

Shifty, Rotten and Under Pressure:

Can You Trust River Ice?Shifty, Rotten and Under Pressure:

Can You Trust River Ice?

Catfish PlanetCatfish Planet

2 BIG RIVER MAGAZINE / November-December 2006

November-December 2006 / BIG RIVER MAGAZINE 3

F E A T U R E S

20 Really Big Park Civic boosters are trumpeting the idea ofturning St. Paul’s entire 26 miles of riverfrontinto a big park.

By Marc Hequet

26 Duck HuntingPhoto Essay

Photos and comments by Jim Bambenek

30 Review:Catfish PlanetThe exhibit at the National Mississippi RiverMuseum and Aquarium covers pretty mucheverything you want to know about catfish.

By Pete Beurskens

34 Reviews: River BooksStack up the books and have a good winter’sread about the Mississippi — there’s some-thing here for all interests and ages.

D E P A R T M E N T S

5 From the RiverbankTipping a Snapper.

By Reggie McLeod

7 River NewsDanger of Drink, Barge Power, DivisiveBridges.

32 Know Your River:IceologyBy Reggie McLeod

43 Advertiser IndexWhere did I see that ad…?

52 River PeopleShooting the River: Robert J. Hurt, AerialPhotographer

By Pete Beurskens

Cover: Mike Rosen of Minneapolis took this photographfrom the bluff overlooking Lake Pepin, between Stockholm andMaiden Rock, Wis.Above: Ice forms off the Mississippi shore near Glen Haven,Wis., in Pool 10. (Tisha Sandberg)

November-December 2006

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Big River Magazine (ISSN 1070-8340) is pub-lished six times a year by Open River Presswith assistance from Riverwise, Inc., 70 1/2 E.Fourth St., PO Box 204, Winona, MN 55987;(507) 454-5949; fax: (507) 454-2133;email: [email protected];website: www.big-river.com

Reggie McLeod ........editor/publisher

Molly McGuire ........managing editor

Pamela Eyden ..........news/photo editor

Contributing editors

Marc Hequet..........Twin Cities

Gary Kramer ........Quad Cities

Pete Beurskens ......Red Wing, Minn.

Maureen J. Cooney ..office/sales

Kathy Delano ..........sales/design

Robert Copeland ......bookkeeping/subscriptions

Patricia McGuire ....bills & renewals assistant

Subscriptions are $27 for one year, $49 for twoyears or $4.95 per single issue. Send subscrip-tions, single-copy orders and change-of-addressrequests to Big River, PO Box 204, Winona,MN 55987.

Second-class postage paid at Winona, MN.

POSTMASTER: send change-of-addressrequests to Big River, PO Box 204, Winona,MN 55987.

Big River Magazine, Volume 14, Number 6,copyright November 2006. Reproduction inwhole or in part without written permission ofthe publisher is prohibited.

From the Riverbank

In late September I spent a coupleof warm and sunny days walkingfrom Winona, Minn., to La Crosse,

Wis. I started at my doorstep, crossedthe river at Winona, spent the night atthe Trempealeau Hotel and ended atRiverside Park in La Crosse. With theexception of a harrowing routethrough north La Crosse, I followedtrails and railroad tracks. I was boun-cy and excited when I left, but 35miles later I was a happy, blisteredzombie.

Late in the morning of the first dayI was following a railroad track acrossthe big wetlands on the edge of theTrempealeau National Wildlife Refuge,startling flocks of pelicans and water-fowl. I was intrigued by a trail of emp-ty plastic water bottles placed about20 feet apart for the last several miles.Squinting into the distance, I spottedsomething on one of the rails. As I gotcloser, I saw it was a big snapping tur-tle balanced solidly on the right rail.Why does the snapper cross the rail?There was plenty of water on bothside of the tracks.

As I closed the gap I talked to it tosee if it was alive. I sometimes talk toanimals, but to date none have spokenback to me. That doesn’t mean thatthey don’t understand. There are polit-ical reasons for not responding. If ani-mals started responding to compli-ments, advice and admonitions, prettysoon we’d be trying to boss the wildanimals around, and they know it.

My snapper clawed at the air withits front legs. I paused to admire itsposition. It wouldn’t be an easy task toclimb up on that rail in such a way

that you would be so perfectly bal-anced on it. This track is seldom used,so this snapper might have beenperched on this rail for a couple ofdays or just a few minutes — therewas no way for me to tell, and the tur-tle wasn’t about to tell me. I’ve neverbeen able to read a broad spectrum ofemotions in the body language and fa-cial expression of a snapping turtle,just hostility, panic and wary watch-fulness. However, I think I caught aglint of awkward embarrassment inthat reptilian eye.

(Looking back, I can see that possi-bly a bottled-water-swilling sadist hadcarefully balanced that snapper on therail. Perhaps as I considered the situa-tion, he or she was just up the line, outof sight, guzzling yet another bottle ofwater then placing it carefully next tothe track with a crooked grin on his orher face.)

Snapping turtles are one of nature’stough guys (or gals), but in this situa-tion I would bet on the train. I pausedfor a little bit before acting. I recog-nized this situation. How many timeshave I felt like I was kicking and claw-ing at the air, stuck in place while feel-ing the faint vibrations of a distantthreat drawing closer?

Could the snapper have tipped it-self off that rail? Perhaps if it wavedall its legs forward then backwards ina steady rocking rhythm, like swim-ming the breaststroke in air. I reallythink this would work. It would cer-tainly be fun to watch. And, it mightbe a useful skill for a snapping turtleon the wrong side of the tracks tolearn, but not today.

Reggie McLeodEditor/Publisher

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 magazines contact KathyDelano or Maureen J. Cooney ([email protected]). We must receive ads by November 9 to get them into the January-February 2007 magazine.

TIPPING A SNAPPER


I tipped the snapper off the railwith my toe. It was either exhaustedor not about to be rushed, because itjust sat there with its long armor-plated tail draped across the rail.When I gave the tail a little nudge,the snapper twirled around hissing,jaws stretched wide ready to take apiece out of my shoe. I had half amind to put it back on that rail.

I didn’t wait for a thank you, but Idid say “you’re welcome,” and head-ed off to Trempealeau as the snapperwatched me warily. F



Short and SuccessfulBuffalo City, Wis. — A second draw-down in Pool 5 (Buffalo City to Alma,Wis.) was cut short last summer bydry weather and low river flows, butearly results are very encouraging.

“The pool looks excellent,” saidTim Schlagenhaft, Mississippi Rivercoordinator for the Minnesota De-partment of Natural Resources.

People who use the pool havebeen commenting that the water isclearer and the ducks are stayinglonger, but wildlife managers are alsopleased with the apparent boost inplant life and the proliferation ofwildlife, including frogs and dragon-flies. Waterfowl hunters reported ex-cellent results last year and this year.

This spring managers plan to com-plete an extensive report on thechanges in the pool, which will bemade available to the public.

Last year islands were created andbackwater channels were dredged in

Spring Lake, just below Buffalo City,during the initial drawdown. Anoth-er drawdown started in mid June,last summer, but just about nine daysafter the water level was lowered by1.5 feet at Lock and Dam 5, the draw-down had to be cancelled and thewater level raised. A tow in the poolwas grounded at about the sametime, but the grounding was not re-lated to the drawdown, noted Schla-genhaft.

Drawdowns stimulate plant

River News

At the La Crosse (Wis.) Munici-pal Boat Harbor, gas sales weredown 40 percent compared to thelast two years, while traffic wasdown 10 percent.

At Parkside Marina in Wabasha,Minn., traffic was similar to recentyears, although overnight traffic wasdown and gas sales were down 30percent compared with the last twoyears. It was the worst year in tenyears for marina revenue.

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growth, which then provides betterhabitat for wildlife and protectsshorelines from erosion. The DNRs,U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service andArmy Corps of Engineers work to-gether on the drawdowns and fol-lowup studies.

The dry weather and low riverflows last summer appeared to stim-ulate plant growth in the upstreamends of most of the pools. At somespots the water fell to the lowest lev-els in about 10 years, Schlagenhaftsaid.

The agencies are considering a mi-nor drawdown, about one foot at thedam, for Pool 6 (Trempealeau, Wis.,to Winona, Minn.), next summer, hesaid.

Gas Up, Cruising DownRising gas prices this summer fueledstories about boats being put up forsale, gas pumps standing idle andboaters partying dockside but notcruising much.

Sunset Marina in Rock Island,Ill., reported that gas sales weredown this year, but not by much —about 9,500 gallons, 10 or 11 percent.The overall transient income wassteady.

At Island City Harbor in Sabula,Iowa, Jerry Lawson reported that gassales and transient business were lessthan half of last year’s. People cameto the marina, but about 75 percent ofthem didn’t go out.

Visit www.big-river.com for linksto information about storiesmarked with the mouse�.

Drawdowns stimulate

plant growth, which then

provides better habitat for

wildlife and protects

shorelines from erosion.


kfai.org


In St. Paul, Watergate Marina saidits fuel sales were actually up 15 per-cent or more this season, in keepingwith a trend toward a busier marinaafter remodeling and expansion in in2001. Traffic was up as well, eventhough 91 octane clear went for $3.25per gallon.

“It might have to do with peoplenot taking the longer trips and stay-ing near this part of the river as op-posed to shooting over to the St.Croix like they used to,” said manag-er Adam Wilson.

The St. Paul Yacht Club doesn’ttrack sales by the gallon, but businessmanager Roger Anderson is sure thatthe club took fewer fuel deliveriesthis season than last — “definitely adownturn in the range of 20 percentin terms of the amount of gas wesold.”

Anderson also saw less traffic athis marina during hot weather in July,although people were still on theirboats. “People used them almost likea cabin,” said Anderson. “They camedown and sat on the boat. They usedit but they didn’t leave the slip.”

Anderson reported hearing morepeople talking about selling boats be-cause of uncertainty about fuel prices.

All marina operators agreed withSabula Marina’s Jerry Lawson, thatstable gas prices at $2.50 to 2.75 nextsummer would perk up boaters andmarina revenues.

Safer DamRed Wing, Minn. — Eleven towshave collided with the gated part ofDam 3 since 1963, and deteriorateddikes nearby could fail and lowerPool 3 to the point that two nuclearpower plants would have to be shutdown for lack of cooling water, ac-cording to the Army Corps of Engi-neers.

For years the Corps has been de-veloping plans to make the trickystretch of river upstream from thelock and dam safer for tows and tostrengthen the dikes surrounding abackwater area on the Wisconsin sideof the dam. The “Draft IntegratedGeneral Reevaluation Report and En-vironmental Impact Statement” forthe $64 million project was published

in August and the comment periodended October 6.

About half the funds would bespent extending the guidewall to thelock by 862 feet, which is on the Min-nesota side upstream from Red Wing,and dredging above the dam to re-duce the outdraft — the current thatpulls downstream-bound tows awayfrom the lock and toward the damgates. The rest would be spent re-building embankments to prevent theriver from cutting a channel on theWisconsin side of the dam.

A plan proposed in 1999 was criti-cized for disturbing a species-richmussel bed just below the dam. Thenew plan would reduce the impact onthose mussel beds, according to thereport.

Danger of DrinkLa Crosse, Wis. — Since 1997, eightcollege-age men have drowned in LaCrosse. Six of the men were missinguntil their bodies were found in theriver. The most recent victim, LucasHoman, 21, was pulled from the Mis-

sissippi Oct. 2 near Riverside Park,downtown. Tests indicated that hehad a blood-alcohol concentration of0.32 percent. He was seen at severaldowntown bars two days earlier, ac-cording to the La Crosse Tribune (10-5-2006).

Each drowning fueled rumors of aserial killer, but no signs of foul playwere discovered in any of the cases ofmissing victims. Alcohol was a factorin all of them.

The city and universities are dis-cussing a range of possible responses,from better alcohol education to pa-trols to barriers between downtownand the river.

Basket Handle TwinQuad Cities — The public and a de-sign team both unanimously chosewhat is known as a “basket handletrue arch twin bridge” from four dif-ferent designs for the proposed new

I-74 bridge between Moline and Bet-tendorf. The structure would have atwin deck with four arches toweringover it. If it’s built, it will be the onlytrue arch bridge across the Mississip-pi.

The Illinois and Iowa departmentsof transportation are jointly planningthe bridge and the highway corridor.

Citizens indicated they wanted a“signature” bridge and indicated es-thetics were very important, but therewere practical reasons for the choice.Twin decks provide flexibility duringconstruction, allow for efficient deckreplacement and, according to the De-partment of Homeland Security, adouble-span bridge is a more difficulttarget for terrorists.

The entire corridor project throughMoline and Bettendorf, including thebridges, is estimated to cost about$671 million. The design team isworking to complete the environmen-tal impact study and should know bynext summer if they will get a federalgreen light.

Spring SaleMinneapolis — You can’t call it aland grab, because no one seems to begrabbing for a historic 27.3 acre parcelof land between the Mississippi Riverand historic Fort Snelling. The prop-erty, formerly home to the U.S. Bu-reau of Mines Twin Cities ResearchCenter, is up for sale. The researchcenter closed about 10 years ago, andthe government wants to sell the landto a government agency (not federal),Indian tribe, college or university. Ifnobody buys it, it may be offered toprivate parties.

Early settlers used the blufftop site,which includes the still-flowingCamp Coldwater Spring, which is not

If it’s built, it will be the only

true arch bridge across the

Mississippi.

Each drowning fueled

rumors of a serial killer, but

no signs of foul play were

discovered in any of the

cases of missing victims.


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considered potable. Some tribes havemade cultural and historical claims tothe site that have yet to be confirmedby the National Park Service. In ayear or more, the Park Service willcomplete an environmental impactstatement, and the Department of theInterior will make a final decision onthe fate of the property.

The site includes 11 buildings, allaging and in disrepair, which wouldhave to be torn down and removed.

Tit for TatKeithsburg, Ill. — The saga of devel-opment in this small river town be-gan when developer Guy L. Brenk-man moved in, bought property, be-gan developing it, opened businesses,provided a caboose for a tourist at-traction, promised a locomotive andbegan planning a new marina. Thenhe opened a bar and restaurant calledBikinis with topless servers.

People complained to city officials,and Brenkman topped the servers.

Now Brenkman has closed Bikinis,stopped work, boarded his renova-tion projects and listed them for sale.He posted signs blaming activist reli-gious groups for the situation that heclaims will cost the city significant taxrevenue. He also vowed to bulldozeBikinis, which would effectively elim-inate any chance of developing thesite because of new federal floodplain standards.

Steve Nylin, the city’s economicdevelopment coordinator, said Brenk-man has a history of buying, develop-ing and selling properties. The city re-cently received the necessary permitsfor a marina, and they have beentalking to other developers.

Brenkman did not respond to a re-quest for information for this article.

Off DutySavanna, Ill. — In September, the Ea-gles Landing Development portion ofthe former Savanna Army Depot offi-cially became a Foreign Trade Zone(FTZ). Under the direction of the Jo-Carroll Foreign Trade Zone Board, itwill help businesses, both on-site andwithin a 60-mile radius to eliminate,reduce, delay or defray duty chargeson material brought into the area

from outside of the country.When taxable raw materials are

brought into the zone, converted intoa final product and shipped fromthere, the raw material will becomeduty-free.

The FTZ’s hired consultant has be-gun talks with several companies thatmight benefit from the designation.

David Ylinen, executive director ofthe Jo-Carroll Local RedevelopmentAuthority (LRA) at the depot says thewhole purpose of obtaining the FTZstatus was to bring jobs to the area.“These sites are fairly common atlarge manufacturing centers, like autoplants, and to bring jobs here, weneed to make the best use of ourland.“

There are about 2,900 acres on thesite along the Mississippi River, butthe Army has transferred only 850acres, due to ongoing environmentalcleanup and reclamation work.

Repair It or ElseEast Moline, Ill. — A survey of dam-aged river levees and related prob-lems from silt, erosion and animalburrows will be completed in EastMoline this fall. Construction and re-pair is expected to begin next spring.

Storm sewer rates will increaseslightly to pay for repairs that theCorps of Engineers has rated as “min-imally acceptable.” If the city doesnot repair the levee and otherdrainage problems, its rating couldgo down, and it could lose federalflood assistance.

Dam Public InputMadison, Wis. — The Wisconsin De-partment of Natural Resources (DNR)must inform the public of changes inthe way water flows are managed ona stretch of the St. Croix River, a trib-utary to the Mississippi, as a result ofa court-approved agreement betweenthe DNR and the nonprofit River Al-liance of Wisconsin late this summer.

The Alliance had challenged theDNR’s “Memorandum of Under-standing” with Xcel Energy, whichowns and runs the St. Croix Falls hy-dropower dam. The memorandum,they charged, was private, could notbe enforced and provided no means

Letter to the Editor

Iwas sitting at my car dealershiptoday waiting on a small car re-

pair and thumbed through themagazines when I found yourbeautiful Big River magazine. Thatbook brought back a million mem-ories and stories. My entire familyhas commercially fished at onetime or another from Savanna, Ill.,to Stoddard, Wis. We set lines,used turtle traps, pulled seinesand on our days off we were outthere with a rod and reel or a min-now net to get bait or with a shot-gun after ducks. That river wasmy home every day.

In the 1960s and 1970s I wassecretary-treasurer of a 5-statecommercial fishing organizationthat tried to halt the Corps of En-gineers and the Wisconsin Dept. ofConservation from damaging theriver with pollution, sedimenta-tion, runoff and the like. I hate tosay it, but I’m the last living officerof the Upper Mississippi ValleyFisheries Council, and almost allcommercial fishermen have gonethe way of the Dodo bird. The riv-er 40 years ago was lush and fer-tile, the backwaters were full ofpanfish, clams, otters, beavers andducks. There used to be so manybullfrogs they would drown outyour voice. The egret rookery be-low the Genoa dam was so large itcovered miles.

Today it’s a different story.Many of the islands are gone theback waters are silted in and thepollution is terrible. Panfish haveparasites, other fish are full ofmercury and God only knowswhat else.

I just wanted to say how much Iadore the idea of the attention youare giving to the great Mississippi.

Linda J. BousmanWestby, Wis.

Big River welcomes letters to theeditors. Send yours to Big River,PO Box 204, Winona, MN 55987; oremail to [email protected].


for public involvement. The world’sonly reproducing population of thefederally-endangered winged maple-leaf mussel makes its home below thedam.

The settlement also requires waterlevel monitoring, which will be avail-able through the U.S. Geological Sur-vey website or the River Alliancewebsite. ��

Court Okays CondosDubuque, Iowa — The developerwho started excavations for a 64-unitcondominium called Eagle Villa be-low the sheer face of Eagle Bluff inDubuque in 2003 said he is in no hur-ry to continue, even though the IowaSupreme Court has cleared the way.When developer A.J. Spiegel doesproceed with his plan, it’s likely to bea scaled-down version, due to thecosts of stabilizing the bluff face,

which was damaged during his earli-er excavation.

The group that opposes the condoplan, Preserve Our Bluffs, protestedthat Eagle Bluff is a much-loved city

landmark that should not be marredwith a large private development. Itsued the city and accused Mayor Ter-ry Duggan of a conflict of interest formeetings with Spiegel.

Excavation of Eagle Bluff ceased,and the project remained in limbo forthree years. Meanwhile, the city hiredengineers to analyze and propose asolution to the destabilization prob-lem caused by the excavation. In late

September, the Supreme Court ruledthat the district court should havedismissed the case because opponentsdid not file a key writ on time.

If the project had gone ahead, itwould have produced $1 million ayear in property taxes — more thanenough to repair the bluff, accordingto Spiegel. (Dubuque Telegraph Herald,9-30-06)

New Islands & BeachesLa Crosse, Wis. — By the time thethird phase of a five-phase plan iscomplete, the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService (FWS), the Army Corps of En-gineers and state agencies will haveconstructed 33 new islands to offsetdamage from erosion in Pool 8, whichstretches from Dresbach, Minn., toGenoa, Wis. Thirteen islands havebeen built so far. The newest three liejust south of Stoddard, where CoonCreek enters the Mississippi, wherethey will shield the creek delta fromwaves and wind.

Two of the islands are open topublic hunting, while the third is

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The group that opposes the

condo plan, Preserve Our

Bluffs, protested that Eagle

Bluff is a much-loved city

landmark that should not be

marred with a large private

development.


closed until the fill settles, accordingto the FWS.

Beach-goers will be happy toknow that several popular beaches inPool 11 (between Guttenberg and Du-buque, Iowa) will be rehabilitated.One of the beaches is in the MillionDollar Island area between river mile610.5 and 611. Another is Ball’s IslandBeach, also known as WaupetonBeach, at river mile 599.

River TimePrescott, Wis. — It keeps good timeand chimes the hours, but from a newlocation. A historic Seth Thomas clockis now settled in a new brick towernear the confluence of the Mississippiand St. Croix rivers, thanks to volun-teers who donated money, time andmaterials.

The original clock tower was partof a school in 1887. When the schoolburned down in 1935, it took up res-idence in another school. In 2003,the clock and its bell, which hadn’tworked for 20 years, were removed.Resident Jerry Voje, who said he’dfixed a few cuckoo clocks over theyears, volunteered to try to fix it.When he did, the Prescott HistoricalSociety suggested the idea of thetower.

The four-faced clock, which standssix feet tall and weighs 450 pounds, isnow installed in a new, $130,000 tow-er, funded by donations from thePrescott Foundation, local citizensand merchants. The historical societydonated the tower to the city. The cityprovided land near the Highway 10Bridge on the bank of the St. CroixRiver and insures the structure.

Voje said they have fielded a fewcomplaints about the 350-pound belland its 50-pound hammer: “Somepeople want the chimes to be louderso they can hear it over the down-town noise.”

Prize for Shooting RatPrairie du Chien, Wis. — Neil Rettighas shot a lot of wildlife in the last 30years, and he’s bagged quite a fewtrophies. In September he was award-ed his fourth television Emmy awardfor outstanding individual achieve-ment in cinematography for the film,

“Mississippi: Tales from the Last Riv-er Rat,” which was produced by theBBC and the Discovery Channel. Thefilm featured author-trapper-story-teller Kenny Salwey and was basedon Salwey’s book of the same name.

Little JamaicaHager City, Wis. — Boaters cruisingdownriver past Hager City can’t missthe new artwork. Jamaican artistKevin “King” Pinto painted Missis-sippi River murals on two sides ofthe Harbor Bar and Restaurant thissummer — with egrets, eagles, fish,boaters, back channels and local fa-vorite places — but with a decidedlytropical feel, with bright colors, shim-mering blue waters and orange sun-sets.

“King called me all excited at aPackers Game on my cell phone totell me that people were posing forphotos with their rods in front of thepicture of the leaping bass, as if theywere reeling it in, within an hour af-ter he finished it,” said Harbor ownerBrad Smith.

Smith, who has a home in Jamaica,

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Historical SocietyThe old clock stands in a new tower in Prescott, Wis.(Ethan Beurskens)


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said he first met Pinto, now 27, whenthe Jamaican was an 8-year-old hus-tling tourists on a beach. “He sangand danced for the tourists, collectedbottles, and sold his pictures for a liv-ing,” Smith said. He bought a draw-

ing of a boy kicking a soccer ball fromPinto, and encouraged him to painttropical scenes.

Pinto, a runaway living on hisown, eventually worked his waythrough art school in Jamaica. He vis-

ited Smith last August and was hiredto paint the mural. In keeping withthe theme, the Harbor features someJamaican foods, and hires Jamaicanworkers through a government guestworker program.

When painted by a Jamaican artist, Kevin “King” Pinto, the Upper Mississippi takes on a distinctly tropical look in these murals, three of several he painted lastsummer in Hager City, Wis. (Ethan Beurskens)


New AttractionsOnalaska, Wis. — A federal grant of$563,000 will give a boost to Wiscon-sin’s Great River Road. Most of thegrant will fund the purchase of wa-terfront land in Onalaska, where anew tourism and archeology center isplanned. About $57,000 will pay for ascenic deck and photography plat-form at Brown’s Marsh, on Lake On-alaska.

The center is envisioned as a com-bination tourism center and archeo-logical learning center that will dis-play and house prehistoric artifactsfrom the Upper Mississippi region.

“We’re getting our partners togeth-er and putting the board togethernow,” said Jean Lunde, city tourismdirector. “The center will be built onthe waterfront on Highway 35, whichis the Great River Road, although theprecise location hasn’t been deter-mined yet.”

They hope to begin construction in2008, she said.

Meanwhile, a proposed $6-millioninterpretive and environmental edu-cational center near Grandview, Iowa,will have a Native American-inspireddesign, be built partly underground,and feature a U-shape and a wickiup-style roof. The center will be con-structed on the grounds of the 92-acreLangwood environmental learningcenter. Grandview is on Highway 61just south of Muscatine. Organizers

hope the center’s location and uniquedesign will make it a national drawfor visitors, and be sustainable to op-erate. The next step is fund raising.

In Wabasha, Minn., the WabashaPort Authority won a $100,000 grantfrom the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture for equipment and displays atthe new National Eagle Heritage Cen-

ter, which began construction in Au-gust. The new center is expected toattract three or four times the numberof visitors that the current one draws.

Visitors to Alma, Wis., should beable to watch eagles from indoorsand from a deck just below Lock andDam 4 this winter. Wings Over Almais scheduled to open in November orDecember downtown in a buildingthat will eventually include a viewingarea, visitors center, gift shop andChamber of Commerce office. Tele-scopes and binoculars will be avail-able.

Often as many as 100 eagles feedin the open water below the dam inthe winter.

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Visitors to Alma, Wis., should

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from indoors and from a

deck just below Lock and

Dam 4 this winter.


More Nuke WasteSt. Paul — In late September, theMinnesota Public Utilities Commis-sion unanimously approved Xcel En-ergy’s plan to store highly radioac-tive nuclear waste in 30 above-ground containers near the Monticel-lo power plant. The plant sits on theMississippi River about 25 milesnorthwest of the Twin Cities. Xcel

claimed the storage is needed to pro-long the life of the plant for another20 years. It also argued that nuclearpower is the best way to supply low-priced electricity without the pollu-tion caused by coal-burning plants.

The Minnesota Center for Environ-mental Advocacy, among othergroups, voiced strong questionsabout the health, safety and environ-mental effects of storing spent fuel inconcrete casks, but the proposalpassed quietly. (St. Paul Pioneer Press,9-30-06)

Island FootballMinneapolis — Neighbors still ob-ject, but the Minneapolis City Coun-cil approved a proposed high-schoolfootball stadium on Nicollet Island.

DeLaSalle High School won ap-proval Sept. 22 for a new football sta-dium on the historic island oppositedowntown Minneapolis. Opponentsargue that stadium lights, noise andtraffic will undercut the island’s resi-dential and historic areas.

The council’s 8-4 vote for the 750-seat stadium came with a caution tomute lighting to protect neighborsand the river from the glare.

Opponents argue that the schoolhas not considered other nearby loca-tions for a stadium. Building the sta-dium on Nicollet Island turns publicriverfront over to the private school,foes note, and changes the historiccharacter of the island.

It also argued that nuclear

power is the best way to

supply low-priced electricity

without the pollution caused

by coal-burning plants.


Send entries for the next contest to Big River by the deadline below. If weselect your photo to print in these pages, we’ll send you three free copies

of the magazine to share with friends. The contest is open to amateurs andprofessionals, adults and kids. Email a digital JPEG (.jpg) photo file — high-resolution photos only, please! — to [email protected]. Write “PHOTOCONTEST” in the subject line.

Or send a print to Photo Editor, Big River, P.O. Box 204, Winona, MN55987. (We cannot return photographs, though.)

Include your name, address, phone number and a short description of thephotograph — who or what it is, when and where it was taken, etc.

The deadline for the January-February 2007 issue is November 15, 2006.

Winner of the River Lovers’ Photo Contest

Anglers gather at the Pepin, Wis., boat launch during a fishing contest in April 2006. (Dennis Newton)

DeLaSalle, a 106-year-old Catholichigh school, counters that it, too, is apart of the island’s history. The stadi-um will be built on school propertyand land owned by the MinneapolisPark Board. The park board will letthe school use its land in exchangefor DeLaSalle’s promise to allowyouth sports activities there.

The school and its alumni will payfor the $3 million stadium, which re-quires further city permits.

Barge PowerHastings, Minn. — A barge-basedgenerator that produces electricityfrom river current may begin operat-ing late next year in this rivertown.

The Hastings City Council agreedin October to let Hydro Green EnergyLLC of Houston link the company’sfirst commercial “hydropower tur-bine array” to the power grid nearthe city’s hydro plant.

The floating technology “can cre-ate electricity from moving water butwithout a dam,” said Wayne Krouse,Hydro Green Energy’s chairman,CEO, founder and inventor.

The hydropower turbine array willproduce 200 kilowatts of electricity.(In comparison, a typical coal-burnerproduces 500 megawatts — 2,500times as much.) However, it has nofuel cost, burns no coal and has noemissions. It rests on a 15-foot by 24-


foot barge that draws 15 feet of water.The Hastings barge generator will

run continuously, even in winter, saidKrouse. Other such barges can be putin place to meet peak-demand peri-ods and can be brought online in aminute or two, whereas thermalplants require three to six hours topower up for peak periods.

Hydro Green will pay about$240,000 to place the generator. Hast-ings will incur no cost to have thepower barge near its hydro plant, andit will share revenues from sale of theelectricity with Hydro Green.

What’s in it for the city? “It’s morethe public relations aspect of it, tryingto find a new energy source,” saidJohn Zgoda, Hastings’ public workssuperintendent.

The barge technology also worksin tidal areas and ocean currents, butHydro Green seeks river locations be-cause the permitting process is clearerfor rivers. Moreover, rivers tend to beclose to existing power lines andtransformers.

Krouse, a former Exxon chemical

engineer, seeks river locations that are“deep and swift. The higher the veloc-ity of the water and the deeper it is,the more power we can produce.” ��

Begging Birds BarredMoline, Ill. — People have longflocked to the Ben Butterworth Park-way, to feed ducks and geese. Theparking lot is next to the walkwayand the walkway runs along the riv-er’s edge. Some people don’t even get

out of their cars, but just roll downthe windows and throw out bread toattract crowds of begging birds.

The practice attracted big prob-lems, too. Bird excrement posed ahealth problem for walkers, and re-quired frequent and time-consumingclean ups. Many people avoidedthese bird-feeding areas. Then ratsjoined the buffet. Rodd Schick, park

operations manager, said the timehad come for the popular practice toend.

In mid-September the Moline ParkDistrict asked people to stop feedingthe birds. The district’s low key ap-proach emphasizes education ratherthan passing out tickets.

“We’ve even erected minimal sig-nage so we don’t distract from thebeauty of the parkway,” Schick said.

He said it is illegal in Illinois tofeed bread, seeds or grain to water-fowl. Feeding them makes them de-pendent and alters their natural mi-gratory patterns.

“Every year we find frozen birdsthat should have gone south,” saidSchick.

Divisive BridgesSt. Paul — The city is considering aproposal for a 30-acre, $1.5-billionriverfront project, and communitygroups are lining up to fight it.

Supporters say the proposed de-velopment will be an economic boon,drawing visitors to downtown St.

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“Every year we find frozen

birds that should have gone

south,” said Schick.


Paul and energizing the surroundingneighborhoods.

The Bridges, as local developerJerry Trooien dubs his project, wouldinclude 1,100 residential units,400,000 square feet of retail and a fa-cility he calls Mythica — an “interac-

tive public attraction” that wouldfeature “multimedia environments”and exhibits.

Opponents argue that the devel-opment would restrict access to theriver, create traffic problems andblock valued bluff-to-bluff views.They worry about filling the river-front with private developmentsrather than keeping it accessible tothe public. They note that residentsspent years helping to draw up acomprehensive plan for the neighbor-hood known as the West Side. Theplan includes a six-story height re-striction that the proposed Bridgestowers would violate.

“It’s ‘the Flats’ for a reason,” saidWhitney Clark, executive director ofthe Friends of the Mississippi River,an advocacy group based in St. Paul.The plan, he said, “protects the scenicviews and historic landscape.”

Developer Trooien countered thateven a six-story building hides thebluff, so why not make it 30 stories?

Trooien will face pressure to adaptthe Bridges to fit with St. Paul’s ini-tiative to treat its entire riverfront asa park (see “Big Park” story in this is-sue). He takes the big park idea totask as well. “I think that’s silly,” hesaid. “What are you going to do?Blow up the existing 700,000 squarefeet of office that’s already here?”

The park plan allows for devel-oped areas such as Trooien’s existingriverfront office buildings near theproposed development, but encour-ages new development to fit into aparklike setting.

The Bridges proposal is wending

its way through the city hall screen-ing process. It requires a final vote bythe city council that may come beforethe end of 2006.

Armada SuspendedQuad Cities — Originally bound forNew Orleans, the Miss Rockaway Ar-mada will winter in the Quad Cities.

This group of 16 to 33 young peo-ple lived, travelled, and performedon the Mississippi during the sum-mer. Their boat — three tied-together,home-made, eclectic wooden rafts,constructed of and decorated with allmanners of salvaged items — lookslike nothing you’ve ever seen beforeon the river. The origin of the pro-ject’s name, “The Miss Rockaway Ar-mada,” is a bit elusive. “It is a longstory,” said a troop member.

Despite the face paint, headadornments, unusual costumes, nolast names and a constantly shiftingcrew, they emphasize they are nothippies, as a local newspaper report-ed, but artists and performers whosustain themselves with their creativeendeavors. For the summer, theyelect to live freely and healthily andtry to connect with the river and thepeople they meet. At night, whereverthey end up, they perform on the“stage” that is the roof of one of therafts.

By late September, it was gettingcold, their craft had suffered damagein Pool 13, the two Volkswagen Rab-bit engines converted to run on bio-diesel were balky and suffering fromcold fuel, and members were readyto return to their personal artistic en-deavors. They were looking for aplace to winter their vessel. F ��

Opponents argue that the

development would restrict

access to the river, create

traffic problems and block

valued bluff-to-bluff views.

According to their website, the MissRockaway Armada will winter at a marinain Andalusia, Ill. (Gary Kramer)


Crosby Farm Natural Area offers a convenient sanctuary in the heart of the city.


Civic boosters are trumpetingthe idea of turning St. Paul’sentire 26 miles of riverfront in-

to what they call the National GreatRiver Park. They want St. Paul to ex-ploit its standing as the river-strad-dling capital of the headwaters state— the “gateway to the Mississippi,”as the proposed park’s promotionalliterature styles it.

Park backers think treating the fullriverfront as a park will encouragedevelopers to create more river-friendly projects. Touting the rivermay also draw more tourists — in-cluding eco-tourists who come to seea clean river, great blue herons flap-ping heedlessly over the trees andbald eagles soaring on high.

Stretching for 17 miles along theMississippi River — including ninemiles in which the city lies on bothbanks — St. Paul claims 26 miles ofriverfront, more than any other com-munity on the big river.

People in St. Paul migrate to theriver in all seasons. Even when thefirst snowflakes drift through the air,runners will be trotting along thetree-lined riverfront paths near St.Thomas University on East RiverRoad. Nature lovers will still be cross-ing the wooden walkway over theflood plain at Crosby Farm NaturalArea. Dogs will be chasing sticks intothe cold water on the beach across theriver from Hidden Falls Park. And onwarm winter days, lunchtime

strollers will venture out on thedowntown riverfront promenade.

Neighborhood activist Carol Swen-son drives every day across the Mis-sissippi River where it widens fromthe gorge upstream into a broad val-ley. “It never ceases to amaze mewhat you can see,” said Swenson,“and just how special this place is.”

The idea of turning the entire vistainto a park has met virtually no op-position, so far.

“Everyone can see that this is anasset,” said St. Paul City CouncilPresident Kathy Gantry, whose wardfronts on the Mississippi. “It’s not likewe’re building any more rivers. Thisis it. We need to take care of what wehave. You just can’t re-create what na-

Story by Marc Hequet

Photographs by Brian Gardner

Could the St. Paul Riverfront Become a

Really Big Park?Proposed National Great River Park would weave city and river,

industrial and natural areas

Trails line much of St. Paul’s riverfront.


PARK THIS

St. Paul already has 7,744 acres ofparks. City, county, state and federalparkland makes up than 21.5 percent ofthe city’s area.

Albuquerque, N.M., is the U.S. citywith the most total parkland as percentof land area at 33,235 acres or 28.7percent, says the Trust for Public Land.San Diego is second with 22 percent.

El Paso,Texas, is the U.S. city withthe most parkland outright, at 24,000acres, according to the Trust for PublicLand. Phoenix is second. Its SouthMountain Preserve is the nation’sbiggest municipally owned park, at16,283 acres.

The 72-mile Mississippi National Riverand Recreation Area, meanwhile, isn’t apark in the same sense as the parks atEl Paso and Phoenix — but just for therecord, it covers 54,000 acres, includingthe St. Paul riverfront.

ture has done so beautifully here.”The city of St. Paul lies within the

National Park Service’s 72-mile Mis-sissippi National River and Recre-ation Area, noted Steven P. Johnson,acting superintendent of the MNRRAcorridor. The park proposal, Johnsonadded, is “consistent with our visionfor protecting natural resources alongthe Mississippi River and helping lo-cal governments do the right thing.”

Upstream StewardsEnvironmentalists are cautiously

hopeful about the plan. St. Paulneighborhood activist Jenny Winkel-man’s first reaction was that the ideahad promise — “but I wasn’t sure Itrusted the motive,” she said. Winkel-man feared “a kind of chamber ofcommerce approach instead of ad-dressing the ecological value of theriver and our response as an up-stream steward.”

She was encouraged after partici-pating in workshops set up to gather

neighborhood ideas and build sup-port for the big park. “It felt like theconcepts that were being promotedby environmentalists have beenheard,” Winkelman said.

Some hope the park would lead tomore conservation and restoration.Dan McGuiness, the Minnesota-baseddirector of the Audubon Society’sMississippi River program, waspleased that, in effect, “the city saysnot only in some places there shouldbe no more development, but in someplaces habitat should be restored. Itshould be even more wild.”

Although much of the riverfront inthis city of 300,000 is already park orparklike, with wild areas, trails andpromenades, the city may acquireabout 50 acres to complete the bigpark, and spend $150 million overdecades on restoration and other im-provements. The plan would requiresignage to help people find their wayto and along the river, for example,and more trails to link existing trailsand “arrival points” with food con-

The riverfront near the Highway 52 bridge (in the background) is busy with towboats and barges.


Left, Just downriver from the Ford plant andLock and Dam 1, a small waterfall spills over aledge in Hidden Falls Park.

Below, Riverside park trails are busy all year withwalkers and bikers in summer, walkers andskiers in winter.

In this artist’s vision of the National Great River Park, neighborhoods are linked to the river with greenways and trails. (Courtesy of St. Paul Riverfront Corp.)


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cessions and restrooms. “We want to make sure every

neighborhood in St. Paul is connectedto the river,” said Bob Bierscheid, St.Paul’s director of parks and recre-ation.

Privately-owned riverfront parcelswill stay in private hands, and furtherdevelopment will be allowed. Butpark backers, up to and includingMayor Chris Coleman, call for pro-jects that are in keeping with thecharacter of a riverfront park.

Who pays for all this? St. Paul an-ticipates passing some costs to stateand federal partners, since the river isa regional and national resource. Ur-ban designer Ken Greenberg ofToronto, who has helped plan thepark, said that St. Paul may follow a“stewardship model” that woulddraw upon public and private re-sources to maintain and manage theriverfront. New York City’s CentralPark Conservancy and Boston’s RoseKennedy Greenway use such public-private partnerships.

With a projected 3,500 acres, theNational Great River Park would befour times the size of Central Park —and different in other ways as well.

“It’s very clear where the boundariesof Central Park are,” said PatrickSeeb, executive director of the St. PaulRiverfront Corp. and a key advocatefor the big park. “You know whenyou’ve entered Central Park andwhen you’ve left.” On the other hand,the St. Paul plan in effect means“there is no boundary between theriver and the city.”

Seeb said he’ll know the plan hasworked if restaurants and neighbor-hoods bill themselves as “riverfront”even a mile back from the bank.

Early manifestations of St. Paul’s

new riverfront mindset include trailsand greenway along riverside Shep-herd Road and a more river-friendlyplan for a controversial floodwallprotecting the city’s airport.

A proposed megaproject will testthe park backers’ mettle. The Bridges,a $1 billion, 32-acre riverfront enter-tainment and lifestyle center indowntown St. Paul, would include re-tail and office space, and 1,050 hous-ing units. Many people think it’s toobig, but others like its potential fordrawing shoppers into the centralcity. Local developer Jerry Trooien isscaling it back, but it will still be big.How parklike does St. Paul envisionits riverfront? Stay tuned. F

Marc Hequet is a contributing editor toBig River . His last story was “DiggingAncient River History” in the July-Au-gust 2005 issue.

Brian Gardner is a photographer wholives in St. Paul.

With a projected 3,500 acres,

the National Great River Park

would be four times the size of

Central Park.



“It’s Not Duck-Killing,

It’s Duck HuntingThat Gets People Out There”

Photographs and comments by Jim Bambenek

On opening day this year I went out at 5:00 a.m., like I used to, and I

was in my boat already when it was still dark. You can hear the birds.

Every bird out there makes a different sound. The bluebills and the

mallards sound different from the wigeons and the canvasbacks. I

was out there for that hour between dark and sunrise, hearing them,

and then I watched the sun rise.

I have a saying that, ‘it’s not duck-killing, it’s duck-hunting that gets

people out there.’ I didn’t shoot any ducks on opening day this year,

and it didn’t matter.


I’ve been duck hunting since I was about 10 years old, and I’ve taught my kids

to hunt. My daughter [pictured above] started when she was about 7 years old.

She still likes to go out with me, but she’s 30 years old and lives

and works in Manhattan, so we don’t get out often.

My favorite time to go duck hunting

is late in the season, when there’s ice

and snow and the wind is blowing.

The only ones out there then are

crazy! I refuse to hunt in the rain,

because all it is is wet, but snow?

Wow! My dogs love it, too.


I’ll say one thing — those [pool] drawdowns really work!

I used to hunt at Weaver Bottoms in the 1950s and 60s, when

it was in its prime. It went into a slide over the years, and I

stopped going there. I called it a “water desert.” But now after

a couple years of the drawdown, it’s full of vegetation again.

The sandbars are choked with arrowhead, and the wild rice

is back… That sure brings the birds.

I saw more birds this year than I have in 10 years!

Groups of 10-15 birds came in and settled. They stayed this

year because there’s food again. I saw Canada geese, sandhill

cranes, white pelicans, mallards, wigeons, blue- and green-

winged teal, shovelers, bluebills and canvasbacks. Pretty soon

there will be tundra swans. You don’t hunt those, but they’re

huge and beautiful, and fun to watch.

I think there’s a green glimmer of hope out there.


Mallards are most popular, but to me, the best bird is the teal,

roasted, with red wine sauce. Of course, there’s nothing like a big

goose done on the grill with hickory chips. They aren’t hard to get

anymore, now that the giants are coming over from Rochester. They

are one of three subgroups of Canada geese that they thought was

extinct until someone discovered them in Rochester.

Jim Bambenek is a photographerwho lives in Winona, Minn.

Pamela Eyden, news and photoeditor of Big River, interviewedhim.


By Pete Beurskens

Ever noodle a catfish? Noodlingis reaching underwater into adark hole with your bare

hands, hoping a big cat clamps on,and pulling the fish out manually if itdoes. If this sounds a bit risky, youcan get a sense of the experiencewithout losing any skin at the Nation-al Mississippi River Museum andAquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. An in-teractive display lets you do just that,albeit with a fiberglass catfish. Thedisplay is part of a fascinating and

well-designed exhibit called “CatfishPlanet.”

Who knew there was so much tothe lowly, ugly, and, I thought, gener-ally unloved catfish? On my family’srecent visit to the museum and aquar-ium, “Catfish Planet” held our atten-tion so long that our two hours werenot enough to properly look over therest of the building.

We learned that the largest cat isthe Wels catfish, a European monsterthat can grow almost 17 feet long andweigh as much as 730 pounds.

There are 34 families of catfish —3,000 described species, plus one ortwo thousand more that haven’t beendescribed yet. Among the species, theexhibit shows, are the upside downcat, which swims that way to bettercatch insects that fall into the water.The names of many of the species areas interesting and unique as the fishthemselves — the giant bumble beecat, the red tailed cat and the Mekongshark cat, for example.

Besides filling 21 big aquariumswith 100 varieties of catfish, the ex-

Catfish PlanetA New Exhibit Shows You Everything You Want to

Know About This Ubiquitous, Humble, Lovable Fish

Visitors to the Catfish Planet exhibit can climb around inside a seven-foot-tall catfish with movablewhiskers. (National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium)


hibit engages visitors with a fullrange of modern museum education-al techniques — video displays, inter-active hands-on displays, and attrac-tive, colorful wall displays showing,for instance, raised silhouettes the ac-tual sizes of catfish, from the tiny tothe humongous. Video displaysshowed netting, box trapping andnoodling catfish. One humorousvideo presents four men strugglingwith big cats to the song “Dance withMe,” while a somewhat frighteningvideo shows a school of piranha-likecats devouring a much larger fish as

an apprehensive diver narrates. The museum has assembled a vari-

ety of fascinating artifacts, includingan actual trotline that spans nearlythe length of the room with examplesof baits attached. We also viewed a50-million-year-old fossil and walkedthrough a larger-than-life-size (over 7feet tall) catfish sculpture in whichyou can see the fish’s anatomy, lookthrough its eyes and play with its bar-bels (whiskers).

In some states, catfish (primarilythe North American channel cat) isthe number-one crop, and estimates

suggest the whiskery fish will soonsurpass beef nationally as a meatsource.

So get to Dubuque before the ex-hibit ends in spring 2007 and try yourhand at noodling, or just have a greattime learning everything there is toknow about this lowly, but surpris-ingly lovable, fish. F ��Pete Beurskens is a writer based in Riv-er Falls, Wis. His last story was a re-view of the Confluence restaurant, inthe September-October issue.

Top and right: The Catfish Planet exhibit will be on display in Dubuque untilspring 2007, then go on tour.

Above: There are 100 varieties of catfish in the aquariums, which aremounted low enough that children can easily see into them. (NationalMississippi River Museum and Aquarium)

We northerners largely take for granted the amaz-ing transformation of the world in winter.Much of the transformation involves ice: the

fragile ice crystals of snow or the brittle crystalline skinthat grows on the tops of our lakes, rivers, roads, side-walks and front steps.

We also take for granted the very unusual behavior ofliquid water’s transformation into ice. Almost every liq-uid chemical or metal contracts as itcools, getting denser. Water, however,gets denser until it reaches 39°F (4°C),then it begins expanding, getting lessdense. When it freezes it expands bynine percent all at once, which is how itbreaks pipes, rocks and bottles. This isalso why ice floats in water. If water be-haved like most other liquids, ice wouldform at the bottom of lakes and riversand thicken toward the surface. Justimagine what the great white northwould be like if water behaved “nor-mally.”

Through the IceNobody has a closer relationship

with ice than a trapper.“Ice is the biggest hazard that one

faces in the backwaters, especially if youget a little snow with the first ice,”warned Kenny Salwey, who trapped forseveral decades in the backwaters nearBuffalo City, Wis. He also co-authoredThe Last River Rat with J. Scott Bestuland wrote Tales of the Last River Rat.

Salwey admits that he would have totake off both boots and count on his fin-

gers and toes to tally up the times he hasfallen through the ice.

In the spring the ice develops a hon-eycomb structure and loses its strength.

“In the spring it’s the most danger-ous. You can fall through a foot of ice.I’ve done that a lot of times,” he re-called.

Salwey used to carry a small handaxe in his overalls. When he wentthrough the ice, he would reach as far as

possible and drive the axe into the iceand pull himself out. Even if you’re

lucky enough to pull yourself out, hypothermia couldstop you cold. Once, in sub-zero weather after breakingthrough the ice he was trying to hurry back to his shack,but his pant legs kept freezing up “just like stovepipes.”To get moving again he’d give each leg a careful tap withthe hand axe, behind the knee, and quickly take another40 or 50 steps before they froze up again.

He carried matches, a candle and cedar shavings in a


KNOW YOUR RIVER

IceologyYou should always assume

that the ice is not safe.

A fragile ice shelf hangs on to a tree, left high and dry by the falling water level. (Allen B. Sheldon)

Wind and waves create icy patterns on the frozen surface of the river. (Bill Charlesworth)

by Reggie McLeod


waterproof container, for emergencies. It can be more dif-ficult than you might imagine to light a match when hy-pothermia is closing in. If you have an emergency kit, headvises testing it out on a sub-zero day with a good wind,so you’ll be prepared if a real emergency arises.

You should always assume that the ice is not safe, Sal-wey warned.

Behavior of IceThe best ice forms during calm, cold nights in a period

without snow. This ice is so clear that you can spot fishfrozen into it. When the sun hits it at the right angle, itturns the light into tiny rainbows. If you’re an ice skater,getting out on this sort of ice before the first snowfall is areal treat. It is often referred to as “black ice” or “blue ice.”

When snow falls on ice, it insulates the ice from thecold air and conceals thin spots. As the snow thaws andrefreezes it forms “white ice,” which contains tiny air bub-bles and isn’t as strong as clear ice.

“Honeycomb ice” or “rotten ice” is like slush. Unlessyou can walk on water, you should stay off this ice.

Changing water levels, winds, currents, thaws andfreezes create a variety of ice structures and textures. Icesheets ram together and refreeze into tiny mountainranges. The river level drops, leaving fragments of icesheets tipping from the shoreline or in midair, frozen totrees.

Ice on the river seems to take one big breath each day— expanding in the morning when the sun warms it andcontracting at night when it cools. The uneven expansionand contraction sends cracks racing through it. On a clearday, stand out on river ice during sunrise or just after sun-set to hear the cracks sizzle through the ice — soundinglike gunshots when they pass by.

Ice is particularly dangerous on a river, where up-welling currents weaken patches of ice, falling water lev-els can leave hollow spots under ice, and currents can pullyou under the ice if you fall in. For these reasons, it’sprobably never safe to cross the ice on the Main Channel.If trappers and others familiar with local conditions canfall through the ice in backwaters, anyone can fall throughthe ice. If you’re going to travel on ice, review the safetyrules and carry a set of “ice claws” that can be used to pullyourself out of the water.

Working with the IceWhen we think of ice, we think of danger or recreation

— breaking through the ice, slipping on the ice, ice skatingand ice fishing — but up until the 1930s it was an impor-tant commodity. Men and horses headed out on lakes andrivers in the winter to cut it into blocks and store it in icehouses. Trains loaded with Mississippi River ice headed tothe big packing houses and cities.

The hardy few who live in boathouses year-round loveit and hate it. When the ice thickens up, they can drive totheir houses with food, water, fuel oil and other essentials.However, in the spring, the river level sometimes rises be-fore the ice breaks up, which will quickly put a boathouse

floor under water, unless the intrepid boathouser quicklycuts the house free of the surrounding ice — a cold, wet,dangerous task.

Eagle watches depend on iced-up backwaters for theirsuccess. If the backwaters are open, eagles spread out tolook for food. When the backwaters and most of the MainChannel are locked in ice, eagles congregate around openwater, especially the downstream sides of dams, some-times more than a hundred in one place. They are feedingmostly on gizzard shad, which die when the water getstoo cold.

Usually the last stretch of the Main Channel blocked byice is the lower end of Lake Pepin, where the Army Corpsof Engineers begins measuring the ice in mid Februaryuntil it gets too thin. The shipping season officially openson the Upper Mississippi when the first towboat makes itthrough Lake Pepin and reaches St. Paul, around the endof March. On the upper river, this is akin to the swallowsreturning to Capistrano. Can the sultry days of summer befar behind? F ��

Reggie McLeod is editor of Big River Magazine.

A jagged ridge of ice juts out of the river’s surface. (Bill Charlesworth)


Buried Indians: Digging Up thePast in a Midwestern TownLaurie Hovell McMillin, University ofWisconsin Press, Madison, Wis., 2006, 283pages, $24.95, paperback.

On a low outcropping of the bluffstowering over Trempealeau,

Wis., lie three ancient mounds shapedlike flattened pyramids and connect-ed by short earthen ramps. In the1990s, archaeologists from the Missis-sippi River Archaeology Center innearby La Crosse, Wis., tried to helpthe river town restore the moundsand display them to the public. Ini-tially, the project received public sup-port, but soon the tides turned andthe project was dropped.

McMillin, who grew up in thecommunity and still has many rela-tives there, was intrigued by the storyand what it revealed about the con-nections between the current and an-cient locals. Her book mingles the his-tory of her family with the history ofthe area. She writes about theHopewell, Woodland and Mississip-pian mounds that still punctuate thelandscape; the early white settlers;current residents of Indian ancestry;archaeological investigations; andpivotal events in her life and her fam-ily’s history, weaving it all togetherinto a complex pattern of history andattitudes.

“… It seems to me, then, that partof what I’m doing in this project iscollecting these accounts, hearingthem, and bringing them together tomake a different kind of sense by in-cluding other stories, by setting theseseemingly unrelated tales next to

each other. They may not flow intoone seamless narrative; they link upfor a different kind of history, a storythat suggests the layers and webs thatconnect people across time, that con-nect people to a place.”

McMillin moved away to go to col-lege and is now an associate profes-sor of rhetoric, composition and reli-gion at Oberlin College, so she viewsthe community both as a creden-tialled local and an academic out-sider. She skillfully blends both voic-es, revealing the insights and blindspots of both perspectives.

This is an ambitious, complex andlayered book. (RM)

��Aztalan, Mysteries of anAncient Indian TownRobert A. Birmingham and Lynne G. Gold-stein, Wisconsin Historical Society Press,Madison, Wis., 2005, 138 pages, $14.95,paperback.

Nine hundred years ago, a newtype of town sprouted in what is

now southern Wisconsin. It was sur-rounded by a high white wall. Insidethose walls, three large, flat-toppedpyramid mounds marked the bound-aries of a plaza where residents prob-ably attended ceremonies and games.Beyond the walls they tended largefields of corn.

This place was probably an out-post of the Mississippian culture,which was based in Cahokia, acrossthe Mississippi from where St. Louisis today. Mississippians lived in Azta-lan from about 1100 to 1250. In theearly 1800s the site on the Crawfish

THE MISSISSIPPI ASSUBJECT, SETTINGAND INSPIRATIONReviews by Pete Beurskens, Pamela Eyden, Reggie McLeod and Molly McGuire


River was named Aztalan, becausemany people assumed that it wasbuilt by Aztecs. Other smaller Missis-sippian sites have been studied inTrempealeau, Wis., and Red Wing,Minn.

Birmingham, a professor at U.W.-Waukesha, and formerly the statearcheologist; and Goldstein, a profes-sor at Michigan State University, whohas studied Aztalan for nearly 30years, lay out the history of the studyof the site and what is known about itin a clear methodical way. The bookshould be an easy and interestingread for anybody interested in thesubject. A wealth of drawings, photosand maps round out the information.(RM)

��Treasures of the Mississippi —Panoramas & PoeticReflectionsAbdul Karim Sinno, Ph.D., and Rafic Sin-no, MBA; Shepherd, Inc., Dubuque, Iowa,2006, 104 pages, $34.95, hardcover.

This book of Mississippi River pho-tographs stands out from others,

first of all because of its format — 14inches wide and 6 inches tall, withpanoramic photos stretching acrossboth facing pages. Second, because ofits enthusiastic and sometimes rap-turous text that makes the reader lookagain to see what the author-photog-rapher sees.

Abdul Karim Sinno immigratedseveral decades ago from Lebanon.He is currently head of the communi-cation department at Clarke Collegein Dubuque, and he has a passion forthe Mississippi River, a passion heshares with his family.

“I come from Lebanon in the Mid-dle-East! Yes, the beautiful land thatis burning. I come with a mission ofbeauty and peace. I have a missionand a hope that people can unite andenjoy instead of fight and destroy.People can dispute politics, but neverdispute beauty,” he says in his intro-duction.

“Just look and heal. God has giventhe Midwest an example of heaven!”he says about one scene.

The photographs portray locations

in five states,from St. Paul toSt. Louis, eachaccompaniedby a short com-ment. The im-ages contain alot — water-front, rivertowns, bluffs,islands, locksand dams.Some of thephotographsare vividly andeerily lit, aswhen the riveris in deep shadow and the eveningsun is still on the bluffs, or when thecamera shutter stays open longenough to capture a silent river andan empty urban waterfront on a darknight. Some are stunningly beautiful.All are interesting for their richness ofcolor and detail. (PE)

��Dreaming the MississippiKatherine Fischer, University of MissouriPress, Columbia, Mo., 2006, 216 pages,$18.95, paperback.

Dreaming the Mississippi comprises16 essays dealing with various

ways the river intersects with the au-thor’s life across 25-plus years livingalong the river. Fisher spent a child-hood near Lake Michigan and movedto Dubuque after high school to at-tend Clarke College, where she is anassociate professor of English today,but her first attraction to the riverwas from a distance and through lit-erature. As a child, she played Huck

Finn, inspired by her teacher SisterJohn-Mary’s animated reading ofTwain’s book: “At home after school,I fished the storm ditches for catfishand pretended to smoke reeds behindthe garage while balancing on a ply-wood raft ‘afloat’ on rain water.” Theriver seems to have flowed into herimagination and eventually steeredher to the banks of the real thing.

The book is not a memoir, but acollection of personal essays, begin-ning, logically enough, with “Itasca”and ending with “The Gulf,” thoughthe book doesn’t move downriver,but moves more or less randomlyfrom one topic to another. The essaysfall into a few themes or topics. Someare technical or how-to pieces (“Lock-ing Through,” “Wing Dams”). Othersdescribe river living (“Fever,” “Gloriain Excelsis Polka”) or river events(”Gulf,” “Sho-Gunning the Mississip-pi,” “River Rising”).

The author mentions Terry Tem-pest-Williams, the Utah naturalist andwriter, and her book reminds me of


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Tempest-Williams’ writing. Fischerweaves elements of her life and thelife of her family with encounterswith the river, and the book is insome ways as much about their livesas about the river, with the river of-ten acting as a metaphor or catalystfor her thinking about the people andevents and ideas she encounters.

Most river lovers will find manychapters in this book to enjoy.Though Fischer has strong views onsuch issues as channelization andother environmental issues, hunting,jet skis and too-fast boats, she recog-nizes and respects other points ofview. For readers who know the riverwell, some chapters, primarily thetechnical ones, will not offer muchnew information. After all, the bookchronicles the author’s coming toknow and love the river. But thosesame readers will likely enjoy otherchapters in which Fischer ruminateson the intense longing for spring thathouseboaters experience, on the joysand frustrations of shopping for andthen maintaining a riverfront place,

and on her visit to post-Katrina NewOrleans. Finally, Fischer’s regard forthe river is so deep and enthusiasticthat reading the book has the powerto renew one’s own interest in the“river of today — its people and itsenergy as a life force within America,beyond stereotype and myth.” (PB)

��Tomorrow, the RiverDianne E. Gray, Houghton Mifflin Compa-ny, Boston, New York, 2006, 233 pages,$16.00, paperback.

This historical novel for youngadults (ages 10 to 14) follows a

15-year-old girl as she travels by trainfrom her Nebraska homestead to joinher married sister on a small paddle-wheel boat on the Upper Mississippiin 1896. Together they journey upriv-er from Burlington, Iowa, to Prairiedu Chien, Wis.

On the way, our heroine learns toswim, chop wood on islands and pi-lot the boat. She discovers a talent fortaking photographs, and she bucksconvention by taking a job cleaningmussels for the button industry. Thestory gets off to a great start, the plotis engaging and the characters well-sketched.

Winona writer Gray has given kidsa fine way to learn about the river,

(Book reviews continue on page 41)


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riverboats and rivertown history. Herbook gave me river dreams. I couldalmost feel the rocking of the boatand hear the steady “chuff-chuff-chuff” of the paddles hitting the wa-ter. (PE)

��Born by the River — People ofthe Mississippi River TownsRon Merchant, Limner Fine Publishing,Minneapolis, Minn., 2006, 142 pages,$40.00, hardcover.

This book is the result of painterRon Merchant’s project to paint,

photograph and interview residentsof selected river towns in Minnesota,with an eye to showing how peopleare connected to the river and howthis connection shapes their lives andattitudes.

In one year he created more than100 paintings and photographs,which were then mounted as a trav-eling exhibit on tour throughout theregion this year. The final showing, atParamount Theater and Visual ArtCenter in St. Cloud, Minn., will closeDecember 30, 2006.

This book, a companion to the ex-hibit, contains 36 paintings, 60 pho-tographs and 26 interviews., as wellas two critical essays. The paintingsare engaging in both style and con-tent. They picture people doing whatpeople do in river towns — hang out,go fishing, survey wares in an out-door market, sip coffee at an outdoorcafe, ride bikes and get pulled overby police. The photographs docu-ment the places where he painted,and the interviews add depth to hisexperience, and ours, of these places.

Merchant is an artist and owner ofthe Robbin Gallery in Robbinsdale,Minnesota. (PE)

��Horns and WrinklesJoseph Helgerson, Houghton Mifflin Com-pany, Boston, 2006, 357 pages, $16.00,hardcover.

Eel-tongue. Mossbottom. Fishfly.Leechlicker. Gartooth. These are

(Book reviews continued from page 36)


Raptors in your pocket — AGuide to Great Plains Birds ofPreyDana Gardner, University of Iowa Press,Iowa City, Iowa, 2006, $9.95.

This is a very handy and usefullaminated 14-panel pocket guide show-ing 26 species of raptors in various po-sitions and plumage variations. Mini-mal text specifies residents and visi-tors, and average size. Great gift. Greatto have in your car. (PE)

Amphibians & Reptiles of theNorth WoodsAllen Blake Sheldon, Kollath+StensaasPublishing, Duluth, Minn., 2006, 148pages, $18.95, paperback.

Allen Sheldon’s wildlife pho-tographs frequently appear in thepages of Big River. This new guide fea-tures a lot of amphibians and reptilescommon to the river, as well as UpNorth. Small maps identify wherespecies are found. The photographs areplentiful and, as expected, fascinatingin clarity and detail. (PE)

The Shorebird GuideO’Brien, Crossley, Karlson; HoughtonMifflin Company, Boston, New York,2006, 476 pages, $24.95, hardcover.

Some shorebirds nest in the UpperMississippi; others arrive in swirlingmasses to feed on river mudflats dur-ing their seasonal migrations. Thissturdy guide will make it easier toidentify these beautiful birds, by help-ing you learn their relative size, struc-ture, behavior and voice. It includesexcellent photographs of common andrare domestic birds, and important de-tails about migration, behavior and ap-pearance. (PE)

Kaufman Field Guide to Insects ofNorth AmericaEaton and Kaufman, Houghton MifflinCompany, NY, 2006, 392 pages, to be de-termined.

A masterpiece of conciseness, this isan overview of insects found fromnorthern Mexico to northern Canada.A pictorial table of contents helps youidentify unfamiliar insects — not sur-prising, since there are 90,000 of them— and directs you to follow color tabsor page numbers to look for the best

match. The book includes a whopping350 images and is a satisfying book toown, if you like to look at bugs. In-cluded are enough facts to pique thecuriosity. For example, did you knowthat water striders’ legs are covered infine hairs that don’t get saturated, al-lowing them to skate on top of the wa-ter without breaking surface tension?(PE)

Nautical Rules of the Road B. A. Farnsworth, Larry C. Young, andSteven D. Browne, Cornell MaritimePress, Centreville, Md., 2006, 207 pages,$40.00, hardcover.

Dictionary of Maritime andTransportation Terms Jeffrey W. Monroe and Robert J. Stewart,Cornell Maritime Press, Centreville, Md.,2006, 421 pages, $19.95, paperback.

Two new reference books will makenice additions to serious boaters’ li-braries. The dictionary (with no illus-trations) is nearly as long as some reg-ular dictionaries. In it, one can find en-tries for the most common boating andtransportation terms, as well as thelesser known, such as:

“Electrical Derangement — Me-chanical and/or electrical derangementis an insurance industry term to de-scribe malfunction, or nonfunction, ofan appliance for reasons other than ob-vious external damage. From time totime, an electronic or mechanically op-erated item will prove to be inoperableupon arriving at its destination. SeeMechanical Derangement Exclusion.”

What boater has not experienced anodd mysterious “nonfunction” of aboat?

Nautical Rules of the Road is also auseful, if quite technical, book. It has init all you ever wanted to know aboutnavigation rules, international and in-land. Because I am a low-tech kind ofboater (kayak and canoe) I showed thetext to a Lake Michigan sailor and Mis-sissippi River motor boater, and he de-clared it fascinating and well designed.The illustrations, some in color, arequite clear and instructive. In case youwant to test yourself, Appendix A ofthe book contains 140 multiple choicerules-of-the-road questions. Enjoy! (PB)F

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5th Annual Rivers & Bluffs Fall Birding Festival . . .39A Place to Sew - Gather the Gals . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39Accola Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4American Trails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53Aztalan, Mysteries of an Ancient Indian Town . . . . .6Badger State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40Barn Restaurant,The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36Beno’s Deli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Best Western Quiet House & Suites . . . . . . . . . . . .54Big River Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38Big River Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Bird-Song.com, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Blooming Grounds Coffee House . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Blue Heron Coffeehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Bluff Country Co-op . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12BNOX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46Cassville bp Amoco-Piccadily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40Cassville, Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40Catfish Charlie’s River Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Century 21 Pepin Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47Channel Cat & River Road Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . .38Dan’s Pepin Marina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46Dockside Mercantile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46Dubuque, Iowa, Bed & Breakfasts . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Duke Addicks Storyteller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53Eagles Landing B&B and Winery . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37Eagles Roost Resort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40Edina Realty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50Galena Cellars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Great River Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47Great River Road Stop & Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40Gregory’s Gifts & Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Guttenberg, Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Hancock House B&B Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Harbor Hill Inn B&B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46Harbor View Café . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47Hartland Log Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Hawks View Cottages & Lodges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Houghton Mifflin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Island City Harbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14KFAI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Lake City Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48Lake Pepin Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47Lansing, Iowa & DeSoto, Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . .38-39Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46Magnolias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Mandolin Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Marquette-McGregor, Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37McGarrity’s Inn & Suites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39McGregor Lodging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37McGregor-Marquette, Iowa, Chamber . . . . . . . . . .37Midwest Mountaineering Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50Minnesota Marine Art Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Mississippi Explorer Cruises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39Murphy’s Cove Bed & Bath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38National Eagle Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Natural Gait, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Nola’s Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Northern Breezes Sailing School . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44Norton’s Restaurant, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10On-Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47Otter Side of Nature, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37Pepin, Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46-47Pepper Sprout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Piccadilly Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12Pickle Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Pieces of the Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Prairie du Chien, Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36Prairie du Chien Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36Preferred Adventures Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Pretty Things on Third . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Red Geranium Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39Redstone Inn & Suites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Richards House B&B Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16River City Vacation Rentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25Riverwood Studio & Big River Buttons . . . . . . . . .38River’s Edge Restaurant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38Riverwise Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53Robert J. Hurt Landscape Photographer . . . . . . . . .4Signatures Restaurant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Smith Brothers Landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46Stoney Creek Inn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25Thornton House B & B & Mt. Hosmer Jam Shop .38Touch of Class Interiors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50Treasures of the Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Twisted Chicken, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Uncle Charlie’s Cabin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38Unique Creations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40University of Iowa Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51University of Missouri Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Valley Fish & Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36Visit Winona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13Waterways Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44Wild Rose Timberworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25Willows, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48Winona County Historical Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13Winona, Minn., Downtown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Yellow Bird Art Quilt Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Advertiser Index

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some of the whimsical names of theriver trolls in the “rivery” book, Hornsand Wrinkles, a middle-grades fantasybook set in fictional Blue Wing,Minn., a town based on Winona. Iborrow the wonderful word “rivery”from Helgerson, whose characters usethe term to refer to odd and mysticalgoings-on along the Mississippi. Thebook is more in the tradition of HarryPotter than The Lord of the Rings or theNarnia series, as it takes place in a re-alistic contemporary setting wherefantastic things can happen, and it isthe setting and the descriptions of theriver that may pull adults readers in-to this world.

The narrator, a middle school-agedgirl named Claire, finds that her bullycousin Duke’s nose has grown. This isnot just a Pinocchio nose, simply alonger one than the original. This is arhino horn. Each time Duke doessomething nasty, the horn grows —painfully, judging by Duke’s reaction.This is one of the charms of the book.

Who wouldn’t like to see this happento the real life bullies of one’s experi-ence? But Claire, a kind-hearted soul,sets about trying to help Duke, whichleads her into trouble as she findsthat Duke has taken up with a gangof unpleasant and mischievous butnot entirely evil river trolls, and thatthe trolls will demand Claire’s in-volvement in their own adventures.Along the way, some of Claire’s fami-ly is turned to stone. But, never fear,the Blue Winged Fairy is always near-

by to lend Claire a magical hand. The author has a nice way of evok-

ing the river. We hear ominoussounds of tow boats at night, smellrushing spring flood water, and seemuskrats speeding through the water.Delight in and a realistic awe of theriver pervade the book.

The author, now of Minneapolis,grew up around Winona, and spentmany a night sandbar camping on theriver with his family. His intimacywith the river is apparent. He has tak-en the overwhelming, fearful, but alsoattractive nature of the river felt bychildren, and expressed it throughfantasy, so that although the bookdoes not have the gravity of Huckle-berry Finn or The Hobbit, it does havea gently haunting and yet somehowupbeat feel, an effect that is enhancedby the charming and whimsical illus-trations of Nicoletta Ceccoli.

The book seemed a little long. Con-sidering its episodic structure, it couldeasily have been condensed. (PB)



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��The Driftless AreaTom Drury, Atlantic Monthly Press, NewYork, 2006, 213 pages, $22.00, hardcover.

This book is part mystery, part ro-mance and partly a novel about

revenge. Most of its characters live insmall towns of the Driftless Area, aunique geological region extendingfrom southern Minnesota to northernIllinois, which was missed by the lastglacier and so is noted for its steepriver bluffs, rolling hills, hiddenstreams and secret valleys. The badguys in the book inhabit a roughertown near a river that most readerswill recognize as the Mississippi. Asone of these miscreants drives thoughthe valley towns on his way to theriver, he sees them as “lonely littleplaces hunkered in with streetlampsmarking the passage of the nothingnight.”

Main character Pierre Hunter grewup in the region. He’s 24, a collegegraduate and a bartender in an out-of-the-way supper club that has neverlived up to its owner’s dreams. Pierrehas known his friends since highschool, including a woman who per-sists in writing really terrible poetry(which Drury delights us with sam-ples of). He is a likable enough char-acter, but reticent to jump into life.Then he meets a mysterious woman,someone different from the rest of thetownspeople — just how different weare about to discover.

In reading this book, I was at im-patient at first for something to reallyhappen, despite Pierre’s new ro-mance. There was enough foreshad-owing to know that somethinggreater was going to happen, andhints that more had already hap-pened. And happen it did, the mo-ment Pierre did something unusual,which means deliberately doingsomething. As the plot becomes a lit-tle dangerous and spooky, Druryleads us into questions about life andthe meaning of life, death and the af-terlife.

References to the way time movesare scattered throughout:

“A train of five lime-green bargeswas going through the lock on theriver, a deliberate process yet impres-sive in the way of all things thatmove slowly but with great mass.”

Most of the characters are convinc-ingly midwestern. If you listen close-ly, you can hear some of the charac-ters playing roles in this “Fargo” ofthe Driftless Region.

“Oh, my husband. He drives thewrecker in town and he’s supposedto pick up any cars and tow them inshould they be wrecked or aban-doned. So anyway I thought I bettersee what the deal was because Ididn’t want him making the trip fornothing.”

I enjoyed this book. Drury’s writ-ing is spare with no frills. He uses aptdescriptive phrases without sayingtoo much, so readers use their ownimagination. All the details and coin-cidences mean something, and themeanings are brought out in duetime. (MM)

��The Mississippi River in 1953:A Photographic Journey fromthe Headwaters to the Gulf ofMexicoCharles Dee Sharp, Center for AmericanPlaces (distributed by U. of Chicago Press),Santa Fe, N.M., and Staunton, Va., 2005,222 pages, $49.95 hardcover; $29.95, paper-back.

The Mississippi River in 1953 is acoffee table-sized book that is re-

ally two books in one — Charles DeeSharp’s amazing photographs of atrip downriver on a towboat, and hisaccompanying notes. Sharp capturedthe river at a point in American histo-ry when the last real working paddle-wheelers still plied the river, and thecountry as a whole was about tochange.

Sharp’s photographs show the riv-er in all its beauty and charm, butthey also chronicle vast chemicalplants on the lower river’s “cancer al-ley;” signs that announce “CautionOpen Sewer,” and “Mississippi DeltaDiner — Whites Only — ColoredsUse Back Door;” and dilapidated riv-er towns.

Sharp’s writing rises at times topoetry: “On the short wave we lis-tened to the conversations of pilotscommunicating with other pilots…‘His boat was smokin’ so much Ithought the fog was rollin’ in.’ ‘Awh,we’re just tip-toin’ along down here,watchin’ the moon cloudin’ over.’”

The colorful people encounteredalong the way and the lively observa-tions of Sharp’s captain-host makethe book entertaining and humane.Here is Captain Ware on the differ-ence between the upper and lowerriver: “This northern river’s alluring.And there’s people… Down on thelower river you don’t see nobody.You go for fifty, hundred-mile stretch-es, a day and a half sometimes, youwon’t see nobody. That river’s widedown there — vast, desolate. Itstretches beyond the grasp of yourimagination. If you got any crazinessin you, it’ll bring it out. You got toknow who you are down there.”

Concluding essays by MississippiNational River and Recreation Areahistorian John O. Anfinson discussthe literary, historical, and geologicalriver and add to the reader’s under-standing of the photos.

Sharp’s book deserves to be readby anyone who wants to experiencethis great changing river at a dynamicmoment in American history. (PB) F




University of Chicago, to Cham-paign-Urbana to finish his architec-tural training, to Vietnam, then As-pen, Colo., La Crosse, Wis., and final-ly to the river town of Dakota, Minn.,where he has converted a house intostudio and office space.

Hurt first took photography seri-ously on his tour of duty in Vietnam.He was assigned to the First Air Cav-alry, which went up every day in lit-tle bubble helicopters to gather intel-

ligence. These Vietnam photographswere part of a slideshow he createdwith two Army friends a few yearslater. Set to a musical soundtrack ofThe Moody Blues’ To our Children’sChildren’s Children, “It was very emo-tional — it showed the Vietnamesepeople, the destruction, but no deadbodies,” Hurt said. He and his friendspresented the show quite a few times.In one big show, “we were kind ofthe warm-up act for a concert — theearly Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,” Hurtsaid, laughing.

While working as an architect inAspen, and later in La Crosse, Hurt’sinterests turned to historical pres-ervation and restoration projects.Eventually, though, his frustrationwith urban sprawl and “the degrada-tion of the built environment” ledhim to shift from architecture to pho-tography.

Through a grant-funded project tolook at sprawl and alternatives, Hurtstarted doing aerial photography.This led to a lot of organizations, pri-marily those working on conservationissues, asking to hire him around1995.

His first professional photo assign-ment involved an all-day shoot visu-ally chronicling the Mississippi Riverbluffs in northeast Iowa for the IowaNatural Heritage Foundation. Besidescapturing all of the bluffs from vari-

ous angles, Hurt also photographedsites that people had donated or onwhich they had allowed conservationeasements. He was also to “photo-graph anything beautiful — that is,anything I found beautiful. It was adream assignment,” he said.

Hurt has completed scores of as-signments on the river and has creat-ed a three-fold niche, using aerialphotography to serve his clients, toserve the cause of conservation andto create fine art.

About 115 of his large-scale fine artphotographic prints were purchasedby the Mayo Clinic. His work has ap-peared several times on the cover ofand inside Big River magazine, and asimilar aerial shot of the river at LaCrosse was used on the covers ofboth Cal Fremling’s book ImmortalRiver and The Little Tow-Watcher’sGuide. Some day, he would love to doa whole book of his photographs.

Shooting from the air allows himto present a holistic view of the riverand its ecosystems, and give people afresh view of familiar landscapes.

For example, not long ago, a friendwho works for the U.S. GeologicalService came looking for a photo for aretirement gift. Hurt showed him oneof a place on the river where he hadspent a lot of time working. “He said,‘Oh my God. We’ve worked rightthere and we had no idea [of thebeauty of the place].’”

Hurt is concerned about the long-term health of the environment. “Theturning back of a lot of environmentalregulations recently is pretty discour-aging,” he said. He hopes his photog-raphy might make people more sensi-tive to the natural world.

Hurt feels an intimacy with theMississippi.

“Cumulus clouds I know very well— cumulus clouds are my friends,”he said. He was speaking about theireffect on the pictures he takes, butone senses that he sees the river as afriend too, and his work is a testa-ment to this friendship. F

(Robert J. Hurt continued from page 52)

Shooting from the air allows

him to present a holistic view of

the river and its ecosystems, and

give people a fresh view of

familiar landscapes.


Robert J. Hurtshooting the river

RIVER PEOPLE

By Pete Beurskens

Downriver from La Crosse, Wis., Pool 8 forms a maze of backwaters. Clockwise starting from the top, youcan barely see L&D 8 at Genoa, Wis., in the distance; Brownsville, Minn., on the Main Channel; Goose Islandcampground on the near left; Stoddard, Wis., and Hwy 35 on the upper left. (Photos by Robert J. Hurt)

ic magic. Out in the field, his pre-ferred plane is the Cessna 142, whichcan fly slow — 75 mph — and hashigh wings that don’t get in the way.

The plane is not his only specialtool in the air. “I use a gyro stabilizer.It goes onto the bottom of the camera.It has two gyros in it, and they spin atabout 22,000 rpm. It is like having atripod on the plane, and it preventsany unwanted movement. You canstill move the camera, but it is likemoving it through butter. It enablesyou to shoot at a slower speed andeliminate jostling, and you can takesharper photographs,” Hurt ex-plained.

He uses the digital equivalent ofFuji Velvia film, which allows agreater range of blue and greens.

“Living along the Mississippi Riv-er you become extremely aware ofthe water color. It can be anywherefrom tremendously blue to tremen-dously grayish, reddish, yuck brown.And it has to do, one, with runoff,two, with the sky — how blue, howclear the atmosphere is — and, three,the angle you are shooting to thesun,” he said.

Hurt’s winding road to river pho-tography began in the Czech Chicagosuburb of Berwyn, Ill., and led to the

(Robert J. Hurt continues on page 51)

Alot of good photographers goto great lengths to take pho-tos of the Upper Mississippi

River. Robert J. Hurt also goes togreat heights — several hundred feet,to be precise. Hurt is an aerial pho-tographer. He takes pictures from thepassenger seat of a small airplanecruising over the river and bluff-lands.

Many of his photographs are vividpanoramic views of the bluffs andthe river. If you visit the Upper Mis-sissippi River Wildlife and FishRefuge visitors’ centers, or pagethrough publications from the ArmyCorps of Engineers, the U.S. Geologi-cal Service, Nature Conservancy,Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation,U.S. Fish and Wildlife and other riv-er-related organizations, not to men-tion Big River, you’ve seen his work.

Hurt has lived in and photo-graphed many beautiful places inNorth America and Europe, but heprefers the complexity of the bluffsand river.

“Around the Mississippi bluff-lands, you have all these intimatevalleys to explore,” said Hurt. “Youtake these little winding roads andthe scenery is always changing. Ihave a little 250 motorcycle and I justlove to ride on the back roads. I justgo slow, just a little faster than a bicy-cle, and explore the surroundings,”he said.

Hurt said he is interested in se-quences of space, “how things openup — you come around a corner andthere’s something new and different.”

The tools of his trade go beyondthose of the typical photographer. Hehas three computers in his studio,with which he works his photograph-

We do custom publishing, too.

Do you like what you seein Big River?

The same crew that designs and produces thismagazine also designs books, promotional materials,interpretive signs, logos and websites. Let us helpwith your projects.

We can write, edit, design and layout your docu-ments. We take the same care with each project aswe do with our own magazine.

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DUKE ADDICKS TELLS RIVER TALES ABOUTEagles, Thunderbirds, American Indians,Fur Traders, Explorers, Ghosts and More!

Most of His Stories May Be True!

WATCH WILD EAGLES WITH EAGLE EXPERTDUKE ADDICKS AND LISTEN TO HIS EAGLE AND

THUNDERBIRD LEGENDS AND LORE AT:

Guttenberg Eagle Watch, January 13-14, 2007 (both days)The 20th Anniversary Sauk Prairie,Wis.,

Eagle Watching Days, January 20-21, 2007 (both days)Learn about Eagle Watching in the Twin Cities

(Minneapolis/St. Paul region) from Duke Addicks at theMinnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

in Bloomington, Minn., November 12, 2006 at 1:30 p.m.followed by a tour of eagle watching areas.

For more details about Duke’s many eagle watching events andfor a schedule of Duke’s many other River Tales programs, see:

www.DukeAddicksStoryteller.com

Or contact him at (651) 643-0622 [email protected]

Duke plays a unique blend of Celticand Native American music onConch Shell Trumpets, Bagpipes,Native American Flutes and a hugeThunderdrum. Here Duke plays hisConch Shell Blues at the closingconcert at the 2006 Conference ofthe International Native AmericanFlute Association.

Documents

Big River Magazine, November-December 2006 · 2009-05-13 · November-December 2006 / BIG RIVER MAGAZINE 3 FEATURES 20 Really Big Park Civic boosters are trumpeting the idea of turning