Big River - December 1993

December 1993 the monthly newsletter for people who live, work or play on the Upper Mississippi River Vol. 1, No. 12

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Mike Spettel's Better Bridge Part Bridge, Part Pontoon

The Big Classroom - Teens Explore the Great River

By Ed Brick

by Pamela Eyden

The Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad

The Mississippi River serves as a highway, a

(later the Milwaukee Road) reached the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in 1857. For more than 100 years railroad freight and passengers floated, by various means, across the river to and from McGregor, Iowa.

Railroad agent John Lawler arranged packet service across " the river in summer and horse-drawn sleighs in winter, from 1857 to 1867. Then he began using barges with rails permanently in place to carry four cars each - one barge on either side of a steamboat. In 1870, he cut a channel through an island to open a direct route between the tracks on either shore. His crews cut ice to keep this channel open in the winter. He abandoned this cumbersome practice after four seasons.

Lawler initially used barges to span the navigation channel openings - the Main Channel, on the Iowa side, and the East channel, near Prairie du Chien.

In 1873, Lawler built approach bridges out from both shores to the navigation channels. The United States Constitution protects the right to navigate rivers, and the approach bridges were too low for river traffic to pass underneath, as it could at the Eads Bridge, then under construction at St. Louis.

Lawler initially used barges to span the navigation channel openings - the Main Channel, on the Iowa side, and the East channel, near Prairie du Chien. The barges were moved out of • the way to let river traffic pass. This proved a dangerous choice, and many cars ended up in the river.

(Bridge continued on page 2)

campground, a source of food, a boundary, a scenic backdrop and a big pipe to the sea. Now it's a teaching tool, as well.

The McKnight Foundation recently gave a $25,000 grant to the Water Resource Center at Winona State University to teach high school teachers how to use the river in their biology, chemistry, ecology, social studies and literature classes. Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville developed the Great River Project curriculum for use on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

"The Mississippi River is a wonderful lab in our own backyard. We don't use it nearly enough, mostly due to the lack of time and money," said Nancy Jannik, Ph.D., geology professor at Winona State University and director of the Water Resource Center. The center is an environmental education and water quality technical assistance center at the university. Assistant director Judy Shepard will be in charge of the project.

Next summer, the Water Resource Center will host workshops for teachers from high schools in the nine counties it serves. Besides sharing the Zumbro-Root River watershed in southeastern Minnesota, the counties - Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Wabasha and Winona - share similar hydrogeology and water quality planning efforts.

Students in the program will read, write and explore the rich cultural and historical heritage of river communities. They will also learn firsthand about water quality and how to protect it. With help from professionals and experts

(Teens continued on page 4)

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December 1993

(Bridge continued from page 1)

Family Connections Shipwright to Bridge Builder Lawler hired Mike Spettel, a German-born shipwright, to design and build a better means to carry trains across the navigation channels. Spettel not only had to accommodate boats, log and lumber rafts and "heavy runs of ice," his design had to adjust to 21-foot fluctuations in the river level.

In addition, he had to find a way to allow the heavy locomotives to move from the fixed span to moveable spans without severely depressing the near end of the moveable span.

Problems from using barges to span the navigation channels made that need very clear.

Spettel not only had to accommodate boats, log and lumber rafts and "heavy runs of ice," his design had to adjust to 21-foot fluctuations in the river level.

On April 14, 1874, the first train carried Lawler, Spettel

and others across the fixed bridges and the two pontoon

Trains still run along both sides of the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien and Marquette. None carry Milwaukee Road logos. Trains didn't in 1886 either, when my great-grandfather moved his family west from Manchester, New Hampshire, to Marquette (then called North McGregor) to work for Lawler on the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad. When my grandfather retired from the Milwaukee Road in 1948, after 54 years of service, the bridge and railroad still carried freight and passengers.

Now our family relationship with the Milwaukee Road is broken. On my grandfather's advice I did not work for the railroad. The pontoon bridge is gone. Now the CP Rails System (formerly called the Soo Line) runs over former Milwaukee Road tracks on the Iowa side of the river.

The pontoon section of the bridge opened to allow riverboats and log rafts to pass. This photo looks upstream on the Main Channel.

(Photo from Area Research Center, Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.)

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bridges Spettel designed and built. Each pontoon was 276 feet long and 55 feet wide. Each used 515,000 board feet of lumber, 565,000 pounds of iron and 8,700 pounds of oakum caulking. Hinges at one end of each pontoon section allowed it to swung downstream like a gate, allowing boats through. A 20-horsepower steam engine on the pontoon let out a six-ton chain in one minute, to open the span. It could retrieve the chain in three minutes, to close the span.

Initially, adjustable approach tracks at the ends of the fixed bridges accommodated changes in the river level. In 1885, a blocking system was added to adjust the track height on the pontoons as the river level fell or rose.

Track sections between the 27-foot-high vertical struts on the pontoon were raised or lowered in 10-inch increments by hydraulic power to match the fixed bridge rail height. Or almost match the heights. The pontoon sections were kept slightly higher than the fixed sections, so the train' s weight would first depress the near end, then the entire pontoon and then the far end as the it crossed the pontoon. A 20-foot rail girder provided the needed transition for trains from the fixed rail onto the pontoon rail.

By applying the engine weight 20 feet out onto the pontoon, the near end of the pontoon sank less. The heaviest train depressed the entire pontoon 18 inches.

By applying the engine weight 20 feet out onto the pontoon, the near end of the pontoon sank less. The heaviest train depressed the entire pontoon 18 inches.

The rail girder was pinned to the fixed bridge rail and counterweighted so it could be raised by one man, who also unpinned the pontoon end of the girder when the navigation span was opened.

Troubled Water Not long after the bridge was completed a bitter argument arose between the Lawler and Spettel families over credit for the bridge design and royalties derived from its patent.

Lawler patented the design in 1874, using Spettel's hand-carved model. Lawler received $750,000 in royalties from the patent, none of which he shared with Spettel. In fact, Spettel was paid $75 dollars a month, except for a brief period when he received $65 dollars a month after the pontoons were fully proven and just before he was fired.

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The dispute over credit and royalties lasted into the 1940s, almost as long as the pontoons did. Mike Spettel's children donated all their papers - which documented their father's efforts and their own to gain recognition from him to the Minnesota Historical Society.

Bridge Retired Spettel's better pontoon bridge floated trains across the channel until it was removed by the J. F. Brennan Company in 1961and1962. By then the bridge was a "Duke's mixture" of timber and steel components, according to Roger Binsfeld, who headed Brennan in 1961. The timber pontoons showed their age; they leaked badly. According to Binsfeld, the railroad folks figured they had one hour to get a train off the pontoon before the pumps would be overcome by the increased leaking caused by the train's weight. Reduced traffic on the Prairie du Chien line meant that replacement couldn't be justified.

Binsfeld said his company kept the pontoons and most of the other bridge remains at its La Crosse storage yard. Most of the components were reused over the years. He doubts that anything is left of the bridge or pontoons now.

The relationship between the river and railroads on both its banks and across its width continues to change. Strong personalities and equally bright minds are at work today striving to improve transportation service in the nation. Ideas like Mike Spettel's ingenious pontoons and John Lawler's relentless ambition to make railroad transportation work will be continued by modern minds using machines neither Spettel nor Lawler could have imagined.+ Ed Brick is a land-use historian, consultant and civil engineer, with graduate training in water resources management. He has worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

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(Teens continued from page 1) around the region, students will carry on water quality monitoring programs. Their test results will go into a computer network that will link all participating schools. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will help train teachers and establish sampling locations and standards.

Teens are rarely included in projects of this scope, according to Jannik.

"I think we really neglect high school students. We've got lots of neat stuff going on that gets elementary students excited, but we forget what a great chance we have to influence high school students at a critical time, before they enter the work world or go on to other studies."

La Crescent (Minn.) High School has used the river curriculum for four years in its social studies, biology and English classes. About 140 students were involved in it last spring.

They have collected biological specimens, written poetry, read novels and explored the history and growth of population centers along the river.

Gerald Danielson, who teaches biology, ecology and chemistry, said students enjoy the program. They have collected biological specimens, written poetry, read novels and explored the history and growth of population centers along the river. They have learned about the economics of barge transport, and tested water samples for oxygen and nitrates. They have spent days on shoreline clean-ups, and cruised the river on the Island Girl and the La Crosse Queen.

Danielson said he's always surprised at the number of students who have never been out on the Mississippi River, even though they live right next to it: "I'd say about a quarter of the students have never been out on the river. Of course, there's another quarter that spends the whole summer on the river. So we've got river rats and we've got kids who haven't had anything to do with it, and they learn together why it's important."

The McKnight Foundation's Mississippi River program funds projects that meet three goals: to help protect and restore the health of the Mississippi River ecosystem; to change the way people care for the river ecosystem; and to involve people who have a stake in developing solutions to environmental problems.

Who could have a greater stake in the health of the river than high school students - the boaters, voters and policy setters of tomorrow?+

Pamela Eyden is assistant editor of Big River.

December 1993

FLOOD UPDATE

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The 1993 Flood and Fish

By Lee Kernen While many people focus on hunting in autumn, this is also an important season for people interested in fishing.

Autumn provides the first opportunity for state fisheries biologists to assess the success of fish spawning during the year.

The walleye, northern pike, bass and panfish that should have hatched from May through June simply are not big enough to catch until fall. By late fall, northern pike may run 10 inches in length or longer, walleyes may reach four to six inches, and bass three to five inches. At this size biologists can capture them in fine-meshed nets or use electric fishing boats to shock them so they can be measured and then returned unharmed .

All year long anglers and fisheries people have speculated on what effect the high water and floods of 1993 were having on our fish populations. Have young trout been flushed downstream by the floods? Have our Mississippi River fish been flushed to Louisiana? Did the cool summer disrupt bass spawning in inland lakes or gizzard shad in Lake Winnebago? Will the rain and floods have a devastating effect like the drought of four years ago?

So far the news is all good! The northern pike hatch in the Mississippi was super, and thousands of fingerling northerns have been found all over the river and its sloughs.

This could mean terrific fishing in 1995 and beyond .

The northern pike hatch in the Mississippi was super, and thousands of fingerling northerns have been found all over the river and its sloughs.

Mississippi River fish, as biologists expected, either moved out of the channel to avoid the flood currents or dove deep and took refuge behind natural structures to keep from being washed downstream . These fish have grown up with floods, and if they can move sideways or deeper, they will survive. Levies prevent fish from moving, so we are lucky that Wisconsin doesn't have many.

Fisheries biologists have also found young walleyes.

And equally as important, shocker surveys have turned up many 11- to 13-inch walleyes from the 1992 year class. That

(Flood continued on page 6)

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CURRENT EVENTS

By Reggie Mcleod

Sunken But Not Forgotten We should soon learn a lot more a bout wrecked Mississippi River boats, or "submerged cultural resources," according to an article in The Waterways Journal (11-1-93).

Both the St. Paul District and the Rock Island District of the Army Corps of Engineers are having surveys done of wrecks in the Upper Mississippi River.

Some resources on the wrecks already exist. John 0 . Jensen, of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, wrote Gently Down the Stream: An Inquiry into the History of Transportation on the Northern Mississippi River and the Potential for Submerged Cultural Resources. Gently Down the Stream lists wrecks geographically and alphabetically.

An article in the Journal ofthe Iowa Archaeological Society (Vol. 37, 1990), by Martha H. Bowers, Hans Muessig and Lowell J. Soike, lists wrecks on the Mississippi and Missouri bordering Iowa. The article also lists landings, levees and ferries in Iowa.

The Iowa report is available for $10, plus $3 handling and shipping, from the Iowa Archaeological Society, Office of the State Archaeologist, Eastlawn, Universityoflowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, (319) 335-4645.

Eagles, Owls, Falcons and Waxwings Not everyone can appreciate the joys of ice fishing, but some bald eagles apparently take to it.

After the river freezes, eagles congregate at the open spots, where springs, power plants or turbulence keeps the water from freezing. The open water below the locks and dams offers good eagle watching spots. Bring the binoculars so you can watch them fish and dine. Stay in the car to avoid frightening them.

Only 20 years ago the arctic peregrine falcon appeared to be headed for extinction. But one of the world's fastest birds made a quick comeback.

The dining has been poor in Canada, driving many snowy owls into Minnesota and Wisconsin. The birds, which are white with brown flecks, generally eat voles and lemmings on the tundra, sometimes wandering south. This year they began arriving much earlier and in greater numbers than usual many on the verge of starvation. The birds are not shy, so they

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are easy prey for rock throwing kids. Report sightings to the Department of Natural Resources.

Only 20 years ago the arctic peregrine falcon appeared to be headed for extinction. But one of the world's fastest birds made a quick comeback. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing the arctic peregrine falcon, a northern subspecies, from the list of endangered and threatened species.

DDT in the environment destroyed the ability of the birds to reproduce. Because they migrated from the arctic to as far away as Argentina, they were venerable to pesticide use in several countries.

These birds, which can dive at speeds of 200 miles per hour, represent about three-quarters of the peregrines in North America.

While we're on the subject, the Muscoda (Wis.) Progressive reported that a resident found 18 dead or dying cedar waxwings under a juniper in her front yard. She called a DNR warden who found more dead birds and a flea collar laying in a pan of stagnant water directly below the juniper. Autopsies at the Wisconsin Central Animal Health Laboratory determined that the birds were poisoned by insecticide from the flea collar that had contaminated the water.

Superior Coal Route The Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) claims the Duluth-St. Lawrence route is superior to shipping coal down the Mississippi River.

The Great Lakes is a faster route to Europe than the Mississippi River, and the coal is not affected by the weather the way it is on the Mississippi."

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"The Great Lakes is a faster route to Europe than the Mississippi River, and the coal is not affected by the weather the way it is on the Mississippi," a press release quoted CSL's vice president, Bruce McLeod.

Europe imports more than a million tons of coal from Montana and Wyoming annually.

The press release mentions shipping difficulties on the Mississippi caused by this year's floods .

Bombing & Grazing Wildlife Refuges Lawsuits brought by environmental groups against 10 na-

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(Cu"ent Events continued from page 5) tional wildlife refuges were settled when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to review recreational and commercial activities permitted on refuges.

The suits (see Jan. 93 Big River) claimed that commercial activities such as grazing, logging and farming are incompatible with the primary purpose of a refuge. They also listed jet skiing and motorboating as incompatible recreational activities in some areas. In one case, Navy jets were dropping 25-pound, dummy bombs on Sea Lion Rock, in the Copalis Refuge.

The Trempealeau and Upper Mississippi refuges were not named in the suits.

Quicker Sticker Soon Minnesotans won't have to wait two to eight weeks for their mail carrier to deliver their new boat, snowmobile or ATV registration decals. Beginning January 1, 1994, the folks who handle motor and boat registrations will be able to hand you the sticker when you hand them your filled out registration card and check. The same system begins July 1, 1994, for snowmobiles.

You'll Need a Bigger Tackle Box If Minnesota hunters and anglers want to make absolutely certain they follow the letter of the law, they probably need to beef up their library.

The Game & Fish Laws weighs in at 635 pages and costs $13.95, plus tax and shipping. But that book of statutes and rules was published in 1992, and it's almost 1994! Well, for another $6, plus tax and shipping you can get a 200-page, 1993 Game & Fish Laws Supplement.

Did you say you plan to hunt on state land? Well, you'll probably want to read Public Recreation, DNR Lands and Administrative Laws (1993) . This 343-page, page-turner costs $13.95, plus tax and shipping. And, it's a loose-leaf, so if you plan to read it outdoors, you'll probably want to buy a binder and some dividers. One more loose-leaf, the 483-page Public Waters and Environmental Laws (1991-92), at $13.95, should round out your library and your legal education.

Visit the Minnesota Bookstore, Ford Building, 117 University Ave., St. Paul, o r call (612) 297-3000or1 -800-657-3757, to order.

Blufflands Development The most recent issue of The Minnesota Volunteer (Nov .-Dec. 1993) contains an interesting article about development on the bluffs in the Driftless Area. "Blufflands Visions," by Steve Johnson, focuses mainly on the bluffs along the Mississippi below Red Wing.

December 1993

"But today the blufflands are threatened as never before. The threat does not come from some huge stripmining proposal or a plan to fill the valley with toxic waste.

It is coming a bit here and a bit there, and it's coming from the very people who love the hills and valleys and want to be dose to them.

"Residential development is gnawing away at the scenic splendor of the valley, carving up the faces of some bluffs with roads and building sites, clipping vegetation, and manicuring a landscape thateven glaciersdidn't touch.+ (Flood continued from page 4)

shows these 11/2-year-old fish survived the flood too.

We still don't know about bass or panfish, but we are confident that although the flood was devastating to human interests in the floodplain, the fish came through it very well.

The news is good on Lake Winnebago too. High water on the Fox and Wolf river marshes provided perfect conditions for the marsh-spawned walleyes' first year of life. And even though the water was cool this summer, the gizzard shad had a successful hatch, which will provide walleyes excellent dining for at least a year.

Our inland trout streams also look great. Although severe erosion occurred in some areas, the trout survived.

Today the springs and ground water are fully restored from the drought, and the future looks bright.

As more information comes in on our other fisheries, I'll share it with you in a future column. But to sum it up at this time - fish live in the water, and the extra water we had in 1993 helped our fish more than it hurt them.+

Lee Kernen is Director of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Fisheries Management.

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December 1993

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Cottages and Cabins Housing Units for Seasonal, Recreational or Occasional Use

STEARNS 5.4%

WASHINGTON

Wisconsin 7.3%

1.0%

PEPIN

5.7%

TREMPEALEAU

Minnesota 5.7%

1.7%

HOUSTON - - - - - - - - - - .

1.2% VERNON 3.9% :::::::::::::::::::::;:; ::::;:::::: :>::::::::::::::::;:: ::;:::::::: ::::::::::::;:;:::: ;:;:;:::;:: ;:;:::;:: ::::::::::;:::::::::::·:·::·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:::::::;:;:;:;:::;;:::::;:;:;:;::-:-:-:·:·:·:-:-;.:-:-:-:-··:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:;:;:·:::::::;:::;:::: ;:::;:;:;:;:::::;.;.;:-:-:-:-: :·:-··:·:·:::::::::;:;:::::;:_

Iowa 1.3%

Illinois 0.6% I '-._..,·

From the 1990 U.S. Census.

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December 1993

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RIVER CALENDAR Dec. 1 Guttenberg, Iowa, DNR Fish Hatchery.

DECEMBER 1-3 Mississippi River Corridor Study Commission meeting,

Vicksburg, Miss., Army Corps of Engineers meeting room.

Call National Park Service, (402) 221-3431.

2-4 The International Workboat Show, New Orleans

Convention Center. Call Diversified Expositions, (207) 7723005.

3-4 Conservation Congress, Migratory Committee, Warm

Water Committee and Rules and Resolutions Committee meetings, 7 p .m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, Marshfield Innkeeper, Marshfield, Wis. 6-8 Marina and Boating Environment Conference and Trade Show, Atlanta, Ga. Call Susan Santoro, (401) 2949558.

7 La Crosse Area River Biologists and Managers, 7 p.m., Heileman Hall, La Crosse. "Film Making as a Conservation and Educational Tool" presentation by naturalist and film maker Neil Rettig. Cover $3. Call Pam Thiel, (507) 452-4390.

9 Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission meeting. Call (612) 436-7131 or (715) 386-9444.

9 Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board meeting, 5 p.m ., Kratochwill Building/Village Hall, Muscoda, Wis. Call 1800-221-3792 or (608) 739-3188.

11 Snowshoe Building Class, O'Brien State Park, Marine-OnSt. Croix, Minn. Reservations and $63.95 needed. Call (612) 433-0506.

11-15 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference - New Agen-

das in Fish and Wildlife Management: Approaching the Next Millennium, Regal Riverfront Hotel, St. Louis. Call Wayne Porath, Mo. Dept. of Conservation, (314) 882-9880.

13 Mississippi River Parkway Commission of Minnesota, .¡. meeting, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., State Office Building, Room 346, St. Paul. Call (612) 224-9903.

14 Mississippi River Coordinating Commission meeting, 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., St. Paul

Radisson Hotel. Review of public comments on Draft Comprehensive Management Pltm/Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The meeting will be open for public comments from 12:30 p.m . to 12:50 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. Call MNRRA, (612) 290-4160.

Mississippi River Environmental Training School training workshops sponsored by The Minnesota Project. All workshops are from 9 a.m . to 3:30 p.m . Call 1-800-366-4793 or (612) 645-6159.

Dec. 3 Bloomington, Minn., Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Dec. 10 Hackensack, Minn., Deep Portage Center.

JANUARY 26 Mississippi Headwaters River Watch Project meeting,

Grand Rapids, Minn. Students participating in MHRWP monitor and study the river. This meeting will review monitoring results, curriculum and careers. Call Steve Dittman, (218) 547-3300, ext. 248.

FEBRUARY 9-11 World Coal Conference, Mississippi Valley Coal

Exporters Council, Westin Canal Place Hotel, New Orleans. Call MVCEC, (504) 566-1001.

MARCH 7-10 International Zebra Mussel Conference, Holiday Inn, Madison, Wis. Registration fee $250 before Dec. 17. Call Clifford Kraft, (414) 465-2795.

15-17 Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, annual meeting, Radisson Hotel, La Crosse. Call (309) 7935800.+