How much should have been expected? The team had some experience but had experienced little scoreboard success during the previous year’s two-win season. One senior had no recent experience, but had batted over .400 as a sophomore. After 15 losses the previous spring, the recent 2023 Houston softball team achieved 15 wins (15-5), a more-than-impressive turnaround. The senior, … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Suspicious antidote was seized, but not wasted
In 1856, during Minnesota’s earliest years of settlement, an enterprising young newlywed moonshiner in the Fillmore County village of Choice found the area so full of rattlesnakes that he schemed to profit without having to encounter any wild creatures. He manufactured and sold what became a well-known antidote to snakebite. As time passed, he began to market medicine to … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Profit for people more prevalent than controlling pests
In 1944 Houston County, each crow could bring a bounty of 10 cents, which had the purchasing power that $1.70 has in 2023. In 1955, the rattlesnake bounty doubled from 50 cents to a dollar. Significant increases came in 1957 when the bounty on pocket gophers went from five cents to 10 cents, on crows from 10 cents to 25 cents and on woodchucks from 15 cents to 25 cents. Wolf … [Read more...]
Solum repeats as SG basketball MVP, among four Lions honored
Junior Elijah Solum was voted 2023 Most Valuable Player for the second straight season by his Spring Grove basketball teammates. Senior Caleb Griffin was the choice for Most Improved while junior Ethan Crouch was voted the Lion Award, which reflects leadership, passion and energy during practice as well as games. Determined solely by statistics, the Hustle Award went to senior … [Read more...]
Grinde is state high jump champion
Caledonia/Spring Grove senior Tysen Grinde closed his only season of high school track at the pinnacle as the 2023 Class A State champion high jumper. Junior Josh Beardmore won the fifth-place long jump medal and ran on two relays. The Warrior boys competed in five events and scored team points in three. Their 18 team points placed them 21st among 68 teams that scored. They had … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Warned by chickens, resolved by pigs
Chickens, pigs, odor and on one occasion, even a blue butterfly – were known to help Houston County humans avoid danger. When Helen VonMoos was growing up in the 1930s on South Ridge (near the boundary between Mound Prairie Township and La Crescent Township in Houston County), she, as a child, would not venture out of the house into the farmyard without first looking outside to … [Read more...]
Cal/SG sends eight to state track meet
The Caledonia/Spring Grove boys were section runners-up among 21 teams at the 2023 Section 1A Track and Field Championships and qualified eight athletes to compete at state in six events. The Warrior girls placed 20th on May30 and June 1 at Paul Giel Field in Winona. Junior Josh Beardmore advances to state in three events. The top two in each section event qualify for … [Read more...]
Spring Grove section run halted by Hayfield, 10-8
No.8 section baseball seed Spring Grove hit certainly well enough to win and defended in the field better than usual. But No. 6 Hayfield won the battle of balls and strikes and survived the May 29 Section 1A elimination game in Austin. That 10-8 decision ended the season for the Lions with a 12-9 record, while the defending state-runner-up Vikings (14-10) advanced, among the … [Read more...]
Grinde ties record; Cal/SG boys are sub-section track champions
The 2023 Caledonia/Spring Grove track and field boys are the sub-section team champions for the first time since 2010. Senior Tysen Grinde tied the Cal/SG high jump record while clearing 6-feet, 6-inches. Eleven Warrior boys and five girls qualified for the Section 1A Meet. The Cal/SG girls placed seventh among seven teams on May 24 at St. Charles. The boys took first-place … [Read more...]
Clutch hits keep Lion hopes alive after nightmarish loss
Spring Grove remained alive in the Section 1A Baseball Tournament with late, back-to-back clutch hits to defeat Mabel-Canton, 7-5, in an elimination game, shortly after the Lions had dropped into the losers’ bracket with a nightmarish 21-8 loss to top-seed and No. 3 state-ranked Lyle/Pacelli. Spring Grove was the visiting team (batting first) in both games, which were two of … [Read more...]