By Cheryl Boyum Eaton
Peterson Station Museum
Growing up in Minnesota or surrounding states in the 1940s to 1960s, every school child remembers the thrill of hearing on the radio or television, “No school” due to heavy snows. This meant a day of sledding, making snowmen, throwing snowballs or simply sleeping in. But, children that lived in or went to school at a river town also experienced other days off, “Flood vacation”!
The towns along the Root River felt the wrath of flood waters many years. The houses in Peterson from the bridge to where the current museum stands were often flooded, the business downtown and part of the city that was on higher ground mostly remained dry. In a picture taken in 1901 from the bluff north of Peterson, the only land above water was the railroad tracks from Rushford, the business district and the bridge across the Root River.
Floods would occur when the ice on the frozen Root River started to break up or when heavy rains occurred farther upstream, or both. When an ice jam occurred, the city council would try to find someone to dynamite the jam. Once the ice jam was cleared and the water had receded, road graders were used to clear large chunks of ice from affected roads and cleanup began.
Most towns along the Root River did not have effective levees for excluding high flood waters from the towns. Peterson’s main entry off Highway 16 was an old wagon bridge over the river. Both street ends to the bridge were below Peterson’s street level and flooding closed off Peterson from Highway 16. The only ways out of town were a gravel road heading north along the railroad tracks, which was usually flooded, or Highway 25 west to Highway 30 to the area Petersonites call “North Prairie.” A new bridge built in 1963 helped keep this road open, but flooding still occurred in town.
Besides time off from school, the town children would wade or ride their bicycles in the flood water. The adults had less fun. Many basements in the area closest to the river and the grade school were flooded and required to be pumped out. Some residents needed to leave their homes. One grade school student wrote about the March 1965 flood: “My family had to move out in a boat around midnight. We stayed with friends three nights and two days. Our basement was full of water and also some on the main floor.”
Following the flood of March 1965, Representative Al Quie, Senators McCarthy and Mondale, Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Lt. Col. L.B. Harding (Army Corps of Engineers) toured the damages to the towns along the Root River by helicopter. They landed on Peterson’s football field and met with the city council and local businessmen. The area was declared a federal disaster area and Representative Al Quie assured everyone that he would attempt to have the flood control project for the Root River placed in next year’s budget.
The present dike was completed in March 1969 as another flood was threatening the town. The building was supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers at a cost of $59,856 for the construction of three quarters of a mile dike around Peterson. The Corps provided the labor, but Peterson was responsible for finding the funding. Thus ended routine flood vacation at Peterson.
References: Tri-County Record newspaper articles and pictures/articles at the Peterson Station Museum
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