TREMPEALEAU Wis. — A body was found wedged against a river gate on the Minnesota side of the Trempealeau dam across the Mississippi River. The body was discovered during a dam worker’s routine dawn inspection. Authorities were notified in Winona seven miles upriver, where a 73-yearod woman disappeared 19 days ago, apparently riverside at Levee Park. First reports from the dam indicted recovery would be difficult due to water flow and current. Also: Access by boat appeared impossibly dangerous. The body was at a gate 900 feet distant from the dam’s navigation locks and headquarters on the Wisconsin side at Trempealeau Village. Beyond the locks is a 900-foot dam with five roller gates and 10 gainter gates and then a 2.600-foot earthen embankment that connects to the Minnesota shore. Minnesota access from the earthen dam shore off combined U.S. Hghway 14 and U .S. Highway 61 near LaMoille and the junction up Big Trout Creek to Pickwick. The dam complex is 20 miles downriver from Winona.
NOTE: Meanwhile a search for a second Winona woman, Bridget Ann Martinson, age 32, was continuing. She was last seen April 6
Dam spans 3,700 feet. Backs up Pool 6 of Mississippi River past Winona and to Dam 5A at Minnesota City and Fountain City.
