WINONA, Minn. – The Upper Mississippi is ice-free all the way upriver to Minneapolis, but don’t expect any barge traffic through Winona until next Saturday at the soonest. The Army Corps still has winter repairs under way at Lock and Dam 7 at Dresbach. Plans are to have the lock operational again to raise and drop barges between Pool 7 and Pool 8. The Red Wing lock also is closed for repairs until next Saturday. The waterway then will be open to navigation all the way to New Orleans.
Remember when
There was a time when Winona merchants made a big deal about the opening of the river. There was a contest to guess the day, hour, and minute that the first tow would arrive. The first boat was cause for celebration—a ritual of spring. Today the excitement pretty much limited to the people involved in harbor commerce – grain-shippers mostly. A couple things have changed. Way, way back before interstate highways and aerodromes, riverboats were essential for travel. The rver was a lifeline to the rest if the world. Later the prospering locally owned mercantile community began being displaced by chain retailers that didn’t have the same feel for the community’s pulse beat. Think Fleet Farm, Hy-Vee, Menards, Target and Walmart. Perkins too. And Lee Enterprises and Leighton Broadcasting.