GOODVIEW, Minn. – Firefighters rescued a swimmer suffering an ankle injury from a deep drop from a rope swinging out over the Airport Lake swimming hole. The swimmer managed to get to shore but was unable, with possibly a broken ankle, to scale the 25-foot embankment for help. Firefighters rigged a rope and hoisted the swimmer up in basket. Once on top, the swimmer was strapped to a cot for a six-mie ambulance trip to the Winona hospital.
Airport Lake profile
The old gravel pit is off Theurer Boulevard in front of he Winona airport terminal. It’s a favorite for fishing and swimming, notable especially for a rope hanging from a sturdy oak. It’s an adrenaline surge to hang onto a knot and swing out and let go 25 feet into the water. The 12-acre pit was dug in 1890 for gravel to build the Winona & Southwestern Railroad to Rollingstone and onward 112 miles to Iowa. The railroad went belly-up up two years later. The gravel pit filled with ground water and was named Airport Lake after the airport was built a couple generations later.