UTICA, Minn. – The wreckages of a truck’s semi-trailer tank and a farm tractor have long been removed from a lone]y crossroads in western Winona County, but remnants f]remain – an orange cone and scars in roadside grasses from the tanker’s ethanol cargo Whether the ethanol contributed to a fish kill in Rush Creek remains under investigation. The crossroads of Road 33 and Road 6 appear nearer Pine Creek than Rush Creek, but porous limestone formation allows water to flow in erratic, ever-shifting directions underground. Rush Creek’s south tributary is nearby.
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Orange marks the spot. The orange cone is where the ethanol-carrying truck rig overturned and let loose 2,800 gallons of its corrosive cargo. Four weeks after the July 23 crash, grass has only begun growing back between the spill and a boulder-lined drainage pit at the intersection. Images: Steve Lunde
Facing south. On County Road 33.