.
JACKSON COUNTY, MINNESOTA- The worst of the floods are the ones where they start from in the first place- at the starting point of the river. Why is that the case? Most of the crossings are found in these areas, and even if the crossings are short crossings- between 15 and 70 feet- and regardless of bridge type, they are the ones that are most likely to be washed out in the event of a severe storm. This has to do with the fact that in the river’s infancy, it receives most of its “food” from the run-off that ends up flowing in there.
The starting point of the Great Flood of 1993 was indeed in Minnesota. No matter where, weeks of torrential rainfall, combined with some thunder and tornadoes blanketed much of the upper Midwest, with Minnesota bearing the brunt of the system. It was the starting point for the Mississippi, Des Moines, Red, Cottonwood, Redwood, Minnesota, Root, Cedar, Shell Rock and Crow Rivers, just to name a few. It was where much of the damage to its bridges occurred. And it would be where thanks to a saturated ground, combined with the excessive run-off, the Great Flood began, which had grave implications to the rest of the Midwest due to farming and the rest of the United States regarding transportation and commerce.
.
.
Stony Brook in Jackson County, Minnesota
Stony Brook in Jackson County, Minnesota was one of the places where flooding happened but unexpectedly and very quickly. The creek starts in the central part of the county and flows southward before making a U-turn at the US Hwy. 71 Bridge just two miles north of County Highway 4, then it flows in a northeastern direction before emptying into the West Branch Des Moines River, five miles southeast of Jackson. The creek starts on higher ground which is flat, but after that U-turn, hills form that are very steep at times and have heights of up to 70 feet above the water level. Drivers crossing the creek have to slow down because of the steep drop they have to deal with. Normally bridges are built high enough above ground so that in the event of any floods, water may flow through freely.
.
.
Two Bridges and a Farm
For two bridges located just a couple thousand feet from each other, the floods in 1993 proved that no bridge was safe, no matter how high the structure was. The structures were located over Stony Brook at 550th Avenue (a.k.a. Davies Bridge), three miles north of County Highway 4, and 735th Street(a.k.a. Bean Bridge) just 200 feet down the steep hill east of the road. A farm place was located in that corner where the two roads met and the two bridges were located. It was owned by Lowell (Dick) and Lorie Rose Bean for many decades and was once a place for family gatherings especially during the colder months. The woods of Stony Brook made for some long hikes and in my case as a child growing up, camping with my dad and brother.
Both bridges had their histories dating back to the 1870s when they were both built using wood from a mill located along the creek nearby. They were replaced by steel stringer spans in 1914-15. Each span had a length of 40 feet with the Bean Bridge having a height of 20 feet above the creek. The road to the bridge also had a 50-foot drop and as it was gravel, one had to drive down the hill very slowly and carefully without losing control and ending up in the creek.
.
The (Un-)Forgettable Hour
One would think that given the steep hills along Stony Brook that nothing would happen to the structures. Sadly, that all changed in May 1993. Heavy rainfall in the past year, combined with extreme moisture in the ground caused by a colder than normal summer in 1992 made for the perfect storm for flooding, both literally as well as figuratively. During the weekend of May 22-23, the waters of Stony Brook rose rapidly, flooding its banks and causing destruction of biblical proportions. The Davies Bridge was wiped out completely as the girder span was reduced to a pile of rubble. The Bean Bridge did not fare any better, as floodwaters took out half the eastern abutment, threatening the total collapse of the bridge. During my visit with my parents in June, 1993, I saw that the bridge was accessible but just barely on the eastern side. Had it been completely wiped out, then the bridge would have been nothing more but a dock with the entrance on only the western side, even though that end was also eroded by the floodwaters.
.
.
The Solution and the Farmer’s Fork
The floods came and went within a day, but the solution was what to do with the two bridges. Funding was strapped as homes in Minnesota were destroyed and damages were estimated to be at over a billion. Replacing the Davies Bridge was a must as the road was used very often by farmers and prior to the wash-out, the bridge had a weight restriction that banned trucks from crossing the structure.
The Bean Bridge was seen as a hazard because of the steep hill on both ends of the structure. Then came the idea which was met with the farmer’s fork- Detour 735th Street but in a way that it would run directly past the Bean Farm and use the driveway as the highway. This was met with opposition by not only the owner of the farm, but the rest of the family and neighbors as it would increase traffic going right past the place. It would also have cut through farm land and the natural areas thus reducing the amount of space for both. And lastly, it would have been too dangerous as much of the wildlife live along the creek and would have to cross the new road. While Lorie Rose had taken ownership of the farm after her husband’s passing in 1985, her influence combined with the support who backed her up resulted in the decision by the county to rescind the proposal and replace both bridges on the spot.
.
.
The Bridges Today
The Davies Bridge was replaced almost instantly and traffic started using the structure by the fall of 1993. The new bridge was a three-span wooden beam structure. Construction of the new bridge on the north end to replace the Bean Bridge started in 1994 and by 1995, the structure opened to traffic. That structure was a three-span concrete and steel beam bridge. That replacement project was more complicated because the roadway leading to the bridge needed to be raised by up to 10 feet in order for the road grade to be smoother going down. Both bridges were twice as long as their predecessors and in the case of the Bean Bridge, 5-10 feet higher, which made any flash flooding over the bridge and roadway impossible.
The bridge replacement brought a bit of irony for the farm owner, for even though the land was spared the destruction that would have happened had the road been bypassed, Lorie Rose decided to move to Jackson in the Fall 1994 due to age and issues with the house and the driveway. The farmland has since been abandoned. She resided in Jackson until 2014 where she moved to California to be closer to family. She passed away in 2018 at the age of 94.
While the two bridges had very little significant value apart from a little bit of history. The events of May 1993 made them poster boys for many reasons. One of them was that even with one small bridge wiped out, it has a larger impact on everyone than what is interpreted. And with dozens of small structures wiped out during this time period, the damage was more significant than expected and affected far more than what was desired. For roads lead to the market where food is sold and with them wiped out and the fields flooded, everyone suffered, from the farmers to families struggling to put food on the table, to engineers who had to scramble to restore what infrastructure was needed. Priority was important but in this story, even the well-being of those affected by the flooding was just as important.
.
Up to $20 billion in damages and loss were estimated by several agencies as a result of the Great Flood, which put a third of the country underwater for up to 200 days during 1993. Even when the water levels went down towards the end of the year, much of the land was covered with sand as a result of severe erosion.
.
The Bridgehunter's Chronicles 