Minnesota River Interviews - Art and Barb Straub

"Our front yard is down in the river right there. We had three acres right here in front of me... It is hard to believe Uncle Tom farmed this area...plowed it and farmed it, and it has disappeared."

Video Text: "Our front yard is down in the river right there. That is one of the last Kentucky coffee bean trees right there.  It was up here. What I am saying is we had three acres over the years; we had three acres right here.  Now the old river, you see that band of tall trees up there, the old river ran there, and its width was about to these trees right here.  And so you have to believe that’s the way it was. As a 20 year old we fished down there into the river, well into the river is now way over there. In 1993, [the river] had the big change. It took the riparian zone right off the river bank and made it accessible to a number of forces which I'll show you in just a second.  But, its hard to believe uncle Tom farmed this three acres, brought the old plow down, and plowed it and farmed it, and it has disappeared.  Mary and Francis are here guarding. We had hoped to make it one more year here, then we are going to have to close our place up [trailer home at the river's edge]."

See historic air photos of the river changing from 1938 to 2002. The images show the great meandering Minnesota River and the outlet of Rush River on the left. The Straubs property is on the lower right corner of the images.


 

This page was last updated 8/08