The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-12-04
Thus Making Plenty Of Room for Rail.
road Yards and Tracks.
But Is There Any Law to Stop the
Removal of Sand?.
Esrth Mankato Opposed to Expansion.
a. Old Map.
From Mondays Daily.

how they can be increased appears more
and more as one of the vital problems of
the welfare of this municipality. There
seems to be but one direction in which
the expansion can be made in the vicini-
ty of the center of the city where needed
and that is out into the channel of the
Minnesota river opposite the union pas
senger depot
Here, as every well established resi-
dext of the city knows, the river reaches
its most easterly point in the great bend
it makes about the south, east and north
sides of the village of North Mankato.
1t is in front of the depot and for
several rods on both sides that the main
current of the stream hugs the North
Aankato side leaving a long stretch of
low bottom land dry in seasons of low
water like the present on the Mankato
side. In seasons of high water the cur
rent is always comparatively sluggish and
the water shallow. In flood times the
slowness of the water flowing on this side
sand, clay and gravel, and other sub
stance that the river brings down a
chance to lodge. Hence when the flood
goes down this side of the bottom is
always left much higher, receiving quite
a considerable deposit from the upper
regions of the stream.
On looking at the leavings of the
food one is struck with the idea that
this sediment, if left alone, would very
SOON add by natural accretion quite a
strip of territory adjacent to the North
Western Railway company's property.
After this new accretion became dry the
year round no one could complain if it
should be seized upon for railroad yards
and indeed such a change would work
untold benefits in assisting the develop
msnt of the city But this accretion is
not left alone. Every day wagon after
wagon is now seen driven down to the
dry river bottom by way of GAP street
and under the railroad bridge to get the
valuable sand and gravel, which is great
ly priced for filling. A vast amount of
filing in ON Poplar street with this de-
posit is to be done this winter and has
already been begun. Mankato's demand
for said and gravel is ample to take
away this sediment as fast as it is
deposited by the floods. Hence, unless
this hauling away of the river sediment
is stopped, the much needed natural ac-
setion can never take place.
BY natural accretion it would ap-
pear is there any hope of gaining this
bottom land for railway purposes. 1t
win be recalled that last winter when
the board of trade was discussing the
scheme of taking span out of the
Main street bridge and filling in the
old channel so far, what cry of re-
monstrance went up from North Mankato.
The village council took the matter up
without delay and appointed commit
tee to make an investigation.
Nels Anderson, then president of the
village council, wrote to Congressman c.
R Davis and County Attorney Stone OF
ST. Peter about it. Both of these gentle
men came up here to look into the
question. In the office of the Blue Earth
sounty register of deeds they found an
old official map made during the late
sixties of Blue Earth county showing
the old course of the Minnesota river
almost touching Main street. The mid
die line of the river was the boundary
line between the counties. According to
this Congressman Davis remarked in
Joking way that the North Western pas
senger depot stood partly in Blue Earth
and partly in Nicollet counties.
Mr.. Anderson asked if something could
not be done with reference to these en-
croachments, but Mr.. Davis said that he
thought it would be pretty hard to do
anything now even in the way of recov-
ering damages as the matter had not
been complained about before and the
present order of things had been estab-
lished so long. However, he said that
further encroachment could be prevented.
1t was not long afterwards that the con-
gresham had a long interview with the
war department at Washington, urg-
ing that department to refuse permits
sion of filling in the river if it should be
asked.
A Free Press representative had quite
talk with Mr.. Anderson about the
river question recently. Mr.. Anderson
told how the bridge had been constructed
in the late seventies. A wooden approach
to its eastern end was made by driving
piles into the soft swampy river bottom
Three rows of piles above the river
bridge were also driven into the river bed
for the purpose of diverting the main
strength of the current to the Nicollet
county side. Nobody in Nicollet county
cared then. What these farmers wanted
was the bridge for their Mankato trade
and they didn't worry their heads about
the river eating into Nicollet county.
As the current was gradually changed
the wooden approaches to the bridge was
filed in and became West Main street
Refuse from the city was also thrown
about here and so the levee grew and