Environment | Page 63

Flood at Chaska

Flood at Chaska, 1965.

Flooding in Carver County, 1965

In April 1965, the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers crested at record levels, flooding cities and towns across the Upper Midwest. The disaster was especially evident in Chaska and Carver, where the Minnesota River reached its highest-recorded local level on April 12. While much of the two communities was severely damaged, residents pulled together to save the new Carver County courthouse.

Prairie north of Fort Snelling

Prairie just beyond the north side of Fort Snelling, ca.1847. Painting by Seth Eastman.

National Guardsmen searching for survivors in the wreckage of the Sea Wing

National Guardsmen searching for survivors in the wreckage of the Sea Wing, 1890. The men at left are standing in the Sea Wing’s attached barge, Jim Grant. The Lake City steamer Ethel Howard is in the background.

Rescue workers at the wreckage of the Sea Wing, Lake Pepin

Rescue workers searching for bodies in the wreckage of the Sea Wing, 1890.

Sea Wing Disaster, 1890

The July 13, 1890, capsizing of the steamer Sea Wing on Lake Pepin and the deaths of ninety-eight of its passengers horrified Minnesota and the nation. The accident ranks among the most deadly on America’s inland waterways.