Unabridged opinions on the Kettle River Bridge ~ June 26, 1986

David Heiller

The first anniversary of the construction of the new Kettle River Bridge west of Sturgeon Lake went largely unnoticed on June 15. I guess we can understand why no one lit fireworks. But the Sturgeon Lake business district, if there still is one, should have marked the event.

Larry Dagel at Sturgeon Lake Feed Mill could have given away salt blocks to his farmers on the west side of the river. The bank could have had a drawing for savings bonds. Dan Zimmer could have awarded free gas. That might have pulled a few people into town. But I doubt it.

The only thing that will get people west of the Kettle River into Sturgeon Lake again is the new bridge. Believe it or not, that bridge is supposed to open at the end of this week. That’s right, this week, 1986.

Askov people may shudder at the mere mention of a closed bridge. The Kettle River Bridge on Highway 23 west of Askov was closed for a year in 1981-82. Not surprisingly, it was built by the same contractor. People either had to detour through Sandstone, or on the gravel roads to the north. Many a muffler, including mine, was lost on that lunar stretch of road. People suffered, and businesses suffered.

The old bridge...
(If anyone has a decent picture of the
 bridge, send it to me so I can replace this one.)

The new bridge west of Sturgeon Lake isn’t the grand affair of the Highway 23 one; but it’s close. The Kettle River west of Sturgeon Lake on County Road 46 is only about 200 feet across. The old bridge was narrow. Two Model Ts could pass on it going slow. The deck had a few holes in it. The water was only 10 feet below the bridge, which had no piers, just steel beams and a high truss. The approach to the bridge ran steeply from both east and west. More than one person lost his life coming down the hill too fast. The old bridge was an Edsel. The new bridge is a Cadillac, which makes sense since it was paid for by state and federal money. The approaches have been tapered, the bridge deck raised so that the old bridge could have fit underneath the new one. Pre-stressed concrete beams rest on cement piers that go to bedrock. The deck is all rebar and cement. The bridge will outlast most of the people who drive over it and gawk this weekend, including me.

Never mind the fact that it was supposed to have been completed last fall. Federal paperwork delayed the project in the spring. Heavy rains in the fall hampered construction of the piers. Solid bedrock slowed the earth moving efforts of the approaches in the summer. Locals will argue whether the bridge could have been completed last fall, whether it was an act of God as the contract allows for, or an act of contractor, which God allows for. Never mind that.

Think instead of the stories of heroism. Like Dan Zimmer, who lives only four and a half miles west of Sturgeon Lake, but had to drive 12 miles every day to his gas station on the detour road, through Denham. Dan estimates he put an extra 6,000 miles on his car as a result of the bridge construction, not to mention the extra miles for fuel deliveries west of the river. Dan is an optimist though. He admits he lost a lot of business, but he also supplied fuel to the contractors, which helped, he says. He has the patience of Job, but not the vocabulary when he talks about the bridge.

Even Dan’s patience ran a little thin last Saturday. He had been sneaking across the bridge the last couple weeks, dodging steam rollers and dump trucks. But the bridge was blockaded Saturday morning, as Dan headed for a wedding. On the detour, his exhaust pipe fell off. Dan struggled in the mud to put it back into place, dreaming up some new vocabulary for the unfinished bridge. He fixed it well enough, then slammed the back of the station wagon door. The window exploded. Call it another act of God.

Arnold Larson is another hero. He has the first place west of the river. He is a beef farmer. Part of his farm is east of the river. To tend his cattle, he had to drive about 15 miles, when before he could do it in under three and a half. There were times during calving season this spring when he was making four trips a day to the farm across the river via the detour road. Maybe Arnold deserves the patience of Job award.

But everyone will be happy to see the new bridge open. Chester Chmielewski, the Pine County Commissioner who helped get funding for it, will be happy. People who work in Sturgeon Lake, or Moose Lake, or Willow River, or Askov, will be happy. Dan Zimmer and Arnold Larson will be happy. Automobiles will be happy. Maybe even the contractor will be happy, though the workers have probably grown quite attached to the project.

I’ll be happy too, or at least relieved. And like most everybody else who lives west of the river, I’ll believe the new bridge is open when I drive over it.