Mississippi River Closed In Red Wing 7/20/17

Early reports coming in say a car went into the Mississippi and local law enforcement have the river closed until about 5 pm today.

No more details at this time.

Although the river is closed, the vehicle they are retrieving was from the ’70’s.

So far, this is all they’ve recovered. Divers are working now to bring the rest up.

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That’s not where I parked my car!

Hopefully the inside of the car holds nothing but trophy catfish for BK take photos of…

The full story should be out in Red Wing’s newspaper once they wrap up pulling it out. She’s a long ways out there!

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So who’s got a side imagine screen capture… I’ll have to check my birds for any waypoints in that area.

I’ve got a whole bunch of waypoints around the state of misc sunken “treasure”. Waaaay more of sunken boats than vehicles though.

I’m assuming “closed” means no barge traffic since they’re working in main channel?

From my understanding, it’s closed in Red Wing. For the safety of the divers I’m thinking closed means closed.

I “heard” from 7 am to 5 pm.

There isn’t any barge traffic near by to speak off.

1974 Chevy

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I’m dumping my ‘bird and Lowrance units. I don’t know how many times I’ve boated around, over and through that area and never saw anything. ‘course I’m generally looking towards the Harbor Bar…

Now what. Covered with zeebs. Illegal to transport.

-J.

Jimmy Hoffa?

Would make a good restoration project…

Jon Jordan wrote:

Now what. Covered with zeebs. Illegal to transport.

-J.

Was the plug out? All 6 or 8.

I know I’ve donated a few cranks into that “snag”…..

People on the scene said that what looks like zebra mussels are actually insect larva.
I’ll buy that explanation since I haven’t seen that many zeebs in Pool 4 in the last 15 years.

Did they say why they needed to remove the car after 40 years?

Nothing official but I’ll take a stab at it.

It was reported a few days (week) ago.

I wonder how many of us have floated over that? I know I have a lot and never saw it on my graphs.

The car is said to have belonged to a fella that disappeared in the late ’70’s. His body was found but not his car. The plates match the missing person.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I wonder how many of us have floated over that? I know I have a lot and never saw it on my graphs.

x2

Going to need a decontamination unit for that one.

I’ve never reported what I find in the water, are we supposed to? Do I get to keep every boat i find that they pull up?

Brian, my guess is there is nothing wrong with your depth finder.

I talked to one of the Sherriff’s and he said they found it when they were testing out a new sonar. Didn’t think to ask what brand. I have been over that spot a lot of time and never saw it but I don’t run side scan most of the time. The Red Wing paper has more info.
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Feb 27th? Wonder if he was driving across the frozen river and went through? Would also like to know what sonar they were using?

-J.

Barn (Bluff) Find!

Chevelle if I’m not mistaken? The two vertical marker lights on the side by the rear bumper and the rear windows are what I’m looking at.

Man, they really wrecked a potential cherry resto project by manhandling it like that. Good pressure wash and a buff, pull the lures and jigs out of the fuzzy dice, and she’d have been good to go.

Let’s hope for the sake of the next owner that it’s the 350 or 454 and not that POS 250 that was standard.

Grouse

From Sgt Scott Powers of the Water Patrol.

We have two Humminbird Helix 12 Chirp SI GPS G2N, one unit we have a rear 360 degree imaging and the other we have a bow 360 degree imaging. The side and top scan work great still figuring out the 360 degree not getting good clarity with that.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Barn (Bluff) Find!

Chevelle if I’m not mistaken? The two vertical marker lights on the side by the rear bumper and the rear windows are what I’m looking at.

Man, they really wrecked a potential cherry resto project by manhandling it like that. Good pressure wash and a buff, pull the lures and jigs out of the fuzzy dice, and she’d have been good to go.

Let’s hope for the sake of the next owner that it’s the 350 or 454 and not that POS 250 that was standard.

Grouse

My first new car was 74 Cheverolet Malibu 2 dr, forest green with a vinyl top. Ordered it with the 400 small block. It came with a 2 bbl carb. At 12k switched it out to an edelbrock with a holly 4 bbl. If I kept my foot out of it I could get 21 mpg. Lots of memories made with it.

A sad story. My condolences to the family.

Red Wing Newspaper has more on the story:

RED WING — After a vehicle fell through the ice and sunk over forty years ago, many had given up on finding the remnants. Without the technology to find it or the resources to acquire it, the search was declared unachievable — until recently.

Earlier this year, Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office acquired new sonar equipment for one of their patrol boats. During a test run, Sgt. Scott Powers discovered the vehicle sitting at the bottom of the Mississippi River. But due to strong currents and high water levels in the river, authorities had to hold off the search.

On Thursday, July 20, the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office dive team was prepared to recover the vehicle situated near the levee wall. With an idea of why it may be there, it was necessary to recover it, deputies said, in case a body was still inside.

After several hours, the dive had proven to be one of the most challenging for the dive team yet.

“We’re dealing with a no-visibility situation here,” said Steve Sutton-Brown, the dive team leader. “On top of that now, a strong current and unknown entanglements that might be on the vehicle. For us it was a very challenging dive but very rewarding.”

For 20-minute intervals, three divers were prepared to begin latching ropes to the vehicle underwater in order to bring it to the surface. The team managed to first pull out the front axle of the vehicle, with the second extraction holding the remainder.

Finding closure

The vehicle, a two-door 1975 Chevrolet Malibu matched a story on police record from the 1970s.

“We now know the vehicle belonged to David Jorgensen who was last seen on February 27, 1976, on Trenton Island,” said Paul Gielau, Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office patrol commander. “In early-May 1976, (Jorgensen’s) body was located on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River in an area known as Warrentown. The location of his vehicle had been unknown for the past 41 years.”

Jorgensen was 24 years-old when he went missing.

The recovery helped answer questions for family members and friends, including Jorgensen’s sister, Nancy Falk. “I’m just hoping that now we can all begin to find some closure,” she said.

The recovery was a group effort, with Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Red Wing Fire Department and Siewert’s Towing and Recovery pitching in to make the day a success.

“They were all professional and helpful,” Falk said of the people who take part in the recovery. “I am extremely appreciative of all they did. It is because of their skills that we will have closure.”

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A sad story indeed. My condolences to the family.