The water’s high – and so are the spirits

Talk about it

The St. Louis River at Scanlon was expected to crest at 15.5 feet (major flood stage) on Wednesday night. Spafford, Jay Cooke and other area campgrounds were under water and their residents evacuated. Roadways throughout the area were flooded and buckling under the force of rushing water from nearby lakes and waterways.

And yet, it was the little human stories that kept us all going.

After plowing his vehicle through a flooded spot along Maple Grove Road on Wednesday morning, the driver rolled down his window, stuck his head out, and jubilantly yelled “WET!” to a nearby photographer.

A batch of customers from the River Inn in Scanlon hefted a round of beers from the back of their pickup truck as the water inside the popular watering hole began rising four inches over the building’s foundation. Owner Randy Stolan, who reported the river is likely to rise another two feet, matter-of-factly stated, “I don’t cry over spilled milk – and this is definitely spilled milk!”

When Pearl Tharaldson got a knock on the door of her Carlton home and was told she had to evacuate, she worriedly proclaimed she had sold her car.

“After 72 years of driving,” she said, “I’d had enough.”

And so, her neighbor came to the rescue and offered to give her a ride to the Red Cross Emergency Shelter at Carlton High School.

A man called the office of the Pine Journal, asking if there was still a route open to get across the St. Louis River. Upon getting the information he was seeking, he expressed his heartfelt appreciation and explained, “I’m trying to help out a buddy who is hauling a load of dry ice to Ely!”

A woman who was trying desperately to get to the family farm in Wrenshall in order to get the cows milked called the Information Line set up by the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office. The dispatcher told her if she hurried, she’d likely get through just in the nick of time before Highway 1 had to be closed down.

The stories go on and on, but they demonstrate the ebullience of the human spirit in the face of what is bound to rank right up there as one of the worst disasters to strike the county in many years, if ever.

People just seem to rally together in times of crisis and keep their spirits high despite the hurdles we’re facing. It’s what small town life is all about. And it’s what will get us by in the challenging days ahead.

Wendy Johnson

Tags: carlton county, opinion