Happy Anniversary

I wrote the following post three years ago, and I'm re-posting it because it is now the 10th anniversary of the Really Big Flood. So from the archives, March 2004:

It's the 25th anniversary of the Pretty Big Flood up in the Red River Valley of the North. Bet you didn't even know there was such a place, huh?

The river's elevation only drops, on average, one foot every twelve miles. So while it flows North, it's in no hurry to get there, and who can blame it? If I knew I was destined for termination in Canada, I'd move pretty slowly, too.

It floods every spring. The people who live up there and endure this refer to themselves as "hearty, Scandinavian stock." Pretty much everyone else refers to them as either insane or stupid. I prefer insane, myself.

Before you start wondering why anyone--insane, stupid, or Scandinavian--would ever live somewhere that always floods, I'll point to your refrigerator. There's beer in there, right? Possibly Shiner? Well, these are the people that grow the barley that goes into your beer. Because of the river and its annual flooding, the soil is of the quality that makes high-malt-content barley. So these people endure annual floods so you can have quality malt beverages.

In 1997, there was an even larger flood. Volunteers were sandbagging along the river at the Louie Murray Memorial Bridge. This conversation was overheard:

BRIAN the Norwegian: This is okay, but it was more fun in '79.

TODD the Swede: What do ya mean, fun?

B: Well it's this alcohol ban. Our mayor, she's doing good and all, but back then the volunteers got all the free beer they could drink after their shift.

T: Weren't you only 15 then, Brian?

B: Ya got a point there, Todd?

T: Well, no. [Pause] So that was Louie's doing then?

B: Yeah, good old Louie. He knew how to motivate a guy. Knew how to motivate the liquor stores into giving their stock away, too. One o' them deals.

T: Louie had a lot o' them deals. Didn't he do some time in prison for one o' them deals?

B: Yeah, but they named the bridge after him anyway. Good old Louie. Wish he was here. He'd like this.

T: Maybe we should go dig him up and bring him over so he can enjoy it too.

B: Yeah, let's prop him up on his bridge over there. We need to leave town to get us some beer, though. [Pause] Yep, it was a lot more fun in '79.

So this spring, please raise a toast to Louie Murray: mayor, criminal, beer lover. A heckuva guy.