October 1st

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Some days you've got it. Some days you don't. Today was in the latter category. I spent some time in eastern Saunders County before watching an unfortunate performance by the Nebraska football team against Wisconsin.

I did make it to what's left of the village of Wann, Nebraska. Once a small settlement with a church and school, Wann now amounts to little more than a few houses and the structure along the railroad tracks in the photograph above.






For those who may not know, I've been uploading a large number of photographs to my Flickr page, many of which have not been seen before.

flickr.com/photos/josephvavak

A place that once was and a river that still is

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I've spent quite a bit of time lately researching ghost towns in the area. Most of these came into being around the time the first homesteaders came to start anew and flourished for a short time before dying away. Now, almost a century later, there is very little left to mark the existence of any sort of settlement or activity. Just an obscure name and a little history.

Rock Bluff, Nebraska is one of these places. Once an important location for those crossing the Missouri River and even home to a college, the town disappeared early in the 20th century. Now all that remains is the gravel Rock Bluff Road and a makeshift park where the steamboats once docked along the river.

The Missouri River has been far above flood stage since May and is finally starting to recede back into its banks, although you wouldn't know it from the water surrounding U.S. Highway 34 in western Iowa. I stood on the edge of a closed gravel road and watched the flooding for a few minutes. A strong wind from the north made waves in the flood water not unlike what occurs on a large lake. It's certainly been a strange summer.


Rock Bluff, Nebraska


Cass County, Nebraska


along US Highway 34 near Pacific Junction, Iowa


Waubonsie Church, Iowa

Southern Minnesota

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I have explored Minnesota once before, three years ago. That trip took me through the North Woods with its giant Paul Bunyan statues and Lake Superior shoreline. This one was less ambitious and closer to home, a drive across southwest Minnesota following the Minnesota River for much of the way.

Outside of the area around the Minnesota River (and its tributaries like the Redwood), this part of Minnesota is not at all unlike its neighboring state to the south. There are miles and miles of virtually flat farmland dotted with small towns that all have a large grain elevator of some sort towering over the surrounding landscape. Of course, as stated in Minnesota's tagline, there are small lakes seemingly everywhere a person looks.


Tyson Lake near Wood Lake, Minnesota


Fairmont, Minnesota


Blue Earth, Minnesota


Also visited: Winnebago, Truman, Lewisville, Madelia, New Ulm, Fairfax, Franklin, Redwood Falls, Echo, Vesta, Russell, Ruthton, Holland and Pipestone, Minnesota.