We must be at least 300 years old because at least three times
since living in Northfield we've experienced 100-year floods. The
earlier ones were during spring run-offs. The most recent one was
during the latter days of Sept, 2010. After several days of rain
the ground was saturated Then came an 8-inch rain throughout the
Cannon valley watershed. . The sewage disposal plant upstream at
Faribault was overwhelmed. The lower floors of the riverside
businesses in Northfield had several feet of water from which
they've still not recovered. The estimated damage to the
recreational facilities on the east side of the river was
$4,000,000. And, worst of all, dozens of riverside caches were
flushed down to the Gulf of Mexico. Notice that due to its altitude
above the river most of the city was spared.
At the cache site, the debris in the trees gave an indication of
the height of the water during the flood. This cache should have
barely survived the flood. That would not have been a good time to
come here. However, mornings and evenings are good times to come
for bird watching along the river.
If letterboxing: bring your own stamps - several colors
recommended. If the stamp disappears then the embossed container
can be rubbed instead.