The Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast · Dean Klinkenberg

Holding Back the Waters: The Upper Mississippi Flood of 1965

·37 min·2 clips

Ed Custer lived 74 of 75 years by the Mississippi before the river took his house, canned fruit, pickles, and cat.

1. The Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast episode “Holding Back the Waters: The Upper Mississippi Flood of 1965” centers on the upper Mississippi River flood of 1965. 2. Dean Klinkenberg hosts the episode, names his Mississippi River project since 2007, and uses his book Mississippi River Mayhem as a source for the flood story. 3. The episode asks how the upper Mississippi produced a crest that many communities still treat as the worst flood in their history. 4. Klinkenberg links the flood to a wet September 1964, a warm November 11 in Dubuque, and a later cold snap that locked in winter conditions. 5. He says St. Cloud saw three feet of snow in March, Minneapolis accumulated 37 inches, and Des Moines recorded its second coldest March. 6. The show explains that two inches of early-March rain, frozen ground, and a mid-March blizzard set up the April runoff. 7. It also describes Lake Pepin as a three-mile-wide, 20-mile-long sheet of ice up to three feet thick. 8. The episode moves from frozen tributaries to flooded communities like Brainerd, St. Cloud, Elk River, and Dayton. 9. It describes 50 people monitoring bridges in the Twin Cities while untreated sewage spilled into the Mississippi from closed treatment plants. 10. Klinkenberg recounts Dan Nath riding a large ice chunk near Brooklyn Center before a fire department rescue boat pulled him out. 11. The episode details evacuations in Inver Grove Township, Mendota Heights, and Lilydale, plus the closure of Holman Field and Union Depot. 12. It also covers the St. Paul Yacht Club being blown up, the Golden Garter saloon staying open on Navy Island, and St. Paul’s April 16 crest of just over 26 feet. 13. One of the most memorable scenes is Ed Custer losing his Concord Street house after 74 of 75 years beside the Mississippi. 14. Another is Hastings volunteers shielding Lock and Dam No. 2 while a Naval Reserve helicopter dropped life jackets for safety. 15. Wabasha’s emergency blood delivery by police car, helicopter, and Sister Lucretia adds a medical urgency to the flood narrative. 16. Winona gets the longest treatment, with contractors, 20 bulldozers, 100 trucks, and a temporary levee built to protect 15,000 people. 17. Ken Morgan, Ken Bruski, Ray Byers, and Gary Evans provide first-person detail about sandbags, sewer divers, and the levee system. 18. The episode sounds like a narrated history lecture with archival quotations, local statistics, and frequent shifts between towns. 19. Listeners who like river history, flood engineering, and Upper Midwest place stories. 20. Listeners who want light, fast, or nonlocal conversation.

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