, 
, 
, 
A joint public-private project will restore a portion of the Rock River back to its natural course.
The city of Luverne and two private land owners are working with state and federal agencies to remove six former railway pillars in the Rock River south of the Luverne City Park.
Planning began in 2018 and work will be completed this fall.
The Rock County Soil and Water Conservation District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources are also involved.
Partners for Fish and Wildlife is funding the majority of the $25,000 project. The DNR is funding the rest.
“We want the stream to do what the stream naturally wants to do,” said Scott Ralston with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Windom.
“Unfortunately, some human structures get in the way.”
Officials estimate the existing pillars in the early 1900s supported a railroad bridge over the Rock River.
The railroad ceased to exist in the 1940s, and while the decking and the rails were removed, the sandstone pillars remained.
The current railway bridge is 130 feet north of the abandoned pillars, which have multiple owners.
The pillar in the center of the Rock River is owned by the DNR. Three pillars to the west of center are owned by the city of Luverne, and the two remaining eastern pillars are owned by Mike and Karen Mensen.
Together, the pillars have caused a sandbar to develop in front of the central pillar, which now directs water toward the river’s eastern bank.
It’s creating a “scour hole” that is gradually eroding the river bank adjacent to land owned by the Mensons and neighbor Robert Verhey.
Doug Bos of the Rock County Land Management said the sandstone pillars have for decades prevented sand and other debris from freely traveling down the river.
During weather events the pillars create a “fire hose effect” that blasts water into the riverbank. “It’s a project that needs to be done,” Bos said. “It’s good for it to be done.”
Stone from the pillars will be used as riprap along the scour hole area to lessen the soil erosion along the river banks.
The pillars are blocks of stone and are arranged in configurations that are 6 feet wide and range in length from 17 to 24 feet and are about 3 to 4 feet below the lowest point in the Rock River.
The estimated 298 cubic yards of stone may be enough to complete the 150 feet of riprap on the river’s eastern bank.
A sandbar that developed as a result of the pillars is expected to be used to get equipment up to the sandstone structures. With the pillars gone, nature will reclaim the sandbar over time as the Rock River moves back to a more natural course.
Versteeg Excavating of Luverne was awarded the bid. His $25,000 bid was the lowest of three submissions.
Other recent Rock River projects in this area include the 2010 low head dam removal and construction of rock riffles to ease the water flow.
In 2019 an oxbow restoration project on the Verhey property eased flooding of farm fields. An L-shaped flood berm was constructed on the Mensen property to protect their nearby residence.