Sunday, July 3, 2016

They call it Evergreen



We most often fish Lake Evergreen. It was built in the 70’s before I moved to the area. However, old timers like Don and Paul recall when it was built. I don’t know why it was named Evergreen, but I have a hypothesis.

Lake Evergreen has become the source of much loss and some downright tragic events. It is the final resting place of two of my anchors, one of my rod and reels, numerous hats, more fishing lures, jigs, and fishing line than I can ever summarize.

Unfortunately it also claimed some lives. I don’t wish to make light of the loss or offend any family, but I don’t believe the number of tragedies is caused by the design of the lake.

A family rented a canoe and went out for ride. The Dad put life vests on his kids, but didn’t wear one himself. When one of the kids fell in, he dove in to save them. He didn’t know how to swim. The kid was fine, the Dad was not. The county still rents canoes and boats, but few adults wear a life jacket.

A group of kids where drinking and driving fast one winter night. They probably had music playing loudly as they passed over several warning strips and signs that the road ended ahead. It ended in the lake and so did they. All of them drown except for one girl. She crawled from the lake and found refuge in a 50 gallon garbage can a quarter of a mile from the lake.  This prompted the county to put up flashing warning signs.

A young man, one of my former students, parked his car on the ramp. He was found in the car the next morning. The county took out part of the road and forced people to drive around the barrier to get to the ramp.

A guy rolled his car into the lake. He left town. Connie and I came upon the roof of his car when launching the next day. Unfortunately we didn’t recognize it as a car roof, because it appeared to be an orange saucer just under the surface. Since the fish biologists use orange markers for habitat research areas, I assumed it was theirs. Someone else called it in. Apparently the owner was trying to ditch the car, possibly from illegal activity. He was found in another state.

An elderly woman was looking for Interstate 39 at night. She became confused where she was. She ended up driving over the warning strips, past the warning signs,  around the barrier, around the part of the road removed by the county and into the lake. The county put of flashing signs to mark the direction to I39, removed more of the road, rerouted the road to the ramp through the parking lot, and removed about 10 parking spaces. They didn’t replace any parking.

A guy driving at night on the other side of the lake drove off the curve, almost hit the pumping station and drove into the lake. He, of course, drown. Since this was not at the ramp modified so many times, the county didn’t know what to do. I have a feeling they will add some more barriers this spring or summer.

I noted that there is a crop dusting business that frequently flies over the lake. Obviously the pilots are at risk. I suggested the county place a dome over the lake and place an armed guard at every possible access point. People may be killed, but it won’t be in the lake. We had a saying when I was an engineer, “Nothing is fool proof, because fools find ingenious ways to get hurt” Stay tuned.


My hypothesis why it is called Evergreen? It was named after the final resting place of Adlai Stevenson, Evergreen Cemetery in Bloomington.

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