We also met a lovely couple who have spent most of their 80+ years on the Minnesota River. They did a very engaging presentation about the river and Henderson. Apparently back in the day, human waste was deposited directly into the river, along with the refuse of a rendering plant. A rendering plant is where farmers would take their dead animals to be disposed of. Part of that product was given back to the farmers to feed their hogs, the rest was poured into the river. Those communities downstream from the rendering plant suffered dearly, especially on hot summer days. The stench had to be unbearable.
The Minnesota River around Henderson has numerous sandbars, and back in the day most refuse was thrown into the river. This refuse would travel down stream and end up caught on the sandbars. To this day they find all manner of "treasures" from gas filters, to golf balls, to bone and stone pipes, to a bowling ball and much much more. They had a whole table full of these "treasures" for us to see.
In order to graduate from this program we have to do what is called a Capstone Project. I compare it to an Eagle Scout project. We have yet to be told completely what that's all about, and actually I am quite nervous about it. I don't do well in front of crowds. A handful of people in a small casual situation is fine, but a formal presentation, even in front of just a small handful people, I find very uncomfortable.
