One of the most unusual roadside signs in the state is posted by the former U.S. Highway 169 bridge on the north side of Shakopee. This sign near the span across the Minnesota River indicates just how high the flood waters flowed in 1965.

Another place where a similar high water sign should have been placed is on or near the U.S. Highway 2 bridge between Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn.

Here’s a logical site where the real depth of the water from the Red River flood of 1997 could have really been emphasized.

Here in Albert Lea we have our own versions of watermarks. One of the most traditional is Katherine Island. When this small island is completely covered with water, then we have more than enough moisture.

Another more recent gauge of too much water in Fountain Lake can be based on the nearby mermaid statue. When the water level gets up to her elbows or near the armpits; we’ve got a problem.

And if the water level gets right up to the fingers on her upraised hand; we’ve got a really major flooding problem.

Other indicators of excess moisture can easily be based on both East and West Main

Street.

One of my favorite watermarks is the railroad bridge just to the north of the Front Street Bridge over the channel. This is the one folks used to call the &uot;walking bridge.&uot;

The recent flooding in Freeborn and Mower Counties got me to thinking about some unequal factors in American life. Out here between the cornrows we usually have a surplus of water. Out in most parts of Arizona, Nevada and south California there’s a chronic and very obvious shortage of water.

For years I’ve wondered why those fancy fountains and water spouts in Las Vegas were wasting so much moisture for the benefit of misguided visitors.

In reality, those watery exhibits use reciprocating pumps and the only liquid lost is from evaporation. Not long ago a television report about the serious water shortage in Las Vegas showed one of those lavish aquatic displays out in front of a hotel/casino.

To fend off critics, a sign by the big pond and fountains said all the water is imported by tanker trucks from Canada.

Another part of this report showed the &uot;water police&uot; issuing tickets to local residents using too much water on their lawns and to wash their vehicles.

And the part of the report which caught my attention said the City of Las Vegas was paying homeowners a dollar a square foot to dig up and permanently abandon their lawns.

Perhaps the saddest part of this report were the scenes based on Lake Mead, the huge impoundment behind Hoover Dam, having a really low water level.

For this last problem, plus the alleged water shortage problems in Las Vegas and other areas out West, I have a solution. Why can’t our surplus water here in the Midwest be sent out to the west in railroad tankcars?

So, who pays for this transfer of water resources?

It could be the folks in the flooded communities and areas of excessive spring thaws. After all, they want to get rid of the extra water.

Then again, maybe the folks out West would be glad to pay the transportation

costs to get the needed water. After all, they vitally need this excess rain and snow

melt to fill their concrete ponds (swimming pools) and to water their lawns and golf courses.

There’s also one other option. Maybe the politicians can get involved in this transfer of water resources from one region of the nation to another less fortunate region. If this ever happens, the American taxpayers will be stuck for all the inflated costs of the program, plus the questionable salaries for the bureaucracy involved.

Oh well, there’s the future hope that Minnesota could be the Saudi Arabia of water. Anyway, all this speculation about a fanciful solution to our flooding problems did give me material for still another column.

(Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears each Friday.)