The Fourth Ward
The Fourth Ward in Prairie du Chien was a neighborhood on Feriole Island in the Mississippi River. After a massive flood in 1965 nearly wiped out the neighborhood, many families abandoned their homes and left the island. Two years later another flood inundated the island. All but one of the homes was removed and the island became a park.
The Fourth Ward and nearby Wyalusing State Park play an important role in my novel “On His Own Terms” so when heavy rain in 2019 flooded the island again, I toured it by kayak.
Although the island is now a park, it still has a single private home, streets, stop signs and lawn furniture.
The remaining private residence highlights the incredible challenge of living on an island that floods regularly. Furniture was stored on the roof and the house sat in two feet of water.
I've been in other residential areas in the floodplain of the Mississippi River where houses perch on ten foot corner pillars and a boat is always nearby. There's an obvious appeal to living in these areas. They're remote and intimately tied to the Mississippi. The neighborhoods are tight knit and family histories span multiple generations.
I tried to capture that feeling in the exchange between Delone's friend Pete, an intern for the Army Corps of Engineers, and the defeated River Rat who has seen his once vibrant neighborhood decimated and a way of life threatened.
The Fourth Ward and nearby Wyalusing State Park play an important role in my novel “On His Own Terms” so when heavy rain in 2019 flooded the island again, I toured it by kayak.
Although the island is now a park, it still has a single private home, streets, stop signs and lawn furniture.
The remaining private residence highlights the incredible challenge of living on an island that floods regularly. Furniture was stored on the roof and the house sat in two feet of water.
I've been in other residential areas in the floodplain of the Mississippi River where houses perch on ten foot corner pillars and a boat is always nearby. There's an obvious appeal to living in these areas. They're remote and intimately tied to the Mississippi. The neighborhoods are tight knit and family histories span multiple generations.
I tried to capture that feeling in the exchange between Delone's friend Pete, an intern for the Army Corps of Engineers, and the defeated River Rat who has seen his once vibrant neighborhood decimated and a way of life threatened.
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