What If The Dam Breaks?
How do they keep treading water through adversity? “I guess we’ll have to get a new name if they tear down the dam,” said Linda with a slight shrug of shoulders and a smile. Tearing down the dam has been proposed, but Jim doesn’t think it will ever happen. “They can’t let all that silt go that’s backed up behind the dam,” he said. “They spent all that money cleaning up the Minnesota River and they aren’t going to allow tons and tons of silt to flow into it. It’s a 70-foot dam. The water is 20-foot deep. You have 50-foot of silt that has been accumulating since 1910.” Many people thought the new bridge, which spans the Blue Earth River and routed traffic away from The Dam Store starting in 1985, might hurt their business. But it has actually helped. “Now it’s a dead-end road and safer for kids,” said Jim, “and people can see us from the road anyway.” Then many of the same naysayers said they might lose business after ending cigarette sales because of their fear of selling to minors, or
