Project livens up life in Cobden

Water, sewer facility goes in

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

COBDEN -- The quiet life in this idyllic community of 62 people full of pride and spirit is a bit busier this year than usual.

The whir of heavy equipment cuts the air on Center Street, which usually doesn't have much of any traffic at all until evening when a few people drop by for a cold beer with some old friends at one of the two food and beverage establishments.

Cobden's civic leaders usually meet each noon for soda pop and dinner at one of the bars. The men are friendly, which is the usual mood in town.

A good-sized community park features a children's playground and concession building. A sign atop the building, steals a line from a Ray Charles tune featured on national television commercials a few years ago. It reads: "You've got the right one baby, Cobden, Minnesota."

Two small rustic buildings to the west house a fire house and jail.

About 100 years ago, Cobden was a bustling town with a bank, creamery, flour mill, hardware store, lumberyard, two grain elevators, carriage shop and a livery stable.

Today, Cobden is usually quiet but stable.

Thanks to grants from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, the Cobden Wastewater Collection and Treatment Facility, Wellhouse and Water Distribution System is being built.

The project includes tanks, pumping stations, a control building, piping and valves, a distribution field and service road. A similar project is underway in Evan, just a few miles north.

Locals will tell you the down side of the project. A few weeks ago, a fiber optic cable line was cut. Not long after that, about a foot of sewage backed up into both bars and several homes in town.

In the past, Cobden had a system of drain tiles that drained septic tank effluent from 30 connections. The tile discharged into Judicial Ditch No. 36, which ran into Sleepy Eye Creek, into the Cottonwood River and eventually the Minnesota River.

The discharge was in violation of water quality regulations with the potential to degrade surface waters and threaten human health.

Don Utz, 71, has been the Cobden mayor for nine years. A U.S. Army veteran, he served in Germany.

Over in Germany, he enjoyed the beer, eating bratwurst and potatoes, toured the Rhine River and a few castles.

After a tour of duty with the Army, Utz came home. He worked in a Springfield flour mill and grain elevator for 43 years.

In Cobden, plenty of bratwurst, potatoes and beer are still available.

"It's nice and quiet," Utz said about his typical day in Cobden.

There have been exceptions. Over the years, thieves broke into the bars a few times, taking guns, cigarettes and alcohol. A train derailed several years ago near the Cobden elevator.

Utz has lung cancer but said his ailments are under control thanks to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis.

He and the Cobden gang including dairy farmer Jim Mickelson and Rick Tessmer, who formerly owned one of the local bars, are excited about the antique tractor pull on Cobden Day, Sunday, Sept. 5.

About 60 tractors will rev their engines between 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. A bike rodeo, volleyball and food and beverage stands will draw several hundred people.

That evening, "Dain's Dutchmen" of Sleepy Eye will play old-time music from 6 to 8 p.m. The rock band "Alibi" will play from 8 p.m. to midnight. Proceeds will benefit the community park.

This Sunday, nearby Leavenworth will host an antique tractor and kids pedal pull starting at noon at the softball field. Proceeds will benefit religious education for children.