A dump truck hauls a load of sand on March 15, 2018, from the Sand Products of Wisconsin mine near Whitehall to its processing and loading facility.
Land Stewardship Project has expressed satisfaction with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to not overturn Winona County’s frac sand ban.
On Monday, the court elected to not hear Minnesota Sands, LLC’s suit, which could have resulted in the ban eventually being uplifted.
Minnesota Sands LLC, citing Southeast Minnesota Property Owners, claimed the ban violates equal protection, due process and private property rights.
It added that silica sand has been mined in the state for over 100 years and that it is unique because it is “extremely” hard and round and made up of quartz, which makes it valuable for use in energy production around the country.
“The Land Stewardship Project is pleased that the court has made the right decision, respecting the people of Winona County’s right to keep their communities safe from this harmful industry,” LSP said in a statement Tuesday morning.
The frac sand ban was passed in 2016 and Minnesota Sands, LLC subsequently sued in an attempt to overturn the decision. The Winona County District Court upheld the decision a year later, as did the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 2018, the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2020 and most recently the U.S. Supreme Court this past Monday.
Back in October when Minnesota Sands, LLC announced it had filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, LSP called the move “disappointing, but unsurprising.”
“The land has inherent value, and the health of the land and of people are interconnected,” LSP said at that time. “All decisions about land use must be made with the needs of the future in mind.”
“The people of Winona County have understood for many years that the frac sand mining, processing, and transport industry offers no benefit to rural communities and is too harmful to be allowed to operate in their communities.”
Bub’s beer wagon
Bub’s beer wagon making a delivery at local saloon, ca. 1900.
League Park
The League Park in Winona, on the old fairgrounds in 1909. The park was built to house Winona’s professional teams.
Center and Second streets in Winona
Undated photo looking southeast from Center and Second streets in Winona. (Photo courtesy of the Winona County Historical Society)
CNW Depot
Undated photo of CNW Depot in background. Sherwood Hotel right foreground.
Horse-drawn mobile home
Undated photo of a horse-drawn mobile home — Latsch building in the background — on East Second Street in Winona.
KQAL radio
Winona State University’s KQAL radio station’s first day on the air was in December 1975. From left to right, Brice Wilkinson, Student Director Bruce Hittner, MnSCU Chancellor G. T. Mitau (seated), MnSCU Vice President Tom Kelly and Station Adviser Jacque Reidelberger.
Band festival
1921 band festival in downtown Winona.
1884
Winona in 1884.
German Industrial School
German Industrial School, 550 Block on East Belleview, 1906.
Max Conrad
Max Conrad and three students from the “Winona Experiment” group just prior to take off on a trip east in August 1954. From left is Gary Anderson, Max Conrad, Ann Wing, and Marilyn (Anderson) Doebbert. The four flew to Chicago, New Jersey, New York, Washington DC, and lastly, Lockhaven, Pa., to visit the Piper Factory. The students assisted Max with flying on the trip. The Winona Experiment was created to teach young people basic flying skills and about aircraft design and construction. The aircraft is a Piper Tri-Pacer.
Winona General Hospital
Dr. Walter W. Nauth and a nurse in the operating room of the Winona General Hospital. Nauth started his practice in Winona in 1917 and was a founding member of the Winona Clinic.
Third and Center streets
Panoramic view showing Third and Center Streets.
Steamboat Days 1966
The Winona U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary float took second place in amateur completion in the 1966 Steamboat Days parade. Safe Boating Week queen Ramona Felstead rides in the convertible. Her attendants, riding in the boat are from left Revenna Felstead, Lydia Sparrow and Kathy Anderson.
Sugar Loaf
Sugar Loaf Hill, photographed from East Burns Valley. Center: the combined Burns Valley creeks and millpond. Background to the left: Rohweder stone house and across from it the Groff home. Below Sugar Loaf: the grove of trees surrounding Sugar Loaf School. Far right: the Sugar Loaf grove used for celebrations. Undated.
Chicago-Northwestern railroad bridge
The bow-boat Lotus and a stern boat is shown passing by the Chicago-Northwestern railroad bridge at Winona. The stern boat did the pushing while the bow-boat did the steering. The pilot in the stern-boat would signal the bow-boat to come ahead, back up or stop.
Boxing
Residents gather to watch Winona’s first boxing match on July 4, 1919, near Winona National and Savings Bank on Main and Fourth streets.
Northern States Power Co.
Employees had to use boats to get to the Northern States Power Co. Liberty Street plant during the 1965 flood in Winona. The plant remained open throughout the emergency period, although it had to stop generating electricity when coal piles were flooded.
1965 Flood
More than 50 sandbaggers worked at this area where the spillway from Lock and Dam 5A joins the Prairie Island dike during the 1965 flood in Winona. The river was about four feet away from its crest when this corner was reinforces with sandbags and plastic.
Jefferson School
Jefferson School in the 1930s at 1059 W. Broadway in Winona, now the location of the West Fire Station.
Winona interstate bridge
The Winona interstate bridge over the Mississippi River, after completion in 1943.
Winona Normal School
The Winona Normal School burned in 1922. Somsen Hall now stands on the site.
1965 Flood
Looking east from the interstate bridge during the 1965 flood in Winona.
1965 flood
Pumps ran continuously as business owners tried to keep the water from the Mississippi River from filling the basements of downtown buildings during the Flood of 1965 in downtown Winona. The river crested at 20.77 feet on April 19, 1965, the highest the river has ever been.
Winona Deposit Bank
At 50 W. Third St. in Winona, the Winona Deposit Bank was established by Henry W. Lamberton in 1868 and opened in this building 1885. The bank merged with the Second National Bank to become the Deposit Bank of Winona with William H. Laird as president.
Central Methodist Church
Central Methodist Church on the corner of Broadway and Main streets in Winona after a destructive fire in 1961.
Laird-Norton Mill
Workers load up a horse-drawn wagon at the Laird-Norton Mill in 1867.
The Arches
This undated photo shows a gathering at The Arches, between Stockton and Lewiston.
'Winona Experiment'
Max Conrad and students in the "Winona Experiment" group. From left is Gary Anderson, Marilyn (Anderson) Doebbert, Max Conrad and Ann Wing. The group was created to interest young people in aviation. The students learned basic flying skills and about aircraft construction and design.
Becker and Schellhas Brewery
Becker and Schellhas Brewery, around 1892. Standing: unknown, unknown, Charles Tarras, Frank Wellenkoetter. Sitting: Mike Erlinger, Emil Tarras, John Becker, William Schellhas, Christ Schildknecht. Little boy and girl unknown.
Bay State
Overheated wiring touched off the fire that leveled Bay State’s mill and warehouse July 28, 1911.
Behrens Manufacturing
Employees work with steel buckets at Behrens Manufacturing in Winona in this pre-1940s photo.
Westfield Golf Club
Westfield Golf Club on West Fifth Street, pictured in 1955.
Steak Shop
The interior of the Steak Shop at 125 Main St. in Winona with "Ma" Ozmun in 1976, just before demolition. Frank Cunningham was the owner.
Winona railroads
A train pulled by locomotive No. 2 on the Winona & St. Peter westbound train toward Stockton in 1864.
Wilkie
Wreckage of the Wilkie after the fire in 1981.
Downtown Winona
An undated photo of downtown Winona looking towards Sugar Loaf.
Sugar Loaf
Sugar Loaf, soon after the O’Deas were finished with it in 1888. The leftover lump of limestone has been relatively unchanged since quarrying ended.
Catherine (Fruit) Goddard Smith
Catherine (Fruit) Goddard Smith was born Nov. 21, 1812, in Derry, Pa., and became a leading citizen of early Winona.
Latsch Beach lifeguards
Latsch Beach lifeguards in 1956, from left, Jerry Miller, Bruce Krings, Lloyd Luke, Jerry Ziebell and above Luke, Mike Hull. The John A. Latsch Public Baths was located on Latsch Island on the Mississippi River. For the picture, they wore old time suits that could be rented at the bath house.
Levee Park
This photo shows Winona’s Levee Park in April 1920, with the Mississippi River at 16.3 feet. Floods stages over the years included: 1880—16.8 1/2; 1897—16.6; 1916—16.2; and 1900—16.
Chicago and North Western swing bridge
Winona’s river front in 1872, with the new Chicago and North Western swing bridge in the background. The ferry boat “Turtle,” which took passengers across the Mississippi River between Latsch Island and Winona, is shown on the right.
Downtown photo
This undated photo of downtown Winona features the Winona County Courthouse in the background. The Winona Hotel is in the middle of the picture, with the Livery Stable and Stage Coach Stop in the foreground. For more historical features and photos, visit winonadailynews.com/piecesofthepast.
Watkins
The interior of the Watkins administration building at 150 Liberty St. is shown here in an undated photo.
CNW Depot
In this undated photo of the city of Winona, CNW Depot sits background. Sherwood Hotel is the darker building in the right foreground.
Benedict’s Poolroom
Benedict’s Poolroom was in the Schlitz hotel, shown here in a 1907 photo.
Parade wagon
Dr. Wild, D.D. Shelping pulls a parade wagon for The Mississippi, the largest floating dance pavilion with two orchestras, in 1910.
1884 Winona
An aerial scene of Winona looking south in 1884. The intersection in the lower left corner is West Third and Johnson streets, and the Winona Normal School’s Main Hall is at the end of Johnson Street in the top left.
1856 Winona
A view of the Winona riverfront in 1856. At that time, Winona was a big grain shipping town.
Larid-Norton mill
The Larid-Norton mill in Winona.
Winona fair
A downtown Winona fair on Third Street at the turn of the 20th century attracted hundreds of onlookers as a purported pachyderm (well, two guys in an elephant suit) perched precariously above the pavement.
East Second Street
An undated photo of a horse-drawn mobile home, with the Latsch building in the background, on East Second Street in downtown Winona.
Peanut vendor
A peanut vendor in 1925 in downtown Winona.
Josh DeLaRosa
News reporter
Winona Daily News reporter Josh De LaRosa can be reached at 507-453-3501.
