For the first time since 1981, residents living on the shores of Rice Creek have ready access to Prairie Lake. The floating island that plugged the mouth of Rice Creek has found a new lodging spot adjacent to Veterans Memorial Park.

On Friday morning, April 28, a crew from S & R Towing in Cameron, headed by owner Sever Rundhaug, began preparing the island for its move. They secured large I-beams at the back of the island and used over 3,000 feet of 3/4- to 5/8-inch cable to pull the "Prairie Lake bog" into position. But it wasn't a quick tow job.

Sever Rundhaug, owner of S & R Towing, believed he could use tow trucks and cables to pull the island into a new resting spot. Rundhaug put his ideas to the test this past weekend, and although it was slow going, he and his crew succeeded in moving the island.

A group of spectators gathered at Wolff's Den, directly across from the boat landing at Veterans Park, early on Friday to witness the operation. Not much happened between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. While they waited for the bog to move, onlookers speculated about whether the island would move or not, the overall cost of the operation, and whether the bog was somehow rooted to the bottom of the lake. Then about 9:40 a.m., the crew from S & R tightened the winch, and the island inched toward Veterans Park. People watching from the shore compared their "line up" points to determine if the island had really moved.

For much of the morning on Friday, the most exciting thing to watch was the news helicopter from the Twin Cities" KARE-11 television. After several hours and very little movement, many spectators left the scene and went on with their day. One man commented as he left, “Yeah, that was about as exciting as watching your hair grow."

At approximately 11:45 a.m., Pat Higgins, one of the Rice Creek property owners who spear-headed the moving effort, was optimistic. The island had moved about 20 yards, and there were no problems. Higgins said it would be an "all day affair" to move the bog into place.

It took more than the rest of the day Friday to finish the towing operation. The bulk of the moving occurred on Saturday, when the S & R crew again hooked onto the island and towed it toward Veterans Park. During the day on Saturday, the bog shifted, and the I-beams that began the move on the north side of the island rotated until they were on the south side.

According to Sever Rundhaug, on Sunday morning, the S & R crew reset the anchors on the island and began to tow again; however, this time some cables broke. "It was a slow process, and about Sunday at noon, I was a little hesitant," Rundhaug admitted.

On Tuesday morning, he and another S & R crew member were winding up the remainder of the cable at the Veterans Memorial Park boat landing, about 100 feet from the new location of the floating island. The bog is now anchored in place at Veterans Memorial Park in three spots using I-beams and trees.

"We got the point of the island into place on Sunday afternoon, and then swung the end around that night," Rundhaug said. "We put in some long hours. We had a crew of four guys all the time, and sometimes six or seven."

Rundhaug said he bid the project at $5,000, which will be paid by Rice Creek property owners, with help from the Chetek Lakes Protection Association, Inc. In the end, the move cost a little more than he expected, but Rundhaug was satisfied with the final outcome.

"If I had it to do over again, I would have bid it a little higher," Rundhaug said. "But we did prove a point."