By David R. Schleper

When he was nine or 10 years old, John Siebenaler used to go skinny dipping in the Minnesota River behind Growler Delbow’s house in Shakopee. He called this area “Bareass Creek” for obvious reasons.

In the 1950s, the city sewage went directly into the river where Huber Park is now located. John remembered swimming down river from the Huber Park area. “You had to keep an eye out for turds floating down river,” John recalled.

Of course, being nine or 10 years old, John and his friends often didn’t always let their buddies know when an incoming turd would hit them in the back of the head.

John Siebenaler and his friends also had a lot of fun with a rope swing, which allowed them to swing out over the Minnesota River before they dropped into the murky water below.

His parents didn’t know that he was swimming in the Minnesota River. John remembered drying off before going home. Of course, the clay mud would stick, and even busy parents would HAVE to know what was happening!

(Some information from John Siebenaler in “If You Grew Up in Shakopee…Then You Remember” Facebook post.)