Worker in trouble over sinking snow plough in river

A Polk County employee escaped injury very early this morning when the front-end loader he was driving on the frozen Red Lake River adjacent to Central Park broke through the ice.

After several attempts, the loader was successfully pulled from the river shortly before noon today.

Mike Raymond, who’s worked for the county for 27 years, was not supposed to have the loader on the ice, said Polk County Highway Engineer Rich Sanders. Raymond was cleaning snow from county-owned lots in town and made a detour to the public boat launch in Central Park. According to some bystanders watching attempts to pull the loader from the river, Raymond’s plan was to clear snow from around his ice-fishing house when the ice gave way.



Sanders, also observing the scene in the park, said Raymond had been “sent home,” but wouldn’t comment further on the incident or any punishment. He said the John Deer loader was purchased by the county in 2007. He estimated that, when new, it cost around $250,000. It was still idling when it was pulled from the river, but its not yet known how much damage is sustained.

An emergency dive team was summoned from Fargo and a diver connected a chain to the sunken loader, which was still idling. That chain was connected to a Bertils Gravel back-hoe situated on the ramp, which was chained to another front-end loader parked further up the ramp. Before all those efforts commenced, the ramp was cleared of snow and ice and covered with sand for better traction.

Throughout the morning, despite the cold, Central Park was the place to be, apparently, as dozens of people stopped by to observe the attempts to pull the loader out of the frigid water. At one time, a couple dozen vehicles lined the path that winds to and from the park.

With photo gallery.