Winona, located on an island where the upper Mississippi River flows from west to east, has been linked to the river from its earliest days. Before the community s settlement, Native Americans and white explorers sailed past Wapasha s Prairie in birchbark canoes, keel boats, and small sailboats. As early as the 1820s, steamboats plied the river while carrying people and goods to and from the state s interior. Before bridges began to crisscross the river, merchants had to use boats to bring people and supplies to Winona before they could travel farther west. The first bridge to cross the river...