Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 6 July 2003 Vol 2 Issue: #25 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, The favorite reading material for me is pre-Revolution or War of 1812, when it took much individual ingenuity and fortitude to grow and expand. The second favorite material is the period between the War of 1812 and World War I. The third favorite material with which to feast my eyes is that period between the World Wars. Anything newer I have lived through. There is a vast expanse of this country from Pennsylvania to Wyoming and from Minnesota to Louisiana which affects our population. That is the territories that cover all the waterways that flow out the Louisiana delta into the Gulf of Mexico. Catching up with my reading of things that happened while we were R & Rin' along the Ohio River in southern Illinois and northern Kentucky, I noted that Paulding county in northwestern Ohio was once again under water. A picture in the newspaper featured two teens walking their bicycles across a street. One had to take the word of the photographer that there were bicycles present for the tall lads were in water over their hips. Then, early this week in the newspaper we had pictures and story about Tropical Storm Bill in the Gulf states. Back in 1927, the last year of my Father's high schooling, the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri covered the land with over thirty feet of water. This precipitated many changes in our country, from extremely comprehensive legislation, to winning the nomination for a president and laying the foundation for the New Deal of another President. It effected the political shift of a group of people from Republican to the Democratic Party. So, the "rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, ..." quoted my Grandmother from Matthew. [For those who wish to read a wonderfully comprehensive narrative of this flood should obtain a copy of John M Barry's "Rising Tide". It is a vivid picture of a great natural disaster.] >From March 7th through Good Friday, April 15th, 1927 it had rained and on the 15th it had intensified. That day the heavens poured forth from 6 to 15 inches of rain over many hundreds of square miles from Missouri and Illinois to Texas and Alabama. Cairo, Illinois measured over 10 inches. New Orleans, the heaviest amount at 14.96 or more than 15 inches in nearby areas. This in one day was a quarter of the yearly average rainfall for the Port City. Floods have taken towns and moved towns. Shawneetown in Gallatin county is but an example. Water on the move is powerful. Out on such a river as the Mississippi whole trees would be sucked under by the current only to reappear a hundred or two yards down river, like a missile launched by a submarine. Roofs of houses and sometimes whole houses would float [rush] by. The carcases of live stock also would rush past. Alluded to above, these waters came from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the far west, from the Allegheny Mountains of New York and Pennsylvania, as well as from Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada. Also, from Montana, Minnesota and the Great Smokies of Tennessee. The Mississippi River acted as a funnel for all the water that wasn't evaporated or soaked into the ground. One has to imagine millions of cubic feet of water rushing by each and every second to comprehend this flood of 1927. The natural disaster pitted man against nature ... was man controlling nature with all the dykes along the waterways? Imbedded into this natural disaster also were challenges of man with other men where wealth and poverty collided, regional and national power structures collided, and ethnic cultures collided to shade all of [US] America. One of the lessons learned from the flood was learned before the flood did its worst. They blew up the levee at New Orleans, thus learning that levees alone would never control the "Ole Man River" — the Mississippi. As a result, the Corp of Army Engineers was given the responsibility of creating "floodplain management". Six inches of fast moving water can knock one off their feet, and a depth of 2 feet will float a car. One can appreciate this when attempting to cross a shallow river at a point of rapids, such as at Grand Rapids on the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio, where the water constantly flows over a man-made dam that stretches across the river. On the 31st of May 1889 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the dam there broke letting loose a wall of water more than 35 feet, and creating at that time the worst flood in United States History. In Shadyville, Ohio on 14 June 1990, just four inches of rain in two hours produced a 30 foot high wall of water. Rainfall intensity and duration are factors which contribute to flash flooding. Topography, ground cover and other conditions are factors not to be forgotten. Flash floods occur very shortly following excessive rainfall. Of course, the failure of a dam or levee, creating a sudden release of water also causes flash floods. Flash floods move buildings, roll boulders, up-root trees and even change the course of rivers. Saturated soil can trigger mud slides. Thus, the 2400 mile Mississippi River with it tributaries traveling across 31 states was/is one of the world's very fertile valleys. After the 1927 flood, the Army Corps of Engineers built 29 dams and locks, with hundreds of runoff canals, and miles upon miles of concrete levees. This system works fairly well, but "ole man river" showed who was really master in the flood of 1993. Due to heavy farming and industry along the waterways, the wetlands were not there to soak up any excess water. Today farmers are encouraged to use soil absorption properties, even to allow some acreage to return to wetland status to soak up excess moisture. Some time in the future the river will again exert itself to illustrate that nothing is going to eliminate flooding. Out in prairie land, eleven creeks converge with Salt Creek near Lincoln. Combined they drain more than 1000 square miles of land. Hundreds of floods have occurred to damage Lincoln due to this amount of land draining into one locale. During stormy times Salt Creek has been known to discharge between 12 and 13 million gallons of water per minute [more than 25,000 cubic feet per second] through Lincoln. Normal spring discharge is but 140 cfs, or thereabouts. Further west, in fact, much further west is the Republican River, a wild and wooly river on occasion. Such occasions are 1826, 1885, 1903 &5, 1915, 1935 and 1947. Picture, though, during the Great Depression, the dry spring of 1935. Dust storms swept across the flat landscape to such an intense degree that it blocked out the sun. In May of that year the skies in southwestern Nebraska opened up for the parched land to soak some moisture. The rain continued for a few days and farmers were thinking there would be a bumper crop. Meanwhile out in Colorado at the convergence of the Arickaree and Republican Rivers, 20 inches of rain fell to end May and begin June. Twenty four inches fell in 24 hours along the South Fork of the Republican River. Now the average yearly rainfall had been nine inches. The storm followed the drainage basin and the Frenchman, Red Willow, Medicine, Deer, Muddy and Turkey creeks all reached flood stage at the same time as the Republican River. It is said that the roar of water could be heard five miles away. Reports said, during one period, that water raised a foot a minute at McCook. Water rose as much as 20 feet, discharging over a quarter of a million cubic feet/second or 320 times normal. Residents reported flooding from "bluff to bluff", as wide as two miles, and families were riding the roofs of their homes as they were swept along with the water. Along 341 miles of highway, 307 bridges were destroyed. There has not been a damaging flood on the Republican River since 1960 due mainly to two factors; one several dams creating reservoirs, and two, the modern use of irrigation of crops. Thus, the water flow in the Republican River is much less than it used to be. A first hand account of this flood can be read at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nefrankl/flood.html To borrow from Sidney Harris: Things I wouldn't know if I didn't open my mail. [Thank you, Deb.] e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- Other sites worth visiting: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html