Article Title: High Water: Flooding in the Elkhorn Basin ...

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Article Title: High Water: Flooding in the Elkhorn Basin 1823-1940

Full Citation: Todd M Kerstetter, "High Water: Flooding in the Elkhorn Basin," Nebraska History 76 (1995): 176-
187.

URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1995Elkhorn_Water.pdf

Date: 4/2/2013

Article Summary: This article explores the floods in the Elkhorn River Basin from an early report of 1823 through
1940, including the various efforts of residents to deal with the flooding effects. Within the text of the article is a
chart record of the number of major and minor floods by stream and county, as well as a chart by date of the
various floods with comments.

Cataloging Information:

Names: Paul Wilhelm, C A Davis

Nebraska Place Names: Elkhorn River Basin, Elkhorn, Waterloo, Fremont, Neligh, Hooper, Clearwater, North
Fork, West Point, Gretna, Stanton, Pierce, Beemer, O'Neill, Tilden, Pilger, Winslow, Nickerson, Beemer

Keywords: West Point Republican; Fremont Herald; Journal [Norfolk]; Western Sarpy County Drainage District;
Norfolk Daily News; Norfolk Sanitary District; Works Progress Administration; Red Cross; U S Department of
Agriculture; Army Corps of Engineers

Photographs / Images: Map of the Elkhorn River Basin; Ox team on flooded Norfolk street, about 1870-1880;
Flooded homes on the outskirts of Norfolk; Norfolk blooded business and residential districts; rowboat on
Norfolk's flooded streets; Floods in the Elkhorn Basin by stream (chart); Flooded rural road near Beemer; Flooding
in Beemer about 1917; Floods, Droughts and River Modifications in the Elkhorn Basin to 1944 by date (chart);
washed out approach to the Elkhorn Bridge at Tilden, 1920; Constructing a dike at the Pierce Dam; West Point,
Nebraska flooding

Flooding in the

Ellmorn Basin


1823-1940

By Todd M Kerstetter


For thousands of years Nebraska's fertile - - 1'-'-'-'
river valleys have drawn human inhabit­
ants. And for as long as people have i ~/" BOYD
lived near rivers, they have contended ./,-..;.~'/' ----.....-.....--....... ...........
with flooding . As recently as 1993,
spring fl oods damaged more than $16 r-/ I
million worth of Nebraska property. For
several days a swollen Platte River, I
gorged in part by an overflowing
Elkhorn, threatened to cut off the city of i
Lincoln's water supply. I That incident
dramatized flooding's implications but \
only as a variation on a familiar theme.
Ever since Euro-Americans settled per­ .L::::::.. lightning. Runoff had transformed the
manently in the Elkhorn basin they have Elkhorn into a "torrent," which had
used a variety of strategies, first defen­ NORTH flooded Indian earthlodges abandoned
sive, then offensive, and subsequently a for the summer. The duke learned, to
comb ination of both, to control the river The Elkhorn River Basin. his surprise, that crops growing in the In­
and protect their property. However, dians' fields survived the storm. Al­
none of these strategies has succeeded . That trip took him overland through the though he gave no basis for his conclu­
Elkhorn Valley, where he experienced sion , the duke reported that "the Indians
Although little is known about how an impressive rain storm and flood. On are so clever in the choice of their vari­
the Elkhorn basin's earliest residents August 12, after covering about thirty ous fields and so accustomed to such
dealt with floods, historical records indi­ miles in sweltering 102-degree heat, the storms that the crops will rarely be
cate some degree of flooding occurs in duke's entourage camped near the harmed." 2These unidentified Indians
the basin practically every year. Figure 1 Elkhorn. A "hurricane-like storm" blew had developed agricultural practices
lists floods recorded since official mea­ from the southwest for several hours be­ that protected their crops from destruc­
surements have been kept. Figure 2 lists fore the winds subsided, giving way to a tion by the Elkhorn 's predictable
floods deemed noteworthy by the torrential downpour. The rains crushed overflows.
basin's newspapers and by the U.S. a shelter erected by the party and wind
Army Corps of Engineers. It also in­ blew down the duke's tent, which the Visions of fertile soil beneath prairie
cludes other water-related events. storm's runoff "washed away with all grasses drew aspiring farmers from the
other objects that were not too heavy to
A German duke may have made the be carried along."
first written record of an Elkhorn flood
when he visited the basin in 1823. Paul Daylight revealed "giant" cotton­
Wilhelm, Duke of Wiirttemberg, who woods lying on the ground, either
toured North America from 1822 to blown down by the storm or split by
1824, traveled up the Missouri River as
far as present South Dakota in 1823.

Todd Kerstetter is a doctoral candidate in
the Department of History at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln.

176

Elkhorn Basin

United States and abroad to Nebraska Ox team on flooded Norfolk street, probably in the 18705 or early 18805.
Territory in the late 1850s. As they (NSHS-M 182:5-57)
staked claims westward from Missouri
River settlements, they often followed died in the accident, but hundreds of The April 21 Fremont Herald reported
streams, hoping to reap a bountiful har­ other lives were given a fresh start. The that the Elkhorn "dashes through the
vest from rich bottomlands. In some train's cargo included open tanks con­ streets of Norfolk at will," doing much
places rivers or creeks also powered taining $30,000 worth of live fish damage but making for wonderful boat­
mills that could convert bottomland har­ enroute from a Maine fish hatchery to ing. Reports do not indicate whether
vests into commercial goods such as stock California waters. Trout, pike, eel, this was a continuation of the March
flour. Such an economic package at­ lobster, bass, and other species escaped flood , or whether the Elkhorn had re­
tracted settlers after the Omahas to the into the Elkhorn when the train de­ turned to its channel only to overflow
Elkhorn River basin. railed . Meanwhile, residents in and again . Norfolk's streets lay submerged
around West Point repaired roads, wor­ under two to three feet of water, and the
The Elkhorn did not offer a honey­ ried about disease from stagnant water river washed out more than half a mile
moon to the new arrivals, but greeted in town, and probably rejoiced that of railroad track upstream from the city.
them from the beginning with flooding crop damage turned out to be "hardly Two railroad bridges in the same vicin­
that was almost an annual occurrence. worth mentioning."s ity also fell to the flood, cutting train ser­
In the spring of 1857 West Point found er vice to the end of the lin e. Approaches
Uriah Bruner negotiated flood-damaged Nearly eight years later, on March 31, to the railroad bridge at Neligh incurred
roads to reach the townsite.3 Having 1881, the West Point Republican re­ damage, but the bridge held.7
overcome a flood to found the town, ported the Elkhorn had risen more than
settlers built a sawmill and later a flour six feet above its low water mark and Responses to these floods show that
mill to capitalize on the Elkhorn's cur­ the highest water was still expected. Re­ early settlers adapted to flood condi­
rent. But almost from the beginning, ports indicated that ice gorges on the tions while waiting for the waters to re­
economic enterprises on the river's river were at least partially responsible. cede and then rebuilt their damaged
banks suffered from regular overflows. At Waterloo, near the Elkhorn's mouth, structures, railroad lines for instance, in
a four-foot rise on Monday, March 28, the same place that had just succumbed
Floodwaters again tested settlers lifted the Union Pacific Railroad bridge to the river. Hooper's innovative resi­
when the deluge of May-June 1873 hit several inches off its foundation . In a dents restored wagon travel by pooling
the basin. By May 29 the Elkhorn flowed prophetic forecast, the Republican esti­ their money to buy lumber, which they
at its highest level in six years. West mated the river might take two or three used to build a boat. They twisted fence
Point residents "risked their lives .. . weeks to return to normal. The problem wire into a cable, stretched it across the
working like beavers" to clear driftwood was not limited to the Elkhorn . Ice river, and began ferrying wagons and
from the bridge across the "troubled wa­ gorges on the Missouri River also passengers across the swollen Elkhorn .s
ters of the Elkhorn." By June 5 the ex­ caused disastrous flooding in the spring
pected flood had submerged parts of of 1881 6 The upper Elkhorn basin again felt
the city. On Tuesday, June 3, the the river's touch during the last week of
Elkhorn overflowed the east side of the
West Point mill dam and continued to
rise until it reached the railroad tracks.
The West Point Republican reported
"much damage" to crops, but little dam­
age other than to gardens in town.4

Receding waters, however, revealed
extensive devastation. Mill dams appar­
ently suffered severely, as indicated by a
report in the Republican that West
Point's mill dam and bridge withstood
the high water better than any other in
the area. Downstream, near the
Elkhorn's confluence with the Platte, a
westbound Union Pacific passenger
train derailed when a trestle spanning a
flooded slough east of the Elkhorn River
collapsed. At least one crew member

177

Nebraska History - Winter 1995

Clockwise: Flooded homes on the outskirts of Norfolk.

(NSHS-M 182:5-56)

The Elkhorn overflowed through Norfolk's business and residen­
tial districts. (NSHS-M 182:5-59)
These men used a rowboat to navigate Norfolk's flooded streets.
(NSHS-M 182:5-53)

178

Elkhorn Basin

May 1888, as far upstream as Holt Figure 1. Floods in the Elkhorn Basin
County. On Saturday, May 26, and Sun­
day, May 27, runoff from heavy rains Elkhorn River Holt 66 21
filled the upper basin's streams to over­ Antelope 66 29
flowing. Several bridges between Madison 66 2 16
Clearwater and Neligh washed out, halt­ Stanton 66 3 17
ing rail traffic westward out of Neligh. Cuming 66 5 15
The Elkhorn continued to rise until Dodge 66 49
Tuesday night, when flood waters Washington 66 42
reached their highest point since 1881. Douglas 66 45
At Neligh, soaked townspeople could 10­ Sarpy 66 42
cate the mill dam only by the ripple it
produced in the swollen river's current.9 Cedar Creek Antelope 66 4 2

On Monday, May 28, Norfolk re­ Giles Creek Madison 38 7 2
mained dry as levees along the North
Fork contained the water, which had Buffalo Creek Madison 10 2 3
climbed to within eight inches of the
levee's crown. Like the Elkhorn at Battle Creek Madison 35 3 9
Neligh, the North Fork reached its high­
est level since 1881. Between 3 A.M. and North Fork Pierce 66 9 7
4 A.M. on Tuesday, May 29, the North
Fork broke a seventy-foot crevasse in Meskenthine Stanton 39 5
the levee and flooded into Norfolk as far Creek
west as Main Street. Water ran deep Madison 35 3 3
enough for boating in the neighbor­ Union Creek Stanton 35 3 3
hood's gutters. Residents scrambled to
plug the gap with six hundred sandbags Humbug Creek Wayne 31 0 2
and later that day the flood began to re­ Stanton 31 2 3
cede. Fortunately for taxpayers, streets
and sidewalks suffered "no great dam­ Plum Creek Wayne 35 2 4
age." But the freshet flooded houses, Cuming 35 4 3
washed out an unreported length of
railroad track, made the county bridge Pebble Creek Dodge 66 7
south of town impassable, and sub­
merged a number of farms south of Logan Creek Cedar 66 0 2
the Elkhorn. 10
Dixon 66 1 3
In response to the flood, a group of
ingenious and civic-minded Neligh resi­ Wayne 66 1 8
dents collected funds to build a four-
oared flatboat to ferry passengers across Thurston 66 2 6
the Elkhorn at no charge. The town
council also authorized a bank stabiliza­ Cuming 66 4
tion project at the waterworks pumping
station to prevent future floods from Burt 66 2 6
washing the building downstream.
Norfolk's Journal credited the levee on Dodge 66 3 4
the North Fork, just upstream from the
mill dam, for minimizing damage. The Maple Creek Dodge 66 3
paper also claimed that a larger, better-
built levee would have kept the "raging East Fork Colfax 66 4
Elkhorn within its proper bounds." The (Maple Creek) Colfax 66 3
Journal renewed its call a week later, 66 9
urging the town to enlarge and Middle Fork
(Maple Creek)

Rawhide Creek Dodge

Bell Creek Washington 66 0

Source: Elkhorn River and Tributaries, Nebraska, 81st Cong., 1st sess.,
H. Doc. 215 (Washington D.C. : GPO, 1949), 18.

179

Nebraska History - Winter 1995

strengthen the levee to prevent future Elkhorn flood waters often wash into A.M. people there were abandoning
flood damage. 11 the area. About this time-sometime be­ their homes for higher ground. Friday
fore 1911- several drainage districts the waters crested eight to ten inches
West Point residents suffered again in modified Rawhide Creek, flowing above the old mark recorded above the
1891 when summer floods inundated through Colfax and Dodge counties, by mill dam. Citizens armed with chalk
the village. At about 3 P.M. on June 24 constructing an extensive system of congregated on the corner of Norfolk
lightning ripped Cuming County's sum­ drainage ditches. However, when the Avenue and Fourth Street to mark the
mer sky. Thunder rumbled over the ho­ districts dissolved, the ditches deterio­ height of the historic flood. As quickly
rizon as sheets of water fell for five rated from lack of maintenance. As the as the flood materialized, it dissipated.
hours from a storm that dumped 7.3 ditches and the Rawhide Creek channel At Clearwater, upstream from Neligh,
inches of water on West Point and sur­ filled with silt and debris, they ceased to the Elkhorn dropped four feet during
rounding areas. Runoff transformed function properly and caused an in­ the night of April 1-2.16
West Point's east-west streets into crease in the frequency of flooding ex­
streams. Buggies, wagons, cultivators, perienced by adjacent lands.14Although High water damaged structures in
mowers, lumber, and other flotsam and these projects succeeded when properly downtown Norfolk, washed out roads
jetsam floated past downtown buildings maintained, their neglect indicated the and railroads, and inundated farm land
toward the Elkhorn. The waters washed necessity of continual upkeep. surrounding the city. Water undermined
away the newly built gutters meant to pavement in town and made jagged
channel them and unceremoniously A severe flood in 1912 kept high wa­ roller coasters of sidewalks. Flooding ru­
dumped the gutter bricks in fields out­ ter on the minds of basin residents. Melt­ ined goods stored in the basements of
side town . The flood also laid bare the ing snow contributed to the March-April downtown businesses. Washed out rail­
pipes of West Point's waterworks. Only a flood of 1912, which washed out bridges roads crippled train traffic to the south
few Main Street businesses escaped in the valley and left oldtimers compar­ and east. Without freight service
damage. Estimates put the city's loss at ing it to the flood of 1881 . At Stanton, Norfolk's stores experienced shortages
$10,000; private losses in town at an­ centrally located in the basin , seventy­ of meat, which sold out in several stores
other $10,000 to $15,000; and county six inches of snow fell during the winter by Saturday night. Southwest of Norfolk
losses at an additional $40,000.12 of 1911-12-more than double the thirty­ the Elkhorn swelled to three-quarters of
inch annual average for the previous a mile wide and swamped farms . In one
During the first decade of the twenti­ twenty years. March alone saw thirty-six case it flooded a corral with as much as
eth century, the desire for flood control inches of snow fall at Stanton. By March four feet of water. 17
led people in several counties to form 25 ice still covered the Missouri River,
drainage districts-private, quasi­ and nearby residents expected serious By the time of the 1912 flood ,
governmental organizations dedicated flooding as warm weather melted snow Norfolk's residents had made plans to
to improving drainage within their juris­ and the icy crust on the rivers. Railroad respond . Twelve families in southeast
dictions. One antiflood strategy was to officials, fearing for the well-being of Norfolk began collecting boats and wag­
"improve" the Elkhorn and its tributar­ their lines, met at Omaha to plan for the ons to seek higher ground within five
ies. So-called improvements consisted expected flood . They ordered dynamite minutes of a blast from the town's fire
primarily of channel straightening with­ distributed to explode river ice gorges whistle-doubling as a flood warning
out appreciable channel enlargement. and facilitate drainage.IS device. As waters rose Thursday, labor­
On the lower Elkhorn in Dodge, Wash­ ers at the town's waterworks hustled to
ington, Douglas, and Sarpy counties, the The expected flood materialized at build a cofferdam that successfully pro­
Elkhorn River Drainage District and the Norfolk at 5 P.M. on Wednesday, March tected the station's machinery and kept
Elkhorn Valley Drainage District com­ 27, when the North Fork, an Elkhorn Norfolk supplied with potable water.
pleted several such projects prior to tributary that joins the main river south­ Ironically, sewers engineered to drain
1912. According to an engineering re­ east of town, rose high enough to halt water and waste from the town's build­
port, the projects successfully drained operations at the Norfolk mill. As had ings backed up, flooding a number of
the valley, but only during rains and been the case historically, Norfolk's basements. With the sewer system dis­
floods of limited magnitude. 13 flood came as the North Fork over­ abled, wastewater from the electric light
flowed north of town, flowed through plant could not be disposed of, forcing
Around 1910 the Western Sarpy the city, and rejoined its chann el to the the plant to shut down.
County Drainage District dug a series of southeast. By 7 A.M. Thursday, flood
ditches to drain bottom lands just east warnings arrived from Pierce, a North Reports of residents observing the ris­
and upstream from the Elkhorn's mouth Fork community upstream from Norfolk. ing waters from a dike and of waters
near Gretna. Although this area nor­ Two hours later water covered the streaming over a retaining wall indicate
mally lies outside the Elkhorn basin and southeast section of the city, and by 10 that the town had built structures to de­
drains east, ultimately into the Platte, fend itself from freshets. Flood warnings

180

Elkhorn Basin

Flooded rural road near Beemer. Flooding In Beemer, Nebraska, about 1917. (NSHS-C969:2-9)
(NSHS-C969:2-9)

from upstream gave entrepreneurs most
of the day Thursday to move inventory
from flood prone basements, thus avert­
ing costly losses. In other defensive or
adaptive responses, Norfolk's residents
turned to footwear and watercraft. One
shoe dealer sold out a $200 stock of
boots Friday morning, restocked, and
sold out again before noon. Businesses
that normally delivered goods to cus­
tomers by wagon resorted to using boats
as delivery vehicles .18

Water from tributaries further swelled
the lower Elkhorn . From the court­
house tower in West Point, the valley
looked like a sea with islands of high
land dotting the waterscape. The flood
rendered all of Dodge County's "impor­
tant" bridges inoperable, an estimated

181

Nebraska History - Winter 1995

$125,000 loss. Neighboring Cuming Figure 2. Floods, Droughts, and River Modifications in the Elkhorn Basin to 1944
County also lost several small bridges
and culverts, but the Republican August 12-13, 1823 Flood Paul Wilhelm, Duke of Wurttemberg,
claimed they were not significant. makes first record of flood on Elkhorn;
Water washed away the approaches to Spring (March?) 1857 Flood thunderstorm primary cause of flooding
the river bridge at West Point, but again, April-June 1873 Flood
the paper reported the damage as "not March-April 1881 Flood West Point founders hampered
heavy." West Point lost its mill dam, a reaching town site
significant blow because the mill
powered the pump for the town's Neligh, Norfolk, West POint; spring snows
waterworks .19 contributed to flooding

The Republican's report also under­ Norfolk to Waterloo, damage as far upstream
scored the significance of human as Neligh; ice gorges contribute to flooding
changes to the basin's landscape. The
paper argued that while the 1881 flood­ June 24 & Flood Rainstorms create two separate floods
waters likely reached farther into town, July 23, 1891 at West Point
there were fewer sidewalks and other Normal
embankments to impede its progress. 1896 precipitati on Nine-year drought ends
This, however, contradicts modern in­ Organizations
terpretations, which argue that struc­ Late 1900s formed to QuaSi-governmental drainage districts formed
tures in the f100dway increase the sever­ combat flooding to modify streams in hopes of cutting flood
ity of f100ding.20Such misconceptions of ca. 1917-ca. 1926 Logan Creek losses
flood mechanics mark human re­ project
sponses through much of history. March 27-29 to Several drainage districts combine resources
early April 1912 Flood to straighten the creek's channel. Resulting
By 1912 inhabitants of the Elkhorn work cuts creek's length to less than half
basin obviously had taken action to March 1917 Flood its original distance.
minimize the effects of flooding . By
placing property of value in the flood May 28-29 to Flood Norfolk to Dodge County; ice jams, snow-melt
plain, residents were motivated to try to June 5, 1917 clog river
control the river and also left them­
selves more vulnerable to its mercurial High water record set at Norfolk, runoff from
nature . melting snow and rain contributes to flood

Between 1910 and 1920 flood fighters O'Neill to Gretna; Norfolk suffers damage
adopted an even more aggressive strat­ comparable to 1912; heavy rains contribute
egy. Around 1914 workers dredged the to flood
Elkhorn's final twenty miles, creating a
channel combining segments of both 1920s Pebble Creek Pilger-area residents dig a new channel and
old and new channels. The length and 1924 modifications build system of levees
gradient of the natural channel can no
longer be determined exactly. Subse­ 1927 Drought; Three-year dry spell begins ; Sanitary District
quently, an entirely new channel was Norfolk Sanitary undertakes improvements to North Fork at
created for nearly all of Logan Creek, District formed Norfolk
which flows almost due south from the
vicinity of the Cedar-Dixon county line Three-year drought ends
to its mouth near Winslow in east cen­
tral Dodge County. Work began some­ 1935 Dam built on W.P.A. laborers build dam
time before 1917 and continued spo­ North Fork at Installed by Norfolk Sanitary District
radically until completion about 1926. 1936 Pierce
The new Logan Creek ran about seventy Basinwide; flood most damaging to date
miles, less than one-half its original 150­ June 2, 1940 Flood control Eight-year drought ends
mile length. Several drainage districts 1941 structure
participated in the project under a well­ installed at
coordinated plan that brought relief May 12-15, 1944 Norfolk mill dam
through reduced severity and frequency June 11-13, 1944
Flood

Normal
precipitation

Flood Basinwide; flood of record for Elkhorn and
its tributaries

182

Elkhorn Basin

of flooding. According to the Army A 1920 flood washed out the approach to the Elkhorn Bridge at Tilden. (NSHS-M182:6-11)
Corps of Engineers, this intensive, com­
prehensive, offensive approach to ma­ servers reported that the Elkhorn had ever, the spring 1920 flood involved
nipulating a waterway paid dividends in reached lands never before affected by channel modifications made the previ­
the form of reduced flood damages.21 floods and covered considerable farm ous winter. A series of ripraps that had
land west of Norfolk, it had not yet risen been built near the Elkhorn bridge at
The Elkhorn's main stem, however, high enough to disrupt railroad traffic.25 West Point diverted the channel, endan­
received no such treatment and soon gering the bridge's east end . Workers
wrought more destruction on property Elkhorn basin residents got a three­ used dynamite to remove the obstruc­
in its flood plain. Norfolk felt a pair of year reprieve from major flooding until tive ripraps from the channel. 27 Basin
floods in 1917. The first, in March, came two weeks of April rain in 1920, coupled dwellers seemed to be learning by do­
when runoff from melting snow over­ with several feet of snow that had fallen ing when it came to flood control and
whelmed the capacity of local streams earlier in the upper basin, prompted the the implications of altering the flood
and sent flood waters to their highest plain.
mark yet in Norfolk. After the March Republican to lament 'in a headline,
flood, which surrounded a number of Flood stories still dominated the front
homes, disrupted commerce, and "Waters Cover the Earth." High water page of the Norfolk Daily News on April
caused three deaths, Norfolk's city reached record heights at Inman­
council assumed responsibility for flood about fifteen miles downstream from 26. Railroad bridges west of Norfolk,
control in town and, according to a O'Neill-on April 20, making roads im­
newspaper report, began developing passable for miles. The Elkhorn swelled already weakened so that train traffic
flood control plans 22 to two miles wide at Ewing. At Neligh, across them had been suspended,
the river rose eighteen inches during the could no longer sustain even pedestrian
Two months later, heavy rains in late twenty-four hours between April 19 and traffic. Until then, trains apparently
May caused widespread flooding, in­ 20. Around midnight, the Elkhorn de­ stopped at the bridges while passengers
cluding rare flooding on the Elkhorn as stroyed the impoundment dam at the disembarked, walked across, and
far upstream as O'Neill. Reports of high Neligh Mill, causing several thousand boarded another train . If the Elkhorn's
water on the North Fork at Pierce dollars worth of damage and ending the swirling waters were not hazardous
mill's reliance on direct hydro power. enough, uprooted trees and other debris
reached Norfolk on Saturday, May 26, From then on, diesel-generated electric­ carried by the swift current slammed
ity would grind the mill's flour.26 into pilings, further weakening the struc­
prompting the mill operators at Norfolk tures. The flood also disrupted Norfolk's
to lower the gates of the mill dam to al­ West Point received five inches of telecommunications; at least two tele­
low the maximum amount of water to rain and about a foot of snow during phone poles washed into the Elkhorn. 28
escape downstream. In O'Neill the
Elkhorn washed out one bridge and April's final two weeks. This time the Re­ The Norfolk newspaper speculated
submerged another. Farther down­ publican proclaimed 1920 to be the ban­
stream at Neligh, the Elkhorn rose to ner flood year since 189l. As usual, the on April 26 that the flood's crest had
record heights and breached the dike
between the upper and lower mill dams flood damaged several bridges, roads, passed and downstream communities
in two places, each one hundred feet sidewalks, and bottomland crops. De­ could soon expect to be inundated. Re­
wide. South of town the river covered lays in train schedules and mail delivery ports from Beemer and West Point that
roads and flooded Riverside Park.23 resulted. Unlike previous floods, how­ day both confirmed that flooding was

By Tuesday, May 29, the flood's crest
reached the Norfolk vicinity, where
farmers west and upstream of town
awoke to find low-lying pastures sub­
merged. Boys in the area made the best
of the flood by scooping up fish that
had been washed into the pastures. By
this time the flood danger on the North
Fork had passed and the Elkhorn's rise
appeared to have slowed.24

That appearance proved deceiving,
however, as the river continued to rise
at Norfolk through Wednesday morning,
thanks to additional rain . Although ob-

183

Nebraska History - Winter 1995

already underway. At West Point, the was too costly and that the unstable na­ tive in combating minor floods. 35
water reached its highest point since ture of the riverbed's soil made the Despite such wide-ranging attempts
1888, rushed down at least one of the project impractical. "It is generally
town's streets, covered bottomland on known that a fallen tree in the stream is to curb flooding along the Elkhorn and
the town's west end, and damaged sur­ enough to so divert its flow as to form a its tributaries, the 1940s brought two of
rounding farm land .29 new and different channel at that point, the most devastating floods in history.
of such unstable character and nature During the night of Monday, June 1,
In a rare occurrence, the 1920 flood are its banks and the lands tributary," 1940, cloudbursts dumped a foot or
claimed a human life. After changing they wrote . They also argued, "It does more of rain in the north-central basin
channels, the Elkhorn washed out the not logically follow that because of the swelling the North Fork. But Norfolk's
approach to the bridge at Tilden . To unusually high water of this season, the citizens did not fear a North Fork flood
ferry people and supplies across the highest of many years, that the same will because of the spillway channel
river, residents had strung a cable-with recur every year hereafter."33They were straightening project built by the Nor­
a boat attached-across the river. C. A. right, of course, but a series of even folk Sanitary District in the 1920s and
Davis, who lived seven miles north of worse floods twenty years later may 1930s. The Elkhorn was a different mat­
Tilden, and another man tried to reach have left them wishing they had sup­ ter. Just upstream from Norfolk, farmers
Tilden using the ferry, but the boat cap­ ported the project. reported a four-foot rise between 6 A.M.
sized. Davis's companion swam to and 8 A.M. on June 2. Although it was
safety, but the cold current swept Davis It took Norfolk-area residents until on the storm's fringe and received only
to his death.3o 1924 to organize the Norfolk Sanitary 1.08 inches of rain, the Elkhorn made a
District. It did not, however, take the similar rapid rise Tuesday morning at
At Norfolk, a channel change left district's organizers long to modify the West Point. Witnesses considered it "un­
thirty people stranded on a 160-acre is­ North Fork of the Elkhorn to curb its de­ believable that such a catastrophe that
land nestled between the new channel structive floods. From the mill dam at completely inundated all property in
and water flowing through the old chan­ Norfolk to the North Fork's confluence less than a half hour could happen ."36
nel. The "victims" relied on boats to with the Elkhorn, the district straight­
bring supplies from the mainland as ened and cleaned the channel and built At Pilger, high waters disrupted water
they ran low on food . According to a several bridges. In 1936 the district built and electrical service, leaving the town
Norfolk Daily News report, the new a flood control structure at the dam, without power for more than ten hours
channel that stranded the thirty cut which allowed operators to control the during the night of the storm. Turbulent
across a corn field from which it had flow of water, to a certain extent, past waters rushing through Humbug Creek
been diverted for years by a dike.31Hu­ the obstruction. In 1935 Works Progress to the Elkhorn churned through the
man interference with the river kept it Administration laborers finished a dam earthen levees built during the 1920s.37
from its natural course and seemingly on the North Fork at the city of Pierce to Again , bridge damage threw railroad
lulled inhabitants into a false sense of form a small lake for recreational use schedules behind for a week or more af­
security that led them to build in an and minor flood control.34 ter the flood. Most damage to the Chi­
area rightfully belonging to the river­ cago and North Western Railway lines
an area the river reclaimed during the Farther downstream, other communi­ came between Norfolk and West Point,
1920 flood . ties tried to protect themselves from where a bridge sustained damage and
flooding through a variety of measures. several bridge approaches and about
Elkhorn bridges were reinforced During the 1920s Pilger area workers four miles of track were washed out,
against the effects of future floods. In dug a new channel for Humbug Creek some of it carried a quarter of a mile
Holt County, a new steel and concrete and built a system of levees along the downstream . The next day the Chicago
bridge was built across the river south of lower three miles of the creek to protect and North Western reported thirty-five
O'Neill. In addition, a bridge spanning Pilger and nearby farm land. Pebble miles of track washed out in the West
an overflow channel was built. Finally, Creek, which flows southeasterly Point-Stanton area, and the Union Pa­
workers raised the road grade by two through southern Cuming and northern cific closed its mainline traffic to Nor­
feet through the river bottoms. Similar Dodge counties, lost several sharp folk. West Point, Beemer, Pilger, Wisner,
bridges spanned the South Fork and Dry bends (dates of the work are unclear) and Stanton were without rail service
Creek, two Elkhorn tributaries.32 when the banks were cut through to for at least ten days according to esti­
straighten the stream. Improvements mates. The flood also disrupted tele­
Weeks later, in June 1920, landown­ also included a system of small levees. phone service, leaving residents of West
ers proposed an Elkhorn drainage dis­ However, because individuallandown­ Point and Pender to communicate via
trict to undertake channel modifications ers made these modifications piece­ short wave radio. 38
and other measures to control the river. meal, they were reportedly only effec­
Opponents of the project wrote to the Like a wave, the crest of the flood
West Point Republican that the project

184

Elkhorn Basin

Constructing a dike at the Pierce Dam, 1935. (NSHS-F293-2559)

rolled down the valley. By Wednesday went on with its eightieth birthday cel­ Oakdale branch line, suffered a wash­
morning the crest had passed Stanton, ebration while under warning that the out and wreck on the branch line early
allowing residents there to begin assess­ flood's crest, which would peak at thir­ on the morning of June 6, injuring four
ing the damage. Mud and silt buried the teen feet above normal , was expected people. As late as Saturday, June 8, re­
corn crop, which would have to be re­ to arrive sometime Thursday during the ports from Scribner indicated the
planted as soon as the soil dried, and celebration. The Norfolk Daily News Elkhorn was still rising.43
covered pastures and grain fields . High­ even reported that "no great trouble is
way traffic returned to near-normal in anticipated" from the crest.41 Responses to the 1940 flood, seem­
the Norfolk area by Wednesday after­ ingly the worst to date, were among the
noon, but washouts left some sections Just as residents of the upper basin most comprehensive. Representatives
closed . The Nebraska Department of may have thought their flood adven­ from the University of Nebraska's agri­
Roads warned motorists using Highway tures were ending on Wednesday and cultural college visited flood-worn
275, the main route between Norfolk Thursday, a second storm hit Norfolk northeast Nebraska to assist county ex­
and Omaha, to beware of flooding as and areas east and south of Pilger. tension agents in advising farmers how
the crest moved toward West Point. Downstream, counties near the to limit their crop losses. Their sugges­
When the flood swept over the highway, Elkhorn's mouth began to feel the ef­ tions centered around replanting f1ood­
it deposited trees and other debris that fects of the heavy rains. At Winslow and damaged corn, sorghum, and forage
effectively blocked the highway from 1 Nickerson, where Logan and Maple crops with early-maturing varieties. Re­
A.M. to 4 A.M. Thursday. Traffic re­ creeks, respectively, empty into the planting, however, required the Agricul­
turned to nearly normal by 8:30.39 Elkhorn, water covered "great stretches" tural Adjustment Administration to
of farm land. In Dodge County Logan modify its regulations governing crop al­
Even before the flood crested in West Creek and the Elkhorn overran their lotments. The Red Cross provided serum
Point, rising water forced families to banks to flood an estimated sixty farms . for typhus vaccinations and supervised
evacuate their homes or seek assis­ Arlington in Washington County re­ the dispersal of lime and other fumigat­
tance. Some found food and shelter in a ported its highest water since the ice ing agents used on the town after the
local church converted into the Red gorge of 1912. The Elkhorn left its banks flood receded. 44
Cross relief headquarters. The hatchery in three places near Gretna on Thursday
at West Point lost more than 1,200 morningY Throughout the basin crews began
chickens and two tons of feed. Water in repairing roads and bridges. Cuming
parts of the city reached higher levels The renewed rains and flooding com­ County alone suffered an estimated
than that of the 1912 flood, and the city plicated the basin's already crippled $200,000 damage to public facilities,
lacked mail service from Monday until transportation system. The Chicago and more than $100,000 from damages to
at least Thursday.40 North Western, forced to reroute its roads and bridges. The Board of Super­
Black Hills traffic from the washed out visors of Cuming County called an emer­
Despite these damages, West Point West Point-Norfolk section to its gency meeting on June 7 to explore

185

Nebraska History - Winter 1995

West Point, Nebraska, during one of the frequent Elkhorn floods. Courtesy of author.

sources of federal aid and requested One 1940 response foreshadowed re­ floods became increasingly devastating.
$100,000 to offset repairs to bridges and sponses to the next serious floods. A Accordingly, inhabitants began taking
roads. Within two weeks of the flood, representative of the U.S. Department steps to safeguard their property, mainly
Works Progress Administration laborers of Agriculture visited th~ West Point the buildings that made up their towns.
repaired twenty-five bridges in Cuming Community Club 's regular July meeting Initially, these efforts assumed a defen­
County. In more unsavory work, they re­ to gather information about damages sive character-dikes, levees, and flood­
moved about eighty-five tons of debris incurred in the flood . The information ways to halt rising water and divert it
from West Point's streets and buried rot­ was turned over to government engi­ from buildings and farm land. Over
ting carcasses of drowned animals.45 neers to help them formulate plans to time, trood protection efforts assumed
avoid similar flood problems in the fu­ an offensive character-altering the
Railroad workers took two weeks to ture. The engineers, however, appar­ river, usually through straightening or
make temporary repairs to the Chicago ently did not use the information, be­ otherwise "improving" its channel , to
and North Western line that allowed the cause a similar meeting four years later prevent flooding in a particular locale.
railway to function while permanent re­ collected the same type of information
pairs were underway. On July 2, the for the same purpose and found its way Examining the response to floods
county supervisors spent $5,463 from into a report by the Army Corps of also casts light on human nature and
the Emergency Bridge Fund for further Engineers.47 the American political system. The 1940
repairs. By August it had become appar­ flood clearly showed Elkhorn basin resi­
ent that the damage to Cuming County's Through the first ninety years of per­ dents their continued vulnerability to
bridges would exceed the amount bud­ manent settlement in the Elkhorn basin, flooding. Yet hardly any of them at­
geted for repairs, and the supervisors floods assumed increasing importance tended a hearing to assess flood dam­
raised the Emergency Bridge Fund levy to its residents and elicited increasingly ages and discuss projects to prevent or
for 1940 from .0125 mills to .224 mills­ complex responses. In 1857 high waters minimize future floods. A scant four
nearly an eighteen-fold increase. Al­ merely impeded West Point's founders years later, nature and the Elkhorn
though the supervisors dropped the levy in their travels to the townsite. Early set­ would twice send floodwaters, the high­
the following year, they lowered it only tlers had little choice other than to bear est and most destructive yet, onto the
to .13 mills, perhaps indicating they had the flood's frustrations and wait for the flood plain . Those floods would draw
learned a lesson from the 1940 flood , water to recede. But as soon as they, serious attention and deserve their own
that they were still paying for its dam­ and other town founders, built in the story.
ages, or both.46 valley, especially in the flood plain,

186

Elkhorn Basin

Notes Management, State of Nebraska Natural Resources West Point Republican, June 13, 1940; "150 Home­


Department, interview with the author, Lincoln, less in West Point Region," Fremont Daily Tribune,


I "Flood Bill at $16.6 Million," Lincoln Journal, Feb. 11, 1992. June 5, 1940. These accounts disagree on the num­

Mar. 24, 1993.
21 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, ber 01 people receiving aid from th e Red Cross.

2 Paul Wilhelm, Duke of Wiirttemberg, Travels in "Red Cross Opens Local Relief Headquarters,"

North America, 1822-1824, trans. W. Robert Nitske, Review Report, 46; Ray BEelknhtaolml eRt aivI.e, rWBaatseinr SoufpN­e­"Worst Flood in History Inundates Much 01

ed. Savoie Lottinville (Norman: University of Okla­ plies and the Land: The
homa Press, 1973) ,334-5 . braska (Lincoln: University 01 Nebraska, 1971), 19. Cuming County," West Point Republican, June 6,

1940.

3Frank Schmitt, "A Pioneer Nebraska Commu­
nity," Nebraska History 18(April-June, 1937): 80. 22 "Floods Follow Torrential Rain," Norfolk Daily 41 "3 Inches More Rain Adding to Flood Worries,"
News, May 28,1917. Norfolk Daily News, June 6, 1940; "Worst Flood in

" Ibid. History Inundates Much of Cuming County," West

4 West Point Republican, May 29, June 5, 1873. 24 "Near Death at Battle Creek in Flooded River," Point Republican, June 6, 1940.

'Ibid., June 12, 19, 1873. Flood damage reports ibid., May 29, 1917. 42 "3 Inches More Rain Adding to Flood Worries;

in newspapers of this era should be read carefully 25 "Elkhorn Flood Covers Fields, Damages Norfolk Daily News, June 6, 1940; "New Floods
and critically. Crops," ibid., May 30, 1917. Threaten Pilger, Wisner," Fremont Daily Tribune,
June 6, 1940.
'Fremont Weekly Herald, Mar. 31,1881; "The
Flood," West Point Republican, Mar. 31,1881. On 26 "Waters Cover the Earth," West Point Republi­
Missouri River flooding see John E. Carter, 43 "Pilger Flooded"; "Waters Are High in Scribner
"Niobrara, Nebraska: The Town Too Tough to Stay can, Apr. 30, 1920; "Damage by Flood Feared as
Put!", Nebraska History 72 (Fall (991):14449. Vicinity," Norfolk Daily News, June 8, 1940.
River Overflows Bank," Norfolk Daily News, Apr.

20, 1920; Kent E. Martin, Neligh Mill Museum, 44 "Experts Advise Crops for Area of Flood," Fre­
Neligh, Nebraska: A Self-Guided Tour (Lincoln: Ne­ mont Daily Tribune , June 6,1940. "AM Regula­

7 Fremont Weekly Herald, Apr. 21, 1881. braska State Historical Society, n.d.), 26. tions Are Modified," ibid., June 7, 1940; "Red Cross

' Ibid., Mar. 31, 1881; "The Flood," West Point Re­ca2n7,"WApart.e3rs0,C1o9v2e0r. the Earth," West Point Republi­pOupbelnicsaLno, cJaulnRe e6l,ie1f9H40e.adquarters," West Point Re­
publican, Mar. 31,1881.

9"The Freshet," Neligh Leader, June I, 1888; ibid., 28 "Flood Undermines Three Spans of Bridge, 4' "Board Seeks Bridge Repair Funds," West Point
June 8, 1888. Collections of lower basin newspa­ Cuts Off Train Service with West," Norfolk Daily Republican, June 13, 1940. Cuming County, Ne­
pers are incomplete lor May 1888; thus the discus­ News, Apr. 26, 1920. braska, Board of Supervisors County Board Pro­
sion is limited to the upper basin. ceedings, June 7, 1940, 7:457-58. "Emergency Work
29 "Stores at Beemer Invaded by Flood," ibid. Opens Bridges," West Point Republican, June 20,

10 "Raging Waters," Norfolk Daily News, May 29, 3. "Tilden Man Drowned in Flooded Elkhorn," 1940.

1888; "The Booming North Fork," ibid., May 30, ibid., Apr. 29, 1920. 46 "Railroad Service on Regular Schedule," West
Point Republican, June 20, 1940. Cuming County,
1888; ibid., May 31, 1888; Norfolk Journal, May 31, Nebraska, Board of Supervisors, July 2, 1940,
7:459; Aug. 12, 1940, 7:475; Aug . 19, 1941, 8:53.
1888; "The Flood," ibid. 31 "30 Marooned as River Flood Forms Island,"
47 "Ag Official Points to Flood Control Work,"
ibid., Apr. 30, 1920. West Point Republican , July 11, 1940.

"Neligh Leader, June I, 7, 1888; "The Flood," 32 "Highway Through Holt Being Made Safe From

Norfolk Journal, May 31, 1888; ibid., June 7, 1888.

12 Cuming County Advertiser, June 30, 1891. Flood," ibid., May 7, 1920.

33 "The Proposed Elkhorn Drainage District,"
13 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, West Point Republican, June 25, 1920.
Review Report on Improvement for Flood Control

and Allied Purposes, Elkhorn River and its Tributar­34 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District,

ies, Nebraska (Omaha: U.S. War Department, Review Report, 4546.

(947) ,44 . 3' lbid.

14 Ibid., 4446. 36 "Water Rising at Pierce; Madison, Battle Creek

15 "Expected Flood Arrives," West Point Republi­Hit," "Spillway Helps Prevent Flood in This City,"

can and Cuming County Advertiser, Apr. 5, 1912; Norfolk Daily News, June 4, 1940; "Worst Flood in

"High Water," ibid., Apr. 12 , 1912; "Rivers are Ris­ History Inundates Much of Cuming County," West

ing Fast," and "The Winter 01 Big Snows," Norfolk Point Republican, June 6, 1940.

Daily News, Mar. 25, 1912. 37 "Two Dead, 6 Missing in Flood," Fremont Daily
Tribune, June 4, 1940. U.S. Army Corps of Engi­
" U.S. Engineer Office, Interim Report on Flood neers, Omaha District, Review Report, 4546.
Control for the City of Norfolk, Elkhorn River Basin,

Nebraska (Omaha: U.S. Engineer Office, (946),26; 38 "Railroad Service on Regular Schedule,"
"Again Out of Water," The Norfolk Daily News , "Emergency Work Opens Bridges," West Point Re­
Apr. 1, 1912; "The Elkhorn is Falling," ibid., Apr. 2, publican, June 20, 1940; "Farmland in County
1912. Flooded," Fremont Daily Tribune, June 5, 1940;

17 "Again Out of Water," Norfolk Daily News, Apr. "Water Rising at Pierce; Madison, Battle Creek

1,1912. Hit"; "Many Towns Are Lacking Rail Service," Nor­

folk Daily News, June 4,5, 1940.
18 "Elkhorn Bridge Damaged," West Point Repub­

lican and Cuming County Advertiser, Apr. 12, 1912. 39 "Farmers Find Flood Damage is Tremendous,"

19 "Expected Flood Arrives," ibid. , Apr. 5, 1912. Norfolk Daily News, June 5, 1940. "Pilger Flooded,"

ibid., June 6, 1940.

20 Ibid. Brian P. Dunnigan, Head, Flood Plain 4. "Red Cross Closes Emergency Relief Station,"

187