Great Flood of 1881

The Great Flood of 1881 refers to flooding events on the Missouri River during the spring of 1881. The flood struck Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa between April 1, 1881 and April 27, 1881. The events provided the first detailed reporting of Missouri River flooding, and caused millions of dollars in damage.

Events

The flood caused a great deal of damage along the Missouri River. Three people died in northeastern Nebraska as a result of the breakage of an ice jam upstream of the Missouri-Niobrara confluence. Thousands of livestock were also killed and several small riverside towns were washed away. The flooding forced the town of Niobrara, Nebraska to move to a new site on higher ground. [cite web| url=http://casde.unl.edu/history/counties/knox/niobrara/index.php| last=Olson| first=Robert L. |title=Niobrara — Knox County| work=Nebraska...Our Towns |accessdate=2008-04-08]

Omaha and Council Bluffs

Downtown Omaha was flooded up to 9th Street, and Council Bluffs was flooded the same. The river remained at a high level for several weeks and during the height of flooding was reported to have been five miles wide. The entirety of Omaha's shipping industry was damaged, with industrial, trade and docking buildings severely damaged if not destroyed. Losses from this flood were said to be "in the millions," and in 1881 dollars that would equate to a major flood. [cite web |url=http://www.dnr.ne.gov/floodplain/mitigation/mofloods.html |title=Historic Floods on the Missouri River Fighting the Big Muddy in Nebraska |publisher=Nebraska Department of Natural Resources |accessdate=2008-03-31] [cite web |last=Nueman |first= R. |year=2002 |url=http://www.omahariverfront.com/resources/river_floods/mizzrvr_floods.htm |title=Missouri River – A sleeping giant's never-ending history of uncontrollable flooding |publisher=Omaha River Front News |accessdate=2008-03-31]

There were only two deaths in Omaha during the floods. A small one-man skiff was being used by three Union Pacific workers who were attempting to cross a break in a temporary dam when the river's current pushed it into the main channel. Two men jumped from the boat and drowned immediately. [cite web |url=http://www.omaha.lib.ne.us/earlyomaha/floods/1881_flood_5.html |title=Flood of 1881 |publisher=Omaha Public Library |accessdate=2008-03-31]

The "Omaha Bee" covered the flood each day from April 2 through April 13.

Timeline

;April 1On the morning of April 1 word was received from Yankton, South Dakota that the Missouri River rose thirty-five feet, killing several people and destroying the lowlands in that area. The railroads received warnings from points north and advised people in the area to leave the river bottoms. They moved their rolling stock and equipment to higher lands throughout the area.

;April 6In the afternoon of April 6 a temporary dam around riverfront businesses in Omaha burst. During this period the Omaha Smelting Works and Union Pacific Shops almost completely submerged. The following morning floodwaters crested at 23.5 feet, which was two feet higher than ever recorded on the river. The Missouri had also reached a width of 5 miles, effectively covering all the lowlands around Omaha and Council Bluffs.

;April 9On the morning of April 9 the North Western Railroad levee bounding Council Bluffs against the river broke and water spread over the west and south sections of the city. An anonymous man rode a horse through the south part of the city to warn residents when the levee gave way. Rescue shelters were placed throughout the area, with "any building that was suitable was thrown open to the refugees."cite web| url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iapottaw/ManawaFlood.htm |title=Manawa created by flood back in 1881| publisher="Council Bluffs Nonpareil" |accessdate=2008-03-31]

After that event from Ninth Street in Council Bluffs west to Omaha and from Carter Lake south beyond the Union Pacific Shops looked like "a sea" dotted with houses and outbuildings like islands. Boats and large sections of wooden sidewalks were pressed into service, with the operators earning from $15 to $20 a day.

;April 12Water started receding on April 12, with railroads clearing up and repairing tracks immediately. Families returned to their homes to begin cleaning out water. However, on April 22 the river stage increased at the rate of a foot an hour, causing people again to move to higher land. This time when the river broke its banks the water spread to Eighth Street and Broadway in Council Bluffs. Houses, trees and livestock were seen floating downriver.

;April 25The Union Pacific Shops remained flooded as the river rose another two inches. A riverfront packinghouse and the Willow Springs Distilling Company were flooded, along with many smaller riverside businesses. 1,600 workers were unemployed at this point. In Council Bluffs 600 people were homeless, with more than a half of the city inundated with water. During the previous several weeks the Elkhorn River valley was flooded as well, with the entire town of Waterloo, Nebraska abandoned due to flooding. [cite book |last=Gould |first=E. W. |year=1889 |title=Fifty Years on the Mississippi; Or, Gould's History of River Navigation |publisher=Nixon-Jones Printing Company |pages=251]

Cleanup

The river began to recede on April 27 and families returned to their homes again. General Grenville M. Dodge, the chief engineer in charge of the construction of the Union Pacific, had employees ride through the flooded areas to rescue cattle. The river dropped 10 inches on the 27th. [Gould, E. W. (1889), 253.]

Lake Manawa

After the flood in the area south of Council Bluffs, the Missouri River had looped itself in a hairpin bend, leaving an old channel filled with quiet water. The body of water left stranded by the river's change, covering about 400 acres, later became Lake Manawa, a popular recreation area in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area.

ee also

* Geography of Omaha

References

External links

* [http://www.omaha.lib.ne.us/earlyomaha/floods/1881_flood_1.html Flood of 1881] from the Omaha Public Library
* [http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/galleries/albums/alb001_034a.jpgHistoric photo]
* [http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/galleries/albums/alb001_035atn.jpgHistoric photo]