By the KansasHistorical Society

FloodControl for theMissouri River Basin

The Missouri River,the longestriver in North America, drains two thirds of the Great Plainseast of the Rocky Mountains including parts of 10 states and two Canadian provinces.Many citieswith large population lie along the Missouri Riverincluding Kansas City and St. Louis. Damshave been built throughoutthe systemin an MissouriR iver basin. attemptto control flooding on the Missouri.

The KansasRiver is one of the major tributariesof the Missouri.The Kansasand its tributariesdrain more than 60,000 square milesof land through Kansas,southern Nebraska, and easternColorado . The major tributaries of the KansasRiver are the Republican,Big Blue,and SmokyHill rivers.

Throughouthistory the KansasRiver Valley has experiencedmajor flooding. Kansaand Osage villages along with some Indian missionswere affected in the 1844 flood. The next major flood didn't occur until 1903. By this time many cities had been establishedalong the river. Thisflood severelyimpacted the citizensof Manhattan, Topeka,Lawrence, and KansasCity.

KansasRiver system. The first official mentionof building a dam near the mouthof the Big Blue Rivernorth of Manhattan occurred in 1928. The statedpurpose was flood control and conservationof water. No appropriations (provisionof money) for building the dam were included, so the project stayed on the drawing board. In 1935 the KansasRiver once again flooded. By this time the U. S. Army Corps of Engineershad becomethe lead federal flood control agency.The Corps recommendedthe building of sevendams and reservoirsthroughout the Missouri River, including TuttleCreek. Theseflood control dams would protect residentsand businessesalong the river as well as provide work for the hundredsof unemployedworkers during the Great Depression. Still no money was appropriated.

In 1944 the Pick-SloanPlan of the Flood Control Act authorizeda gigantic multipurposecivil works project for the Missouri RiverBasin which once again includedTuttle Creek. Without financial authorizationfrom Congress the Corps drilled an exploratory core hole at the site that would eventuallybecome the spillway area.

The citizensof the Blue RiverValley began their campaign to save their farms and way of life. Many of these families had lived in the valley for generations.They were Kansanswho seldombecame involved in political action or controversialissues . The prospectof a large reservoir,which would destroysome of the mostfertile farm land in Kansasand the way of life for hundredsof families, influencedthem to organize and take action.

The catastrophicflood of 1951 was the beginning of the end for the Blue RiverValley.

©2011