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The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to Environmentalism: How Iowans Acted Locally and Reflected Nationally

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The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to Environmentalism: How Iowans Acted Locally and Reflected Nationally Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2021 The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to environmentalism: How Iowans acted locally and reflected nationally Elizabeth Thalacker Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Recommended Citation Thalacker, Elizabeth, "The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to environmentalism: How Iowans acted locally and reflected nationally" (2021). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 18625. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/18625 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Saylorville Lake Flood Control Project, from Cold War to environmentalism: How Iowans acted locally and reflected nationally by Elizabeth M. Thalacker A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major: History Program of Study Committee: Julie Courtwright, Major Professor Kathleen Hillard Margaret LaWare The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this thesis. The Graduate College will ensure this thesis is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2021 Copyright © Elizabeth M. Thalacker, 2021. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 . TAKING LAND THROUGH EMINENT DOMAIN ........................................ 21 . THE POLK CITY PROBLEM ........................................................................... 39 . NEW LAWS BENEFIT LEDGES STATE PARK ............................................ 54 . CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 82 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 90 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank-you to my committee chair, Dr. Courtwright, and my committee members, Dr. Hilliard, and Dr. LaWare, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this research. A special thanks to Dr. Courtwright for spurring me into action, untangling my chaotic first draft, and helping me to produce a project that I am truly proud of. In addition, thank-you Mickey Belding for suggesting the Cold War angle after reviewing my first paper on Saylorville and telling me that if I didn’t write that story he would. Thank-you to the graduate students in my seminars that treated me as an equal when I felt out of place. Thanks to Dr. McDonnell for a simple moment of praise that bolstered my confidence. I also offer my appreciation to all the professors who shared their passion for history with me. My graduate school experience at Iowa State University was wonderful and I miss it already. Lastly, none of this would have been possible without the support and encouragement of my family. Thank-you to my husband Dr. David Thalacker for his immeasurable support, and my kids, Jack, Luke, Hank, Kate, and Addy, for believing I would complete this goal, even when I didn’t. I want to acknowledge that my boys have amazing partners that supported them when I was occupied with research and writing. Thank-you Merritt, Sydney, and Ev for being there. Thanks to my friend Stephanie for acting as interested in the history of Saylorville as me. I have been dragging everyone to lake for several years now with offers of coffee, ice cream, and car picnics. We have watched sunsets, done Instagram photo shoots, walked on the beach, viewed eagles, watched racoons dig in trash cans, spotted deer, measured high water, treasure hunted at low water, star gazed, listened to crashing waves, waited for the ice to break, and laid in the sun. You are all part of this project and I appreciate your unwavering faith in me. iv ABSTRACT Meltwater from a receding glacier created the Des Moines River in central Iowa 12,000- 14,000 years ago. Over the ensuing centuries the river overflowed its banks, flooding the plains then receding, meandering across the landscape. During the first century of statehood Iowa river towns experienced loss of life and property damage from repeated flooding. Federal officials determined that a dam was needed on the Des Moines River. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began construction in 1965 and completed the project in 1977. Although the USACE carefully planned and evaluated every aspect of the project, significant obstacles arose, and community opposition highlighted the plan’s shortcomings. Nevertheless, the project went forward at least in part because ordinary Iowans believed they could not effectively fight the government. During the first phases of the plan local citizens with Cold War concerns yielded to federal officials and their use of eminent domain regulations. As the project neared completion in the 1970s, the treasured Ledges State Park faced the threat of sustained flooding due to the future Saylorville Dam. While the federally staffed Corps of Engineers led the earth moving project, the federal government also enacted environmental protection laws that activists used to force negotiations and alter the parameters of the original master plan. Environmental activists in Iowa used provisions from the legislation that required the USACE to complete an Environmental Impact Statement about the Saylorville Reservoir project. The time required to draft the statement paused construction and afforded activists more time to negotiate with officials about issues of concern. From Cold War convictions to expressions of environmentalism, the people of Iowa moved through the decades of the mid-twentieth century, both reacting to local pressures and reflecting national concerns. 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION My family’s roots run deep in eastern Iowa along the Mississippi, but in 1972 my dad got a job in Des Moines and we moved to central Iowa, leaving the mighty river behind. My parents purchased a newly constructed ranch style house in Ankeny. During that first year construction crews outnumbered residents in our part of town and concrete basements multiplied seemingly overnight along the recently paved streets. Acres of freshly scraped earth surrounded our house and stark straight lines of new sod defined front yards while out back blue grass sprouted in the rocky dirt. With no good place to play outside my dad took us out driving in the evenings; we spent time exploring the countryside that surrounded our town. He may have been escaping the chaos of the new development but as a child I viewed our outings as an adventure. We discovered the enormous Saylorville dam construction site on the Des Moines river during one of our drives. Most of the work had been completed before we moved to the area, but we monitored the progress as they built the last section of the earthen dam. I was nine years old and did not comprehend the magnitude and scope of the project; I just wanted the lake done so we could swim. The United States Army Corps of Engineers completed the dam in 1975, but legal negotiations over environmental concerns prevented the immediate impounding of the river.1 Two years later, with agreements reached, officials closed the dam’s gate and water gradually crept over the riverbank, across the flats, and up the hillsides of the valley.2 1 Bonnie Wittenburg, “Plan to finish work on Saylorville Dam July 1,” Des Moines Register, July 12, 1975, Newspapers.com. 2 Otto Knauth, “A few words, shovel of dirt and 12 years later, a dam,” Des Moines Register, April 13, 1977, Newspapers.com. 2 Figure 1.1. The photograph by George J. Ceolla, was taken looking north from the dam. The control tower would be located to the left where the wider span of water appears in this picture. There are a few trees and islands of higher ground visible. “Finally – a lake evident at Saylorville Reservoir,” Des Moines Register, May 10, 1977, Newspapers.com. Grass and scrub brush disappeared quickly under the rising pool of water, but it took several months to reach the desired lake level due to a multiyear drought in the area.3 As the lake filled, numerous treetops stuck out of the water, their branches full of leaves, now swaying in the current instead of the breeze. I imagined the trees waiting to recover; waiting for the flood waters to subside, as it always had in the past, but eventually they gave up. The roots rotted and loosened from the earth and the trunks and branches floated and drifted toward the whirlpool by 3 Knauth, “A few words.” 3 the dam’s control tower. Some made it through the gate in smaller pieces and floated down the river while others piled up on the rocks to be gathered and burned. Submerged trees remained hazards, however, so recreational boating on the lake during
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