Flood of the Century

In the last 20 years or so, we've had several "floods of the century" in Morgan County, Indiana, where high water is highly annoying to felines and humans alike.  There was a horrific flood back in 2008, I recall.

One hundred years ago (on March 25), we had a huge flood around these parts.  Thanks to Civil War veteran and local photographer/newspaper publisher J. P. Calvert, we have a photo or two, which my Library included in this nifty handout.

Downtown Mooresville is situated high atop a hill (not a big hill, but still), so the "town proper" has never flooded.  But folks living in the country surrounding the town--especially near either fork of the White Lick Creek--were not so fortunate.  Take the interurban railway bridge, which was situated near today's state road 67 bridge (just south of Kroger in Mooresville) across White Lick Creek:

Interurban Railway Bridge Collapse (March Flood, 1913)

(Click Images to Bigify)

Water is a powerful, destructive force, sometimes.

The Great Flood of 1913 resulted from heavy rainfall as multiple storms crossed the midwestern states.  The ground was already saturated (or frozen) in many areas, causing rapid run-off that sent rivers bursting their banks throughout the state.  Damage across Indiana reached at least $25 million (that's in 1913 dollars, folks).

Glad I wasn't living here back then (during one of my previous nine lives). Where was I, you may wonder?  In 1913, I lived with a sheepherder (who turned out to be Scowl-Face's maternal grandfather) in Wyoming and North Dakota.  (I wore a gold-and-white fur coat then.)  Before that, between 1901-1904, I hung around Scott Joplin's house in St. Louis, curled up on his piano listening to his wonderful ragtime compositions.  (I was a grey tabby at the time.)  I've lead some interesting lives.  Maybe I should blog about them sometime.

Let's hope we don't have any more floods for awhile.  Dry works well for moi.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  A couple months ago, WISH-TV Channel 8 ran a news story about the Great Flood of 1913 and its effects upon Indianapolis.  The Indiana Historical Society created an exhibit, You Are There 1913: A City Under Water, to show modern visitors how relief stations were created to handle the crisis.