Cooper County, Missouri - Chapter 21: Floods and Storms, 1919

FLOODS OF 17S5. 1811 AND 1S2S - FLOOD OF 1844 - GREAT DAMAGE CAUSED - DEVASTATING FLOOD OF 1905 - REBUILDING OF BRIDGES IN THE COUNTY - BUILDING OF NEW COURT HOUSE - BONDS ISSUED - TORNADO.

The first unusual high waters of the Missouri River, of which we have any account, was in 1785, and of the destruction wrought at that time, we know but little. However, we know that there were no settlements in Cooper County, or upon the north side of the river.

In the spring of 1811, the waters of the Missouri rose to an unprecedented height. The first settlements had been made in Cooper County, and in Howard County, opposite Boonville, the previous year. Hence there were no farms to be injured or crops to be destroyed.

We have no means of knowing how high the water reached that year. The high waters in the spring of 1826 set the seal of fate to Franklin. But by far the most destructive flood that ever occurred in the Missouri River was in 1844. It was caused as usual by continuous rainfall on the lower river, coming on top of the annual rise. The month of May had been attended with unusual rains, and for weeks previous to the 10th of June, the precipitation had been unprecedented.

On the 5th of June, the water began to overflow the banks, and the river continued to rise until the 18th, when at Jefferson City it came to a stand and began to recede.

The entire bottom from the mouth of the Kaw to the mouth of the Missouri was completely submerged, and from bluff to bluff, the river presented the appearance of an inland sea.

but the damage was slight compared with the destruction of 1844. The next most destructive flood was in 1881. The second bottoms and lowlands were under water, and considerable damage was done, especially in the lower reaches of the river.* This flood, however, was different from the others, that had preceded it, in that it occurred in March and the first part of April. It was caused solely by the unusual rainfall, and not from the melting of snows in the Rockies.

It seems the circumstances that attended the flood of 1903 were similar to those attending the great flood of 1844. On Friday morning, June 5, at seven o'clock, 1903, the government gauge registered a stage of water in the river at Boonville, of 30.6 feet. This was just six feet higher than the mark of 1881, and lacked but about three feet of that of 1844.

However, by noon of that day, the water rose to 30 feet and ten inches above the low water mark, and remained on a stand until Saturday morning, when it began to fall slowly. During the day, there was a fall of only two inches, but it was enough to bring gladnesss to the hearts of many, and a feeling of relief among those who had so anxiously watched for the good news.

Much damage was wrought by the flood in the vicinity of Boonville. Houses on islands and the lowlands were washed away, crops destroyed, and much livestock drowned. Cooper County alone suffered much from the destruction of ruined crops along the Missouri and Lamine Rivers, and the Petit Saline creek, which overflowed its banks from the Missouri and did considerable damage to the farms along its bottoms.

The destruction in the vicinity of Overton and Woolridge was greater than in any other part of the county. The greatest damage was done, however, in the Howard County bottoms. Both up and down the river from Boonville, the water on the north side of the river presented the appearance of an inland sea. The water during the high stage reached almost from bluff to bluff, submerging land on which were crops of growing corn, and almost matured crops of growing wheat. Scarcely any land in this section was above the stage of the water. Much livestock was lost also.

The greatest losses, though, were experienced by those tenants, who had all their possessions carried away and destroyed. Many cases were reported in which tenants lost all their earthly possessions. Some of these were even thankful to escape with their lives, and the clothes which they wore.

As it was impossible at that time to approximate the amount of the losses occurring to the farmers in this territory, it is equally impossible to make an estimate at this time.

The citizens of Boonville responded nobly to aid the flood sufferers. Mayor W. G. Pendleton called meetings, and appropriate committees were appointed to raise the necessary funds to meet the temporary and immediate relief of the sufferers. Over one thousand dollars were raised and distributed to those who were most in need.

The road bed of the M. K. & T. on the north side of the river was greatly damaged and traffic upon that road was suspended for several days. Probably the greatest damage done the farming and railroad interests in the Missouri valley below Kansas City, however, was in the bottoms between St. Charles and the rivers mouth. Here was a broad expanse of territory in a high state of cultivation and dotted over with residences and other buildings. Every vestige of the promising crop of wheat, corn, hay, oats, onions, potatoes, etc., was drowned out and washed away.

Losses to the people in close proximity to Boonville were heavy indeed, but compared with those of people in other parts, they did not seem so great.

Charles A. Sombart had every reason to remember the flood of this year, because of the threatened damage to his milling property. He had a rectangular solid stone about six feet in length planted at the northwest corner of his warehouse, on which is indicated by cuts in the stone, the highest point in the river June 4, 1844, and June 5, 1903. The latter mark is only about two feet and nine inches below the mark of 1844.

Grand and mighty old Missouri, blessing and destroying, blessed and cursed, the great artery of the continent! Old Joaquin Miller has struck a noble strain in his spirited poem to the "Missouri". He refers to her as a lord of strength, the yellow line and mad molder of the continent, and concludes with these words :

Of states thou hast upreared or rent, Thou know'st no limit ; seas turn back, Bent, broken from the shaggy shore; But thou, in thy resistless track, Art lord and master evermore. Missouri, surge and sing and sweep.

Again in Sept., 1905, the devastating flood visited Cooper County. The cause of this high water was similar to that of 1881. The local rains were so great that streams flowing into the Missouri overflowed their banks, and practically all the bridges in Cooper County were washed away and destroyed, entailing on the county a great loss in dollars and disturbance of traffic.

The county at that time faced a difficult problem because these bridges had to be replaced at a great expense. Prior to this flood the county court of Cooper County had called an election for a bond issue for the purpose of building a court house. By reason, however, of the great loss to the county caused by the high water of the various streams, the court saw fit and proper to call off this election.

While the need of a new court house was imperative and patent to the voters of the county, no agitation in behalf of the same was made until 1911. There being a demand on the part of the county votes that the city of Boonville should do something in addition, and beyond that done by the rest of the county, a proposition was submitted by the city council to the voters of Boonville to bond the city for $15,000 to aid in the construction of a court house.

The election was held June 5, 1911, and the vote in favor of the bonds was practically unanimous, being for, 724, against, 6. The county court upon the proper petition called an election for May 11, 1911, submitting to the people of the county the issue of a $100,000 5-20 5 per cent, bonds, from the sale of which to erect a new and suitable court house.

The Commercial Club of Boonville took charge of the campaign and appointed as managers of the same W. D. Pendleton, then mayor of the city of Boonville, and W. F. Johnson, then president of the club. The favorable result of .this election was a great surprise to many. The campaign was quiet and no public meetings were held. An appeal was made to the intelligence of the voters which resulted for the bond issue, 1,977; against 799.

It is needless to say that the result of this election caused great rejoicing, especially in Boonville, where great crowds gathered on the street after supper, as soon as the vote was announced, and by the playing of bands, speech-making and shouting manifested their satisfaction.

As soon as the sale of the bonds were negotiated, the contract for building the new court house was let by competitive bids to W. J. Cochran of Boonville. Something over a year was consumed in the erection of the present beautiful court house, the total cost of which, including the addi-

Tornado. - About nine o'clock at night, on Tuesday, June 5, 1917, the most destructive storm that had ever visited Cooper County, swept a path 150 yards wide, and approximately 20 miles long through the northeast part of the county.

It began fts destructive course at Lone Elm store, and swept in a straight northeastward direction, leaving the county at a point about midway between Woolridge and Overton, crossing the Missouri River, and doing much damage in Boone County.

At Lone Elm, a number of trees were blown down. The cattle barn of Henry Koenig, one mile east of Lone Elm, was unroofed, and scores of forest trees in the woodland pasture, where the annual Lone Elm picnic is held, were uprooted.

Mrs. Emma Schmallf eldt's residence, a nine room frame building, was unroofed, with the exception of one room, the walls blown in, and the furniture blown away. A part of the barn, a chicken house, and a summer kitchen were blown from their foundations. Two chicken houses and a smoke house were unroofed. A granary was also demolished.

The entire east side of the residence of Henry J. Muntzel, located a few hundred yards southwest of the Clarks Fork Trinity Luthem Church was blown out and the house was unroofed on the east side. A summer kitchen was blown off into foundation, and a negro farm hand, Winston Carr, who was in the building suffered two broken ribs. A windmill was also blown down, as well as fences and trees. The wooden cross on the steeple of the large church building was blown down, and the walls of the building were cracked by the force of the wind. A new barn at the rear of the church parsonage was completely demolished. The school building just south of the church edifice was blown from its foundations, and a number of monuments in the cemetery were blown down.

A cattle barn on the farm of Mrs. George Myer was destroyed. The Walnut Christian Church, a beautiful edifice, which was erected at a cost of over $6,000, and dedicated July 25, 1915, was completely demolished and blown northward across a deep ravine, and the wreck was lodged in a grove of trees, or carried out into an adjoining field. The floor was swept clean of all the furnishings, with the exception of a few chairs and the organ, which was not damaged.

ing at the time, in attempting to leave, was struck down, and blown from the building, without receiving serious injury. His horse and buggy was hitched near by. The buggy was completely demolished, but the horse escaped uninjured.

A pine timber 1x4 was blown through a tree about seven inches in diameter. Large monuments were blown over and the framing of the church building was completely demolished.

The barn of Jesse Newkirk was blown down, and his* residence was damaged. The tenant house occupied by the Phipps family, on the T. B. Jewett farm was badly damaged, the house being blown off its foundation, and several of the rooms were wrecked. Lon and George Phipps had a narrow escape from death, when the roof fell in on the bed on which they were sleeping.

John Schmolzi and his family, who lived two miles east of Clarks Fork were great sufferers. Mr. Schmolzi grabbed his baby, and rushed to a small cave in the yard, and shouted to his wife and three other children to follow. However, they were too late, and the house of logs was blown down upon them. Mrs. Schmolzi and her young son, Willie, fourteen years old, were taken from the ruins of their humble home, badly injured. The mother received internal injuries, and the boy sustained a fractured skull. Every building on the Schmolzi farm was demolished, farm machinery was blown away, the apple orchard destroyed and the poultry killed.

A freak of the storm here was the taking of a corn planter, twisting it to pieces, and then taking the axle of the planter with one wheel still attached, and driving it into the heart of a big oak tree twelve or fifteen feet from the ground.

A heavy road grader was lifted from the side of the road, crumpled into junk, and hurled across the road into a grove of trees. Two barns south of the residence of Hogan Freeman were destroyed. One was a new structure, 16x30, and the other was 42 feet square, and housed six head of work stock, all of which escaped injury. However, seven head o fcattle grazing in a pasture were killed by the flying debris from the ruined Schmolzi home and outbuildings.

Auntinie Overton and Nick Robertson, negro farmers, had their houses torn 'down. The residence of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Oerly, located on the brow of the hill, a quarter of a mile northwest of Gooch Mill was completely demolished and blown away. Mr. Oerly was struck by falling

The ground where the residence stood was swept clean of all debris, and the timbers carried for hundreds of yards. An automobile was turned into scrap iron, and literally scattered over a forty acre field. Cattle and horses were maimed and killed and dead poultry was to be seen on every hand.

Tom Christman's house, about a mile north of Gooch's Mill was demolished. Allene Oerly, the 13-year-old daughter of Will Oerly, a Woolridge merchant, was killed. All the family succeeded in reaching a cyclone cellar beneath the summer kitchen, when the storm in its fury, picked up Allene and hurled her away in the fury of the wind. Her body was discovered about 75 yards away from the cellar.

The residence on the Joe Hickman farm, occupied by Charles Phipps, was destroyed, but no one was injured. Tom Calvert's four-room house, where were Mr. and Mrs. Calvert and Thomp Clayton, wife and one child, was blown down without injury to any of the occupants.

In the household of Fred Fluke, Fred Fluke himself was crushed by falling timbers and killed, and other members of the family were badly injured. The storm moved the house of James Adair from its foundation, and broke Mr. Adair's leg.

About half way between Woolridge and Overton, the storm struck the home of Theodore Morchel, killed two children and badly injured the wife and mother.