Flooding

Construction of the levees in the early 1900s leads to numerous problems. One is an increase in flooding, which is evident very soon after levee districts begin drainage of the bottomlands and begin to build levees. In a 1915 report to the Illinois State Legislature, Alvord and Burdick note, “It can hardly be stated that the restriction in the flood plain through the construction of levees must tend to produce greater flood heights under like flows” (Schneider 2000). Despite this and other warnings, however, the problem is ignored and flood levels and flood damages continue to grow.

A benchmark flood occurs in 1904 just as levee construction is beginning and causes considerable damage. The discharge at Beardstown is 115,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), the largest flood since 1844. Prior to 1904, only 18,100 acres of farmland are in levee districts. This allows for the comparisons of the discharge and height of flood stage in later floods. In the 1913, the number of acres in levee districts increases to 123,000. The discharge from this flood is only 92,000 cfs, yet the flood height is 1.7 feet higher than with the 1904 flood (Schneider 2000).

By 1922, there are 190,000 acres in levee districts. The 100,000 cfs discharge of the flood in this year produces flood heights five feet higher than that of the 1904 flood. This is over three additional feet of water in only nine years. Damages from the 1922 flood amount to $154 million (in 1998 dollars) (Schneider 2000). Most of the bottomland in the Illinois River valley is drained and included in an organized drainage district. Forty-five of these districts are in the former floodplain of the Illinois River. Despite this, there are large areas below Ottawa that are subject to overflow; the floods are as severe as the floods of 1922 and 1927 and occur every ten years (Illinois State Planning Commission 1940).

Several of the drainage districts are in poor financial condition and are unable to maintain their levees. Destroying these levees will increase the natural storage capacity and therefore reduce the flood heights (Illinois State Planning Commission 1940).

Other options to increase storage capacity include raising the height of the levees or setting them back from the river. The cost of both options is too great to be done by the drainage districts alone. The 1936 Flood Control Act authorizes three critical levees to be set back, South Beardstown, Coal Creek, and McGee Drainage and Levee Districts. It is anticipated that a contract will be awarded in early 1940 for this work, but the other two projects cannot proceed without the necessary right-of-way being granted by landowners. Other setbacks are being recommended but are unlikely to proceed due to objections from the drainage districts (Illinois State Planning Commission 1940).