The Flood of 1935

In her book, "Swept Away," Mary Magorian Sherk wrote, "Water has often harassed the folks who live in Southwest Nebraska. Usually it was the lack of it they complained about ... " However, the last week of May 1935, in the middle of a drought, it was too much water that would terrify those who lived along the Republican River. ...

OXFORD, Neb. -- Nancy Knuth of Oxford, Nebraska, has a list of names ... the names of people who lost their lives 80 years ago May 30 and 31, and into June in the 1935 Republican River Flood. But this is more than a list of up to 120 or so names. "This is not just a list of dead people," Nancy said. "They are real people who lived, whose families loved them and missed them when they were gone."...

McCOOK, Neb. -- It nestles among trees and shrubs, tucked into a corner of a wire fence. Hundreds, even thousands, of people drive by it every day. Many of those are McCook people, but very, very few of them -- if any -- know the history of the steel-gray water tank that sits in a feed yard east of McCook, on the south side of Highway 6-34 and north of the Republican River...

McCOOK, Neb. -- What more could go wrong? It was summer 1935 in Nebraska. It was dry, and dirty. There was nothing to stop the wind but the barbed wire. Grasshoppers, descending in swarms of biblical proportions, ate everything in sight. A five-year drought continued its strangle-hold on the Midwest. The heat, even at the end of May, even before summer started, was already just about unbearable...

Note: Memorial Day 2015 marks the 80th Anniversary of one of Nebraska's greatest tragedies, the 1935 Flood of the Republican River. In reviewing the stories about the 1935 Republican River Flood in Southwest Nebraska one finds stories of heroism, of ingenuity, of luck, both good and bad, and tragedy -- the loss of property and of human life. ...

INDIANOLA, Nebraska -- For whatever reason, the monument that marked the rise of the 1935 Republican River flood as it swept through Indianola was removed years ago and taken to the city office. After a National Weather Service program that commemorated the flood's 75th anniversary, Indianola city officials plan to replace the original marble monument in its rightful position in south Indianola and highlight it with a new "High Water Mark" plaque presented to the community Saturday by Joy Hayden and Dave Floyd of the NWS.. ...

SPEARFISH, S.D. -- Nadine Miller Fidler's last memories of her mother are of her straining to reach the outstretched arm of Nadine's uncle, and not being able to make the connection before the raging waters of the Republican River took away her mother and baby sister...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Louis B. Wolf worked at the McCook Power Plant and remembers the Republican River floods of the summer of 1935 -- On May 28, May 31, June 13 and June 16/17. In a story that he wrote, Wolf calls the May 31 flood "The Big Flood." These are his memories, a copy of them provided by his daughter, Carol Wolf Britton:...

Nancy Knuth of Oxford grew up listening to stories of the Republican River Flood of 1935. Nancy's father helped build sandbag walls against advancing flood waters. "He went into the water that night to help a family," Nancy said. "Living in a small community of Oxford, we all heard the stories," Nancy said. ...

Each summer the Great Lakes in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas become the playground for countless numbers of fishermen, boating enthusiasts, and picnickers. This is to say nothing of the primary beneficiaries of the lakes -- the area irrigators, and citizens who are protected from the ravages of floods from the region's rivers and streams. ...

The epic picture from the 1935 flood is etched in memory. It still sends shivers down my spine. How could any man, no matter how strong, cross the raging river hand-over-hand on a power line? It was an amazing feat then; it remains an amazing feat to this day...

Artie Lebsack was 15 years old when he witnessed Nebraska's deadliest flood in 1935. "I remember the screaming of the cattle," he recalled. "I can still hear that sound in my ears." His sister, Clara Adams, was four at the time. Her most vivid memory was hurrying up the hill to a neighbors house with her mother as she pushed her younger brother in a baby buggy...