The years 1849, 1869, 1903, 1935, 1951, and 1993 all hosted record setting historical
floods for the area. A flood has occurred almost every year since the first recorded flood.
Before Milford Dam Native Americans of long ago talked of a great flood in 1781. However, the 1849 flood was one of the first major floods reported by early European settlers, with a newspaper account of an old man who was an eyewitness in his youth to the 1849 flood. He reported immense herds of
buffalo being drowned and washed up into the tops of trees along the rivers. Due to a heavy frost immediately following, the buffalo carcasses were preserved long enough for the flood survivors to eat well until the spring thaw. In the spring when the carcasses began to rot, it was suspected that they were the cause of a
cholera outbreak. The flood of 1869 caused a major loss of life. Reports were given of entire families being washed away while a few survivors clung to the tops of trees for hours, hoping to be saved. One story told of an infant who was tied up in a man’s shirt, and then tied to a tree surrounded by water to await rescue. Due to the swift current, nearby rescuers unable to take action were forced to listen to the child’s cries for 5 hours. Finally, when they were able to come back in a boat to rescue the child, it took all the extra men available to hold a rope tied to the boat to keep the boat from swamping and being washed away. The 1935 flood had the highest combined flow ever recorded for the Republican and
Smoky Hill rivers. These two rivers meet within the city limits of
Junction City, Kansas and form the
Kansas River. Hours before, a cloudburst had occurred at
McCook, Nebraska sending a wall of water down the Republican River. At Milford, Kansas eight
boxcars were turned over and the Union Pacific Depot was washed off its site. Near
Alida, Kansas the Republican River cut a new channel north of town. After the floodwater receded there was talk of trying to straighten the river channel. The
Great Flood of 1951 was the last major flood in the area before the Milford Dam was built. It reportedly caused the combined total $6,500,000 in flood damages in the
Fort Riley and
Junction City area. After the 1951 disaster, the local newspapers were filled with articles requesting the federal government to intercede and build dams along the Republican,
Smoky Hill, and
Big Blue rivers.
After Milford Dam The flood of 1993 was the first major flood to occur after the Milford Lake Dam was built. Many locals involved with fighting the flood agree that 1993 would have been much worse than the 1951 flood without the protection offered by the Milford Dam. Although flooding could not be completely stopped, the dam system and other flood protection work lessened the loss of life and property. In 1993, well above average rainfalls had been taking place throughout the entire
Midwest for several months, and the ground was
saturated, unable to soak up the continuing
rainfall. Rivers and
levees were holding the rising waters in check, but they were full. It continued to rain. Lakes along the upper and lower
Missouri River Basin closed their gates so as not to add to the flooding that was beginning further downstream. The rain continued until finally the rivers, levees, and lakes could hold no more and the Great Flood of 1993 went underway, with flooding of a magnitude not seen since 1951. The Milford Dam was built to protect the Kansas River Basin. Waters from Milford Lake enter the Kansas River at Junction City, which in turn flows into the
Missouri River at
Kansas City. The Missouri River then empties into the
Mississippi River, which transports Milford Lake waters to the
Gulf of Mexico. After holding floodwaters back for weeks at the Milford Dam, and upon reaching a lake elevation above normal, the focus on flood protection changed to that of protecting the dam structures. All additional waters, which flowed in, had to be released. On July 19, 1993 the gates in the dam were fully opened to release water at a rate of . Rain continued to fall in the area and the lake continued to rise until water began to flow through the uncontrolled spillway. The design of the spillway controls the flow of the water, eventually directing it back into the river channel below the dam. For two weeks water flowed through the spillway to a maximum depth of . The continuous rush of water removed tons of soil, numerous trees, and a portion of the
244 Spur Highway. Pooling waters from the spillway flow also threatened to damage
U.S. Highway 77. To protect the U.S. highway, a
culvert was intentionally breached on State Highway 57 to allow the pooling floodwaters to drain back into the Republican River channel. Throughout the entire flood, the dam performed as designed and held floodwaters back, lessening the downstream flood damage. During the highest release of water through the dam, which lasted for approximately 10 hours, the riverbank channel immediately below the dam suffered some
erosion damage. In the winter of 1996/7, repairs were made to the damaged channel below the dam. To prevent future damage during extremely high releases, the river channel was dropped in elevation by excavation. The removed rock was used to create a
berm across the south bank washout. The channel banks were re-graded, re-rocked, and re-grouted. ==Inhabitants==