Bios transcribed by Kay R. & History by Jan Cortez
The Floods of 1881
The prophecies which had been made that the year 1881 would witness a second coming of the flood seemed, during the fall of that year, about to be fulfilled in Northern and Central Wisconsin. Oshkosh and Fond du Lac were especially selected for the ravages of the deluge, and for weeks were in a continual state of alarm; not only flood but disease threatened to devastate. The winter of 1880-1881 was remarkable for the ten feet of snow which fell throughout the State, and then in early spring melted suddenly, the water pouring in torrents into the tributaries and main streams of the Chippewa, the Black, the Wisconsin and Wolf Rivers. Bridges were carried away, logging booms divided and their logs lost, farm lands flooded, and incalculable damage done to mills and dwelling houses.
But this article is designed to treat more particularily of the rise and disaster-dealing flow of water in the valley of the Fox. Almost continuous rains during the months of September and October so swelled everything like a tributary to these streams (Upper and Lower Fox), that they rose to marvelous proportions and entailed widespread devastation. Thousands of acres of tillable land were inundated, and outstanding crops destroyed or rendered in accessible till frost completed the work of ruin. In the cities of Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, on Lake Winnebago, people were driven from their dwellings by the inordinate rise of waters, and in the various manufacturing cities lining the Lower Fox, mills were flooded on the lower floors, bulkheads were dislodged and broken, and in some instances factories completely despoiled of their machinery.
However, the natural rise of the Fox waters from the causes stated would hardly have entailed such widespread damage had the usual safe-guards been kept in force to prevent the flow of the Wisconsin River waters into the Upper Fox. Along the course of the Wisconsin, in the vicinity of Lewiston, west of Portage, is quite a stretch of lowlands which for years past have been dyked to prevent damage to the farming lands adjacent thereto, in time of freshets in that river. The dyke was built and maintained by the farmers of the locality, and was a safe barrier to the overflow of the Wisconsin till the June freshet of 1880, which made a number of large fissures in the dyke, and caused much loss to the farmers of Columbia County. These fissures were filled and stopped up as inexpensively as could safely be done till the attention of the State could be called thereto. It was set forth by their representatives that Columbia County farmers alone had suffreed a loss not less than $150,000 by the breaking of the dyke in the spring of 1880, and as they had long maintained it at considerable expense, they felt it the duty of the State to come to their assistance. Accordingly, the succeeding winter a bill was framed having that object in view, which passed both Houses of the Legislature, but when it reached the Governor for his signature to make it operative, he vetoed it on the ground that the Constitution forbids the State engaging in internal improvements. Thus balked in their efforts to keep the dyke impervious to the waters of the Wisconsin by overflow, time went by and the fall rains of 1881 descended and swelled the Wisconsin to flood-tide once more. The dyke was swept away almost in entirity, and thus uninterrupted the water sped on into the Big Slough, thence into the Neenah, and finally into Lake Winnebago. The little lake rose then till, as has been stated, portions of Oshkosh and Fond du Lac Cities became inundated, and great damage was incurred to property, and must suffering wrought among the inhabitants thus driven out of their homes. Add to this the distress of next to impassable roads, and in consequence, a fuel famine staring the people of these cities in the face, and the situation was one decidedly gloomy.
As in the spring of 1852, public indignation was directed against the dams at Neenah and Menasha. On November 2 and 3, the water in Lake Winnebago rose an inch. In Algoma the sidewalks were afloat, and there was no egress to houses except by boats. The water, in places, stood to the sills of the houses. The people in the flooded districts had been living virtually on the water. Refuse and slops were emptied at the back door, and water for cooking and drinking purposes dipped up at the front. Diptheria commenced to appear. The mills were shut down and hundreds of workmen out of emplyment. For two blocks from the river the main business street was flooded. A fuel famine threatened. The citizens of Oshkosh were placed in a terrible position. A committee of relief was at once appointed, consisting of C. Cook, of Oshkosh, A.K. Hamilton, of Fond du Lac, and C.B. Clark of Neenah, and proceeded to the latter city with a demand that an outlet be made through the dam for the escape of the rising waters. Col. Boardman, of Fond du Lac, hydraulic engineer, and Capt. Edwards, Government engineer on the Lower Fox, also accompanied the party. The committee met finally at the Waverly House, Appleton, and Neenah agreed to construct a sluice-way in the wing dam, and open all the flumes for the passage of the pent-up flood. Appleton became now seriously alarmed, for she considered herself in danger of receiving a devastating flood which so far the dam at Neenah had held back. She threatened to hold the Neenah Water-Power Company responsible, if the water was let through. The Government officers were appealed to, and a stirring memorial address to the Secretary of War. On the 21st the sluice-way ws completed, and Appleton served an injunction. A delegation of citizens from Oshkosh left on a special, to see that the sluice was opened, and the position of these cities seemed really warlike. Force was not used, however, either in offense or defense, and on the 22nd the gates were opened. A more complete passage was made on the 29th. This seemed to be the culmination of the disasters which had overtaken Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, and the averting of others which threatened. The rains ceased, too, the water commenced to lower, and the cities commenced to repair the damages. The loss to Dond du Lac and Oshkosh is placed at $800,000. A great sufferer was the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western road, whose track was under water for several miles. The faming lands adjacent to Lakes Winnebago and Butte des Morts were under water from one to five feet. But fire and flood work against fate when they attempt to break the spirit of Oshkosh.
