Yankton’s ‘Great Flood’
130th Anniversary Of Flood Highlights Threat River Once Posed
As the waters of the Missouri River rose, dozens of people could be seen clinging to the steep roof of John Nelson’s brick house.
Hours earlier, the residents of Green Island had been singing a Psalm led by the Rev. Charles Seccombe, hoping that the rising water would recede. But it had not.
Despite the fact that Nelson’s house sat on high ground, the villagers found themselves being forced to the attic and then through a window onto the roof.
Fortunately, rescuers arrived by boat to take the frightened individuals to safety and avoid any fatalities.
The scene played out 130 years ago this weekend, during what became known as the Great Flood of 1881. While the extent of its devastation has been exaggerated in some accounts, there is no doubt it was a tremendous event that changed the course of local history.
The village of Green Island was settled on the southern shore of the Missouri River just east of where the Meridian Bridge now stands. It was connected to Nebraska, so it wasn’t an actual island, and by the early 1880s it had an estimated 150 residents.
The winter of 1880-1881 had been a cruel one. A ferocious blizzard struck the Yankton area on Oct. 15, and storms continued to blow across the region into February. Because of the early onset of snow, residents were caught unprepared for winter. Furthermore, the continued onslaught made it difficult for trains to bring in supplies because of huge drifts across the railways.
Relief was finally granted in March, but it wouldn’t last for long.
It was after church services on Sunday, March 27, 1881, that Green Island residents heard the ice on the river begin to groan and crack. Little did they know that those earthly cries would set off a string of events that would destroy the community.
In a strange turn of events, the ice had begun to melt upstream before it did downstream. The ice gave way at Yankton but was jammed up by the frozen river downstream. This caused the water to back up and flood the lowlands. Eventually, a massive amount of jagged ice piled up from Yankton to Springfield.
It was around noon Wednesday when the ice jam gave way, and it did so with a tremendous force that destroyed everything in its path. Water and large chunks of ice pummeled Yankton’s shores and the buildings that comprised Green Island.
The village’s Congregational church was pounded off its foundation and carried down the river while its bell still tolled.
Those who remained in Green Island — perched upon the roof of the Nelson house — were rescued by boat. But the village’s residents had only its memory to hold onto after that fateful day, as Green Island was never rebuilt.
In Yankton there was flooding, and water vessels were crushed by the ice. However, a local historian says the situation was not as devastating as some accounts have claimed.
“It has been said incorrectly over the years that the steamboat business in Yankton died as a result of the flood,” said Doug Haar, a history teacher at Yankton High School who has written extensively about the area’s steamboat past. “That is a fallacy. There were two steamboats that were destroyed. The rest of them survived. The majority of the Coulson Line boats were on an island where Lake Yankton is now. They survived with minor damage. The boats like the Peninah, the Big Horn, etc., were rebuilt in Yankton.”
The Western of the Coulson Line and the Fontenelle of the Kountz and later the Peck Line did not survive the natural disaster. A ferry was also destroyed.
“The majority of the boats, like the Nellie Peck, the Big Horn and the Peninah, all sailed again,” Haar said. “They needed repairs but did float again.”
Some newspaper accounts, especially those published in the East, made it sound as if most of the steamboats in Yankton had been decimated, he stated.
“It was simply blown out of proportion” Haar said. “Each time the story got retold, it got worse and worse. It was hardly the demise of the steamboats here. It was the railroads that really got rid of the steamboats.”
The majority of the steamboat business here was to fulfill two government contracts. The first was a contract for the Indian agencies upstream, while the second was for military forts.
However, as railroads expanded their reach, steamboats could not compete. The industry peaked in the Yankton area from 1872-1884, and faded away after that.
“They could ship things a lot cheaper by rail than they could by steamboat,” Haar said. “And there wasn’t the risk of the steamboat sinking.”
The flood did take its toll on the Yankton area. Thousands of animals were left dead, and hundreds of people were made homeless. Vermillion, which had been located below the bluffs of the Missouri River, was ravaged and had to be rebuilt on higher ground.
It was a situation that is almost unfathomable to residents along the Missouri today, but the experience did not prevent those early Dakota Territory settlers from forging ahead with life on the merciless prairie.
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“Yankton: The Way It Was!” by Bob Karolevitz was used in the writing of this article.
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