Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1921-06-15

Attention of Nation is Called to the
Needlessness of Such
Calamity.

Lie NllCdSO lIlDuhe puDlSneu an
editorial last week under the title
Fixing the Blame for Floods, .
which contains more truth than
poetry, and is well worth the perusal
of readers. 1t follows:
"The tragic experience Of Pueblo,
Colo, trapped and devastated by floods
once more calls the attention of the
nation to the needlessness Of such
calamity, with all its suffering and
loss. 1t is only by ignoring facts
that the holocaust can be attributed
to an unkind Providence. In reality
it should be attributed to the greed,
carelessness, and shortsightedness of
man.
Floods such as the present one
in Colorado or that which swept
Ohio, Indiana, and adjacent districts
few years ago can be controlled OF
avoided. The toll of hundreds or
thousands of lives which they take
and the many millions of dollars
worth of property which they des-
troy is due not to divine wrath, but
to human error. As such ut is
capable of correction.
at is natural for cities to build
themselves up around water courses.
As they develop and land becomes
more and more valuable, they en-
croach more and more upon the
streams. Factories and homes crowd |
in closer and closer. Railroads and |
highways bridge the main channel,
but instead of bridging the wider
reaches of the food channel save |
by building embankment |
across it. A cIoudburst, torrential
rains, or an extraordinary thaw fills
and overlows the ordinary channel
and finds itself damned by the en-
bankments and by bridge and build
ing abutments. Finally, breaking
through such barriers, it sweeps
along with terrible destruction. Arti-
fetal reservoirs and lakes break their
barriers and add to the force of |
aging waters. Death and destruc-
ion sweep through the valleys and
he towns built along the path of I
he food.
Floods cannot be stopped, but the
opportunity for ruin in their path |
an be eliminated. Europe has learned !
he lesson. In scores of valleys /
here one finds not only the normal |
liver channel, but food channel as
veil. The normal channel is bridged,
ut to reach that bridge one drops
own into the flood channel, four or
i've times as wide and probably dry
or eleven months out of the year,
'ut unobstructed. The spring thaws
md freshets come and go and the
water is carried away as nature
Intended, with no appreciate da-
mage.
"We can guard against floods in
he same way if we will refrain from
factories, homes, embank- !
nents, and abutments in the possible
bath of a food. At the same time ,
lams and reservoirs should be so /
constructed with ample margins of |
iafety.
Incidentally the floods again en-
'hasize the necessity for forestation
md reforestation in this country. /
Forests not only delay the spring
.haws, and so extend the spring
,reshets over a longer period, but /
end to hold back the rush of wa
,ers when it does start. Even more
important, they tend to equalize
to the great advantage of
he crops.
at is the lack of forests which |
,auses the great floods and droughts
If China, 1t is the planting of
,rees which has reduced to a mini I
mum the "dry years" which were
,nce the curse of Kansas. They are
IN essential feature of food con-
rol, and of incalculable value be-
sides. If mankind will be wise and !
ook a little into the future, instead !
If always trying to grab off a real !
estate bargain or a factory site on !
a river bank in the immediate pre-
sent, such tragedies as that of Pue-