davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1951-07-22

less severe as more and more un-
affected streams diluted" 1t with
the volume of their normal flow.
The bigger the streafnbed became,
the more capable it became of
absorbing the excess tonnage of
water-just as the branches of a
tree become stronger as they join
together in approaching the trunk.
The Missouri, the first branch to
lend its strength to supporting the
run-off from Kansas, mercifully was
some 10 feet lower than normal for
the time of year, at Kansas
City. But Big Muddy, big as it is,
could not handle the weight of
water which hit it there. All along
the river, flood warnings were
flashed. On Tuesday, at 80 miles
day, the crest pushed through
Waverly and Lexington, Mo-, eclips-
ing a century of records. On We'd
flesday night, 1t battered its way
into Jefferson City, inundating
more than a score of blocks. The
great surge poured by at 100000
cubic feet second, as compared
with the normal July flow of $4,000
cubic feet. Its power was unimag-
inable-too much for the dikes.
Between Kansas City and st.
Charles, an estimated Is million
acres of cropland were under wa
ter. The river, in places, was five
miles wide.
The next great target was st.
Louis, which waited fairly conf
IDENTIFY, relying on its long expert
ence in handling fioods-and on
the fact that the mighty Missis-
sippi would add its weight, there,
to the side Of natural law and order.
The city knew the flood would prob
ably set a record, but expected little
damage. Most of It's area Is on high
ground.
And so the Kansas waters moved
back toward the Gulf of Mexico
Evening star., 1951-07-22
The Flood

The Kaw behaved as no white
man ever saw 1t behave before. The
Indians, however, had shown early
settlers in the region high water
marks of one flood of even greater
proportions.
This occurred, they said, in 1874
the year of the great waters"
That was two years after Col. John
C. Fremont blazed a trail westward
to oregon and California, while
Kansas was still Indian Territory.
Early engineers checked the In
dians' points of reference with
official markers on the river. There
seemed little doubt that the food
stage in June, 1874, had reached 38
feet above low-water level-two feet
above the peak recorded this time.
That, however, was too far back
to worry about. The twin Kansas
Cities had based their flood de-
fenses on remembered experience
in the intermediate record high
year of 1908. The yardstick proved
inadequate. This time the water
smashed over 22-foot dikes pro-
tecting the famed industrial Sec
tions. 1t buried railway yards,
packing plants and stockyards un-
der IA feet of current. 1t spread
it's relentless blanket over 1894
blocks in the two cities which, for
all it knew or cared, might as well
not have been there.
AS barrier after barrier went down
before the advancing tide, men even
tried to plug the gaps with their
bodies until sandbags could be
brought up. Thirst, ironically, be-
Evening star., 1951-07-22
The Lesson

Could it have been prevented?
The question was on everybodys
lips. Can this sort of thing be
avoided in the future.
The debate is many-sided, but
one point, to begin with, seems
fairly clear: This was one flood dis
aster for which man himself could
hardly be blamed-insofar, at least,
as his sins of commission were con-
cerned. Man did not cause this
flood by plowing the land and cut
ting down trees. No soil conserva-
ton program, alone, could have
prevented it.
The plains of Kansas have never
been really forested. And lot years
ago, when the area experienced the
only flood known to have surpassed
this one, no plow had touched the
land.
This does not mean that soil
conservation is unimportant. Fro
sion of the land contributes to
floods-just as, in the vicious cycle,
floods contribute to the erosion of
the land. But the fact remains
that this particular flood would
nave hit, and hit hard, even if the
land had been nurtured with as
Evening star., 1951-07-22

came a part Of the plague with
flooding Of the pumping station
which supplies Kansas City, Mo-,
with two-thirds of its piped water.
The water which coursed through
the streets was unfit for consump-
tion, without boiling and chemical
treatment. And then, with the
water, came fire. Runaway oil and
gasoline storage tanks, ignited by
high-tension wires, exploded and
burned for days. Seven city blocks
were razed by the flames.
Through it all, on high ground
beyond reach of the water, 80 per
cent of the cities residential area
remained relatively unaffected. But
from the edge of the downtown sec
ton at the foot Of the bluffs on
the Missouri side, clear across to
the central business section of Kan
sas City, Kan, there stretched one
watery wilderness of wreckage. Pyres
of black smoke rose from the ruins.
Down the Missouri
The long crest, disgorged by the
Kaw, rolled into the Missouri. In
midweek, around Kansas City, the
water began to recede. The picture
improved-but not much. The
water left tons of mud behind it
heavy, Shiny, six inches deep on any
level surface the flood had reached.
Weary victims turned to the job
Of digging themselves out.
City dwellers were not the only
victims. BY Monday, the experts
figured, at least 850,00O acres of
farmland had been flooded in Kan
sas, Missouri and Oklahoma
The skies were clear over Kansas
by then, and so were they down.
stream along the Missouri to st.
Louis. All along the line, people
prayed for them to stay that way.
For, barring more rain, the effect
of the food would become less and
Evening star., 1951-07-22

ters of the Gulf, cooled rapidly as
1t climbed. The higher it rose, the
closer was the condensation point
approached. Somewhere in the at
moSphere over Kansas, the moment
came when the air from the
south could hold its moisture no
longer. At that moment, on July
10, nature let go and the deluge
began.
It was the same kind of tor
rental rain which frequently de-
velops in Asia, Africa and the
Philippines, when hot air masses
are forced up over mountain ranges.
It is this sort of a situation which
waters the Nile, pouring a steady
stream through the rainless desert
without benefit of tributaries. But
the Kansas River, which had to
carry this burden, is not the Nile,
and the country around it had been
anything but rainless. And so the
flood came.
Stationery Cold Front
Cold fronts, customarily, move
either forward or back, depending
on the relative push of the two air
masses involved. For four long
days, however, this one stood still.
In the first "a hours several
points in the Kansas River basin
were drowned under inches OF
rain-about twice the average
Washington rainfall for the entire
month of July. 1t was not that
bad everywhere, and by July IA the
worst had passed. BY then, how
ever, an average of inches had
fallen over the entire river basin.
The downpour was concentrated
principally in eastern Kansas, al
though Missouri and adjoining Sec
tions of Nebraska and Oklahoma
also were hit.
The Kaw and it's tributaries rose
up as one unit under this final,
overwhelming blow. The normal
river flow was multiplied, overnight,
some so to IS times. The usual
flood crests, neatly plotted on the
scientists charts, were lost in the
general inundation. All rivers in
the areo uere affected-the Ar
kansas, Neosho and other lesser
streams flooded to record stages,
causing damage and driving people
from their homes in scores of cities
and towns. But the water that
really mattered was the water boil
ing down the Kansas basin, past
Topeka, to meeting with the Mis-
souri, at Kansas City.
Evening star., 1951-07-22
The DeIuee

It Ia 900 miles from eastern
Kansas to the Gulf Of Mexico. 1t
is more than $500 miles from east
ern Kansas to the Gulf of Alaska
Yet In these two distant areas, at
the beginning Of July, there was
set In motion giant conspiracy
of the elements which was to touch
off the climax of the natural drama
building up along the Kaw.
In the northwest Pacific, OF the
southern coast of Alaska, the for
nation of an unusually strong high
pressure area was reported by many
sources. The news came in from
ships on weather stations or COM
mercial runs, from shore stations
In the Aleutians, Alaska and the
Canadian Northwest, from air
planes on the northern route to
the Far East and from Air Force
Superforts on polar patrol out Of
Fairbanks. To them it was strictly
routine.
But this mass of cold, dense air
piled up to height of nearly eight
miles. Moving clockwise around it,
winds began to pour the chill to-
ward the southeast. It spread itself
like a blob of molasses over the
Canadian coast, into our Central
Plains. It's vanguard headed
straight for Kansas.
From the Gulf of Mexico, mean
while, another air mass was roll
ing north. This one was hot and
moist. It crossed Louisiana and
Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Near the eastern end of the borders
of Oklahoma and Kansas, the two
opposing forces met.
The air from the Arctic Rugged
the ground with bulldog obstinacy,
the tapered edge of its forward wall
pushing several miles under the
northbound mass before coming to
a halt. The hot air, being lighter,
was lifted in the collision, riding
up over the dense layer beneath.
The effect is a familiar one to me-
teorologists. They call 1t a cold
front.
The hot air. laden with the wa
Evening star., 1951-07-22

much pains as 1t has been abused.
The question, then, is whether
soil conservation, in combination
with other flood control measures,
could have prevented what hap
pened in the Missouri Valley dur
ing the past week, and could pre-
vent it from happening again.
Maj. Gen. Lewis A. Pick, chief Of
Army Engineers, had a positive an
swer: IF all the upstream reser-
voirs now either authorized by Con-
gress or planned were in operation,
we could have passed all this with
no damages to the Kansas Cities"
The Kanapolis and Cedar Bluff
dams, mentioned above, are part of
a long-range plan for the whole
Missouri basin, approved by Con-
gress in 1914. Congress has yet to
appropriate funds for the bulk of
the projects, planned jointly by the
Army Engineers. and the Interior
Departments Bureau of Reclama-
ton.
Pick -SIoon Plan
Gen. Pick is one of the formu-
lators of this Missouri Valley flood
control plan, and he gave it half
of its name. The other half came
from w. G. Sloan, former regional
director of the Reclamation Bu-
reau. The Pick-Sloan plan is a
sort of informal compromise be-
tween the views Of two schools. The
Army originally thought the food
control problem should be attacked
by building big dams and levees
along main streams. The bureau,
on the other hand, stressed the
Importance of controlling the water
flow in upper tributaries, not only
by storage dams, but also by re-
plenishing the soil.
For the Kansas River basin alone,
under the plan, some IS new prof.
ects involving the storage. and
channeling of the waters have been
recommended. Gen. Pick has esti-
mated that completing this local
program would cost, at 1851 prices,
about $500 million-far less, he
points out, than "the direct cost of
the flood, not to mention intan-
gibles like soil erosion and loss OF
time"
The overall plan, however, en-
braces projects in 10 States-Kan-
sas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado,
Montana, Iowa, Minnesota, Wyo-
ming and the DakotaS. The original
idea was that this work probably
would cost in the neighborhood of
SIS billion to 50 billion. In the
light of present costs, these figures,
obviously are far out of date.
The general principles embodied
in such plans as that of Messrs.
Pick and Sloan have won rather
wide acceptance. Yet there are
Evening star., 1951-07-22

those who doubt that they prove
effective in the long run. There is
an intensely practical school OF
thought which holds that reser-
voirs designed to relieve the pres
sure of flood waters eventually will
become choked with the masses Of
silt carried by the floods-the same
stuff now coating Kansas City.
There is another school-more
theoretical, perhaps, but no less
earnest-which contends that the
present approach to the whole
problem of flood control, particu-
larly in the Missouri Valley, is adj
ministratively unsound and there
fore can lead only to failure. These
critics do not object to presently
contemplated projects; they object
to their piecemeal direction. The
problem cannot be solved, they
contend, until it is attacked from
every quarter, under unified di-
rection.
The model, of course, is the Ten
nessee Valley Authority, which sue
ceeded in Harvesting and controll-
ing the Tennessee River to the
great benefit of that entire, once
depressed area. The leading cham
pion of Missouri Valley Authority
is Senator Murray, Democrat, Of
Montana. Similar authorities have
been proposed for other river
basins, notable the Columbia basin.
All of the proposed new river
valley authorities face stiff opposi-
tion-on the ground that they are
"socializing" influences which vio-
late States rights over local wa
tiers, and which are subsidized by
Federal taxes unfairly imposed on
other, uninterested areas.
Bigger Than Konsos
In surveying the waterlogged
wreckage of the Great Flood of
1851, then, and looking ahead to
the chances of making good on an
oath of never again." the Nation
is finding itself up against situa-
ton which might be summarized
in this way:
Yes, the Kansas River almost
certainly can be made safe against
a recurrence of this years flood.
The cost is great, and floods like
this one are once-in-a- lifetime az
fairs. Yet all floods are expensive.
If the Kansas River were maze
proof against them, mankind would
have scored an indisputable eco
nomic and social gain
But the Kansas River is only one
of many rivers, and the cost Of
making them all safe would be
very great indeed. For after all,
who knows where, next time, the
rains may decide to descend, and
the foods to come?
Evening star., 1951-07-22
The Rains Descended and the Flood Came

Il nothing more sinister than
that. The winter and early spring
had been fairly dry. All Kansas
was glad to see the rains come
drifting across the land.
Soon the broad valleys, lifting
westward into the foothills Of the
Rockies, were green with corn, grass
and winter Matchmaking rap
idly in the low-lying eastern part
of the State, more slowly on the
high prairie 400 miles to the west.
There were the usual thunder
storms, concentrated largely in the
humid eastern section. Rapid
changes in temperature, occasional
hailstorms and minor tornadoes-
all this was to be expected. The
flatlands and undulating plains
drank up the water.
BY the end Of May, they were not
so thirsty. In the east-central part
of the State, the wide valleys Of the
Kansas River-known locally as the
Kaw-received at least twice their
normal precipitation for the month.
Along the Arkansas River, further
to the west and south, 1t was the
same story. Rainfall for the whole
State ran so per cent above average.
At first, the western praries
remained relatively dry. Late in
May, however, these were hit by
pouring rains around the Colorado
border, where they reach an alti-
tude of some 1000 feet. From the
high wheatlands, down through the
Arkansas and the mountain-born
tributaries of the Kansas, there
rolled a tidal freshet, modest har-
binger of things to come.
Sooking the Land
BY early June, rain and wet soil
was hampering farm work in east
ern Kansas. Water seeped over
the saturated lowland fields. Weeds
began to sprout. And that month
proved the wettest June in IS years.
There were IL to 18 days Of heavy
rains over much of the State.
BY the Fourth Of July, the situa-
ton was serious. Corn and wheat
fields were choking with weeds,
which even invaded the pasture
lands. Still, the rains came. The
Kansas River was overflowing its
banks near Topeka. Upstream-but
too far upstream-on the Kansas
Smoky Hill tributary, dams at Kan
apolis and Cedar Bluff were holding
the swirling upland waters in check.
SO was the Harlem County Dam, on
the Republican River, near the
Nebraska border. The trouble was
that the storms had given the
country its heaviest drenching be-
low the dams.
At Kanapolis, where the $12 mil
lion dam is backed by a reservoir
covering $3.50 acres, officials Or
dered the emergency flooding of
supplementary area Of $4,000 acres
which, in normal seasons, is leased
to farmers. Still the water rose
downstream. At Topeka, on the
morning Of July 10, 1t was ap-
preaching 80 feet above low-water
level.
On that crucial morning, when
the heavens opened up and un-
leashed disaster, the soil of Kansas
from the prairie sod Of the west
to the garden farmland Of the east
was one vast sodden sponge. 1t
could absorb no more. Shallow
lagoons lay over the fields. Every
ditch, creek and stream bed was
full to overfowing.
Thus was the stage set for the
most destructive flood in the Ma
tion's history.
Evening star., 1951-07-22

from which they had come. The
prospect is that when the crest
passes the mouth of the Ohio this
week, it will no longer be danger
Gus. 1t will leave behind it, how
ever, the first billion dollar flood
in the Nations history.
Evening star., 1951-05-31

vincial councils for which elec-
tions were held, and Of city coun-
ellis in % of the 28 provincial
capitals Zone province did not
elect new provincial counciD.
279 Towns Won From Reds.
OF 2,74S towns where local elec-
tions were held, the Christian
Democrat bloc won from the
Communists 279 of the LILO town
councils the Reds had controlled
since 1916. The Christian Demo-
Gratis lost only 81 towns they had
controlled.
Mr.. de Gasperi's alliance ousted
the Reds from local control in
Genoa, Venice, Ancona, Ravenna,
Varese, Novara and Forli and took
Milan, Italy's second largest city.
away from its moderate Socialist
administration.
The Communists retained Bo-
logna by a margin of only Lat
votes. The Christian Democrats
contested the election and ques-
toned 1000 ballots.
The strongest Of the minor
party showings was made by the
Italian Social Movement (MSD
whose 1851 national convention
was banned by the government as
Evening star., 1951-05-31
Georgetown Prep Sets
Graduation SUNDAY

Diplomas will be presented to
43 graduates of Georgetown Pre-
paratory School at commencement
exercises at 10 am. Sunday. The
address will be given by the Rev.
John F.. Lenny, S. j., director gen.
eral of the Jesuit high schools of
the Maryland province.
Members of the graduating class
are:
Lambert J. Askee. jr.:; Charles
p. Bonini. Albert D. Brault, James
C. Brown. Henry c. Burbridge,
Gerard M. Cahill, Bertrand j. Cas-
sidy. Edward j. Claxton, William
r. Crowley, James B. D'Alboro,
Joseph G. Datto, James P. Day,
Divide E. de st. Aubin, jr.; James
A. Doty, Edwin P. Earnest, Glenn
ent P. Eckrich. jr.; Joseph A..
Haberkorn, jr.: Robert E. Hanne-
gan, jr.: Burton w. Harrell, John
]. Horigan, jr.
Joseph H. Jacobs. Donald II.
Johnston. jr.; Joseph N. Kennedy.
Laurence S. Kennedy, jr.:: Felix
F. Logrippo. Sean F. Mccarthy,
Robert M. Mcclellan. Michael P.
Mehr, William R. Nolan. jr.:
Joseph E. O'Brien, jr.: Hugh l..
O'Donnell, Francis j. O'Donoghue,
William A. Pate III, Tobert Peter
III, William B. Provosty, N. Joseph
Roddy, Frank Rupert, James L.
Shriver, Jorge L. Valdiviesco, jr.;
j. Bruce Won Phul, Julian B. Wills
and Robert w. Wilson.
Evening star., 1951-05-31

Labor Socialists, 184,e42; % per
cent.
Communist bloc:
Communists. 1885, 1923; 21.9 per
cent.
Pro-Communist Socialists, 1,131,-
871; 1874 per cent.
The rest of the vote was scat
tered among the MSI and seven
other small political groups.
Evening star., 1951-05-31

neo- Fascist. The MSI polled
337 ,606 votes per cent--as the
fifth strongest faction in the race.
Next Voting Is June 10.
Another third of Italy votes for
the province and city councils
June 10 The final third elects in
the fall
The Ministry of Interior gave
this final unofficial tabulation of
votes in the ~ provincial council
races:
Government bloc:
Christian Democrats, 3,487,3 $50;
Ali per cent.
Anti-C Communist Socialists, 654. :
379: II per cent.
Republican Party. 276.809; 3.3
per cent,
Liberal Party. 267.s2s;; 80 per
cent.
Evening star., 1951-05-31
BY the Assoeiatsd Press

ROME. May 31.-Final returns
today gave Premier Alcide de
Gasperi's church-supported Chris
tian Democrats and other anti
Communist parties a sweeping
victory over Italy's Reds in pro-
vincial council elections in one
third Of Italy this week.
The Communists and allied So
cialists polled 35.3 per cent of the
8.5 million votes cast.
Mr.. de Gasperi reported to
President Luigi Einaudi last night
that his Atlantic Pact" coali-
TONS candidates had won control
of 81 of the 81 North Italy pro-
Evening star., 1951-05-31

rate in Korea has dropped to 2.6,
as compared to As in World War
II and 8 per cent in World War I.
Gen. Bliss was appointed Sur
geon General on June /, 1947. He
was graduated from the Army
Medical School in 1913. and most
of his professional career was de-
voted to surgery. During World
War II Gen. Bliss was assistant
and later deputy surgeon general
During the postwar years, Gen.
Bliss perfected system of man.
agement in the Army Medical
Service to relieve doctors Of much
of the non-professional admins
trative paper work.
Gen. Bliss has been awarded
the Distinguished Service Medal
and the Legion of Merit by this
Government. the Legion of Honor
by France and the Award of the
italian Crown by Italy.
He will be succeeded as Sur
geon General by Maj. Gen. G. F.
Armstrong. who has been his
deputy.
Gen. Bliss will spend the sum-
mer at his home in Chocorua,
N. H. He has no definite plans
for the future, he said.
Evening star., 1951-05-31

Sen
Evening star., 1951-05-31
Hoition Envoy to Lend
Collection for Display

Ambassador Gustave Laraque of
Haiti will lend his personal collec-
tion of Haitian pottery for display
lin the second exhibition Of cer-
Iamic art of the washington Kiln
Club in August.
The pottery will be on display
lin the Fine Arts section of the
National Museum until the OPEN
ing of the exhibition.
Evening star., 1951-05-31
you need never
rinse again!

acle ingredient that floats dirt o1Ddy-
keeps it from getting back into clothes.
Just wash wring-and watch the dirt
roll out! Down the drain it goes! Not
speck of scum on tub or clothes!
White clothes come so a0hite colors
so bright everything dries so sweet and
soft and clean! And irons like dream!
OF course, you can be sure that No
Rinse Surf is kind to hands and clothes.
It's the only washday product approved
by the U. s. Testing Company for mo
ri7aStng"i
Evening star., 1951-05-31
DR.. KimbuII to Address
USO Purley in Richmond
By The Associoted Press

RICHMOND. Va, May 31.-Dr.
Lindsey F. Kimball of New York
will be the principal speaker at
a regional meeting here Monday
of the United Service Organiza-
tions.
Plans for the meeting, to be at
tended by representatives of COM
munities in five States and the
District of Columbia. were an
nounced here yesterday by former
Richmond Mayor w. Stirling King.
Evening star., 1951-05-31

geon General he
has seen 900
physicians join
the r eg ul a r
Army-as many
as joine d the
Medical Corps
during the pre-
ceding 80 years.
Outstanding
on Gen. Bliss
record as Sur
geon General is
the remarkable
decrease in bat
tie area death
nnAnn Tia Snn&l,
Evening star., 1951-05-31
Brown to Get Degree

Peter c. Brown, member of the
Subversive Activities Control
Board, will be awarded an honor
ary degree by st. Bonaventure
University, the university an
nounced today. Mr.. Brown also
will deliver the address at the
schools commencement exercises.
Evening star., 1951-05-31

No soap gets eIothes so scft-so sweet
50 clean as new No-Rinse Surf!
You've never seen anything like it! In
lust one tub of water, No-Rinse Surf
soaks-whitens-gets your clothes so clean
you need not rinse!
That's right With no rtnsing-no
bleaching or bluing-no soaking or scrub
bing-clothes look clean, feel clean, smell
clean. And they are clean, clear through
because No-Rinse Surf contains mir
Evening star., 1951-05-31
Surgeon General Bliss
OF Army Winds Up
40 Years Service

Mai. Gen. Raymond Bliss. Sur
geon General Of the Army, re-
tires today after 40 years of mill
tary service.
During his four years as Sur
Evening star., 1951-05-31

Spain has about twice as many
people as New York State.