“There seems to be no end to the intensive rainstorms which have lashed the area the past two weeks.”
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Sound familiar? That sentence was taken from a story in the North Missourian written 50 years ago, on July 10, 1969. The headline was “Wet Weather Poses Threat to Daviess County Crops.” Then, as now, farmers’ crops were being damaged by the unusually wet weather, and getting the hay crop out was another pressing problem.
Pix One: The long awaited announcement on the location of the proposed new town of Pattonsburg also happened 50 years ago on Sept. 3, 1969, when mayor Lloyd Pettit, indicating there was no longer any reason to keep the secret, revealed that community leaders hoped to move to a commanding site about four miles north of the present town. The new site included an 18-hole golf course and an airport. The planning also envisioned a boat harbor, public marina, a promontory park on the waterfront, and other boating and tourism facilities. The lake didn’t happen, of course. Pattonsburg did move out of the flood plain after the devastating flood of 1993, resettling up the hill in 1994.
Despite heavy rains 50 years ago, work progressed on the Highway 6 bypass, which began at the S-curve, about two miles west of Gallatin, and proceeded easterly at the north edge of the city of Wabash Crossing and beyond. The project included three bridges, one over Route MM, which led to Hillcrest and Brown cemeteries, one over Grand River and another smaller one over a creek east of the Norfolk & Western tracks.
Pix Two: The placing of the center span on the new bridge over Grand River closed the gap between the east and west banks for the first time on June 23, 1969. Persons who had wondered how the contractor planned to lift the span into place got to see that he built a temporary dike half across the river so that the crane could get into proper position. In addition, a large block of concrete was placed just behind the cab that helped counter-balance the weight and keep the crane out of the Grand River.
The newspaper article added that “A little high water and this embankment will be gone.” Jerry Houghton remembers that high rains caused the spans to move and they had to be done twice. He was in seventh grade and was walking home and he and his father watched the bridge being built from a distance. He said the river came around the columns on the east and they had to be redone.
Pix Three: Eventually the span held and workers began pouring concrete on the span over Grand River. The freshly laid concrete ribbon ran uphill to the west from Grand River.
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Pix Four: A Monday night (Sept. 22, 1969) five-inch rain and a recent four-incher added materially to the water level at Lake Viking some 50 years ago. In the photo, on the left, can be seen the overflow tower when it was under construction and the lake water line was quite some distance away. On the right, is that week’s photo in the North Missourian, showing the lake water line lapping near the tower’s wings. Officials were saying another 10 feet of water would put the lake at capacity. Below, the floating dock, normally moored to the bank, is seen about 15 feet out from shore, with a capsized boat alongside, both the result of Monday night’s downpour.