576 



TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 



after the breaking up of the ice, becoming very rapid as the crest of the 

 flood was approached. In 1922 the river opened about the middle of 

 March and from that time to the end of March moderately high stages, 

 sufficient to overflow the lower islands and bottoms, were maintained with 

 little change. Then began a continuous and approximately uniform rise 

 until about five days before the peak was reached, then the rate in- 

 creased considerably but did not attain the rate reached in 1920. In the 

 latter half of its rise it resembled very closely the floods of 1880 and 1888, 

 but these latter were more rapid in the early stages. 



Maximum stages reached from La Crosse to Dubuque in the six floods 

 of the past 50 years are shown in the accompanying table: 



La Crosse __ 



Lansing 



Prairie du Chien. 

 Dubuque 



It is evident that a large part of the flood waters came from above La 

 Crosse, for the maximum stage there was 1.7 feet above flood stage, and 

 the highest at Lansing was the same as that of two years ago, but a 

 flood exceeding that of 1920 was in progress on the Wisconsin River at 

 the same time and added considerably to the stages reached at Prairie du 

 Chien and Dubuque. The peak of the Wisconsin flood wave reached 

 Prairie du Chien, however about three days earlier than that from the 

 Mississippi and hence the crests occurred at Prairie du Chien and Du- 

 buque a little earlier and were a little lower than would have been the 

 case if the Wisconsin flood had been a few days later. 



From below La Crosse to below Lansing the damage was comparatively 

 slight, as is usually the case with spring floods. The largest item aside 

 from the injury to and the cost of protection of railroad roadbeds was the 

 collapse of a warehouse filled with ice at Lansing. At Prairie du Chien 

 about one-fourth of the town was under water, and the people were travel- 

 ing on the streets by boat. As a result of the warnings, all live stock and 

 much movable property were moved to higher portions of the city, while 

 many families either moved from their residences altogether or moved 

 to the second floors. Railroad traffic east into the Wisconsin Valley and 

 north into the Kickapoo Valley was suspended. Opposite Prairie du Chien, 

 at Marquette and McGregor, Iowa, buildings along the river front were 

 inundated, causing interruption of business. Much land was overflowed 

 in the vicinity of Cassville, Wis., and Waupeton, Iowa, causing a loss esti- 

 mated at about $50,000. 



At Dubuque the overflow was a duplicate of that of 1920. Many plants 

 and establishments along' the river front and on the lower ground back 

 from the river were surrounded or partially surrounded by water, and 

 several were forced to suspend operations. Practically all of the factories 

 and wholesale houses in the southern end of the town suffered flooded 

 basements. Considerable lengths of track of the Illinois Central, the 

 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 

 railroads were under water, and traffic was diverted and partially sus- 

 pended. Much labor and material were used in protecting tracks and 



