BYBEE-MALOTT : THE FLOOD OF 1913 



111 



Lack of Good Base Maps 



One of the most serious handicaps that was encountered in 

 doing the work in a first-class manner was the lack of a good base 

 map with which to work. The soil and county maps that were 

 available were far from being accurate in geographic detail; and 

 thus it was almost impossible to note the lesser changes made by 

 the high water. It i? the little changes that are taking place from 

 year to year, that in the end make the greatest change, or lead 

 up to some marked change in the course of a stream. There are 

 several places where as much as three acres are lost each year. It 

 was not uncommon for as much as forty acres to have been lost in 

 the short time of ten years. This is the case at the first bend in the 

 river after it turns south at Spencer. Again in twenty-seven years, 

 twenty acres have been lost from the John Duke farm, between 

 Worthington and Bloomfield. These changes and hundreds of 

 others are taking place all the time and in a few years make a con- 

 siderable change in river channel. Without the aid of topographic 

 maps it is impossible to note these changes. 



If a complete topographic map of the White River bottom 

 were available, a study of the situation could be made and the 

 advisability of a system of levees for any part of the river bottom 

 could be worked out. As it is, nothing but an expensive survey 

 of the entire bottom will show the advisability of such a system. 

 When such a survey was finished, there would be nothing that 

 could be used later for any other specific purpose; while the same 

 amount of money with a little more added to it would make a per- 

 manent topographic map that could be used in making a complete 

 study of the entire situation. With such a map having a ten foot 

 contour interval, the geology and physical features of the river 

 valley could be worked out. The advisability of making cut-offs, 

 thus shortening the stream, and even the approximate cost of 

 such work could then be determined. For instance, at Bloomfield. 

 just below the Illinois Central Railroad, the river makes a long 

 loop to the south, as seen in Chart Xo. 4. At the southern end of 

 the loop a new channel less than a third of a mile in length would 

 shorten the course of the river over a mile. With a good base 

 map to work from, the position of the proposed cut-off could 

 be determined at a place where there would be the least possible 

 bank cutting and the most land reclaimed by such a cut-off. A 

 close study of a topographic map would furnish an engineering 

 corps with sufficient data to work from. That is. they would 



