Well, dam — specifically, Clearwater and Wappapello dams, which aren’t living up to their $10 million price tag in 1949. Instead, they have raised the average levels of the St. Francis and Black rivers and created a chronic flooding problem.
100 years ago
March 1, 1924
• Sikeston voters approve a $100,000 bond for construction of new sewers and a sewage plant.
• An insurance agency coming to Poplar Bluff will serve customers of all colors.
Charles Young, a Black businessman representing Pyramid Mutual Casualty Company of Chicago, plans to rent an office in the business district sometime in the next few weeks. Afterward, Pyramid Mutual will offer insurance services to Black and white Southeast Missourians.
The Rev. Bishop of the A.M.E. Church on Garfield Street will be the local agent.
• The Butler County Railroad running between Poplar Bluff and Piggott, Arkansas, gets a new-ish passenger coach. The coach is an overhauled McKeen motorcar with a capacity of 85, mahogany interiors and fresh paint. It replaces the rail’s two wooden coaches.
The coach took an inaugural ride to Piggott today with railroad employees and their families.
75 years ago
March 1, 1949
• Dams on the Black and St. Francis rivers were constructed at great cost to protect farmland from flooding. Now, an appeal to the Mississippi River Commission says they do the opposite.
The Inter-River Drainage District, which encompasses almost all the land in Butler County between the two rivers, says the newly completed Wappapello Dam has raised the level of the St. Francis River beyond what its levees can handle. On the Black River, Clearwater Dam is backing up water into drainage ditches. The result is deteriorating levees and frequently washed out fields. In Arkansas, a St. Francis River levee recently burst and flooded thousands of acres.
The IRDD urged the Mississippi River Commission and Corps of Engineers to lower the river levels to prevent further damage.
Wappapello Dam’s construction submerged thousands of acres of farmland in Wayne County and necessitated the complete relocation of Greenville. It also reduced the county’s taxable resources by about a fifth. Similarly, Clearwater Dam put swathes of southern Reynolds County underwater. Both structures were vigorously opposed by area farmers and cost around $10 million to build.
March 1, 1974 — No issues available.