3
20
533
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Being here first, us Indians lived along beautiful Rapid Creek, until the creek climbed higher than our houses. Awakened, we started to grab our stuff, but it was too late. On the hillside above the flooding creek, us survivors stood like mud wrestlers: ghostly remnants of a superstorm. Replacement homes along the creek was not an option, where 260 humans perished that night.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Robert Clifford
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September 25, 2015
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
My name is Rita Medina- Lewis,a friend of mine Norlene Powers-Mathis and I took a vacation trip to Rapid City with plans to see Deadwood and we were caught in the flood. She worked for the County Libary in Cody, Wyoming and I worked for the Dept Social Services in Cody. We were about 22 years old. She had a small volkvagen camangia. We left Cody early the morning of the food and took our time getting to Rapid City. It started raining when we were at Keystone and the sky was black with still rain clouds.
It was sprinkling when we checked into a cute motel beside a creek. Our room had a nice little balcony over a beautiful creek, that was really starting to roll and fill up. The room had two beds that were on the west side of the room and the bath on the east. We decided to go have a pizza for supper instead of ordering in-so I grabbed my wallet and a sweater- she took her purse and we left. I hour later we started to leave the pizza place and I commented to her that the water was getting pretty deep. It was close to her running boards. But we proceeded back to the motel ,but in a Camengia we felt like we were floating -sorta of. As we approached the area where there was a Catholic church, there was a highway patrol car turning traffic away- he told us that the creek had flooded and to turn around, so we did. But the water was really getting high and by some dumb luck we made it back to high ground, with the car almost floating. We waited in the car for a while and then decided to stay at the Holiday Inn- they had one room left. In the morning we tried to drive back, but the roads were all closed and everything was in chaos. Around noon, we heard the motel people tell some one that people could leave town- so we tried again to get back to the motel to collect our things, a policeman approached us during our attempts and escorted us to the motel- we had been listed as missing. The motel owner was ecstatic to see us- he thought we were dead, He had tried to get everyone out and thought he missed us. Our motel unit was sliced in half- the bathroom was still intact. we were allowed to take our stuff, but we declined. We could see the devastation around us , so we just went to the Catholic church said a prayer for life and lit a candle, then went home.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Rita Medina-Lewis
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 19, 2011
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
I was 11 years old and staying in downtown Custer with my parents who were helping some friends manage their motel. The night the rain began, I had never seen or heard a rainstorm like it. Apparently my parents had never experienced anything like either, because they were a bit apprehensive about the conditions. In Custer, the water was running down the street and over the gutters onto the sidewalks. The next morning we learned of the devastation of the flood throughout the hills and especially in Rapid City. I'll never forget the reading of the names on the radio of the confirmed dead and those who were missing. Entire families were lost. My mother cried and cried. She didn't know any of the people, but she felt their family's pain just the same. To this day, I am still haunted by all those names.
My father, who was with the Forest Service, was called in to help the residents of Keystone. In Keystone, there was the lady who stood on a chair and hung on to a light fixture in her motel room while the water rose up to her shoulders. She was wrapped in barbed wire and would have bled to death had the water not been so cold. Several other couples in rooms above hers, watched as their cars were washed out of the parking lot. During brief bursts of lightning, they also saw sleeping bags and tents washing down the street. They heard the woman screaming in the room below, but could do nothing but pray. These people were welcomed into 'our' motel and spent days recovering from the shock. Residents in Custer lent a hand to help those who needed it. That was really great to see and a lesson I've never forgot.
My father also spoke of the large number of transients who were in the area right before the flood: people who walked into the Black Hills, camped out near the creeks and out of sight of any one. To this day, he figures no one knows for sure just how many people were washed away in that terrible storm.
Two days after the flood, my father took my brother and me out to our house on Upper French Creek Road. The ground was pounded so hard by the rain, a shoe could not make a dent in the wet dirt. It was bizarre. We found out the road out to our house had been partially washed out at the bridges. We had to walk to our house to get our dog who was wet and really glad to see us. Ruby Creek, which was above our house by two miles, had overflowed and done most of the damage to that area. The beaver dam just past the Frybarger house on Upper French Creek had held. That, too, was hard to believe.
No matter what country or state I'm in on June 9th, I always pause and remember. So many lives lost. What a tragedy!
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Anonymous
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 9, 2009
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
ONE HELLUVA NIGHT
June 09, 1972
Rapid City Flood
I have pondered for months trying to think of what might be the most interesting and impactful experience I had while I was a state trooper.
Many things come to mind, such as the Mother’s Day Flood in Deadwood in 1965, the many years at the State Fair and the A.I.M. Confrontation. But the night of the Rapid City Flood keeps coming to mind, which happened 20 years ago and yet every minute of this terrible experience is engraved in my mind. It happened like this.
I was at home in the Piedmont area on a day off. About 3pm it started to become cloudy with a lot of thunder and storm activity. As Betty and I stood outside to watch the clouds broiling about, they began to turn a deep green color. I have never seen this before nor since then.
We retreated into the house to have our evening meal and listen to the 5:30 news hoping to hear more about the weather. There were flash flood warnings coming across the screen warning campers in campgrounds next to creeks to get to higher ground.
Dalton Lake, 5 miles west of Piedmont, has a campground so I decided to go up there and see if anyone was there. The campground was empty. The creek was running high and had washed out the road which was never rebuilt.
On the way back toward home, state radio called for any patron units in the Piedmont, Blackhawk area. I answered the call and it was 7am the next morning when I got home.
State radio had a report of a mobile home floating in the creek, near the dog track with people in it screaming for help. When I arrived the home had been crushed as it went under the bridge. We did not find any survivors.
REACT was on the scene and were focused on a large pink stucco house about 80 feet from highway 79. There were nine members of REACT and some of their wives there. The house was surrounded by about 4 feet of water which was backing up from the creek. The bridge could not take the volume of the rushing water and was shaking the bridge violently.
The house contained two elderly obese people with heart conditions. There were asked to leave earlier and refused. It is now dark, and around 10pm and we were waiting for a boat coming from Rapid City. After waiting for sometime we got word things were so bad in Rapid that the boat would not be coming.
Our plan now was to go in and bring the people out by rope. The water was around 4 feet deep and slowly rising. We illuminated the area with our vehicle headlights. There was a light pole by the house with a meter on it and I kept watching to see if the water level was rising. It was raining very hard.
Dennis Smith, a REACT member, took the rope and waded out to the house. He said he needed help and I told him I would come to help him. I went to the patrol car to put my billfold under the front seat so it wouldn’t get wet.
When I got in the car I noticed the water was about a foot from the top of the highway. When I opened the door to get out, the water was hitting the bottom of the car door. I looked for the electric meter on the pole and I couldn’t see it.
I estimated it to be a 3 to 4 foot wall of water coming from the hills, a short distance to the west. Everybody went for their vehicles to get to high ground.
Being I was in my vehicle I was one the first to start to leave. As I started to back up, I saw the light colored pickup beside me start to leave and I waited for him to clear. The person driving that pickup, Ron, was never found. I think of him every time I drive by this area.
When I got my vehicle straightened and headed north towards Blackhawk, there were no vehicles ahead of me and the water was 2 feet deep on the highway. I proceeded slowly as not to drown out the motor. I was about 100 feet from the waters edge when a large tree and bridge plank washed up onto the highway. The plank became lodged under my vehicle and I could not move. The motor got wet and stopped.
From my experience in the Deadwood flood, I knew how strong the force of rushing water was. I had to push very hard on my door to get it open and get out. As I got out, another vehicle tried to get by me on the right and stalled beside my vehicle virtually blocking the road.
This driver and myself got on the up side of the tree that was still on the highway. We used the tree to keep the water from sweeping us off the road. From the tree, the waters edge was not far away so we made it to dry ground.
In the next few minutes, I would see eight would be rescuers swept to their deaths. Something I never have forgotten. The helpless feeling I had was over-whelming.
As I stood on high ground looking back to see if the others were coming, I could see vehicles lined up behind my vehicle. There was about 50 feet between our vehicles. The highway raised as you came towards me so the vehicles to the rear were in very deep water and the current was fast.
The people were standing beside their vehicles. I yelled for them to get out now. They waited for a minute or so then one tried to make it to my car. He was swept away as soon as he was clear of his vehicle. He was carrying a flashlight and he was caught in the fence for a time, then I saw the light going down stream.
Next to go were the vehicles with the people clinging onto them. The last vehicle in the line was the first to go. It would move just inches at a time until finally off the road. 1, 2, 3 ,4, 5 of them; the water carried the vehicles and people downstream very quickly. However, the peoples screams for help could be heard above the noise of rushing water and thunder. Soon they were all gone. Only my vehicle remained. I had hopes it would not go in. However, it was not to be; I can still see the amber light flashing as it went out of sight.
Suddenly we head cries for help close by. Looking out in a back pool of water, we saw a white REACT hat in the lightning flashes. One person was on top of his Ford Bronco, which was floating. We got closer to him and he told us he couldn’t swim and about that time the vehicle sank. Myself and two young men ran down stream and formed a human chain and was able to pull him from the water, but his wife drowned.
We still were hearing cries for help but were unable to locate them.
The house with the two people in it was swept away and into the bridge where is was crushed and both people died.
I had a young man take me home and I got Betty out of bed. She asked where had I been all night and where was my car. I told her we had a terrible flood, lost my car and probably 200 people. My guess was not too far off.
Sgt. Ray Walz
South Dakota Highway Patrol Retired
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ray Walz
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
January 25, 2012
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Getting home from the game and the water was already up over the curb. We spent the night at some friend's house above Mt. View. My little brother wanted the bed, made me sleep on the floor, next to the bed. Dad stayed home and helped people out in the neighborhood.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Randy Stalcup
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
July 30, 2011
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
I'm Philip Doherty. My birthday is June 12, 1962. It has been 36 years now but I still can remember this event pretty well. I had moved to Rapid City with my family in the beginning of May 1972. I still remember when my parents showed me the house next to the creek on Jackson Blvd. I begged them to pick that one. I can't remember the address but it was the house next to the house that belonged to the people that owned Reptile Gardens. When I looked at a sat. picture of the area (which is what brought out all this out pouring of memories) I noticed that where my house used to be looks like a parking area for the very expanded golf course. The very large house next door is still there, possibly now part of the golf course. Well, my parents did buy the house and we moved the last part of May.
I remember the night of the storm very vividly. My sister and I were home while my parents had gone to a dinner with friends. We were watching TV. I remember starting to see the warning broadcasts about severe weather. At the time I did not realize that Rapid city was dead center of the area being warned. It had been raining for a while, pretty heavy at times. Then the rain started coming down harder than I had ever seen. I remember the lightning and thunder increasing. Then storm was right on top of the house (that's how it felt) the lightning would flash as bright as daylight and the thunder claps would follow with no delay. They were deafening. My sister was crying and I was scared to death. I made a frantic call to parents and begged them to come home. They said they would come home directly. It took them about a half hour to make it home. Mean while the storm increased intensity. While we were downstairs watching TV I noticed water had started rising up on the double glass doors. It got around a foot high and I told Kelley to come upstairs and we waited for the parents to come home. The rain was so hard that it looked like it was pouring out of the sky. Jackson Blvd. was a torrent of running water six inches deep. The creek had risen well over its bank at this time and was starting to flood over the retaining wall behind our house. My parents made it home finally. The water was up about three feet high on the glass door down stairs. My mom started to put clothes and stuff by the front door while my dad was bringing stuff upstairs from the lower part of the house, much of it still in moving boxes. I was on the back deck keeping an eye on the creek. It had risen up to the bottom of the bridge next to our house. I saw an object float by and smash against the bridge, then two more. They were paddle boats from canyon dam lake. My dad had just started back downstairs when the glass door finally shattered under the weight of the water and muddy water started flooding the lower level of the house. We quickly took the stuff mom had stacked by the front door out to the car in the driveway and left the house down a very flooded Jackson Blvd. to head to my dad's boss's house. I found out later we left the house about 20 minutes before the dam let go.
We spent about 2 weeks at my dad's boss's house. I spent most of the time helping dad remove mud from the lower floor of the house. I would manage to sneak way occasionaly to explore the area around the house. I remember going out to the golf course across the creek and going around and finding trapped trout in the sand traps and low areas of the course and throwing them back into the creek. We even found two of the big trout from the hatchery in a flooded pool near the golf course. I still to this day can remember the first day after the flood. The two older sons of my dad's boss and myself walked down from their house to go look at ours. When we got there, there was a whole other house on the front yard. It had floated off its foundation and up to Jackson Blvd., made a right turn on Jackson Blvd., and a couple of hundred yards and stopped on our front yard. I asked my dad but he said we couldn't keep it. We eventually moved back into the house after boarding up the stairwell leading to the lower level. We stayed there about a year before building a new house up high in the hills.
While it was a grand adventure for a boy just about to turn 10 year old, using hind sight I would have traded it for something far less exciting.
Memories from a young survivor.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Philip Doherty
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
I was on top of McDonalds at Baken Park. I was only 10 years old. It was a scary place to be in and a lot of lives were lost. At 10 years old, I was not good back then. I lost family, friends in the 1972 Flood, etc. A lot of people were afraid of their life because it happened so fast they didn't know what hit them. My dad was in it. I lost him after the Flood because he drowned in it. He was buried under the mud and silt. But I survived in it. It's not a good thing to be in. And I hope we don't have another like that again in my lifetime to go through. I do not [think] I can survive another one again. I'm 46 no. It was a tragic thing to go through.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Phillip Corrigan
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 7, 2012
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Stevens High School Band Concert
Phil Schwarting: " I was in school RCHS 72. Announcement for possible flooding was possible. My mother father and I left and went home over the 32nd Street bridge past Baken Park. I heard on my CB radio the dam had busted. I heard them say "We need boats on Baken Park," then "What do we do with all these people at Baken Park? The morgue is full." "Tie them down. We'll get them in morning."
My mother worked with Red Cross at the old site, now the Dahl Fine Arts Center, Quincy and 7th, old city auditorium.
I worked with the neighborhood youth corps, cleaning flood houses and yards for $2.30 an hour.
I remember Meade St. flood 1-2 weeks later.
Lost 1 dog in flood.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Phil Schwarting
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 9, 2011
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Paul Wounded Head: (Lemmon Street) Was 13; remember walking around downtown. Water was deep (up to waist). Gushing, noises were horrible. Relatives died in the flood (cousins). Could go home and spend the night. A lot of demolished buildings.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Paul Wounded Head
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 2011
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
June 9, 1972. I was 16 years old. Up until that day, it was a year of carefree days and fun. Like anyone's teen years should be. Everything changed on the night of June 9th, 1972. It was raining harder than I had ever seen in my lifetime. Being pretty much a chicken about anything scary, I begged my mother to take me to my grandma's house which was on higher ground. (We lived directly behind Baken Park, with the creek in our backyard). My mother and I left, leaving my dad, sister and uncle at the house. My dad and uncle were frantically trying to tie out buildings to trees. Before leaving home with my mother, I put small tables and anything else I could on top of my bed, just so it wouldn't get wet should flood waters seep into our home. Little did I know, those items on the bed were the only things that survived in my bedroom as the mattress floated on top of the water. My dad decided to move a collector car up to my grandma's ""just in case"". He and my uncle were about to do that and were going to leave my sister, who was 17 at the time, at the house and come right back. My uncle thought that wouldn't be a good idea and said she should come along. When they tried to return to the house after moving the car, the wall of water had come down and they couldn't get anywhere near our home. Thank goodness my sister had went along with them. When we finally could get back to our home, it had moved off the foundation, lodging up against a tree and clothes line pole. One end of the house was being held up by our piano. I made my way to my bedroom finding everything that had been on my bed, completely dry and untouched. I searched and searched, in vain, trying to find a favorite little blue glass elephant. My boyfriend at the time (and husband of nearly 40 years now) helped take things out of the house. I had a beautiful pink stuffed elephant which I had gotten as a child, that rode the flood out on top of my bed completely save and dry. My boyfriend was carrying it out of the house and dropped him in the mud, ruining it. I was devastated. It didn't take long for reality to set in, however, and for me to realize just how lucky our entire family had been. We had no loss of life. What a miracle. So many others not nearly as lucky.
The last memory I will share took place days after the flood when looting was, unfortunately, taking place. My dad had returned to the house to find a man trying to take the pretty switch plates off our walls. My dad, the most gentle and peaceful man I've ever known, was overcome with rage and said later, he felt like he could have killed that man. After all the loss and all the destruction, it was almost more than he could bear.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Patty (Lee) Danielson
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 16, 2012
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
I was 11 years old when the flood was here. I remember everything. My best friend lost three little brothers. We lost our home. We lost alot of friends. It was a horrible night I will never forget. We all sat by candlelight all night and prayed. The Community Service Center Ballfield saved our lives.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pam Rodriguez
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
July 30, 2011
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
My great grandmother told stories bout how she watch houses collide and propane tank blowing up and explosions in various places.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Norman Thornton
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
July 30, 2011
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS SITTIN INSIDE I HAPPEN TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW I SEEN WATER FILLIN UP BY THE OLD MOTHER BUTLER CENTER NOT TO SURE IF IT WAS A TELEPHONE POLE OR POWER POLE FLOATIN BY THE CREEK AND IT WAS ON FIRE NOW ITS THE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELD I WAS 8 YRS OLD AT THE TIME I KNEW 6 PEOPLE THAT PERISHED AT THAT TIME
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Nadine Balderramos
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September 25, 2015
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
A former coworker had left her radio in the pressing area of the Laundry/dry cleaning section of the business and when asked readily agreed to take the radio to Marie as soon as I was done with the Friday evening laundry.
After clocking out I gathered up Marie's radio and headed for the car. It was still rainiing but didn't expect many problems at all. But while crossing the Black Hawk bridge I looked out the driver's side window, the water seemed to be just below the bottom of the window. That was disconcerting so when I got to Marie's shared that I would go back to Rapid City via the freeway. Also urged her to stay away from the Black Hawk bridge until it had been checked for stability,
Left Marie's at 9 PM and headed directly back to northeast Rapid City, though did stop and pick up a six pack of Bud for the long evening ahead.
Listened to the radio and the blo by blo narrative of the DJ broadcasting from the station's office at Baken Park Shopping Center. Believe the DJ moved up to the roof of the building still broadcasting until the building and equipment therein were inundated which stopped the broadcasting.
The next morning tried to contact family, was able to access an outside line (remember, this was pre cell phones and all that were available was sporadic land line phones and Amatuer Radio enthusiasts). While I was fortunate to access several outgoing lines early on, but either got no answer or a first generation answering machine. It would be several more days before finally connecting with family.
As the city water supply was contaminated, learning the locations of the military distribution points for water, shots, and questions.
By Monday morning I was ready to get my hands dirty so ended up being assigned to help clear mud off the 2nd and 3rd floor of the hospital located between Rapid Creek and Jackson Blvd. Initially we were using the reverse concept of a bucket brigade, we filled up buckets with mud and tossed them out. My partner was an elderly gentleman (probably about my age now) who was distant and aloof in the beginning, but by lunch break he came up to me and stated something to the effect that "While your long, curly (natural afro) in auburn and your clothes from the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco lead me to believe you wouldn't get much work done, but I was wrong, you are fast, efficient, and consistent."
By Tuesday, Hi Hat Laundry and Drycleaner had been reopened as it was convienently located just across the street from the National Guard Camp and the camp wanted an accessible source to wash their clothes and there were businesses and families bringing in what they could salvage to see if we could get the tougher stains out. For several weeks worked 6 AM until 12 AM.
Worked at the laundry for several more months and then was hired by Self Service Furniture. It was many months before we stopped receiving the emergency vouchers for beds, table and chairs and such.
Though I moved away from Rapid City many years ago, it will always have a special place in my heart.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mike Sahm
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 29, 2012
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
I was assigned to the 28AMMS at Ellsworth Air Force Base from 1971 to 1972. In the early afternoon of June 9, 1972 I drove from the base to Rapid City to take some photographs. I was at the park below the dam photographing some swans when it looked like it was going to start raining. I headed back to the base. When I heard the news that the dam had failed and Rapid City had flooded four of my friends and I headed out to see if we could be of any help. I parked my van on high ground and the five of us headed toward the flood waters. We "borrowed" a small boat that was drifting in the shallow water. We went from house to house looking for stranded people. I remember one house where three or four people were in a house with about a foot of water covering the floor. We got the people in the boat and crossed a street that was about waist deep in fast flowing water. It took a while for us to get the boat across the flooded street to dry ground. We drove the people to an area where they could get aid. After several more forays into the water we were to tired to even walk so we found a hill side where we could sit down and rest. After the sun rose we headed back to Ellsworth and only made it as far as the truck stop on the interstate east of town. We drank some coffee and had a bite to eat. Before getting back into the van we used a hose to wash all the mud off our clothing and boots. We were bone tired.
Many months later we were awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal. I am very proud of that medal. The pride comes not from a feeling of being a hero, that I am definitely not! It is pride in the amazing way our differences disappear in times of crisis and we are able to come together to help each other out. I never again saw any of the people we met that night. I hope better fortune found them.
Michael J. Murphy
MSgt USAF (Retired)
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mike Murphy
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 10, 2012
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
I was a 10 year boy on June 9, growing up on farm off Nemo road, I remember playing in the rising waters coming down the canyon, in the late afternoon, my sisters and younger brother and I was having a good time, mom finally got us out of the water. A short time later, my brother Bill was in the barn milking, I remember my mom told me to go help Bill, the water was already about knee deep in the barn. Within a few minutes, the barn started to creak, Bill yelled to get the animals out off the barn, Bill was closest to the side door, which was also on the down stream side, he got the door open, and got the cows out, the water was about waist deep then, mom made it back to the house. I remember seeing the full milk bucket that Bill handed me sink in the water. Bill yelled to me that we had to get out of the barn, I couldn't believe how loud everything was, the barn was making alot of noise, and I could see it moving, Bill and I made it back to the front door, which faced the back of the house, the water was over my waist, very dark and cold. I remember seeing mom standing in the water, yelling for us to get out of the barn, and try to walk towards her. As soon as Bill and me started to walk out of the barn, the water was rushing way to fast and hard for Bill and me to make it to mom. The barn started to collapse, Bill yelled to me to go with the water, Bill went first, then I was right behind him, the river made a right turn about 100 yards below the house, that's the last time I saw my brother Bill. Bill was found a couple days later, a couple miles from the house. I ended up in a tree about a half mile from the house, I don't remember how or who got me to that tree, also I could not swim at the time. I was in the tree for most of the night, until a neighbor drove his truck down to the water, which was over the main road, I don't remember how he got me out of the tree, across the rushing water and back to the house. Dad was a trucker, and was away that night, I really think we probably would have lost dad too, because I know dad would have been out in the barn with us, maybe dad could have got us out off the barn, I don't know, but I couldn't even imagine losing my older brother and dad in the same night, dad could not swim either. At Bill's funeral, was the only time I saw my dad shed a tear. 37 years later, time still hasn't helped, I still think about Bill, what happened that night, what could have happened if dad was home. The only building left on the farm was the house, we lost everything else. June 9 has been a day I remember, I lost my brother on June 9, 1972, I joined the Army, June 9, 1980, and just last night about 10 P.M. my father in law passed away, about the same time 37 years earlier, we lost Bill. Miss you Bill, hope I made you proud, see you later.
Mike Albright, Ohio
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mike Albright
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Very scary. And I hate the siren on Saturdays. It still freaks me out. Get scared when it rains and flood warnings are on.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Michelle
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
October 7, 2015
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Prelude
I had just graduated from high school and was working for a small construction company. It was Friday night, I had gotten my first paycheck, and was driving around downtown in my 1962 Chevy panel truck, buying tee shirts and window shopping. It had started raining hard before dark and now water was running several inches deep in the streets. I picked up a friend, Jim Klay, who had finished his shift at the Pizza Hut on West Main, where I had worked until recently. We drove around, killing time until later, when I had agreed to give a coworker a ride to Blackhawk from the Alibi Bar near the intersection of West Omaha and Mountain View.
About 10:30, we pulled into the lot of the Alibi and went inside looking for the coworker, his name forgotten, maybe Leroy. Although I wasn’t old enough to be there, I lingered a few minutes waiting for my coworker to finish his beer. People were looking out the back door facing Rapid Creek. Suddenly, water was coming in the back door and the bartender was yelling that the bar was closed and everyone had to leave “now!”
We ran to the truck, jumped in, Leroy in the passenger’s seat, Jim in the back, and pulled out of the parking lot onto Omaha pointing west. Hard rain and slapping wipers limited my visibility, but headlights and streetlights lit the area. We didn’t travel far. The street became tangled with cars leaving the bar, trucks pulling travel trailers out of an adjacent sales lot, and vehicles attempting to turnaround and head back east. I was hemmed in and the water was rising.
Floating
I was confused by what was happening around us. Movement on the street had come to a standstill as traffic stalled in the rising water. I became preoccupied with keeping the engine running and water splashed around my ankles as I pumped the gas pedal. To my left, on the south side of Omaha, the shapes of mobile homes were visible, slowly moving, turning. That area was below street level and the dozens of mobile homes were beginning to float. My engine died and, as I tried to start it, water splashed around my knees. Then everything on the street was moving and we were drifting backward.
It all happened quickly and, although the sequence is not clear, the images remain sharp and strong: intense rain, the deafening sound of rushing water, and lightning every few seconds. By itself, the lightning storm was memorable because it created a strobe effect, reflecting off the rain and water, freezing images my mind tried to sort out before another strobe flash altered the scene.
My anxiety was rising, but I wasn’t panicking. The slow drift of the panel truck halted temporarily on a slight rise, maybe the curbing, on a long curve in the street. A blue, double-cab pickup (maybe an International) was parallel to our right, to the north. A man in the driver’s seat was yelling over to us. I couldn’t hear him over the roar of the water and asked Leroy what he was saying. He turned to me and, shouting to be heard, said, “He says we have to swim for it.” We turned our heads back toward the man, who then slipped into the water and disappeared from view. In the back of our panel truck, Jim asked, “We have to swim?” I shouted “No!” and reached over the seat to grab his shirt. “We’re not going anywhere.” “Yeah,” Jim said, “I can’t swim.” I don’t know when he had done it, but a door to the back of the truck stood open.
I turned back around in my seat. In front of us, illuminated by the headlights, was a man, back to us, arms stretched up against a small travel trailer, trying to keep his balance as the trailer pushed him toward us. Then he was crushed between the trailer and my front end. The trailer moved slightly to the left and he, thankfully still moving, made his way to our right. I don’t recall if Leroy grabbed him, but he made his way along to the side of the truck and Jim helped him into the back. Amazingly, he seemed all right. The force of the water kept pushing the trailer into the truck. The hood slowly began to bend upward and the metal groaned as it buckled. Then a crack appeared at the lower left side of my windshield, it spread, and suddenly, the entire windshield shattered.
Then something happened to me. In that instant of the breaking glass, I believe I moved beyond anything like confusion, panic, or fear, for my emotions became suppressed and I was aware, clearheaded, and simply reacting. I vaulted over the seat into the back of the truck where I crouched scanning the front. Leroy remained in his seat, water to his waist, seemingly passive. The trailer peeled away to the left and we were moving backwards again. I suddenly felt a hard slap from the left and realized the wood panel had hit me. I bent the paneling upward and could see a hole through the side of the truck. A mobile home riding high in the water had grazed our side, slicing the metal from behind the driver’s window to the rear door. We continued moving backwards.
Refuge
We had been picking up speed, but now we stopped, still facing west. We had come to rest against debris that was piling along a line of small trees. Jim, the rescued man, and I exited the back of the truck and onto the trees. Freed from the limited space of the panel truck, the world was more comprehensible. We were on the north side of a billboard that was on the north side of Omaha. The billboard lights were still on. Mobile homes had broken against the three steel I-beam supports and accumulating debris was making a breakwater protecting a small house behind it. Small, closely spaced elm trees ran to the north from the house. A gas station (Frontier) was nearby to the northwest.
As I held onto a tree, several things were happening at once. To my left I could see Jim and the other man moving toward the house. Several other people were in the trees to my right and moving from tree to tree toward me. Leroy was still with the truck. He was climbing out the passenger’s door window, had his arms on the roof, and could not get a handhold. The power line feeding the billboard fell into the water near him. As it whipped and snapped, temporarily live in the water, Leroy screamed. I jumped back onto the roof of the truck, helped Leroy up, and then climbed back to the tree.
At the same time, a VW bug and another car had washed against the gas station and a man was climbing from the submerged VW to the roof of the station. A mobile home slammed sideways again the cars and the station. A second mobile home slammed against it. Then the station gave way. The man jumped from the roof onto the first trailer, then, as the three structures began to gather speed, he jumped to the second trailer, and finally from the trailer toward the trees.
I made my way a short distance along the trees toward the house. An old Ford van was floating, bobbing in the calm water between the billboard and the house. The water was near the eaves of the house and it was an easy climb from the van to the roof.
Watching
In all, maybe nine of us gathered on that roof: Jim, Leroy, and me; the man from the VW; the rescued man and two others who had been helping him with the trailers; and two or maybe more that I can’t remember. We were a miserable bunch in a precarious spot. Water was up to the roof of the house and we were on one of the few standing buildings. We were soaked and shivering involuntarily from hypothermia and, even if we didn’t acknowledge it to ourselves, from shock and fear.
We had a wide and terrible view of the Rapid City “gap” between “M” Hill and Dinosaur Hill. By now the electricity was out, but the scene was sometimes fully illuminated by the lightning and partially lit by a fire to the south (near M.L. Warne Chemical). Smoke from the fire spread over the area and provided an eerie, diffuse light. Across the street to the south, spread among large cottonwoods were small houses and mobile homes. We could see those closest to the street collapse one by one. I cannot forget one house with a flashlight scanning wildly inside until it disappeared in the dark water. Water was rushing through a large steel building to the southeast (Rice Cycle), but the second story stood immovable above the water even as mobile homes slammed into the structure. No buildings were visible among the trees to the east of us.
The mobile homes caused us great anxiety. There were trailer sales lots on both sides of Omaha to the west. Within our view trailers cut through buildings and exploded against trees. We were directly in the path of many of them. After gathering speed, they would either break against the billboard or would be slightly diverted by the wave extending from the breakwater, just missing the southeast corner of the house, which was still exposed to the swift current. As the trailers raced past, the house would shudder, seemingly ready to collapse. As they approached, we would gather at the roof edge, ready to leap toward the billboard. Somehow the house stood.
Sitting on that roof, helpless, wet, and shivering, watching the raging water full of debris and even people floating by, I thought that I should probably pray. However, it wasn’t in my heart and there was nothing to do but shiver and wait in silence.
Shelter
After a time, maybe two hours, the water receded several feet and, desperate for shelter, we broke out an attic window and climbed in. We were thankful to be in a warm, dry space. Someone produced a flashlight. The attic was used as a bedroom and had steep, narrow stairs running down to the kitchen. We sat or lay down, wrapping ourselves in blankets, sheets, and clothing. I recall someone examining the man who had been crushed between my truck and the trailer. He had cuts along the ridges of his pelvis, but they weren’t bleeding much. Borrowing the flashlight, I ventured downstairs, encountering mud on the steps. Water was still up to the countertops and the kitchen was a jumble of debris. A live snake was on top of one pile. Retreating to the attic, I pulled on a dry coat, lay back, and slept for short time.
Daylight
Before dawn, we could see headlights to the east, backed up along Omaha. The water was still several feet deep near the house and the vehicles didn’t proceed. Stopped headlights were also visible to the west of the bridge over Rapid Creek. As it became light, we began leaving, wading out through the running water.
My friend Jim, who suffered from asthma, was having trouble breathing and couldn’t leave with me. He asked me to find him some medicine, so I headed to toward Bennett Clarkson hospital. At times, the swift water was above my knees and the footing was treacherous. I don’t remember much of the walk to the hospital. As I approached the intersection of West Main and Mountain View, I kept to the east, skirting deeper water. The front of the Safeway was gone and debris was piled inside along the back wall of the store. The first floor of the hospital was full of muck. I followed a nurse through the muck to the pharmacy where she tried to locate asthma medicine. It was a difficult task because mud was on every shelf and in narrow pillars on top of every container. She found some pills and I made my way back.
What Jim really needed was an inhaler. Every few steps away from the house we stopped for him to rest. We headed west. When we got to Mountain View, a high school classmate and his girlfriend pulled up in a car. I could not believe they were driving around, but his car was jacked up, riding above the water. I helped Jim into his car and they left. I continued west along Omaha, crossing the partially collapsed bridge by holding onto the submerged railing. On the opposite side, a man in a 50’s-vintage truck gave me a ride to my family’s house on Hall Street.
When I walked in the back door, my mother, Brenda, was greatly relieved. But, I could not stay still. After eating some breakfast, my brothers and I walked to the Meadowbrook area to see what we could do. Later that day, I was standing in our kitchen when my knees started shaking and I dropped to the floor. The magnitude of the experience had finally overwhelmed my fatigued defenses.
I recovered my truck a few days later and it sat in front of our house before it was towed away for salvage.
Reflection
I had never written about the flood until 2005. After the flood, when I began sharing my story with others, usually over beer or during a long ride across South Dakota, the sequence of events, the images, sounds, and even smells were especially clear. The telling sometimes took an hour. As I recreated through words the truly horrible reality of what had happened, my emotions would surface, causing my voice to crack and my eyes to tear. I had not felt these things during the actual experience. Over time, one’s memory fades and details are lost, but I have always been careful in telling my story not to embellish, because the experience was powerful enough to preserve the core of it. I may have remembered some things wrongly and it is difficult to correct these. There are some things I heard afterward, from Leroy for instance, who said someone the next morning had pulled a little girl, alive, out of a tree near the house. I cannot say I know this or other stories to be true.
Research
To write this now (2005), I have not trusted memory alone. Several weeks ago, I spent a week in Rapid City visiting my family. For an hour or two each day I researched at the city library. I also visited the flood display at the Journey Museum, dug out a pre-flood aerial photograph at the city planning office, interviewed several people, and carefully walked over the West Omaha area. Using the aerial photograph as a map, I labeled the address of each house and building within a few hundred feet of 1720 West Omaha, the house which provided us refuge. I also marked the residences of flood victims. The area is now open space, but many cottonwoods visible on the aerial photograph are still present. Two elms survive from the line of small trees that were next to the house.
A picture of the billboard taken Saturday the 10th was printed in the Rapid City Journal (June 12, 1972, p. 5). Another picture showing the house and the billboard was printed in a report (The Black Hills Flood of June 9, 1972, Midwest Research Publishers, p. 166). There are other published photographs and one on the web showing nearby businesses and scenes along Omaha.
I spoke with Sally Liebig, the woman who rented the house. She and her daughter had left about 10:30, traveling to Blackhawk at the urging of her father. When she returned, her house was the only one standing. She said she went inside but salvaged nothing. Sally recalled that her clocks had stopped either five minutes before or after 11:00. That was likely the time my truck came to rest next to the billboard.
Coincidentally, the man in the VW was her former brother-in-law, Don “Hip” Liebig. He was bartending that night at the Alibi. Don told me there was a good crowd at the bar because the stock car races had been rained out. When his VW washed against the gas station, Don was temporarily trapped inside until a Rambler station wagon crashed into the rear window, flooding the interior, but allowing him to open a door and climb onto the station. He spent that night distraught over what might have happened to his girlfriend. She narrowly survived further east on Omaha.
After the flood, I had thought that the M.L. Warne Chemical was the source of the nearby fire. I spoke with Mrs. Warne, whose home had been adjacent to the business. She told me the fire was at the house of a neighbor, Essie Bowman (1707 West Rapid), who was badly burned before she was persuaded to go through the water to safety.
I also spoke with Darrell Willey who had owned the Frontier gas station next to the house. He said that a picket fence ran along the east side of the station property and he parked used cars for sale along the fence. Pushed by the flood against the steel beams of the billboard, these became the foundation of the breakwater protecting the house. He and his brother Don tried to remove some of the cars, but they gave up due to the rising water. Darrell also lost a restored Model T Ford, of which he found only the trunk lid.
The house across the street that disappeared while a flashlight desperately waved inside might have belonged to Louise Sprague, (1713 West Omaha). Three flood victims, Albert and Mary Buchholz, and Edna Schuster, resided near her (1709 and 1731 West Omaha, respectively). At least three other victims, Donald, Doris, and Henry Hausmann (1611 West St. Louis) lived within a block of Sally Liebig. I do not know the man who slipped into the water from the blue pickup. (For some reason, I have always associated that truck with Major G. William Medley of the Salvation Army.) Others doubtless perished near my location. I did not know these people, but I feel connected to them.
Final Thought
The USGS estimated the peak flow that night at 50,000 cubic feet per second. All that water funneled through a one-third-mile wide gap, where we watched from the roof of Sally Liebig’s house. Everything in the water was battered and torn to pieces. Thankfully, the progress of my Chevy panel truck along Omaha had been blocked by the traffic jam, otherwise we may have been swept off the bridge over Rapid Creek, had we made it that far. What luck allowed nine of us to drift into the debris and trees near that billboard? How did that house stand against that volume of water and all those mobile homes? Our survival in such a compromised location was pure chance.
I was eighteen. The thought that I could die never crossed my mind. I did not consider my experience as life affirming or life changing. However, the flood did affect me immediately in several ways: in addition to becoming emotional talking about it, I could not sleep on rainy nights and I would not enter dark or swift water. Sometimes driving at night, as I passed under a bridge or overpass, I would be surprised by the sudden nearness of the object in my headlights and I would begin shaking, my mind seeing again objects looming in the strobe effect of lighting from that night. I occasionally became anxious that, faced with similar life-threatening circumstances, I might lose my head. Now in middle age, I’m beyond that, mostly. My wife, Stephanie, says that my hands still sweat when I get involved in the story.
Michael E. Dennis
medennis1@gmail.com
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Michael E. Dennis
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 6, 2010
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
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Location of Memory: Hot Springs
Our thoughts and Prayers for the victims of tragedy especially remembered today (10th Anniversary of 911) and always.
It was a fun day, June 9th, 1972. We were coming back from our vacation out West. We had seen for the first time: Mesa Verde, Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. I was 13, my sisters were 11 and 22.
On the way home to St. Paul, my 2 sisters, brother in law and I decided to stop at the Hot Springs near Rapid City. We stayed alot longer than we had planned (6 hours) enjoying the warm indoor hot spring pools.
That evening on the way out of town the sky suddenly blacked with storm clouds, just as quickly we were pelted with the fiercest hail storm, (I believe) on HWY 90, that we ever experienced!
Since the visibility was non-existent, with the thick hail so fierce, all cars including the cars directly in front and behind us had to pull to the side of the road. After a short stop we all were on the road again.
Since the storm disappeared my oldest sister asked if we wanted to spent the night in the nearby park campground since we liked how nice it was a week prior.
I do not know why, maybe the suddenly storm had spooked us or we had a troubled feeling but both my little sister and I shouted at the same time,"NO, lets not stay there"! I added: "We have to leave and get out of this place!"
My brother in law was so alarmed by our response he stepped on the gas and we left the area as fast as our big (8 cylinder) rental car could comfortability go.
It was strange how no one argued or questioned this sudden decision.
Towards midnight we fould ourselves in a little town called Zull. The only thing we saw was an open Bar.
My brother in law went in and came out, shortly, with a farmer who offered us vacant rooms in his family home since he and his wife were empty nesters and they knew we were tired with no motels nearby.
This nice couple put us up for the night. The next day they even treated us to breakfast, afterwards, we thanked them for their hospility and went outside where it was extremely windy.
As soon as we turned on the car radio we knew something terrible had happened.
The campground we were going to stay at was devastated by the Rapid City Dam bursting the previous night. Prior to drowning under a wall of water, many campers were blissfully, sleeping in their tents. Over 200 folks lost their lives in such a short period of time.
We were very lucky to have escaped their fate!
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Marie Irwin
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September 11, 2011
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Written Memories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Each item in this collection is an individual's story or memory about the night of June 9, 1972 and the following recovery efforts. These memories have been collected by the Rapid City Public library at various memorial events and through online submission by community members. If you have a memory you would like to submit, please do so on the <a href="https://1972flood.omeka.net/contribution">Contribute an Item</a> page.<br /><br /><span>Below is a map of all the interviews and written memories we have conducted and gathered to help you visualize the impact of the 1972 Flood and explore stories.<br /></span><br /><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1KzeKQJ4R89Riq5B9FguZdJzj6c0&ll=44.0744389777805%2C-103.24796692260742&z=13"></iframe>
Description
An account of the resource
Stories and memories of the flood submitted by community members and shared with Rapid City Public Library.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document
Because my Father was in the Air Force and we were returning to the states, my parents decided on Rapid City because of the Air base. Our home was located the 2nd place across Chapel Lane bridge, just next to Rapid Creek and across from Canyon Lake. I was 11 years old when the flood hit on June 9, 1972. We were all at home and my brother had a friend spending the night. My father was out in the garage working on a car when the friends father came to pick him up, saying we needed to leave because of flooding. My parents didn't have the TV on much, and really just thought it was a terrible thunderstorm. The boys father said they had been trying to call us on the CB radio for quite some time ( he and my parents were members of a group called REACT) and we needed to leave now. I am not sure if it was the urgency in his voice or the water starting to come in the garage that made my parents decide to pack us up. I remember my mother telling me to put my dog and her 3 puppies in a box and set it up on the dryer and they should be fine. There were 5 of us kids, and it didn't take long for my mother to gather us into the car. It just so happened we were the 2nd to the last car across the Chapel Lane bridge before it was completely submerged by water. My parents took us to a friend's house up on higher ground so they could meet up with their REACT group to help in the state of emergency. When my parents returned sometime in the morning they were soaking wet, and looked like they had seen terrible things. My mother said she could hear people crying and couldn't see anyone, she said people were everywhere hanging onto anything they could. There was a baby rescued that was floating in a plastic baby bathtub. We had heard our friend's daughter was baby sitting in the Canyon and her parents couldn't contact her or the family, later she was found deceased laying over a limb in a tree. When the water went down the next day, my family found we had nothing to go home to. The only thing left was a concrete block and a few trees. We had an elderly neighbor lady that said she would ride it out in her attic. A couple of firemen were trying to get her to leave when the high waters hit. The man that was knocking on her door was swept to his death and his boots left as a reminder that he was once there. I remember so many good people during that time of my life. People offered help from all over, even if they didn't have much to give. We ended up living next door to the Gibson store in a HUD Trailer until we could relocate. I have tried not to remember that night, because of some of things I saw afterward. Tonight; I was helping my son do a paper on floods in America for school, and decided to look up the flood of 1972. As I read some of the accounts of that night; I thought it is very important to record the memories not only to remember but to let go. I am now almost 50 yrs old and when it storms I get the same sensation in my heart and mind that I felt that night. I thought we would live in that place at least until we grew up. Now I look at the pictures and see there are no homes at all. I wish I could remember the names of our neighbors, and see our old youthful friends again but nothing ever stays the same and especially after such a devastating thing as the flood of 72.
Mary (1 of the Haskett children)
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mary Haskett
Description
An account of the resource
Written Memory
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
November 22, 2010