Proposed flood protection and drainage, Salt River, Missouri

Abstract

The north fork of Salt River drains a Iong irregular basin in the north eastern part of the state of Missouri. It rises in Adair County and flows down thru the southwest corner of Know County, diagonally thru Shelby County from the northwest to the southeast and joins the south fork of Salt River at about the central line north and south of Monroe County. It has a broad, flat valley ranging in width from one half to one mile and, owing to the many bends, it is more than twice as long as this valley thru which it flows. Because of these bends, the river channel has a slope much less than it would be if it followed the center of the valley. Almost every year it floods the greater part of the valley, doing thousands of dollars' worth of damage to crops and stopping all travel on most of the roads that cross it. In view of the importance of these facts, I have made this thesis an investigation of the feasibility and a plan for the flood protection and drainage of the valley. The plan contemplates the improving of the channel of the river, and greatly increasing its capacity of discharge by shortening the line of flood flow thru a medium of by-passes across the bends, and enlarging the intermediate stretches of river channel. It is designed to carry safely the volume of average floods, with the expectation of expanding the system when such a measure should become expedient by further channel enlargement and the enlarging of the canals or by-passes until they will have the dimensions given for the canals designed to carry the maximum flood. In this way, the discharging capacity of the system will so be increased as to take care of the extraordinary floods that come once in a dozen years or so.