The Great Flood of 1844 is the biggest

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ever recorded on the Missouri River and

Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. History In terms of geologic and hydrographic history, the Upper ...

, in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, in terms of discharge. The adjusted economic impact was not as great as subsequent floods because of the small population in the region at the time. The flood devastation was particularly widespread since the region had few levees at the time, so the waters were able to spread far from the normal banks. Among the hardest hit in terms of mortality were the

Wyandot Indians The Wyandot people, or Wyandotte and Waⁿdát, are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Wyandot are Iroquoian Indigenous peoples of North America who emerged as a confederacy of tribes around the north shore of Lake Ontario w ...

, who lost 100 people in the diseases that occurred after the flood in the vicinity of today's

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

. The flood formed a large

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...

in front of the Wayne City Landing at

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro ...

, which caused settlers to go further west to

Westport Landing The River Market (formerly known as Westport Landing, the City Market, and River Quay) is a riverfront neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri that comprises the first and oldest incorporated district in Kansas City. It stretc ...

in Kansas City, which resulted in significant local economic and cultural impact. Independence had been the trailhead for several key

emigrant trail In the history of the American frontier, overland trails were built by pioneers throughout the 19th century and especially between 1829 and 1870 as an alternative to sea and railroad transport. These immigrants began to settle much of North Ame ...

s, prior to 1846 notably both the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

and one alternative eastern starting branch of the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what ...

. After the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...

of 1848, the Oregon Trail's trailhead became a trailhead of the

California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

and an alternative beginning for the

Mormon Trail The Mormon Trail is the long route from Illinois to Utah that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled for 3 months. Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails System, known as the Mormon ...

. In 1850, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

passed the Swamp Land Act providing land grants to build stronger levees. The flood is the highest recorded for the Mississippi River at

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. The discharge was in 1844, while in 1951 and in 1993.

Comparison to other big floods in Kansas City

Channelling and levee construction have altered how the floods have hit various areas along the Missouri River. Here's a comparison of the four big floods since the early 19th century. *

Flood of 1851 The Great Flood of 1851 occurred after record-setting rainfalls across the Midwestern United States and Plains from May to August, 1851. Hardest hit was the State of Iowa, with significant flooding extending to the Lower Mississippi River basin. His ...

— While the Great Flood of 1851 was most severe in Iowa, it also affected the Missouri and Mississippi river basins. In St. Louis, Missouri, on June 11, 1851, floodwaters rose to within of the 1844 flood, while at

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...

, the flooding was worse than in 1844.''Report upon the physics and hydraulics of the Mississippi river.'' Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, Henry Larcom Abbot, 1867, Govt. Printing Office (available on Google Books). *

Great Flood of 1951 In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a great rise of water in the Kansas River, Missouri River, and other surrounding areas of the Central United States. Flooding occurred in the Kansas, Neosho, Marais Des Cygnes, and Verdigris river basins. ...

— The 1951 flood was the second biggest in terms of discharge at per second. The 1951 crest on July 14, 1951, was almost lower than the 1844 flood and three feet lower than the 1993 flood. However, the flood was the most devastating of all modern floods for Kansas City since its levee system was not built to withstand it. It destroyed the city's stockyards and forced the building of an airport away from the Missouri River bottoms. *

Great Flood of 1993 The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood wa ...

— The 1993 flood was the highest recorded but had a lower discharge of per second. While the 1993 flood had devastating impacts elsewhere, Kansas City survived it relatively well because of levee improvements after the 1951 flood.

References

UMKC history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Flood Of 1844 Natural disasters in Missouri Missouri River floods Kansas City metropolitan area 1844 floods 1844 in North America 1844 in the United States 1844 natural disasters in the United States

Comparison to other big floods in Kansas City

See also

References