The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 was one of the largest floods in the history of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. On 28 June, the

Edmonton Bulletin The ''Edmonton Bulletin'' was a newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta, published from 1880 until January 20, 1951. It was founded by Edmonton pioneer Frank Oliver, a future Liberal politician and cabinet minister in the Canadian Government. Oliver co-f ...

reported the river had risen "10 feet in as many hours." A frantic telegram from

Rocky Mountain House Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of Red Deer at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) and Highway 11 (David Th ...

alerted local authorities to the flood's arrival. The water rose to the deck level of the Low Level Bridge and debris was gathered along the bridge. The debris included a house swept away by the current. The

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...

parked a train on the bridge to hold the bridge down and try to prevent it from being swept away..''The Edmonton Bulletin'', 29 June 1915. Thousands of Edmonton residents watched the flood destroy

lumber mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s along the city's river valley. Like all rivers, the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

is subject to periodic flooding, beginning with rapid snowmelt in the

mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...

or prolonged periods of rain in the

river basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

. With the establishment of permanent communities along the river's course, and the rise of an administrative/government structure,

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

exist recording floods in the North Saskatchewan for the past century. The river is known to have flooded in 1830 but the 1899 flooding of the river was the first summer-time flood of the river in known human experience or local folklore. The 1915 flood peaked at about 4 metres higher than the 1899 flood. The

Bighorn Dam Bighorn Dam (or ''Bighorn Hydro Plant'') is an embankment dam located in Clearwater County in west-central Alberta, Canada. It was built by Calgary Power in 1972, and led to the creation of Lake Abraham, Alberta's largest reservoir. The dam and ...

, constructed in the early 1970s near

Nordegg, Alberta Nordegg is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is located in the North Saskatchewan River valley in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, just east of the intersection of the David Thompson Highway and the Hi ...

, and the

Brazeau Reservoir Brazeau Reservoir is a large man made reservoir in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Brazeau County of central Alberta, south-west of Drayton Valley. It was developed along the Brazeau River, at the confluence with Elk River, in the hydrogra ...

, constructed in the mid-1960s, have not reduced potential for flooding on the North Saskatchewan River.Mustapha, A., Figliuzzi, S., Rickert, H., & Coles, G. (1981). History of Floods in the North Saskatchewan River Basin. Edmonton: Alberta Environment Environmental Engineering Support Services.

Notes

References

External links

City of Edmonton - The Flood of 1915Look Out Edmonton short documentary
Floods in Canada 1915 in Alberta 1915 in Saskatchewan History of Edmonton Natural disasters in Alberta {{Canada-hist-stub 1915 disasters in Canada