The Great Nooksack Flood
Heavy rains and melting snows have devastated the Nooksack Valley, leaving farmers homeless and destroying livestock.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Nooksack River last week was on a wild bender. The heavy fall of snow succeeded by four days of constant rain swelled the waters of the hitherto placid Nooksack to a magnitude unknown or unheard of within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. Many farms in the valley were wholly inundated. At Nooksack crossing the flood extended out over the low lands, doing damage to property and live stock. In Mr. Osterman's house the water attained a depth of eighteen inches. David Harkness had water running into his store room, damaging goods. Large quantities of lumber owned by Mr. Harkness and other parties were carried away by the flood. The ferry and wire cable at the crossing were also carried away. It was only by the utmost exertion that W. H. Montray saved his horses and other live stock. The water in his barn, near the post office, was ten feet deep. Many farmers throughout the valley are rendered nearly homeless, having lost their grain, fruit, provisions and in many cases their live stock. New settlers who built on the lower bottoms lost everything. This will indeed be a sad blow to the farmers of the valley, and will materially retard the growth and development of that portion of the county.
“The Nooksack River last week was on a wild bender.”
Flooding remains a recurring and existential threat in the Nooksack Valley, particularly for farmers in the low-lying floodplains. Today, ongoing regional debates over river management and salmon habitat restoration frequently collide with the same agricultural and property concerns faced by the settlers of 1883.
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