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Books > Professional & Technical > Civil engineering, surveying & building > Hydraulic engineering
The Elkhorn River originates in north-central Nebraska and empties
into the Platte River just west of Omaha. One of the first written
records of the Elkhorn describes a flood. A flood hindered travel
up the river by the valley's first non-Indian settlers. Decade
after decade, floods have swept away mill dams, destroyed crops,
drowned stock, soaked inventories, filled basements, undercut
roads, washed out railroads and bridges, turned unfortunate
riverside homesaEURO"even a dance hallaEURO"into unwieldy
watercraft, and killed people. Everyone in the Elkhorn Valley
agreed the Flood of 1944 was the worst in history. Until the deadly
Flood of 2010 took the title. From a perspective unusual on the
Great PlainsaEURO"the problem of too much wateraEURO" Flood on the
Tracks offers an intimate portrait of life in the Elkhorn River
Basin of northeast Nebraska. In a region often defined by aridity,
rivers and their basins have provided sustenance, shelter, fertile
soil, and overland highways. In many ways Plains rivers organize
human lives. When they overflow, which they can be counted on to
do, they disorganize them. Using Plains Indian winter counts,
postcards, photographs, newspaper accounts, government records, and
more, Flood on the Tracks chronicles the river's natural and human
history from the Plains Indians into the twenty-first century. The
Elkhorn's floods show us how the nature of disaster has changed and
how Plainsfolk liveaEURO"and dieaEURO"with a river.
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