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 Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. 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 ...

reported the river had risen " 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 ...

alerted local authorities to the flood's arrival. The water rose to the deck level of the

Low Level Bridge The Low Level Bridge spans the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The bridge connects the communities of Cloverdale on the south end to Rossdale/Downtown on the north end. History Completed in 1900, the Low Level Bridge was ...

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 Canada, 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 Edmonto ...

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. At its highest point the river was estimated to have risen to over above the low water level, even higher than the worse previously known flood in Edmonton, the 1899 flood. Thousands of Edmonton residents watched the flood destroy

lumber mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where 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 (dimens ...

s along the city's river valley. At the time the river valley was a hub of the city's industrial activity, including lumber and boatbuilding businesses, brick yards, coal and gold mining, and breweries, many of which were severely damaged, suffering enormous losses. No lives were lost, and no serious injuries are attributed to the flooding, but 2000 Edmontonians lost their homes, with 700 houses severely damaged and 50 swept away completely. Most of the people who lost their homes were members of Edmonton’s working class and could hardly afford replacing their homes and belongings. The ''Edmonton Bulletin'' estimated damage to the businesses and homes to total three-quarters of a million dollars, all without flood insurance. 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 event ...

is subject to periodic flooding, caused by rapid snowmelt in its headwaters 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 ...

or heavy rain in its

river basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, th ...

. With the establishment of permanent communities along the river's course, administrative/government records exist recording floods in the North Saskatchewan occasionally over the past century. The river is known to have flooded in 1830 (due to an ice dam of the flow) 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 four metres higher than the 1899 flood. The

Bighorn Dam Bighorn Dam (or ''Bighorn Hydro Plant'') is an embankment dam 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 associa ...

, constructed in the early 1970s near

Nordegg, Alberta Nordegg is a hamlet in west-central Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is 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 Highway 7 ...

, and the

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

, constructed in the mid-1960s, have not eliminated the possibility of 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.

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 1915 disasters in Canada 1910s floods 20th-century floods in North America {{Canada-hist-stub