As
an Oklahoman, I have a profound interest in the weather, an enthusiasm shared
by approximately 99.9% of Oklahomans. I have yet to meet an Oklahoman who could
not talk at length about weather issues. It is not surprising, then, that my
attention was drawn to an article in the January 2013 issue of Scientific American titled “The Coming
Megafloods.” What surprised me is that it had a Civil War connection.
Authors
Michael Dettinger and B. Lynn Ingram wrote “The intense rainstorms sweeping in
from the Pacific Ocean began to pound central California on Christmas Eve in
1861 and continued virtually unabated for 43 days… The rivers and rains poured
into the state’s vast Central Valley, turning it into an inland sea 300 miles
long and 20 miles wide. Thousands of people died, and one quarter of the
state’s estimated 800,000 cattle drowned. Downtown Sacramento was submerged
under 10 feet of brown water filled with debris from countless mudslides on the
region’s steep slopes. California’s legislature, unable to function, moved to
San Francisco until Sacramento dried out—six months later. By then, the state
was bankrupt” (p. 66). The authors explain that the intense rains were caused
by phenomena known as atmospheric rivers (“pineapple expresses” are one type of these). Sometimes these atmospheric rivers become megafloods, and these megafloods occur approximately every two hundred years along the Pacific
Coast…
California
soldiers were marching to Fort Yuma in Arizona during part of this time period.
Here is Andrew E. Masich’s description of the ordeal from his book, The Civil War in Arizona:
“Roads
became mud bogs, making the movement of men and supplies virtually impossible.
Soon after [Lieutenant Colonel Joseph] West’s command reached the Colorado, the
river overflowed its banks. Torrents of muddy water carved a channel around
Fort Yuma, making it an island, and swept away tons of stockpiled supplies.
Despite these conditions, by February 1862, ocean-going vessels and river
steamers had delivered all of the expedition’s supplies, now safely stored on
high ground at Fort Yuma” (p. 28). In training at Camp Wright in southern
California, George Hand wrote entries such as “heavy rain,” “Very stormy,”
“Very rainy,” “Rained all day and night very hard,” “Rained, snowed and the
wind blew heavy” in his diary through the period.
Citation
for George Hand diary: Carmony, Neil B., ed. The Civil War in Apacheland: Sergeant George Hand’s Diary: California,
Arizona, West Texas, New Mexico, 1861-1864. Silver City, NM: High-Lonesome
Books, 1996.
