A tale from the Similkameen flood of 1894

PRINCETON – The high water levels of this year’s freshet has evoked memories of the last significant flooding event in the Similkameen. Many long time residents still recall the high water events of 1971.

But that wasn't the only time in the past. In the early days of European civilization in the valley, long before climate change or global warming was a topic of conversation, flood waters took their toll.

“I think it was the middle of June, 1894 after a cold and backward spring that there was a sudden change in the weather, the night frosts suddenly ceased and it set in unbearably hot,” is how Princeton pioneer Susan Allison described the flooding that year.

The Allisons lost 14 outbuildings, their house, most of their possessions, their garden and “a lot of good ground” when the Similkameen rose suddenly with the sudden onset of summer weather.

In her book, “A Pioneer Gentlewoman of British Columbia,” Allison described huge trees being torn from the riverbanks and moving large boulders “we had for years considered landmarks.”

The Allison’s house stood near the bank of the Similkameen River.

“There was a sugar beet patch of rich deep soil and a storehouse between us and the river, so at first we had no fear of the flood,” she wrote, but the days went by and the river continued rising, eating away at the bank until one evening they watched their sugar beet crop float away.

“When we did go to bed, the river was at least 20 feet from the house, but the whole patch seemed to be saturated with water.  All night long we could hear the roaring of the river, and once or twice there came a shock that seemed like logs bumping against the corner of the house,” Allison wrote.

The next morning, Allison and her family awoke to find half the house undercut by the river. Susan’s husband, John, and their sons used two long saws to cut the house in half in order to save part of it.

The river continued rising, taking the Allison’s garden, their dairy, calves shed, blacksmith’s shop, chicken house and other buildings.

The garden was the next piece of property to disappear. Allison recalled the 25-year-old asparagus bed vanishing in the rushing waters, leaving behind asparagus roots later measured at 17 feet long.

Residents from the newly established Town of Princeton heard of the Allisons’ plight and came out to assist, but as Susan wrote, “Who can curb a torrent?”

The Allisons spent the following night in the stable, built further away from the river.

“We looked from the stable to the house and thought that, though much smaller than in the morning, we still had a pretty good house left… when we arose the next morning, the house was gone and the river flowing where it had stood,” Allison wrote.

She also noted it was the second time the family had lost their home and most of their possessions.

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