An aerial view of what is now the Founders Park area, located along Omaha Street in Rapid City. Prior to the devastating June 9, 1972, flood, this area of the city was home to many Native American families.
The area at Canal and Cross streets, top, which run perpendicularly to Omaha Street, bottom, is now part of the city’s greenway and features a basketball court and Frisbee golf course.
RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA –– On June 9, 1972, Rapid City experienced one of the nation’s most devastating floods in history. In just over six hours more than ten inches of rain fell, producing flooding along Rapid Creek in the Black Hills. The result of that rainfall changed the face and history of Rapid City forever. The swollen creek rushed toward Rapid City and the failure of Canyon Lake Dam combined to send a wall of churning, devastating water toward the community. In Rapid City, living along Rapid Creek in the “Gap” area were hundreds of families, a majority of those being Native American families. The Gap area is where many Native American families lived. The Gap is located along Omaha Street and West Main Street between the Dinosaur Hill and M Hill, or Cowboy Hill, where Founders Park is currently located. The place where the creek flood plain was most narrow, thereby receiving the brunt of the debris, the Gap, where so many small homes and trailers stood, was the scene of the most dramatic devastation. By daybreak on June 10, 1972, the disaster left 238 dead or missing. Cis Big Crow was only a child during the flood, but clearly recollects evacuating from her home on Omaha Street. As the flood waters swirled around them, her family struggled to reach their car. While crossing through the already accumulating debris, she stepped on a nail. The following day, her family visited one of the Red Cross first aid stations where she received medical care and a shot to prevent disease. Today Big Crow is the primary Red Cross volunteer on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She actively supports her community during disasters and serves as the Red Cross liaison to the tribal government. Other Native American community members from 1972 hold memories of the flood, or recall stories that they were told by their family from that era. People like Paul Wounded Head, who at thirteen years of age in 1972 remembers walking around downtown after the flood. “The water was deep, waist high in some places,” remembers Wounded Head. “Gushing noises were horrible. Relatives died in the flood, and a lot of demolished buildings.” Genevieve Bluebird remembers, “My sister Goldie, was 9 months pregnant. She held on to a tree for a few hours until help came. She immediately was taken to the hospital where she gave birth.” “I use to live with her and her husband, Goldie and Jim Standing Bear and she commented 'good thing you and your baby (6 mos. old) moved away. You might have drowned.'” Sarah Little Cloud was at her home in the area where the Civic Center is now located. She remembers, “The storm came. The rain never stopped and soon the water was loud and I had to move my family to higher ground. When it was all done my house was torn up by floods.” The area where Little Cloud’s home was destroyed is now part of the flood plain that the city adopted following the 1972 flood. The flood plain designation means that there are no residences or businesses allowed to build in that area. The city adopted a “Greenway”, which was turned into the current connected park system that follows Rapid Creek through the entire city, featuring outdoor activity spots, including the bike and walking path that follows the entire park system from east to west. Basketball and volley ball courts and Frisbee and golf courses now occupy the locations where so many homes were demolished by the flood and debris waves. The city of Rapid City now commemorates the fortieth anniversary of the flood, which some call the 100 year flood. With new policies in place to combat the possibility of repeat devastation, the city calls all community members, new and old, to remember the past, and yet celebrate the present, as they host Remembrance & Renewal 2012. An excerpt of a poem written in 1972 by Don Theye, Rapid City resident, reads:
Every creed, every race, shunning fear and dread.(Contact Karin Eagle at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com)
From the very onset, before the break of a new day,
Crises came and were met. Help was on the way.
Priest, builder, nurse and rover, each worked their station,
This man helping that man, long-hair helping short.
All worked within the span. All worked in good rapport.
One fact must be spoken. No ifs or ands and buts.
Even with hearts broken, people still had will and guts.
Not one soul should be blamed for Ma Nature’s whim,
And let no person be shamed for such chances slim.
Some answers must we seek while we plan and grieve.
In silence, nature speaks, “Now – do – you – believe ... ?”
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