Flood of 1927 had historic consequences

The last time a bridge was being built across the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, a flood of enormous proportions occurred. The flood of 1927 has been called the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Clearly, it was an event that changed American history.

Seventy-five years later, a new four-lane bridge is under construction. Construction started in 1996 and has a couple more years to go. It is expected to cost just over $100 million -- 80 percent of that is coming from the federal government.

The old bridge with its narrow, two-lane roadway was put up in just over a year and a half and cost about $1.6 million, or roughly $15.7 million in today's dollars.

The financing of the two bridges tells a story that relates directly to the flood of 1927 and its aftermath. The flood marked -- and very likely initiated -- a radical shift in the role government takes in our lives. It was the move from local, pay-as-you-go public projects to the massive spending programs of Big Government.

When bridge backers decided Cape Girardeau needed a better way of crossing the river -- boats and ferries were being used -- they set about raising the money themselves. They intended to operate a toll bridge to pay off the mortgage that was required to raise construction funds. Tolls were unable to meet the payments, and the state eventually took over the bridge.

Similarly, the flood of 1927 was a disaster of such huge proportions that the federal government stepped in to manage flood control along the entire length of the Mississippi River, thanks to the Flood Control Act of 1928. From this act, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was given the authority to build levees, floodways, dams and pumping plants and to do channel stabilization.

Prior to 1928, there were levees all along the river, but they were built and managed by local groups with little or no coordination. As a result, there were major breaks in these levees during the big flood. Excess water made the river 100 miles wide at some points.

Herbert Hoover, then secretary of commerce, led the way for the federal government to provide disaster relief in the wake of the flood. His efforts gave him enormous national popularity -- enough to elevate him to the White House.

Thus the era of Big Government was born.

But Hoover's pledge to give farmland to blacks who were often forced to help in flood relief without pay and at gunpoint backfired when the land grants never materialized. As a result, Franklin Roosevelt received the support of blacks in his presidential bid, casting a foundation for the historical support of blacks for the Democratic Party. Although the flood took place 75 years ago, it still impacts life today.