The Flood of 1912 or
How to Create an Oxbow

Anyone who has watched a swollen river deposit boat docks, tree trunks and large appliances 20 yards beyond a riverbank’s normal boundaries can begin to imagine the destruction of the flood of 1912! On May 23, 1912, after 72 hours of rain, local rivers were rising to record levels. The Tittabawassee was rising an inch every 18 minutes! Along the Chippewa River, the high water overran the normally winding path of the river and literally carved its way through the riverbank to create a new, relatively straight, river channel. This change in course left behind a U-shaped “oxbow” pond (“oxbow” refers to the U-shaped part of an oxen’s harness) at what is now Chippewa Nature Center. 

The Flood of 1912 followed another extremely destructive flood in January 1907. Though the water was not as high as in 1912, the Flood of 1907 had the additional power of ice behind it, enabling it to take out countless trees along the riverbank, as well as the wooden bridge that crossed the Tittabawassee River at downtown Midland. Had the high water of the 1912 flood been combined with the awesome impact of ice as in 1907, the river may have changed its course many times over!  (Today, the Oxbow is a rich pond and wetland area, with regular sightings of wood ducks, green herons, great blue herons, great egrets, snapping turtles, muskrats and occasional river otters. Plant diversity is just as rich, with cattails, sedges, swamp milkweed, Joe-pye weed and one of the largest sycamore trees on the property. It is still an active part of the river, however, as spring floods that often block trail access to the Oxbow Woods prove annually!)

Visit the Oxbow Archaeologists' website