A Brief History of Flooding in Schoharie County

Floods have had a major impact on the Schoharie Valley ever since the sputtering final retreats and readvances of the Wisconsin Glacier some 10 to 15,000 years ago.  Then, torrents of meltwater helped put some finishing touches on the glacier-sculpted walls and floor of the valley basin.  When everything settled and the waters became the Schoharie Creek and its tributaries, rich deposits of organic material added feet of alluvial topsoil.  This was the fertile ground that produced prodigious grain crops that helped feed the Continental Army and French-allied fleet during the American Revolution.

Schoharie County’s documented history points to three catastrophic flood events: 1784, 1955, and 2011, and too many others to count.  For an area named after a huge pile of floodwood, the fact that floods occur should never surprise, but can still shock.  When was the first documented flood to occur in what is now Schoharie County, you may ask?  The answer is winter of 1695/96.  Nicholas Bayard, who was briefly the owner of most of the Schoharie Valley, wrote from New York City to Robert Sanders on January 10, 1696 that “Should it happen that you come to see Skohaare’s land, be so kind as to make a chart or report of the situation…for a long time it will not be worth anything, and now they tell me that the best land has been ruined by the overflow and sand from the Kill [creek].”

Jeff O’Connor
Turning Point 1777
www.turningpoint1777.com
facebook.com/turningpoint1777
Walking tours, flag reproductions, publications, and more