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Hazel’s written memories include the following excerpt about a flood that occurred in Beardstown in 1922:

The Illinois River overflowed and much of Beardstown was flooded. Friends who lived at the lower end of the street had to move and were living in a garage. There was water around our house but we could still live there. My dad had our chickens and some of the neighbors’ chickens in a coop set off the ground in a very crowded space. One evening we went across town to visit our neighbors, and my dad invited them to come over for a chicken dinner. My sister, Bertie, said “Yes, they’re all dying anyhow!”

Hazel (henry) Hine written memories

Historical Context

The following is an excerpt from Rivers and Floods by H. C. Frankenfield, Meteorologist: Summary of the Spring Floods of 1922 in the Mississippi Drainage Basin.

Owing to the wide distribution of frequent and heavy rains there were floods throughout the entire Mississippi Basin except in the Missouri River and tributaries above Kansas City, Mo., and in the Mississippi River north of St. Paul, Minn. In the upper Mississippi Valley the floods, except that of the Illinois River, while not extremely high, were sufficiently so as to cause much apprehension as well as considerable damage. records were not exceded in the Mississippi River except at Muscatine, Iowa, where the crest stage on April 24 was 19.5 feet, or 1.5 feet above the previous high-water record of April 8, 1920.

The greatest floods that occurred above Cairo, Ill., were those in the Illinois, White, and Wabash Rivers, especially the Illinois. Over many portions of this river the crest stages were the highest of record, some even exceeding those of the great flood of 1844. The most disastrous overflow occurred at Beardstown, Ill., and vicinity through the breaking of a levee, and about 200.000 acres of cultivated lands were covered. The crest stage on April 20, at this place was 25.1 feet, or 2.6 feet above the previous high water record of June, 1844.

Rivers and Floods by H. C. Frankenfield, Meteorologist: Summary of the Spring Floods of 1922 in the Mississippi Drainage Basin