The 1908 flood in Kansas City was not as disastrous as the 1903 and 1951 floods. As shown on the above postcard - First street and Kansas avenue, looking south - the entire west bottoms were inundated. A conservative estimate of the damage done to Armourdale property alone was two million dollars. Waters of the Kaw rose gradually, giving most of the residents in threatened areas time to move. This exodus went on all day and by lantern light into the night. The Missouri river was about one and on-half feet lower than the Kaw on June 9. The current of the Kaw shot two-thirds of the way over to the Clay County side of the river before the Missouri reasserted herself and claimed the channel again. Several meat packers - Cudahy, Swift, Armour, Wilson and Morris - suffered extensive water damage. Newspapers of the day were filled with flood pictures. Flood-time sales of bedding, clothing and groceries were offered by merchants, and Bunting-Stone hardware store offered special prices and quick service on wheelbarrows, picks, shovels, grappling hooks, cant hooks and rubber hose. Sightseers lined banks and bridges. On June 14, more than 175,000 persons viewed the flood from the Intercity viaduct, where in that one day tolls were paid by 2,500 wagons and carriages, 600 motor cars and 50,000 passengers who rode across on street cars. The viaduct was privately owned at the time. Kansas City Star, April 26, 1969.
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