Historical Hydrology

The magnitudes of the largest known floods of the River Rhine in Basel since 1268 were assessed using a hydraulic model drawing on a set of pre-instrumental evidence and daily hydrological measurements from 1808. The pre-instrumental evidence, consisting of flood marks and documentary data describing extreme events with the customary reference to specific landmarks, was “calibrated” by comparing it with the instrumental series for the overlapping period between the two categories of evidence (1808–1900). Summer (JJA) floods were particularly frequent in the century between 1651–1750, when precipitation was also high. Severe winter (DJF) floods have not occurred since the late 19th century despite a significant increase in winter precipitation. Six catastrophic events involving a runoff greater than 6000 m 3 s‐1 are documented prior to 1700. They were initiated by spells of torrential rainfall of up to 72 h (1480 event) and preceded by long periods of substantial precipitation that saturated the soils, and/or by abundant snowmelt. All except two (1999 and 2007) of the 43 identified severe events (SEs: defined as having runoff > 5000 and < 6000 m 3 s ‐1) occurred prior to 1877. Not a single SE is documented from 1877 to 1998. The intermediate 121-year-long “flood disaster gap” is unique over the period since 1268. The effect of river regulations (1714 for the River Kander; 1877 for the River Aare) and the building of reservoirs in the 20th century upon peak runoff were investigated using a one-dimensional hydraulic flood-routing model. Results show that anthropogenic effects only partially account for the “flood disaster gap” suggesting that variations in climate should also be taken into account in explaining these features. Citation Wetter, O., Pfister, C., Weingartner, R., Luterbacher, J., Reist, T., & Trösch, J. (2011) The largest floods in the High Rhine basin since 1268 assessed from documentary and instrumental evidence. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(5), 733–758.Les débits des plus grandes crues du Rhin à Bâle ont été évalués à partir d'un modèle hydraulique basé sur un ensemble de données proxy à partir de 1286 et de mesures hydrologiques depuis 1808. Les données proxy se composent de marques d'inondation et de preuves narratives indiquant le plus haut niveau de chaque crue par rapport à un système de points de repère situés dans le voisinage du vieux pont. Ce système fut maintenu jusqu'au 19ème siècle tardif, ce qui a permis de “calibrer” les données avec la série des mesures instrumentales pendant la période de chevauchement des deux catégories de données. Des crues étaient fréquentes dans la période estivale de 1651 à 1750 marquée par des précipitations accrues. Il n'y a pas eu de grande crue hivernale depuis la fin du 19ème siècle, bien que les précipitations dans cette saison aient bien augmenté depuis le 19ème siècle tardif. Six événements “catastrophiques” impliquant un débit de plus de 6000 m3 s-1 sont documentés avant 1700. Ils ont étéconditionnés par de longues périodes de précipitation saturant les sols et/ou par une fonte de neige abondante, et déclenchés par des pluies intensives d'une durée allant jusquà 72 heures (1480). Les 43 évènements “sévères” ayant un écoulement estimé compris entre 5000 et 6000 m3 s-1 ont eu lieu avant 1877, à l'exception de ceux de 1999 et 2007. Aucun évènement “sévère” n'a cependant été mesuré entre 1877 et 1998. Une telle “lacune de calamités” (disaster gap) n'est pas documentée depuis 1268. Les effets de deux corrections de rivières (la Kander en 1714 et l'Aar en 1877) et de la construction de réservoirs au 20ème siècle sur les débits extrêmes ont été analysés avec un modèle unidimensionnel numérique de propagation. Les résultats montrent que les effets anthropogéniques expliquent seulement un part de la “lacune de calamités”, ce qui suggère que des variations climatiques ont aussi joué un rôle.

Julia Shaw and John Sutcliffe, 2003', 'Ancient dams, settlement archaeology and Buddhist propagation in central India: the hydrological background', Hydrological Sciences Journal, 48:2, 277-291, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1623/hysj.48.2.277.44695
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A group of ancient dams (c. second—first century BC) was located during an archaeological study of the Sanchi area in central India. Comparison of reservoir volumes with estimated inflows suggests that their design was based on hydrological understanding.Un ensemble de barrages antiques (c. deuxième—premier siècle av. JC) a été localisé lors d'une étude archéologique de la région de Sanchi en Inde centrale. La comparaison entre les capacités des réservoirs et les débits entrant estimés suggère qu'ils ont été dimensionnés à partir d'un savoir hydrologique.

Sutcliffe, J., J. Shaw, and E. Brown 2011. 'Historical water resources in South Asia: the hydrological background', Hydrological Sciences Journal -JOURNAL DES SCIENCES HYDROLOGIQUES, 56 (5), 775-788. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02626667.2011.587425 (OPEN ACCESS, no login required)

ABSTRACT: The development of historical water resources in the South Asian subcontinent has been largely dependent on the hydrological background. The runoff patterns are derived from climate statistics and the historical developments in different areas are related to these patterns.

KEY WORDS:  South Asia; climate statistics; runoff patterns; historical water resources

The dominant feature of the climate over most of South Asia is the contrast between the short monsoon season, when rainfall is abundant, and the longer dry season, when water is in short supply. As demonstrated in this paper, a number of strategies have been used to provide water supplies to historical communities. Their characteristics have varied with regional climate and geology of populated areas. Because in most areas the rainfall was concentrated into one season, the challenge is to retain sufficient seasonal supply throughout the year. There are two possible solutions: if the topography is suitable, storage can be constructed to a depth greater than evaporation and percolation during the dry season; alternatively, if the near-surface geology can store water below the level from which it could evaporate, a well can be dug below the water-table and water extracted as required. In such areas, sources of water have developed into the village reservoir or the village well.

As argued elsewhere (Shaw and Sutcliffe 2001), small populations could have relied initially on rainfed cultivation, where sufficient rainfall and soil moisture storage could supply a single crop. As populations grew or spread into new regions, the use of irrigation could become necessary. Because of the greater water requirement, more storage would be needed. Irrigation may depend on run-of-river water supply where significant dry-season river flow is available. Where river flow is available for a limited period, seasonal runoff could be spread over an area by a low embankment, so that the soil moisture storage is saturated, or alternatively stored and applied to an irrigated area downstream. It may be necessary to divert river flows to overcome water shortage or avoid flood damage. Perennial irrigation, depending on overyear storage to meet shortages in dry years, would need more sophisticated control structures and spillways than seasonal storage systems.

There are few studies emphasising the physical background to historical water use. In areas dominated by the seasonal monsoon, like South Asia and West Africa, a simple hydrological model can be used to estimate available runoff or surplus. It will be shown that hydrological factors affect the form of water resources development. The aim of this paper is to describe the influence of hydrology on the development of historical water resources across South Asia.

This document provides short excerpts from the Portland's Slabtown book.  In Portland’s first decades, the northwest side remained dense forests. Native Americans camped and Chinese immigrants farmed around Guild’s Lake. In the 1870s, Slabtown acquired its unusual name when a lumber mill opened on Northrup Street. The mill’s discarded log edges were a cheap source of heating and cooking fuel. This slabwood was stacked in front of working-class homes of employees of a pottery, the docks, icehouses, slaughterhouses, and lumber mills. Development concentrated along streetcar lines. The early 20th century brought the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, manufacturing, shipbuilding, Montgomery Ward, and the Vaughn Street Ballpark. Today, Slabtown is a densely populated residential neighborhood, with many small shops and restaurants and an industrial area on its northern border. Tourists still arrive by streetcar to the charming Thurman, NW Twenty-first, and Twenty-third Avenues. Famous residents include author Ursula Le Guin, baseball greats Johnny Pesky and Mickey Lolich, NBA player Swede Halbrook, and Portland mayors Bud Clark and Vera Katz.


Reviews:
"The most interesting and best documented sections...are the parts of the book describing long-forgotten Native American encampments in the area, which served as a neutral ground and trading post for various tribes, and the neighborhood's turn-of-the-century service as a landing pad for waves of immigrants from Croatian to Chinese to Irish."
Willamette Week

"The book traces the Slabtown neighborhood's history with photographs from when Native Americans outnumbered white settlers 1,000 to 275, through its blue collar decades, and into its current "Trendy-third" reputation for it Northwest 23rd Avenue boutiques...It was a working-class neighborhood home to marginalized groups--Native Americans, Chinese and European immigrants, gypsies, and black Portlanders...Slabtown's name comes from the lumber mills that first populated the industrial area with laborers. Mills would sell slabs of log edges, cut to square logs, as a cheap source of fuel."
Oregonian

"A new photo history not only underscores the name and hits oft-told high points, it turns up stories that even most Slabtown residents from 1900 might have found amazing...Tracy J. Prince, who authored a history of Goose Hollow in 2001, is back with another deeply researched work (in collaboration with co-authors Norm Gholston and Mike Ryerson). Again, she has uncovered the buried record of Native Americans who populated Northwest Portland long after European descendants were creating its official modern history."
NW Examiner

Contents:
Foreword by Tim Hills (McMenamins Historian)

1. Johnson Creek Gulch, Indians, Pioneers, and Chinese Residents
2. Industry, Immigrants, and Streetcars
3. A Ballpark, an Expo, and World War I
4. Balch Creek, Baseball, and War Housing
5. Neighborhood Decline--Then Revitalization

Publisher Statement:
Dr. Tracy Prince's research uncovered a Native American village in northwest Portland that was unknown to historians. She uncovered seasonal encampments (lasting until the 1930s) of Native Americans at what is now Wallace Park. She discovered a much wider area of Chinese vegetable gardens than previously known. Her research also uncovered Johnson Creek Gulch which had been completely forgotten in Portland's history and histories of Guild's Lake, Couch Lake, Kittredge's Lake, Doane's Lake, and Balch Creek. Her research on the historical hydrology of Portland in both this book and her 2011 Portland's Goose Hollow book, is widely regarded. She frequently lectures on the topic to both historical experts and hydrology practitioners. And she lectures on Portland's Forgotten Native American History and Portland's Chinese Vegetable Gardens.

Extreme meteorological events have had devastating consequences all over the world throughout the ages. In this study, we look into the floods at the mouth of the Douro River (Porto, Portugal) in the eighteenth century to expand the data series of floods in Northern Portugal. Information was gathered mostly from documentary narrative sources, either individual or institutional (administrative and ecclesiastic), some of which include reports of Pro Serenitate ceremonies. A study by the priest Rebelo Costa (1789) and the memories of the merchant Ignacio Henckell from 1717 to 1800 stand out among the individual sources. We concluded that there was great interannual variability in the occurrence of the 54 recorded floods, the highest number of which occurred in the 1780s. The “catastrophic” floods were recorded in 1727, 1739, 1769, 1774, 1777, 1788 and 1798, four of which are studied in detail in this paper. The greatest number of flood events took place in winter and autumn, and most of them lasted between 1 and 3 days. An analysis of the description of the floods, their impacts and the associated meteorological causes was carried out. In most cases, the frontal activity associated with Atlantic cyclonic systems was the cause of positive precipitation anomalies in NW Iberia. The great variability in heavy precipitation was confirmed by the new data. However, hardly any temporal simultaneity was found with other case studies in Southern Europe, except for Spain, especially several localities of Galicia and the mid Douro Valley (Zamora).