The town emptied of people long ago, and now it was about to be empty of houses, too. The dam project arose as memories of still lingered in the minds of many riverside Kansans. The flooding that year devastated so many communities that it spurred the government to action on flood control. Add that to a New-Deal-inspired, Eisenhower-driven, anti-communist faith in big government projects and Kansas saw two major dams arise together within the span of a few years: Tuttle Creek and Milford.
Still, the Milford project inspired fierce opposition, especially from those in the towns that would have to move or be abandoned. The people of Broughton knew what was coming. They were located in the flood plain for the Milford Dam. They saw it plainly on the planning map hanging in the post office: if the dam collapsed, no more Broughton. A similar project took shape in the creation of the nearby Tuttle Creek dam, and towns much like theirs were scrubbed from the map to make room for its reservoirs and floodplains.
The post-war trends that saw young people fleeing small towns for big cities and college affected Broughton, too. Thus, the population of the town declined throughout the s. By the time rolled, with its scheduled bulldozers rolling in as well, few families remained. Among them were the Bauers, whose ancestors settled the area in A few short months later, the bulldozers aimed their plows at their homes.
Kansas State history professor M. The river provided fertile bottomland for farming. It also helped create a close-knit community through water recreation such as summer swimming and winter ice-skating, and had helped the town persevere through hardships, namely floods.
For example, fifty young men from this tiny community served in World War II. Mark A. Chapman grew up there, eventually going to Kansas State University and then on to Texas where he became a wealthy businessman.
Chapman, thinking back on Broughton from his adopted home of Texas, decided to do something about the as-yet unrecorded history of his town, which at that point was only visible as ruins in the woods. Their first project was Broughton, Kansas: Portrait of a Lost Town, a book produced as collaboration between center director M.
Broughton, which had two main railroads, suffered similar consequences. Many people who lived in the latter worked on the local railroad and still hold picnics in remembrance of town locals. Some portions of Wakefield and Milford were also relocated to higher grounds.
The filling of the reservoir began on the 16th of January in Six months later, with an elevation of The excess water was released through the uncontrolled spillway, directing it back into the river channel below the dam. For two weeks the water flowed through this spillway, which caused damage to the nearby highway and the channel below the dam.
They were both repaired in To avoid such occurrences in the future, the river channel dropped 3. There is an important archaeological site near the reservoir, which consists of a small village, supposedly constructed by the Republican River Pawnee Indians sometime between the 18th and 19th centuries. Of the 81 artifacts that were recovered during archaeological explorations, specialists affirm that the precinct was only inhabited for a short period of time and was most likely burnt down.
The village was built on a hill overlooking Republican Valley, serving as an advantage in defense. Six of the local artifacts are on display at the Milford Visitor Center. Milford Lake has over km2 of land resources, managed as recreational sites and protection of local culture and wildlife. It is a popular tourist attraction in the Kansas state area, known as one of prime hunting and fishing. The main fish frequently caught by fishermen include catfish, crappie, walleye, white bass, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass.
Some of the most respectable fishing tournaments in the country are held at Milford Reservoir. Hunters will be happy to find a large number of quails, pheasants, prairie chicken, ducks, geese, rabbits, turkeys, deer and squirrels.
Trappers can encounter raccoons, muskrats and beavers. Clay Country Park lies west of the man-made lake and is the ideal spot for bird-watching, with a large population of pelicans, wood ducks, green herons, gulls, cormorants, and northern cardinals.
Corps Visitor Center lies in the southern end of the dam, with an insightful exposition on how the dam works and who inhabited its surroundings during history, complete with an impressive collection of fossils. The Kansas Landscape Arboretum houses more than species of native and exotic plants and is open every year from March to October.
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