When floods overcame Scottsdale in 1943

• In June 1943%2C massive rainfall brought flooding to Scottsdale
• According to The Arizona Republic%2C there had been 28 breaks in the Arizona Canal that day
• No lives were lost during the flood%2C though the damage was significant

This year's monsoon, with record-setting rainfall and extensive flooding, reminded me of a flood Scottsdale experienced when I was a boy delivering newspapers on my bike.

In June 1943, we had a very hard rain. It started during the night and came in pounding waves. There would be 10 or 15 minutes of driving rain, followed by gentle showers. Then, the rain would start coming down hard again.

This went on for several hours, beginning around 3 a.m. and lasting past 7 a.m. The ground eventually became waterlogged and all of the low areas filled with runoff from the storm. It was the biggest rain I had ever seen.

I wore my slicker on my newspaper route that day. My travels took me south to Curry Road, then east over to Hayden Road, up to McDowell Road, then farther east to the Salt River Indian Agency near Alma School Road.

Coming back toward Scottsdale, near Thomas and Pima roads, I ran into a broad, but shallow, stream of water. It probably was 75 yards wide and flowing fairly quickly. I gave my bike a good run of speed before hitting the edge of the water. I almost got clear across when, all of a sudden, I found myself mired in water 2 feet deep.

The force of the water forced me off my bike, and I ended up dragging it and my bag full of newspapers to the far side of what today is called the 86th Street Wash. I wasn't scared. But there's no denying I was surprised by the speed and depth of the water. Wet newspapers ended up in the mailboxes of my next three subscribers.

As it turned out, the water had only begun to run. By midmorning, it was flowing fast and furious down the Indian Bend Wash. It ran from bank to bank, overrunning what is now the Bashas' shopping center at Indian School and Hayden roads, and west to the old Schrader home at what is now 78th Street. In fact, the Schraders had built a dirt berm around their home to keep floodwaters at bay.

Since it was summer and school was out, a lot of people, young and old, came down to the water's edge at Indian School, Thomas and McDowell roads (the only paved streets that led to Indian Bend Wash) to see the floodwaters rush by. Later that day, we saw a five-room frame house belonging to Dick Searls float past us, still intact.

By the next day, the floodwaters had receded to a trickle. Barbed-wire fences were wrapped around trees. Many of the row crops that had been planted for silage or vegetable harvest were lost. In contrast, the hay and alfalfa fields came back quickly and produced a bountiful yield that year.

According to that day's Arizona Republic, there had been 28 breaks in the Arizona Canal. Homes were flooded. The state Capitol on Washington Street had been sandbagged to protect it from the flood. In Scottsdale and east Phoenix, the water had run off Camelback Mountain, washed out nearby canals and flooded the farmland below.

Although the flood did a lot of damage, no lives were lost. Of course, there were fewer people living in the area then. And, in contrast to today, those who lived here then assumed their own losses.

Landowners did what they could to protect themselves and their property, and they helped their neighbors to the extent that they could. Folks didn't look to the government for anything. They just got back to normal on their own.

I was 13 then. The big flood, and how people reacted to it, left quite an impression on me.

Reared on a local dairy farm, former Scottsdale city councilman (1971-76), state legislator (1979-85) and oral historian Paul Messinger founded Messinger Mortuaries in 1959. He can be reached at 480-860-2300 or 480-945-9521.