Flood and Erosion Control Sites

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement and development work at Wildwood Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Among other efforts, such as conservation work, they constructed a bridge along a bridle path over a stream. The location and status of the structure is unknown to Living New Deal. The park is bordered by highways that did not exist during the Great Depression.

Federal funds / labor were utilized on an erosion control project along Wilkinson Boulevard in Charlotte, North Carolina during the early years of the Great Depression.

An inventory of WPA project photographs compiled by Becky Jordan at Iowa State University includes reference to numerous public works projects undertaken by the agency in Iowa between 1935 and 1940. The collection of 1,271 photographs documents the variety and extent of New Deal related efforts undertaken in the Hawkeye State. The Mason City park retaining wall on Willow Creek in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa (Project 3650) is included among the many WPA projects described in the collection.

This park was built on land donated by George Wingfield, a Nevada banker and miner. During the late 1930s the WPA made improvements to the facilities, including building retaining walls to support the island banks. Today the park is a center for some of the city’s most popular events. One of the main features of Wingfield Park is the amphitheater where various plays and concerts take place during the summer months.

The Winooski River Local Protection Project is located along a 6.5-mile stretch of the Winooski River which flows through Montpelier, Berlin, Moretown, and Middlesex. The Winooski River Local Protection Project protects several thousand acres of farmland and reduces flood damage in downstream communities, including Montpelier, Middlesex, Waterbury, and Duxbury.   The project consisted of replacing an old timber dam at Montpelier by a small concrete dam (now called Bailey Dam); clearing and grading one mile of river bank above the dam, enlarging the channel, and adding rip-rap; and removing projecting ledges and points that restricted river flows at five spots between...

In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed an additional intake pipe with headwall and appurtenances at the river gauging station at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue along the Potomac. The US Geological Survey has had a recording station at this spot since 1935. The current gauging station appears to be in the spot described in the WPA records.

A flood in 1927 brought about plans to construct four flood control projects, made possible by the New Deal and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Wrightsville Dam is one of those. Construction began in August 1933  and was completed in October 1935. The dam is earthfill with stone slope protection. It is 1,525 feet long and 115 feet high. The dam and reservoir are located on the North Branch of the Winooski River, about  three miles north of Montpelier on Route 12.  Its main purpose is to protect Montpelier. According to the US Army Corps of Engineers: "Wrightsville Reservoir was one of four...

A 102″ concrete pipe under Yosemite Drive in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles built by the CWA in response to the 1934 New Year’s Day Flood which caused the death of at least 45 people in Montrose and La Crescenta and some property damage along the former Eagle Rock creek. The sides of the channel are lined with corrugated iron and it measures about five feet wide and three feet deep.

In 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewers on Young Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Fairlawn Avenue in the district's southeast quadrant. The precise location is unknown, but these are probably storm sewers installed that connect to the outfall visible just downstream of the Anacostia Recreation Center. This work was part of a massive New Deal era program for Washington of sewer construction, separation of sanitary and storm sewers, and sewage treatment at the new Blue Plains facility in order to clean up the badly polluted Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

Several revetments (rock flood walls) along the Virgin River in Zion National Park's main canyon were installed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  Unfortunately, this kind of flood control work was a hopeless endeavor and most of the revetments were washed-out. Where they remain, however, they channelized the river, which is even worse because it has altered the deposition regime of the river and affected the ecology of the flood plain through the bottom of the canyon.