The Big 1955 Flood
In March 1955, several consecutive issues of the Smyth County News reported on a significant weather event that caused severe flooding across Smyth County. Both Sugar Grove and Marion experienced substantial flooding, which was covered in different newspaper issues. In Sugar Grove, the flooding resulted in part from the failure of two settling bin dams associated with a manganese mining operation in Rye Valley. According to the paper, the bins were used in connection with this mining operation, located about 2 miles from the Sugar Grove Water Company’s springs and reservoir. The dam failure left Sugar Grove residents without water from Friday to Sunday, flooding the company’s water sources. In Marion, a subsequent article in the Smyth County News provided a more detailed account of the flooding. It reported that heavy rains over several weeks led to the reemergence of Keller’s Pond on Park Boulevard, which had been a local landmark. The flooding caused around 3 feet of water to cover the road and a significant portion of the parking area at the drive-in theater, halting its operations. The new lake, dubbed “Hungry Father Lake” by local children, became a notable feature of the event. Town engineer Tom Ritter worked tirelessly to remove the floodwater and reopen the heavily traveled Route 16. Traffic was redirected through Staley, Rhea, and Wassona Park while the town deployed two 500-gallon-per-minute pumps to manage the situation. Initially, water was pumped into a sinkhole near the original lake, but officials later redirected the flow to Staley Street after complaints of water entering residents’ basements. The ditch along Route 11 proved too small to handle the volume. The pumping operation cost the town approximately $50 per day, equivalent to around $600 per day in 2024. Ritter noted that draining the lake, which formed naturally from runoff from Radio Hill and Wassona Park, was impossible. Plans were made to survey and raise the road level once the water was removed. Longtime residents recall the lake as a persistent feature, with Crockett Gwyn, who moved to Marion in January 1914, noting that it was as large then as it is now. Given the scale of the flooding in Marion, it’s likely that Sugar Grove and surrounding areas experienced similar, though less-publicized, impacts. Residents who remember the event confirm that the water in Sugar Grove reached about 3 feet in some places. Jack Taylor, a local who was a child at the time, recalls the water reaching over the porch of my grandfather’s house on Teas Road (The Sherman Combs, Sr. House) where the porch is in fact about 3 feet from the ground. Photographs from a similar flood in the 1970s show comparable inundation in the area, with boat rescues needed to evacuate people trapped in their homes. The manganese mining operation was situated between Sugar Grove and the current Pat Jennings Visitor Center, with the ridge between them standing approximately 3,400 feet in elevation. ———– Sources: Smyth County News & Marion Democrat March 1955 Jack Taylor 1899 Smyth County Map, Chas R. Boyd, Geologist David Rutherford