Antelope Creek, Dead Mans Run and Middle Creek: Salt Creek Basin, Volume II: Summary Report

Authors

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Date of this Version

4-1966

Citation

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, April 1966

Series: Flood Plain Information Report, Metropolitan Region, Lincoln, Nebraska

Comments

United States government work

Public domain

Abstract

Antelope Creek and Dead Mans Run, right bank tributaries of Salt Creek, rise within the Lincoln metropolitan area near the town of Cheney, and 84th and A Streets, respectively. These streams flow in a northwesterly direction and drain 14 and 10.5 square miles, respectively. Middle Creek, a left bank tributary of Salt Creek, rises in eastern Seward County and drains 100 square miles as it flows in an easterly direction to join Salt Creek in Lincoln. Urban development in these valleys is concentrated within the Lincoln city limits. Elsewhere the valleys are rural in character, with the land devoted to crop production and stock grazing.

The Lincoln urban area has been expanding at a steady rate for the past 20 years and is expected to continue to expand at about the same rate. Antelope Creek and Dead Mans Run basins lying within the Lincoln metropolitan area can be expected to reflect this growth. Urbanization of the Antelope Creek basin is expected to cover 86 percent of the watershed by 1980, and 100 percent by the year 2010. The Dead Mans Run basin is predicted to be fully urbanized by 1980. Growth forecasts show that development of the Middle Creek basin will proceed at a much slower pace, reachi ng only 5 percent of the entire watershed by 1980.

Flooding of the valley lowlands has been occurring for centuries. Lowlands immediately adjacent to the channel are flooded more frequently than those farther back from the stream and at higher elevations. In the past, when valley lands were undeveloped or devoted to agriculture, flooding caused only minor damage. Today the spread of residential and commercial development into the flood plains has resulted in staggering flood losses which adversely affect our regional and national economies. At the national level, this development of the flood plains is occurring faster than protection can be provided. An alternative to flood protection is the prudent development of flood plains to reduce the flood damage potential.

This investigation describes the flood problems on Antelope Creek from its mouth to 84th Street, on Dead Mans Run from its mouth to A Street, and on Middle Creek from its mouth to the junction with the South Branch.