Nature vs Bartlesville, a History

Even though Bartlesville remained unscathed from the severe storms last week, extreme weather conditions have challenged residents since the city’s founding more than a century ago.

Established in the floodplain of the Caney River, the City of Legends was the scene of regular flooding until upstream dam projects brought the river under control in the late 1940s.

One of the first recorded floods in the town’s history took place in the spring of 1885, when, according to one eyewitness, a “25-foot wall of water” roared down the Caney River.…

[Correction on date of tornado]