Big ditch" [plowed dike for protection from flood waters]" – Historic Reproduction
![Big ditch" [plowed dike for protection from flood waters]", 1950 — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/bb/bb4c4aa3954a-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of Big ditch" [plowed dike for protection from flood waters]". Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.
Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. It makes a striking addition to a living room, study or office, and a thoughtful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
Big ditch" [plowed dike for protection from flood waters]"
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From the air, the long furrow cut across the Iowa farmland is a earthen dike that a farmer plowed to hold back floodwater, with the trench on one side and the raised soil on the other. Des Moines lies where the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers meet, and the valley bottoms around them have repeatedly flooded fields and farm buildings. In 1950, when this aerial view was taken, makeshift levees like this one were a common way for rural families to protect crops and land without waiting for larger public works. The photograph shows how the rectangular fields and the raised line of soil reshaped the landscape along the river.
| Created / published | 1950 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Genre | Aerial photographs 1950.Photographic prints 1950. |
| Notes | From the collections of Encyclopedia Britannica. |
| Subjects | Floods--Iowa--Des Moines--1950. Farms--Iowa--Des Moines--1950. Dikes (Engineering)--Iowa--Des Moines--1950. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 3,292 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-187087 |
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