It was spring 1918 and Grand River had flooded - again - and as usual, much of the village of Grand Valley was under water.

Everyone knew the large chunks of ice floating down river could jam almost anywhere and cause a flood. But this year was different.

The ice first lodged against the piers of the Amaranth Street Bridge.

The mounting pressure of the ice and water broke the bridge in two, and the swollen river carried the wreckage downstream to pile up against the Main Street Bridge. The debris and ice created a dam across the Grand forcing the spring runoff over the river banks and into the village.

Knox Presbyterian Church had almost a metre of water in its basement. Nearby homes were flooded, and the situation was getting worse. C. W. Jenkins and R. Dixon worked through the night to build a boat. The next morning they began to rescue people who were stranded in their submerged homes.

Abe Mercer heroically charged his horse and cart into the flood on Main Street in a vain attempt to rescue Sam Gamble from the loft of his stable. Abe, horse and cart got stuck about six metres short of their target. Fortunately for them, the volunteers in the newly built boat managed to rescue both Abe and Sam. Rescues continued throughout the day, but Grand Valley's troubles were not quickly over.

The ice continued to pile up along Main Street and around the pumping station. Teams of men struggled to dislodge the jam using pry bars and levers, finally resorting to dynamite. The pent up flood carried away the Main Street Bridge, cutting off Brooklyn from the rest of the village.

The destruction of both village bridges made the 1918 flood one of the worst Grand Valley had experienced. It also showed how a community could work together to resist Mother Nature's onslaught.

Grand Valley's floods became an annual news event in Ontario newspapers, and a macabre sort of tourist attraction. In the 1940s, creamery operator Robert Lang sponsored a contest asking people to guess the time of the spring breakup. A barrel was frozen in the river ice above the dam. The winning time was determined when the barrel was pushed clear of the new Main Street Bridge. Crowds of spectators would gather to watch the water rise, and the barrel float free.

Nowadays, locals still gather in anticipation of an ice jam, but the spring floods are somewhat controlled by the dam at the Luther Marsh conservation area. Nevertheless, for a few short days each spring, residents watch the water and ice and recall the stories of the spring flood of 1918.

Cameron Fischer, a student at Centre Dufferin District High School, researched wand wrote this article with the assistance of Dufferin County Museum and Archives.