Virgin river floods

I am curious about flooding on the Virgin river, in particular whether floods recorded in histories and journals of 19th century settlers indicate that the flooding back then was worse than, similar to, or lighter than more recent flooding, the Quail Lake disaster excepted.

What drives my curiosity is hearing that settlers were driven from their first settlements by flooding. Was this flooding of their croplands only on the Virgin river flood plain (or in the case of irrigated lands, the destruction of the diversion dams), or in the case of settlers who built on or near the flood plain, did the flood waters reach the homes?

Are there any fascinating flood stories from the days of yore?

I suppose I shouldn't limit my query to Virgin river floods, but extend it to any tributaries as well.

Thank you in advance for the delightful columns you write in the Spectrum and for your participation on this forum!

Flooding has always been a probem for the Virgin River and its tributaries
When the pioneers came in 1861 to settle St. George it rained for "40 days and nights" It destroyed Fort Santa Clara, and almost coast the life of Jacob Hamblin,twice
It also destroyed a few small towns below Zion Park
In the town of Grafton, the town was destroyed. Mrs Tenney was giving birth to a new baby as she was being carried to safety---she decided to name her new child "Marvelous Flood Tenney."

The town of Harrisville wased out and was resettled. This time they named the new town Harrisburg

On July 16,1863 a flod destroyed the homes along the Santa Clara River in Pine Valley
During this flood , four children were torn away from their mother's skirt (Susan Allphin) and killed--When the flood waters had gone down, the bodies of the childen were found in the tops of the cottonwood trees. The bodies of the children were buried in the same grave in the "Old Pine valley Cemetery."

In 1915, the flood waters of the Virgin River (now Bloomington Hills Area) was a quater-mile across.

Thank you for your very informative response! It was exactly what I was hoping for.

Are there better flood management devices in place (other than the obvious Quail Resevoir) that would prevent catastrophe like the 1/4 mile wide Santa Clara flood?

OOPS, I meant Virgin River flood in Bloomington of 1915. Sorry.

Flooding has been a real problem on the Virgin River
Back in 1973 a series of flood controls were put on the Ft. Pearce wash
to control flooding--We, up to now, have never really tested these
I am sure that they will hold
However, just like the"broken dike on Quail Lake" when 200-foot breach occured in the 1,820-foot long dike that sent a 12-foot wall of water downstream resulting in $14 million damage to downstream homes, businesses, and bridges, within the next 20 years somewhere in Washington County, we will have a big flood.