With the exception of my father who was too young, all the Trussell children remember the 1916 flood as the really big event. But the 1927 flood wasn't far behind. It was certainly an important event for the driver of this Shell Oil Truck who tried to ford the river just west of the bridge. You can see the bridge in the background. This would be the second bridge and it also failed that year. The 1927 flood was also the first time that Lake Hodges overflowed (see previous photo) and this stimulated new interest in the idea of raising Hodges Dam to create a Super Hodges and also in the idea of building a Dam at the Sutherland Site. The latter was begun a few years later but not finished until after the 1952 flood.
Rebecca (Trussell) Judson made something of a name for herself during the 1927 flood. The flood separated Rebeca from her husband, Charlie Judson, so she forded the river on a horse to find him ... demonstrating that, in 1927, the horse did still have some advantages over the horseless carriage ... if the horse and rider were courageous enough.
