In the last assignment he successfully battled record Mississippi River flood crests.
As the flood crest moved downstream, the levees were breached or flooded over.
The flood crest, not to be reached until 7 o'clock the next evening, was only two feet below the fateful 1936 peak.
The heaviest initial damage by the flood crest was to Manhattan and Ft. Riley.
The flood crest, reached around 12:15 am, ravaged Rapid City and surrounding canyons.
At the start of summer, the flood crest moved downstream into the United States.
Most of those who did survive the initial disaster weren't even aware of what happened to them immediately after the flood crest struck.
Hundreds and hundreds of people had simply disappeared in the flood crest and its aftermath.
The Roy Inks Bridge, named for a former mayor, was built after a flood crest of 42 feet in 1935 swept away the 1892 structure.
The flood crest was a record one, over three feet higher than the previously recorded crest in the river basin.