According to Herb Bessey, Levee Regional Manager for the Walla Walla District U.S Army Corps of Engineers, the Orofino Flood Control Project was constructed under the authority of the 1946 Flood Control Act following the extreme flooding of 1948. The project was awarded to Thurston Storey of Lewiston.and work was started May 3, 1949. It was completed June 20, 1949.

The project consisted of a levee, constructed of small basalt rock and clay. The river side of the levee was rip rap quarried river rock. It was 10 feet wide at the top. The combined length of the several contiguous sections of the levee is approximately 1,465 feet. The toe of the center section of the levee, approximately 950 feet in length, is protected by a cemented rubble flood wall that existed at the time the project was built.

The levee is maintained by the City of Orofino and inspected by the Corps on a regular basis. A cement walkway was built across the top in the 1990s and George Korbel, as his Eagle Scout project, managed the building of steps from the walkway to the river in recent years.

Looking upstream on the construction. The tree in the right foreground is approximately the terminal point of 250 feet of completed work on Section B.

This photo looks upstream on the land side of completed Section B. The arrow points to a culvert.

This photo looks upstream showing Section D type construction placed against the existing rubble wall along the Clearwater River.

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