Prior to the levees , Valley City was a vibrant river town with an economy based on commercial fishing , transportation of agricultural products such as hogs packed in oak barrels , apples , and cattle to markets in St. Louis and New Orleans , and a host of small businesses including an ice house that harvested ice from the Illinois River each winter packing it in sawdust and delivering ice to residents of Griggsville some four miles west . Sometime in the late 1990s , the last major plant in Valley City , the Tate Cheese Company , closed its doors for good . After Tate Cheese Company abandoned the processing plant in Valley City there was less interest in the remaining buildings adjacent to the plant . People began to permanently abandon their homes after the Great Flood of 1993 that devastated many homes across the Midwest
Great Flood of 1993
Great Flood of 1993
Griggsville Landing, Illinois