By the middle of the 19th century , the deforestation of the banks of the Mississippi River , as a result of logging operations to supply steamboats with fuel , led to increased unnatural erosion and flooding , as well as drastic channel shifts which later destroyed and submerged Kaskaskia , Illinois . The damage caused by the river , especially in the Great Flood of 1993 , obliterated the archaeological remains of St. Philippe , destroying the historical evidence beneath the layers of washed-away soil
Great Flood of 1993
Great Flood of 1993
Philip François Renault