Democratic banner. (Bowling Green, Pike County, Mo.) 1845-1852, 1851-07-09
From the St. Louis Republican.
. Historical sketches-.No. VII.
syJ. M. PECK.

II No t6ESut unuSudl tlSe IN tuo 'Oteat
Kiver"--for this is the true Aboriginal name
Mississ,ppi, Gas Marquette first wrote il,
Furnishes occasion for some historical sketch
es affbrmer foods.
While De Soto and his party were of AM
BdiaB-si3isgrs on tho western bank Of theE
RIO Grande,' as tha Spaniards called the
liver, which, from its elevated position, in
dieates the site Of Helena, in Arkansas, in
March l542, there was rise in the river
30 as to cover all the surrounding country
as far az the eye could reach. In the vii
lage, represented to have been Oh high
ground, the water rose from five TO six feet
above the earth so as the only place of
shelter was the lofts of their cabins. Both
the Indians and Spaniards went in conoes
from house to house. It remained at this
height for several days and then subsidized
rapidly. The historian does not inform us
where their horses found footing and sub
sistence, of which they had about three
hukdred that survived the food.
Hke earliest authentic account of the A
Inerican Bottom being submerged is in IT,
"a. a document is to be found in the ar
chivef of Kaskaskia, which consists of a
petitien to the Crown Of France, in 1926,
tons grant of land, in which the damage
sustained the preceding year, l726, } BY
theTise of the water, is mentioned. The
villagers were driven to the Bluffs on the
opposite side of the Kasksskia. river; their
gardens aud corn fields destroyed, and their
buildings and property much injuerad., We
have no evidence of its exact height, but
ba s-l,.,la A. .,ne
ed. Thi, was probably in June.
Fhsrs was a tradition among the old
French peopls thirty years since, Lat there
was an extraordinary rise Of the river be-
-twean-t oessd 1860, bat I fnd no written
or pTinte6 account ofit.s a
In the year l772 another food came, and
portions 81 the American Bottom were a.
gain covered. Fort Chartres, in l756 stood
half mile from the Mississippi river; in
I776, 6,it vas eighty yards, Two years after
Capt. Rittman, who surveyed the Fort in
I768, Mates: *
The bank Of the Mississippi, next tie
Forf, is continually falling in, being worn
away by the current, which has been turn.
edftom its course by a sand bank, now in.
creased to considerable island, covered
with willows. Many experiments have been
tried 50 stop this growing evil, but to no
purpose. Eight years ago the river was
iOrdxbls 10 the island; the channel is now
forty fsetdesp."
About the yesr 1910, the river made fur.
thef encroachments; but il l77S, when il
Inundated portions Of the American Bottom,
II swept away the land to the Fort, and un-
derlnined the wall on that side, which tum.
bled into the river. A large and heavily
tipbered island now occupies the sand bar
OfCapt Pittmsn's time, between which and
the site of the Fort slough runs.
Fhe next period of extreme high water
wat in 1885, during which Kasksskis, Ka-
hOha, and large portions of the American
Bofom were submerged. The late Gen.
Edgar informed the writer that in Kaskas-
kia the wator. rose TO the surface of the
dooFsill Of the house Of the late Robert
Morrison, Esq but that in one place where
the Court House stood few years since,
the gtound wss above the water. That sea-
Sou tip inhabitants passed by means of wa
ter craft through the prairies and lakes from
'CshpN Nato Ksskaskia. This food destroy.
ed all Tie crops, and did much damage a.
bout tiR French villages on the American
BottemA
There wers high waters SO as to overflow
the low grounds, and ELL the lakes and
sloughs D. the American bottoms, at other
seasons, subsequently, but none that de-
serve attettion in this sketch. until that Of
1911; which Is 10 the memory Of many OF
the inhabinats gov. living. It was in the
summef preceding Yhskes' as the earth
quakeS Hefs cstied. -
This food was in TIait from the annual
srise afths Missouri, as were the preceding
opef hptieed, which is not the case with the
Pfsseat high mater. The food 10 the Mis-
souri, always occurs between the fifteenth
and thirtieth Sf June, snd is caused by the
aaows melting ia the mountains at the heads
2 OF the Main Missouri eInsome seasans the
Yellow Stone; which Il IN 1 more Southern
tatksds, pouss oats food #hirh reaches
81. Lcuig abpnt tie last of. May or FIRST Of
June. The present rise. Of f@ater in both
the Missouri spd Mississippi; appears to be
caused By pnaSpsl rains in the North while
10 this lssitaas itkas been unusually dry.