Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1854-04-21
A Squatter's Adventures In a Red
River FIood.

ell, StTdIpeT, we nave uOOuS Hele
in Louisiana, such as. guess, you have
never seen the like of in England. Eng
land is not large enough to have such
floods. One of them would cover your
whole country, have heard said. | will
not say that it is true, as | am not ac-
quainted with your geography. | know,
however, there are mighty big freshets
here, as | have sailed skiff more than a
hundred miles across one of them, where
there was nothing to be seen but cypress
tpoS peeping out of the water The
foods, as you know, come every year,
but the very large ones only occasional
ly. Well, about ten years ago, loca-
ted in the Red River bottom, about fifty
miles or thereabout below Natchitoches,
where | built a shanty. had left my
wife and two young children in Missis-
sippi state, intending to return for them
in the spring; so, YOU see, | was all
alone, by myself, except my old mare, a
Collins axe, and, Of course, my rifle.
| had finished the shanty all but the
thinking and the building of a chimney,
when what should come on but one of
those severe floods. 1t was at night
when it began to make its appearance.
| was asleep on the floor of the shanty,
and the first warning | had of it was
feeling water soaking through my old
blanket. | had been dreaming, and
thought it was raining; and then again
| thought | was beng drowned in the
Mississippi; but | was not many seconds
awake before guessed what was the re-
atty; | jumped to my feet like a star
tied buck, and CROPPED my way to the
door. What sight | beheld. | had
cleared piece Of ground around the
a couple of acres-leav
ING the stumps good three feet high;
bat now there was not one to be seen.
My clearing, stumps and, all, was under
water; and | could see it shining among
the trees allround the shanty. OF course,
my first thought was about my rifle;
and | turned back TITO the shanty and
laid my claws upon that quick enough.
| next went in search of my old mare
She was not hard to find; for if ever
creature made a noise, she did. She
was tied to tree close to the shanty,
and the way she was squealing was
caution to cats. | found her in three
or four feet of water, pitching and found
ering all round the tree. She had moth
ing on but the rope she was hitched by.
Both saddle and bride had been wash
ed away: SO | made the rope into a sort
Of halter, and mounted her bare backed.
aust then | began to think where |
was going. The whole country appear
cd to be under water; and the nearest
neighbor | had, lived across the prairie,
ten miles off. knew that his shanty
stood on high ground, but how was |
to get there 1t WAS night: might lose
my way and ride chuck into the river.
When | thought Of this, | concluded it
might be better to stay by my own shan
ty till morning. | could hitch the mare
inside to keep her from floating away;
and formyself, could climb on the roof.
However, while | was thinking Of this,
| noticed that the water was deepening,
and a thought entered my head that it
would soon be deep enough to drown
my old mare. For myself | was not
frightened. could climb tree, and
stay there till the flood fell; but should
then lose the male, and that creature
was too valuable to think of such a sac
rifice, 50 | made up my mind to chance
crossing the prairie. There was no time
to be wastcd-never minnie, so gave
the mare kick CT two III the ribs and
started.
Il found the path out to the edge of
the prairie easy enough. | had blnzed
it when | first came to the place; and as
the night was not very dark one, |
could see blazes as passed between the
trees. My mare knew the track as well
as myself, and waded through it at
sharp rate, for she knew, to- there was
no time to be wasted. In five minutes
we came out on the edge of the prairie,
and, just as | expected, the whole land
was covered with water, and looking like
a big pond, | could see it shining clear
across to the other side of the opening.
As luck would have it, | could just get
a glimpse of the trees on the far side of
the prairie There WAS big clump of
cypress trees, that | could see plain
enough; | knew this was close to nv
neighbors shanty; so | gave my crea-
ture the switch, and struck right for it,
As left the timber, the mare was up
to her hips. OF course, | expected Il
good deal of heavy wading; but had
no idea the water would get much high
er there 5 where | made my mistake.
| had not got more than a couple of
miles out, when | discovered that the
water was rising rapidly, for | noticed
the mare was getting deeper and deep
err. 1t was no use turning back now.
| would lose the mare to dead certain
ty. if did not succeed in making the
high ground; so spoke to the creature
to do her best, and kept on. The poor
beast did not need any whipping-she
knew she was doing her best and no
mistake. Still the water rose, and kept
rising, until it cameclear upto her Shout
ders. l began to feel frightened in ear
nest. We were not more than half way
across, and | thought if 1t rose much
more we would have to swim for it. |
was not far astray about that. The min