The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-08-29
Miscellany.
4.
The Sabterrancan Flow OF aLe Mississippi


The sab,erranean Flow OF sLe Mississippi
A corresponding of the Nashville Union
and Dispatch having suggested that Memphis
was liable at any moment to ''fail III 10 wa
terry abyss beneath it, caused by the subteira-
mean flow off the Mississippi, the Bulletin adds
the following: . t.4-.aul
The river shore in the ravy yard has randi
ly disappeared. There ste amers rarely land.
In front of the city proper there are always
from ten to twenty steamers. By THESE tRe
earth at the waters edge is protected. and tbc
force OF the surface current is broken. Hence
1t happens that the earth at the waters edge.
and Tor ten or twenty feet below, remains un-
broken. The great body of the mighty tide
OF waters, forty and fifty feet below, PUSHES
onward In its unresisted course, rending
away the earth. How far tie stream passes
beneath the city, there is, of course, no means
OF ascertainng. The explosion of torpedoes
iorty or nifty feet below the rivers surface,
shook every building west OF the bayou. Be-
Yond the bayou, the shock was unheeded, UNI
felt.
Many years ago saw mill was at work in
the swamps of Arkansas, twenty miles from
the Mississippi. The owner awoke one bright
morning to find his well dry, in which the
day before there was water three or four feet
face pond, not far away, and was again sun
piled with an abundance of water. This
trench connected the pond and WE'LL Three
days elapsed, and the pond and well both
were empty. The old man of the mill was
amazed. The story was told to trayelle,
from Memphis. "It's plain enough" be said.
the river is lower than for wears past and
your well and pond have emptied themselves
mto the great sewer of the Continent" The
Mississippl not only overfiows but undertlo,ys
all the broad valley through which it passes.
Its channel, however broad and deep, could
not contain all the rains that fall and streams
that come down from the mountains, Terri
tories and States OF America. - -
AT Fort Pillow and Randolph every evidence
OF war has disappeared. swallowed up by fbe
great river. Earthworks at Randolph, built
IN 1861, 800 yards from the shore, have gone
10 the Dallze. At both these places the river
current, as here at Memphis. strikes the shore
at almost right angles. A city paper tells us
how planter, within the week, deposited
10000 worth OF supplies upon the river bank
somewhere in Arkansas He had not gone
nan mile when the country behind him dis
appeared with all his stores
Reeltoot Lake is fathomless. TT is not far
from the river. The night before the earth
quake OF 1917, lofty trees stood where deep,
s,ient, sun waters have unbroken repOse.---
cypress trees two hundred feet high went
down. Their loftiest branches do not reach
the surface of the wonderful lake. Years be-
lore the great river had undermined the corIn-
Iry, the land went down and water came llp.
everywhere around New Madrid we have jn-
9u9ltable evidence that the mighty river
nhds It's way tar beneath the earth's surface
AN earthquakes shock broke down the earth
en- bridges that everywhere alLng the river
shores span mighty streams and deep subter-
ranean lakes that are reservoirs to supply at
mospherlc moisture and hold the superabun-
aant waters ofthls broad valley.