Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-04-29

have got fairly to work. The demands on
them are greater than at first expected,
and increasing daily, as the water from the
crevasses continues spreading another
great RISE coming out of Red and Ouchita
rivers.
The New orleans Times says the extent
of damage which has resulted from the
great overflow is just beginning to be fully
understood, and that it was vast was read
lily conceived, but that it should involve
FIVE MILLIONS OF ACRES.
and a population of lis, 900 was apparently
beyond reasonable calculation, yet such
is really the case. In the cotton regions
it is now ascertained that nine of the
largest and richest parishes producing
cotton have been inundated. The parishes
of Carroll, Morehouse, Richland, Madison,
Franklin, Tensas, Caldwell, Concordia
and Catahoula, are all overflow, and en-
brace fully 100000 acres. The amount
of cotton land in these parishes in actual
cultivation is ascertained to be 2,050000
acres, besides 100000 acres in corn. These
estimates include only large places, leav-
ing out hundreds of small farmers and all
estimates of cattle, hogs and gardens. The
population of these nine parishes is 2039&
whites and 81, 033 blacks, according to the
census of 1870.
IN THE SUGAR-PRoDUCING PARISHES,
ascertained facts discover an equal if not
greater amount of suffering than these
parishes in Pointe Coupee, East Baton
Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, AS
| cension, Assumption, Lafourche st. James,
st. John the Baptist, st. Charles, Terre-
bonnie and Plaquemines-250,0 900 acres,
| titled and Notwithstanding production
| of thirty thousand hogsheads of sugar, be-
| sides large product Of rice and other crops.
The small farmers, of whom there are
many hundreds, have lost their stock, and
pretty much everything else they possessed.
The population of these parishes, accord
ing to the census report of 1870, was So
| 36S white, 70, 24l black, making a total
| ODD $685. from which mustbe deducted th
| population of eastern Baton Rouge but
| from overflow. That deduction being
made, the parishes named contain popu-
| lation of 103,607 In all the parishes
named it is believed that more than Is, 900
people are now actually suffering for the
necessary supplies of life, and that in less
than sixty days the number of those
whose circumstances will require allevia-
ton will increate to more than fifty thous-
| and persons.
Brashear City looks like a modern Venice
on small scale. Along the line of the rail
road were many sights to interest, but more
to sadden the heart of the thoughtful. Here
and there were seen
| ABANDONED HOUSES,
half buried under he deep water. Often
| times the roof would be covered with
CHICKENS, which could find no other place
on which to roost. Looking from the
windows of several deserted houses were
seen two or more dogs, the sole occupants
of the deluged buildings, whose masters
had fled as best they could to some dry spot
of land. Horses and herds of cattle were
often seen huddled together on small plats
of dry ground, while all around was one
vast lake of water from the swollen bayous
and rivers, which are higher than they
ever were known before. In some instan-
ces these animals were seen standing knee
deep in the water, and of course, soon sunk
from exhaustion and hunger. Very few peo-
pie were to be seen in the overfiowed coun-
try but now and then some unfortunate fami-
ly was observed in a small lboat in search of
high land. Not only canoes and skiffs but
RATS of plank, logs and boards were made
use of as means of escape. The direct
approach to New Orleans for fifteen miles
is through an ocean of water, which
spreads out on all sides as far as the eye
can reach. In some places the water
reaches the second story of residences, all
of which seemed deserted.