Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-04-19
THE FLOOD,
An Appeal from the Mayor Of New
Orleans for Relief for the Suf-
ferers BY the Prevailing
Overflow.

NEW ORLEANS, April lS.-The follow
ing was telegraphed to-day to the mayor:
Of the principal cities:
"Owing to an unexampled overflow
of the Mississippi river and its lowel
branches, by which more than one thou
sand miles Of our State are submerged
many thousands of families are ruined
in their fortunes and are threatened with
starvation. 1t is beyond the measure ol
our citizens who have escaped from this
great calamity to give adequate relief to
the sufferers. l have, therefore, thought
proper to give an opportunity TO yom
citizens to aid US. The contributions OF
the philanthropic are earnestly solicited
/ for these victims of the two-fOld vista
ton of food and famine.
al. \. WILTZ, Mayor
/ From the New Orleans Bulletin.
From the officers of the steamer
| Willie, which arrived Monday night
/ from Arkadelphia, we learn that the en-
/ tire Ouachita valley is inundated. The
/ towns Of Trenton, Monroe, Columbia,
/ Harrisonburg, Trinity and nearly every
plantation on the river have suffered
and when the Willie came through, not
only as the main river rising bu1 its
numerous tributaries We're pouring per.
! feet torrents of water into it.
From the Vicksburg Herald.l
The "Father Of Waters in Its lower course
! is now rapidly rising, and booming along al
( high-dOOd. For several days the periodic
/ March rise has rendered the river stage a
I New Orleans critical, and the weather-pre
dictiOns Of Tuesday last, announcing rains fol
all the lower Mississippi basin, ought TO have
amply fOrewarned the citizens OF Louisiana
! There are ROW strong indications that TIA,
] hariamn.
I sissippi will be speedily in food. In sOme o.
the states bordering these water-courses there
have been excessive and torrentiai rains
The memorable floods of 1858 and 1859 wer,
due 10 rains in the OHIO valley preceding th'
usual June rise in the Missouri and its tuTblC
/ tributaries. In each OF these tremendous del
I uges il was demonstrated that the great rive
snot dependent Tor its overwhelming inun
datiOns 10 the melting mount tain-snOws. IL
the last-named flood, that OF 1853, the Mis-
souri,, the upper Mississippi, and upper OhiC
were not luui but the lower Ohio ross
over thirty feet on the falls at Louisville, witt
fearful ravages of the current after il passed
Cairo. There were thirty odd crevasses, anC
for two months and ten days the swelling
tide continued. The river did not subside ill
the last OF May; but Notwithstanding thi
fact, many planters were enabled 10 produce
good crops. even in the inundated regions O
the st. Francis, the Tensas, the NazoO ant
Red and White rivers. We may, therefore
augur not unfavorably for the agricultural
Z Interests from the present flood: and IL the
present rise is not much prolonged, IL may bC
OF no serious detriment, while the rains thai
have caused il viii be Of the utmost value Il
| the crop.-NelC IcTk Herald.
We make these extracts for the pur.
pose OF pointing out an evident fallacy
IN the concluding lines of the HeTdldiS
article, and calling attention to il. The
/ condition Of our farm-labOrers now is
wholly different from it was before the
/ war. Then each planter was the owner
J Of the laborers employed on his planta-
/ ton, and hired labor was an unknown
commodity. Then, when flood came
and drove the planters from their rich
slluvial homes, they took their negro
labOrers, with their stock of horses,
mules, COWS, oxen, etc., together with
their farming implements, to the hill
lands, and there either rented land and
planted a crop of corn, or devoted the
energies of their laborers to some other
pursuits until the subsidenee of the
floods. II the water subsidized in time to
plant a crop, everything was rushed
home, and the seed of corn and cOttO n
rapidly deposited in the rich, slimy
the whole submerged territory
was covered, and often this hur-
ried planting was rewarded with an
s-OuNuaAt hal vest NoMi hOHeN6ii SUCH
a result cannot be hoped for. The ne
groes are free. Every man is his own
master, and when the swelling floods
come and submerge the land they are
ready to plant, or perhaps have planted,
these labOrers are stampeded ana de-
mOralized. They seek to get away from
the lowlands at the earliest practicable
moment, and desire to get back to the
highlands in the hill country. The
floods have annulled their contracts,
and once away from the plantation
where they We're engaged, they are scat
tered TO the four points of the compass,
never again to be reassembled there.