Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-03
Thousands OF Farmers Ruined
Crops, Cattle and Horses Car
ried AWay-Le8ding Rail-
roads Destroyed and
Travel Stopped.
A Careful Review of the Situation
Above and Below Hemphis-
The Chances Against
Us-LOOk Out Be
low There!

The reports of the doirg3 OF the rivers
above here the past twenty -four hours
are anything else but encOursgtng; on
the contrary, they are OF most dis
heaTtening character. Up to yesterday
afternoon, we saw some hope for the
planters in the Mississippi valley, but
the dispatches and the Otficisl report OF
the signal service bureau have bS SgOtten
a different feeling, and we are almost
disposed to give up the ship. Still, there
are those VINO believe there will not be
general disaster, but we fear their Opin-
ions are not well-founded. 1t is true, as
we stated in our last issue, no one can
tell what the Mississippi river is going
to do, and we are more inclined to that
opinion now than ever. 1t is yet posei
bic that The rise reported at st. Louis
will get out ahead of the flood coming
out OF the Ohio, but that hope is OF the
drowning -clinging-tO-a-straw per-
suasiom. The reported rise Of seven feet
eight inches in the past twenty
four hours at Cincinnati has
the most demOralizing int1u,
ence upon those not familiar with the
nature of that river. IT, Ohio river b9-
Jag of narrow channel and high
banks is influenced by light rairs to pro-
portions that appear enormous to us on
the Mississippi, where OveIt1OWs extend
to forty miles in width; and rise of
several feet ct Cincinnati, Louisville, o.
any point above Cairo, by the time 1t
gets down 10 the vicinity Of the latter
locality, reaches and dispenses itself
over the lOWlands, and becomes there q
swell OF only a few inches. Another view
Of the rise in the Ohio affords some
little hope, and that is that the Missis-
sippi is at flood hight at the mouth OF
the Ohio, and the latter stream Is also
at flood hight all the way up to Cincin-
natl, in consequence Of which the addi-
tional swell will move not 50 rapidly as
on ordinary occasions, which may Gf-
ford ample time for the upper Mississip-
pi flood to "dO its do" before the Ohio
deluge comes down on US. These are
vague ideas, the reader will say; but
there may be something upon which to
base q nope. The latest information
from above here as high up as Cairo Is
to the effect that much damage has al
ready been done to the planting inter
ests: immense fields OF COttOh and corn
are already under water, by which much
stock has been drowned, and the farm
ers, in many instances, have given up
their lOWland farms to the mercy OF the
steadily encrOaching river. This was
expected, however, almost from the be-
ginning of the swell in the river, as 1t
is well known that the lOWland5 above
Memphis are subject to overflow long
before the water has reached the top Of
the lowest banks below here, and plan
tations above are always submerged to
a great extent before the river has be-
come bank-full at Memphis. From below
the latest tidings, concerning which we
CLEAN from the polite officers OF the PM
Allin. are TO the effect that as yet no
very great damage has been experienced
exceUt in one or TWO localities. Iney
reUOrt the water level with the banks,
and in one instance running into the
corn-roWs down at Cat island,
and that the water was backing
in at the lower end OF the is'aUd sun
d4y. The only great disaster yet known
between Memphis and FriaT's point is at
Demummer's bend, where the water is
running with tremendous current
through the fields. AT tRichards's bend,
lust below, the water is covering good
deal OF cotton, but as yet not so effectu-
ally st its mercy as at the Demummer
Mace, Council Bend holds out yet, eX
cept al hanln plaCeI At Lhe Io"eI emu
of the bend, where the water is running
in. and the least rise will destroy much
valuable cotton. At Obenchain's store
the water is running strong against
BatemaD, but his levee is in good con-
dition, and sufficiently formidable to re.
sist a much higher tide. Just below the
DO ut opposite Fort Pickering, at the
Lake place, very light rise will do con.
siderable damage. The officers Of the
Allin say that: the farmers are doing
every hing that they know worth the
] effort to protect their fields, and in