The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1879-07-05
rREA uraous RIVER.

Ind aasssg.S All I. q s4- r-e,..l
The Missouri is remarkable river,
unlike any other ever saw. TO be ap-
preciatsdit nust BE- seen aud heard dur
ing the April and June rise. when its
waters are red and thick with the pow.
dsrsd soil they have brought from the
mountains and stolen from the farms in
the valleys. Then it pours aud swirls
and eddies along with tresoberous
sound between q obuokle and u half sup
pressed whisper, that repeis while it
fascina,ss the listener. II has made
millions Of acres of rich black deposits,
on which it still holds mortgage, thu
foreclosure OF which no man Can foresee.
Some OF these f. rtils acres may sustain
forests that have been growing for hun
dreds OF years. but not rod OF the vast
level bottom lands which lie on either
side Of the muddy monster. varying in
width from two to twenty miles, stretch.
lug all the way from YAnkton to St.
Louis, and covered With the finest woods
and the richest farm produce that land
can bear up under, Is exempt from thu
possibility Of some day being devoured
by it's hungry and fokls mother. HUI
dreds OF farmers, after clearing away the
heavy timber and raising tine crops year
after year, on their eighty or more acres
of deep. insx xnaustlbie' river bottom, have
seen their eDtire possessions swept away
in few days by sudden and unex.
p"otsd "change OF channel" during an
April or Juns "r,se."
These changes of channel have Diff
fer-nt causes. sometimes giant cotton.
wood tree that has baen uprooted where
the river has raised upon the forest
above, ia borne down by the current and
lodged in the mud, where it will gradu,ly
bscome imbedded in the yielding bottom,
and perhaps lie in wait for months, or
even years, without giving any particular
signs OF existence. At LAST IN unusual
rise takes place, and this hidden "snag Z"
creates diversion 10 the strong current,
which begins to circle round the spot,
and which culninates in boiling eddy.
The eddy increases in depth and force,
gradually diverting the water from its
former course until new pathway is
formed 10 the river bed. If the eddy is
located near the shore at the upper edge
of promontory, and the water ia suf-
fciently high to overflow the flats. new
channel is sometimes carved strait across
some valuable farm or timber strip, and
o river town. where steamboats, took
freight aud passengers last year, may be
from two 10 six miles distant from navlg.
able water next year. A few years ago
Forest City, No., was kissed day and
night by the dirty lips of the Western
firt. To-day the river sports miles
away. out Of sight of the old cave, and
is whispering soft things to White Cloud
on the Kansas side, which has gained q
river, while the State has lost severa
thousand acres of productive cotton land
THAI now supports cattle and hogs ir
Missouri.
When the Missouri river begins to in
dulge in its semi.annual free lunch i
frequently devours strips Of bottom lane
several rods in width every twenty.fou
hours. At such times it is dangerous t,
drop to sleep near the waters edge
There lives in Rulo, river town il
southeastern Nebraska, venerable ply
sician named Thompson. One warn
June day the doctor cast his 6sh line
into the river close to the timber. an,
lying down 10 tho shade to watch 70
catfish, dropped off to sleep and Il
PHEASANT dreams. He was swnkene,
quite abruptly by neighbor, who toll
him be was sleeping on the wrong sid
ofa long. narrow crevics that had fosm.
about rod from the rivers brink. Il
did not wait to ssys bis lines, but in
stantly "got up andRos." The next in
s,aut strip Of cott Awood hnd parte
company with, the5tnaiu land forevel
and with ito freight OF trees dissolve
like 80 much sugar in coffee.oup. lea,
ing the doctor to thank the river Il
stealing bis 6sh.lines and the land. au
his nelghbor fox saving his life. Mi
souri, river towns are never safe, excel
when located on bluff or table lands, Ill
Omaha, White Cloud, St. Joseph on
Kansas City. T