Litchfield enquirer., 1880-07-08
WESTERN CORRESPONDENCE.
LYONS, July 1st,


 ED. ENQ.-The Great Flood of the Miss River, predicted in my last, came according to appointment and was a notable affair. Nothing like it has ever occurred since "wllite men" came into this country. Indian legends clain three or four feet more but nothing au- theutic can be verified, and the rise of 1880 will remain the maximum gage, still a greater flood comes. For some years the water has been so lew that we began to think it was owing to SO much timber cutting in the North and that probably we should never see the rise of 1870 exceeded What is most re- marhable about it is that it comes from rains Captain say that it was so dark in the day time while it was raining he could hardly see to run his boat Astronomers have been pre- dieting an unusual disturbance of the ele- that it is to last two or three years. Will HI. N.,' please turn his eagle eye m that luminary and tell us when this thing is likely to sub, side. When we consider that the flood cov- CTS an area of over two hundred miles long by two to eight miles wide and six to ten feet deep, we begin to realize what rain fall they must have had. The damage along the River cannot be estimated or even approximatcd. levee has broken away below Quincy, in I'li- nois, and over one hundred thousand acres of the best farming lands of the state will be submerged. Fortunately most of the wheat has been harvested. but corn and hay must suffer. It has so affected the price of hay with us, that had to pay twelve dollars ton for hay out of the field to-day. All the bot tom land from which much of our hay is gath lost all their crops and gardens but the lumber interests have probably suffered the most in this section. The ice men, next. Their houses were generally on the banks of the river, and few have escaped. An ice famine IS imminent The following graphic account of the flood at Rock Island. clipped from the Davenport Dem- ocrat is but a repetition of wha. has happened with more or less severity in almost every
  St. Paul to St. Louis:
 The condition of things in Rock Island is truly pitiable. A good portion of the city is under water, and there is hardly cellar in that isn't full of water. The sewers have all filled up, and their contents are seen in base ments, and from many places the stench is al- most sickening. In the region west of Ninth street large number of houses are floating about, their owners homeless. Two hundred | families have been driven out of their homes | by the water. The school houses have been l thrown open to them for shelter until the 1 food subsidies and their houses can be placed l in their old positions No such state of affairs l has been known during any previous Mlssis- | sippi flood. Subscriptions are being raised 1 for tue relief of the homeless people and it is likely that the Fourth of July celebration fund will be devoted to the purpose. Back of the Harper House the water is upon the streets and is running down to the empty lower lands at the west end. The Mayor has two hun. dred men and many teams at work along the street leading to Milan, making dykes to pre- l vent the further ingress of the flood east of ] this hastily improvised wall The dyke has to be watched constantly, and wherever it breaks, straw, manure, earth and brush are thrown in to close the breach. The flood has become great disaster for the city of Rock Asiauu-ahu US uamageS tn private property will reach we'll above $100, 900. All the west. ern portion of the city is like a lake dotted with roofs of houses. It is a spectacle worth beholding-dismal though it be-
 Clinton would have suffered even more than Rock Island. but for the railroad embark. lnent that rans along the river front, from three to six feet above the level, which, by banking pp the culyerts and raising the en- baukment in low places, kept nearly two feet