The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1880-04-03
At TIE CREVASSE.
A Democrat Reporter Making an
Observation of the Leyee
Break.
A Broad and Impetuous Torrent
Rushing Through the Levee
on the Right Bank-Some
Idea of it's Extent and
it's Ravages.

| 90 HlbnV hnu so WIG aQl cOn1tct10g were tht
rumors respecting the break on the other side
Of the river below Westwego and 80 Indefinite
the inform alton respecting tho extent of the
| casualty yesterday that DEMOCRAT reporter
at noon chartered tug and proeseded to make
an Investigation of his own. He had not pro-
ceeded far up the river when q peculiar noise
as of n powerful and subdued steam engine
struck his ear. and this increased till O point
opposite the jumping off place" of the Cres-
| cent City Railroad line was reaehed near
| the upper City Park Here the roar of the tor.
| rent. as 1t poured through the gap. was more
| audible. and direct course from this point
| across the river soon brought ths tug aud the
| reporter In the presence of the crevasse It ts
| situated about mile and quarter below the
Company Canal or West Wego and directly nt the
settlement situated between the latter place and
Gretna. This levee was, In the proper sense. a
protection levee. and built to hem In the waters
| which had broken through the original Ieyee.
which is stil visible above the waters, with only
two or three gaps to show where 1t had sue
cumbed
The reporter disembarked and went on the
levee, which was the ouY place susceptible of
pedal exertion, and even that was at the tribu te
Of walk ing two feet deep In II I'D and running
the risk Of Slipping on either side into the
water. There were In all about hundret peo-
pie gathered at differsnt points on the Ievee.
and their appearance was by no means In
spfrtting, as all were covered with mud or oil
clot hs or pro ected overhead with umbrellas
Reaching the levee the reporter took @ survey
OF the ifuAion. Thare vas nothing but water
turn wherever The eye might, saving the relic of
levee left and q few tangible things which sug-
gested an effort to close the bre4k. The wnt@r
went out upon tho land and. in the disan ,e
seemed to climb up the trees. whore the meagrs
foliage met the skies and closed In The vi, W.
The picture was, not calculated to inspire Gu
ht1ui nnH hn 1pI nc1,ro
passed mudded along the lsVse, or rowed bnck
to the city eide mufl d aud dyspepi =, added a
gloomlneas to the scene which remained unre-
lev'd. The reporter looked out far as the
horizon would allow him and deserted nothing
but water, with a house or fence here an there
rearing Itself and In the distance the woods
closing In the view.
The reporter. with difficulty, made his way
to the
SCENE or THE CREvAssE
and found nothing but lumber of wondering
or curious men engaged In watching the tor
rent. There was no ,hppearanes Of wpik tut
little way off was barge loaded with umber,
and d on the north t, side w.re 70 numb, " Of saud
Q pile driver. sent 10 by the Morgan Railroad
Company
The break had worry appreolably widened,
being then about seventy feet wide and with
central depth of not less than fifteen feet The
flt st break which occurred on Thursday morn
ing was only about ten feet wide, bat 1t gra-
duality Increased and the water went through
with appall ing velocity. The State Board Of
Engineers lashed on q tarpaultn at each side
of the break ,nfronting the flow so as to pre-
vent the wsler from exeavating further; bnt it
was evident yesterday to the reporter that the
water was succet dug In undermining the
levee Notwithstanding this preesutioL. The
force of the. water was very ert at and 1t WIS
evident that If something further was not done
the levee would be broken through to q much
greater extern.
NARROW ESCAPE.
The utmost exeItions had been made by Mr..
pDp6av MnTnpn III hpv rlnf
e,mpl?yed Itvee contractor, Mr.. oleary, to ds-
and the after. approaching the ., int with three
negro aborers, hhd hls boat upset by the force
Of the current Mr.. Cieary managed to reach
the negroes wee swept away into the cane
fields, and the supposttion WAS they were
drowned put soon a alt5r thy yer, were picked up
sible from the shock. They were quickly
restored and are now completely recovered.
OUTSIDE OF THE ACTUAL LOSS
caused by the over flow this was the only cas-
ualtV. The cr-vasse occurred at Sbarp's place.
close by the river bunk. and the water ran up
as high as two and half or three feet.
sharue was rice cutivator. aEd had II fume
pas Ing through the levee at this point. to
which fact is pointed the whole responsibility
His place. however, ts completely submerged
and his crop gone, and he aud hts people were
ermpeIled to make the beat retreat possible
eharpe's place from Pan lso's.. whore there is a
HANDSOME residence and large orange or
hs aar sonn subj tdes 1 10 th eca a u
Looking at the terrific flow of water as it
pass d between those places. 1t seemed Inevita-
BILE that If the tide not stemmed very snon
either or both must inevitably be swept away
Above Sharpes was the Garland place, inun-
dated. but not completely so, and above that the
Ferguson place and then the Company canal
Mr.. Ferguson. who has had some experiences
of overhows before, had bis place strength
ened as soon as he Learned of the break.
nrID Dr., ,Irx,p, lr.r1 rjI <f 81 kL,
break, the Klein place was inundated and the
water had entt red
THE M1LLAUDoN PROPERTY.
destroying all bis cane and making progress in
the direction OF Gretna. On Every hand there
was an appearances of desolation and destruc-
tiou and the eye wa derfd vainly around in
search Of something pleasant,
Up to the time the reporter left yHsterday
was showing rautdly down to Pladuem1nes,
threatening to inundate that whole stretch of
Practicnl work was inangurated last night. but
SO wide is the crevasr o that even the mpst hope
full do not expect to close the break before Mon
day or Tuesday. If then
THE MORGAN RAILROAD
Is submerged. but hand car was yesterday
puehed through It,, and 1t was hoped that
freight train might be able to 60 out during the
night. The wafer has inundaed the country
fully tivs mi es hack Of the levee. and 0 course
an uninterrupted flow added only to tfst x ent
An iea of the nc ual damage may be- e9ned
from tDe 1hct tnaI MT MlIHnuDu r. crop, WHICH
is regarfad as r. total loss Ii estimated ut
800 900. He had 1000 acres In very fine promis-
ing cane. aud on The same lace last season he
raised 1000 900 pounds OF sugar. Another
planter lost 500 acres of rice. and 80 On in equal
proportion with the rest
While these facts are decidedly grIovous in
the immediate suffering falls upon
the poorer people. who were driven from their
hom-s by the iemorseless fl cd. Upwards Of
OF 9 hundred and fifty persOEs. mostly negroes,
have been left nom eess, out he section houses
of tn Morgan road were freely yielded 50 far
rs they could be. and the best possible suceor
was given to the rest.
It is hoped that the crevasse may be closed
within a few days and muth suffering allevi-
ated or removed.
In relation to this matter the following COM
munication was yesterday sent to the GoVernor
by Col. T. S. Hardee:
COL HARDEE's REPORT.
Hon. T.. A. WiItz:
Dear GOuernor-T The situation atthe crevasse
this morning was more threatening than ever.
During the storm the gao wtdened from fifteen
TO atxty feet. and the Morgan tilroad Is al
ready wished away b-tween the CImpany
canal and H4rvey's CANA; SIN enter,atn some