The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-04-16
THE MISSOURI FLOOD.


ID in spots on the river bank, though the ice Wa
IS piled ten to thirty feet high on the bottom,
. Yankton is filled with refugees from the low
5 lands. and tho resources of the citizens are TN
o equal to their wants and outside help is askeC
o foo Thousands Of people are rendered home
less, and all they possessed has been swep
= away Nearly all the stock on the lowands
0 hundreds of thousands Of head is drowned
U and the farmhouses and villages submerge,
s or floating about IN the water. On the site o
Green island, of twenty houses but ore re
n mains, aud the ice is from ten to twenty fee
deep. On the 10th a dispatch says "Yanktor
5 is still cut off from outside communication
and is almost destitute Of fuel and coal OIL
and destitute of provisions. Winter still holds
| on, increasing tue suffering among the home
less farmers who have been drowned out
Iankton can furnish shelter for about 10000
and is making heroic efforts to supply cloth
ing, fuel and provisions from its limited store
As soon as the gorge breaks boats can be sent
below for supplies"
On Wednesday 90 families at the bend Is
mules below Yankton were still imprisoned
by fields of heavy ice; colony Of 1870 who
were surrounded by water at Mayvlle were
rescued and relief parties were endeayorng to
reach Meckling, where 30 persons arc impris-
oncd by ice 20 fee. high.
The gorges above Sioux city generally be-
gan to break on the Sth, causing rise at Sioux
city on that day of five feet, which carried the
waters over the bottom on the opposite side,
flooding Covington and all the country as far
as Jackson, including the Chicago, ST. Paul
and Omaha r, X, between those points The
citizens of Coylngton all acd to Sioux city on
the ferry boat, leaving their property behind
the water everywhere being over the first
floors OF the houses. Next day, however, the
river began to fall and by Tuesday the Gov
| ington people were back IN their homes
Having passed Sioux city, the ice food
reached ITS height at Omaha about the Sth,
and was no doubt q grand spectacle. THE
river was one vast stream Of ice, the constant
grinding aud crushing making a continual
roaring noise, which was heard considerable
distance from the river. Trees, logs, bridge
timbers, parts of houses, etc, were constantly
swept by, and every now and then shot on. of
the water and upon ice cakes by the bubbng,
whirling waters, which twisted the cakes
round and round, and frequently large cakes
weighing several tons were crowded out OF the
water and lodged upon the land Thousands
of people watched the passage Of the ICE all
the afternoon.
By evening the river had risen - feet above
low water mark, the highest water since 1875,
and next day ii reached 81 feet above. By
this time the railroad tracks on the levee
reaching north from the L. p. bridge were
submerged with several extensive lumber
yards, smelling works, the Union Pacific shops
and pump house, and als6 the reservoir and
pump house being built for the Omaha water
works Then tho government riprap, about
eight hundred feet north of the smelling
works, gave way, owing to the accumulation
Of lake Of water on the inside, which broke
over into the river and In a few hours washed
out fifty feet The lake 10 about two feet high
er than the river, and the current through this
opening rushed down with irresistible force.
The whole bottom In front Of Council Bluffs
was covered with water as early M the Tth, and
by Sunday water was two or three feet deep
in most OF the streets. All thcrailroad tracks
leading from the east end Of the bridge were
so deeply submerged that for several days no
trains could pass through or leave Council
Bluffs On Sunday the two miles intervening
between the depot In Council Bluffs and the
Y. Z. transfer depot at the east end OF the
bridge were from two to four feet under water.
Five hundred persons in Council Bluffs were
driven out of their homes and were fed at the
expense Of the city. Since Monday, however,
the waters have rapidly reccded, SO that the
railroads are again running on time,
On Wednesday the food struck Atchison
and Kansas city. the tracks of the Hannibal
and II. 10, st. 10 and Council Bluffs. and of
the c. X. |. 4 Z. road at the former place be.
ing submerged about mile east OF the city
ana rendered impossible. At Kansas city the
rise en Wednesday reached 81 feet which Is
the highest water there since 1874 Harlem
fats are under water and the people are NOV
ing out. There was no real alarm at Kansas
city up TO Wednesday, bu. good deal Of un-
easiueSs.
There Is yet no dangerous aood threatened
in the Upper Mississippi but they feel any.
thing but comfortable at st. Louis and East
81 Louis on account of the food from the
Missouri. Tho water at last accounts was
within feet of high water mark al ST. Louis,
aud slowly rising. Tho transfer company Mt
East 81. Louis are removing their horses TO
higher ground on Bloody Island
Time was when ono OF the present Ottawa
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