The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1882-03-30
MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.
In tho louisiana sugar RcglOn-A
DiscOmraginE Picture of Ruin and
DC~OlaeSOW.

In tho Louisiana sugar Regional
DiscOuraging Picture of Rain and
DcsOlasiOm.
[Baton Rouge Telegram to Chicago TImes.l
Your correspondent has been drifting down
the great river for more than . week, and
reached Baton Rouge tonight. There h Z
sameness about the spectacle, but It does mol
grow tiresome. Something 10 constantly aris.
ing TO relieve the monotony OF overmuch desc
la.ion. Villages, settlements, plantations and
corrals OF cabins are 70 be seen every few nilea
along the banks, half under water. Buildingd
on ground forty feet above the river ct loW
water can scarcely be seen now, the flood hav.
ing envsloped them. Great steamers drawing
ten feet Of water pillow across bars and
banks the tops OF which could be seen from
the pilot-houses In summer time. The
inhabitants OF the submerged settlement
cling TO their homes with tenacity and despera-
ton, determined not to 60 . long ~ there Ii Z
plank left to float on. At every landing refu-
gees from the interior arc taken on board.
Thcir Tocitals arc distressing IN the extreme
Many say they are ruined. and that they will
never return. Others curse their luck, but say
they will try il again. At Natchez the river il
only twenty-five mhes wide, narrower than n
any point south Of Columbus, Nv. The effects
Of the big breaks about Millken's bond are fell
for seventy-6ve miles down the rtver, and neas
vidalia, opposite Natchez other crevAsses Let
the water through on the land further down.
For twenty miles north and south Of the mouth
OF Red river the spectacle il even moro appall-
ing than at the mouths Of the Arkansas and
IT. Francis rivers.
Hero the damage n very great, not only "a
stock and machinery, but the growing crops q
we'll. Il takes three years to make sugar
crop, and an overflow means IT. entire ruin.
That ID what has como upon tho district de-
scribed. The water 10 By no means confined "a
the limits pointed ont, but that b - far - The
writer has been able 70 reach BY personal OBJ
servations and inquiry. The lower delta Of the
Mississippi. from Baton Rouge south, - all
bottom or dat land. The river 1t Baton Rouge
has nm elevation Of less than fifty feet above the
sea-lovel, and watrr emptied IN upon the land
below that point would scarcely know whsthss
to run up hill or down, unless pushed BY .
ing up behind 10 al that keeps the drift moving
toward the gulf, and the motion 10 ostentlmss
scarcely perceptible. The sluggishness Of tho
lower waters is the reason why the drainage OF
the upper river Ii not more rapid, and explains
why the river 10 so much slower falling than Il
h rising. The basin h full. and the incline u
% vsFy slight that tho water merely dribbles ont
over the top, where the crops are IN tho ground
In Afkanaas, Mississippi and Upper Louisiana.
Tho lower parishes will still be inn ID tied.
FEARS ION TIE rUTUn1-wHAT Will FOLLOW
!ns ILooD.
Daily contemplation mas rooDod the nood OF
many OF the horrors that appalled, the residents
- the early stages OF the deiuge, and the people
are already laying plans Tor the future ana De
termintng what they Will do whom the waters
suoside. What will he the result OF it all? ID
the question the Times CORE spondent has been
asking everybody with whom ne has been in
contact whose views were worth having. Will
the planters lie down. or will they raise cotton
crop this year in spite OF tho calamity that has
visited tllem2 III manv instances the reply II
that the country il ruined, and that nothing r..
mains to do but move out aud abandon the light.
The coo,er-headed and moro thouehtful men
talk d,6erently. and are not % cast down.
They louk the catartrophe souartly in the fsce
ana canvass the situation logically. Az long ayo
A. last July. tho Lanks OF New Orleans 81,
| Louis and New York cut down their lines 81
dirconnt WITH the Mississippi valley and Other
cotton-raising districts about ope third. Bor-
rowrrs in the cyoriowed s,stions NAV look 70,
still further drawing at not less ii an 20 pel
cent. making curtailment OF It least 50 bel
sent. ON their borrowing leverage IN hin,
months. Beside this, many are disposed /.
L u. - -