Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-03-08
THE GREAT FLOOD.
Scenes In Arkansas Described by a
Commercial Traveller.
st. Louis Ne1rS.

st. Louis NetCs.
"To get an idea of the damage by the
flood In Arkansas, you ought to go there"
said Charles Weaver, a commercial traveller,
yesterday. 81 am a native of the State;
have such high opinion of 1t that my SYM
patty is enlisted in behalf Of the man who
was sent to jail for whipping a fellow who
had refused to comply with the resolution
of the Legislature, establishing the pronun-
citation Arkansaw, but when | arrived here
this morning felt as if should like to drink
with every policeman, ride in every hack,
and commune with the first lamp post on
my good fortune in being again within the
bounds OF civilization. Your city is muddy
ard dirty, but it is paradise In comparison
with a great portion Of Arkansas. Even
your riprap and macadam covered streets
seem to mutelY protest against the opinions
l have expressed of them. II is better to
endure them than to live on house-top In
Arkansas. Down there, for hundreds OF
miles out from Arkansas City, nothing is to
be seen but a broad expanse of water,
shaded by trees, and bearing RATS, floating
houses and skiffs. The country is a picture
of desolatiOn. The damage is incalculable.
"Nearly all the houses there were OF wood.
Many of them have been carried off, and
those yet in position are half covered with
water. AS the water rose In them the occu
pants built floors higher and higher. At.
Trippe Station, on the Little Rock and Mis-
sissippi Railroad, to which went, distance
of nine miles, in skiff through woods from
Arkansas City, saw people huddled on
temporarily constructed floors and peering
at me through holes in their house tops.
Others were living on the roofs of their
houses and sheltered by sheets and blankets
sire. ched over poles and in some cases by foil
age gathered in neighboring forests. A few
families had foreseen the food and built
RATS on which to live until It subsidized.
They were more fortunate than many 9TH
ers. But they, as well as Others, were
seriously incOmmoded by horses, cows,
dogs aud poultry, that took up goodly part
of the habitation. 1t was rather ludicrous
to see three or four families sleeping beside
pigs, dogs and COWS on foliage covered
raft tied to trees, while their houses were
sunk beyond view or were drifting away to
the river But the people | saw did not
complain of their lot. They worked hard
during the day TO save their cattle and
danced rude breakdowns in the evening to
the discordant notes of cracked fiddle
When l passed them they would yell: Il
sa-ay, Mister, hOw's yer s'plY o. cornbred
an bacin?'
"The cattle suffer more than the people.
saw hundreds of COWS and oxen and
horses and mules standing up to their
TANKS In water. They feed on twigs and
leaves gathered by their owners. The worst
scenes are near the bayOus, which abound
all through that country. These bayous,
generally shallow and not more than thirty
or forty feet wide, are now from mile and
a half TO two miles wide.
Every few railroad trains have been run
ming, Between Trippe Station and Pine
Bluff last Monday Little Rock and Mis-
sissippi train got water-bOund. The loco
motive plunged into the water till its fire
was quenched, and the floors of some OF
the cars were flooded. II had to stand still
for several hours till another locomotive
came and pulled the train back to the next
station. Some Of the passengers took skiffs,
but most of them returned whence they had
| come.
"There wasn't bit OF dry land to be
seen at Arkansas City last Sunday. On
Monday l was at Trippe Station. | had to
sleep on a half-submerged counter in the
sole store in the village, while several others
| slept on shelves aud dry goods boxes
| mOOred to the door-posts. During the day
we would white sticks and sell provisions
to patrons who came in dugouts and RATS.
| When we wanted our meals we would get
| on q raft and paddle up to the residence of
| Crenshaw, the proprietor of the store.
81 was told that the country for miles
around Terrene, the town at the mouth Of
| White river, was completely under water,
| and that houses at Terrene were tied to
stakes driven deep in the ground to keep
them from floating away.
"There is one class OF men that do not
want the flood to subside-the raftsmen,
who are certain to make deal of money
| by selling logs brought to them by water.
About ten of chem demolished the founda-
lions of a church which had been occupied
by negroes, let it float away in the night,
I then caught it and put it, its wooden tower,
| bell and all other appurtenances on raft
| destined for the Mississippi