The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-03-31
MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.
an the Louisiana sugar RsgiOn-A
DiscOuraging Picture of R,lin and
DesOIatiOn,

reached Baton Rouge Tonight There Is q
saTaeness about the spectacle, but it does not
grow tiresorie. Something is constantly ara
ing to relieve the monotony Of oVermuch desO-
! lation. Villages settlements, plantations and
corrals OF cabins are to be seen every few mills
along the banks, half under water. Building,
ON ground forty feet above the river at low
water can scarcely be seen now, the flood hay-
| ing enveloped them. Great steamers drawing
ten feet of water pillow across bars and
banks the tops of which could be seen from
the pllot-hou8es IN summer time. The
| inhabitants of the submerged settlements
| cling to their homes with tenacity and despera-
ton, determined not to so IS long as there is q
plank left to float on. At every landing lefu.
gees from the interior are taken on board.
Their recltals are distressing in the extreme
Many say they are ruined and that they will
| never return Others curse their luck but say
they will try 1t again. At Natchez the river is
| only twenty-five miles wide, narrower than at
any point south of Columbus, Ky. The effects
of the big breaks about Mll1ken's bend are felt
Tor seyenty-hve miles down the river. and near
Fldalla, opposite Natchez, other creyasses let
the water through on the land further down.
For twenty miles north and south of the mouth
| of Red river the spectacle is even more appalI-
lug than at the mouths Of the Arkansas and
st. Francis rivers
Here the damage is very great not oulyto
well. 1t takes three years to make sugar
crop, and an overflow means its entire ruin.
That Is what has come upon the district de-
scrlbed. The water is by no means confined to
the limits pointed out, but that Is as far as the
writer has been able to reach by personal OBJ.
sergations and inquiry. The lower delta of the
Mississippi. from Baton Rouge south, is all
bottom or fiat land. The river at Baton Rouge
has an elevation of less than fifty feet above the
sea-leVel, and water emptied in upon the land
below that point would scarcely know whether
to run up hill or down, unless pushed by a
power behind The force of the volume COM
| ing up behind Is all that keeps the drift moving
| toward the gulf, and the motion is oftentlmes
scarcely perceptible The sluggishness of tho
| lower waters is the reason why the drainage of
the upper river is not more rapid, and explains
why the river is SO much slower falling than it
is rising. The basin is FULL and the incline is
so very slight that the water merely dribbles out
over the top, where the crops are IN the ground
In Arkansas. Mississippi and Upper louisiana
The lower parishes will still be inundated.
| FEARS FOR THE FUTURE-WTtAT Will. FOLLOW
THE FLOOD.
Daily contemplation has robbed the food OF
many of the horrors that appalled, the residents
III the early stages Of the deluge, and the people
are already laying plans for the future and de-
termlnlng what they will do when the waters
subside. What will be the result of it all? is
the question the Times correspondent has been
asking everybody with whom he has been in
contact whose views were worth having Will
| the planters lie down, or will they raise cotton
crop this year i'll spite of the calamity that has
visited them? In many instances the reply is
/ that the country is ruined and that nothing re-
mains to do but move out ind abandon the fight.
The cooler-headed and more thoughtful men
talk differently, and are not so cast down.
They look the catastrophe squarely in the face
and canvass the Situation logically. AS long ago
as last July, the banks of New Orleans, St.
| Louis and New York cut down their lines of
discount with the Mississippi valley and other
| cotton-raising districts about ne-thrd Bor-
roWers III the overfloWed stations may look for
! still further drawing of not less til an 90 per
cent, making curtailnent of at least so per
cent. on their borrowing leverage IN nine
months. Beside this, many are disposed to
anticipate an entire failure of this years crop.
! Thousands and tens of thousands of
head OF stock have been entirelv
destroyed and fences and buildings and farm
machinery washed away or ruined by the
wholesale. That is the bleak and discouraging
side of the picture, There is another and
brighter SIDE Unle there should be acontinu-
/ alton OF the extraordinary and protracted rain
fall that occasioned the flood the water at and
| below Cairo will pass away by the LIST of Nav.
| leaving the land in splendid condition for plant
ing. 1t is an established fact that cotton on
overftoWed land will require q full month less
OiIi4S " ll1dGut6 budn pIIuleu Oh QtV laQQ.
| The sediment left by the receding water inn
parts marvellous terminating force to tie
soil, and vegetation advances with as
| tonlsh1ng rapidity. The water leaves the
land IN splendid condition for cultivation, ard
but SO per cent. of the labor usually required
to plant crop will be needed this spring for
the WORK. There is the best authority for the
| statement that cotton and corn planted on
oYerfiowed land about the middle of May will
yield line crop, unless something unusual
should arise to prevent its natural develop
nleat. 1t will be seen that the situation, while
full Of discouraging features, is by no means
desperate. The river country has amazing re-
Operative power, and a good crop will go FAR
| toward repairing the damage resulting from
the flood and restoring the credit of The land
owners and producing classes
The Waters Slowly Abating.
The Chicago Times correspondent telegraphs
from Helena, Ark, as follows "Every heart
seems weary and saddened by the distress that
surrounds the city. There is nothing thought
of except the relief of the sufferers, and every
one here has done his part in sllccoring and
helping the afflicted. The stratus remain I'M
changed in this section. The water fails very
slowly, contrary to the expectations of every
one and it is feared that it will remain mp
some weeks longer. It has become
monotonous sight to every eye.
Commissioner Mangum cannot fulfill all the
demands coming from individuals and from
the mass. In Desha county the sufferings seem
to be very great These advlces come from
Arkansas City, where the greater portion of
distress is situated. But few supplies have
reached them, the greater number being dis
tributed at other points. Rations are eagerly
prayed for as the suffering is great, and help
must reach them from some quarter.
! A gentleman in conversation told the
rr~itCY. 4,o4 abr
| people without food or money, and
unable to help themselves in the present state
of affairs. He was then on his way to Mem
phis to see what arrangements he could make
to alleviate the condition of his neighbors.
| From all parts the same accounts of misery are
told. Cattle and mules are dying. and have
died by hundreds. Human beings and ami
mails are housed together, the humans willing
to share their very last with their horses and
other animals, not only from affection but for
the intrinsic value they set upon them. A
gentleman who has visited the distressed
regions remarked that the dogs looked
more prosperous and IN better con-
dition than the people themselves. The gnats
are becoming greater pest every day. They
are having most fatal effect, and will continue
for some time. 1t is as great a calamity as the
flood. Lieuts. Satterlee and Richards visited
the overfowed region around this place. They
have already visited other portions of the
Hooded country, and say that the horrors are
not in any way exaggerated They have es-
timated that the number of people requiring to
be fed is In Phillips county, 5000; Monroe
county, 600; Chieot county, 8, 900; Desha county,
$500. These gentlemen give most graphic
pictures of what they have seen and expe-
rienced. Lieut.. Richards left for Mississippi
county, and Lieut.. Satterlee for Lee county, to
make personal investigation of distribution of
supplies. In Tacoma Circle, particularly rich
and lourishing section, great suffering exists
Houses are being used for the refuge of both
cattle and human beings. The steamer Dick
Jones, just returned from Sunk Lands, reports
the horrors more and more terrible. The
people were still eating drowned carcasses and
some few little boiled corn"
A St. Louis dispatch says ''About $4,000
in money and large amounts of provisions and
clothing have been raised here for the benefit
OF the overflow sufferers on the Mississippi
river Capt Lee, in charge of the Government
relief expedition up the Sunfower and Yazoo
rivers, estimates the loss OF hogs total III the
lazoo country, the loss of cattle fully rs per
cent, and the fencing, with many of the small
er houses, destroyed"
A telegram from Natchez, Miss, reports !:
Natchez is crowded with refugees and droves
of stock are passing through town. Parties
from the neighborhood of Lake Concordia and
Tensas river report great restitution. The