The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-04-05
SP RING
Up the Mississippi in a Flood.

great Mississippi Valley during the pres
ent overflow. March 18th left Bayou |
Teche, and from the deck of the steamer |
John NJ. Chambers witnessed sight that |
hope may never see again. For two |
days and nights travelled through a coun- |
try that had been transformed into an |
ocean. In case of shipwreck ones chance |
of escape, in mid ocean would be as good
as in that place.
Houses where people were trying to
live on temporary floor raised above the
water and when women and little chill
dren looked out on the dreary waste of
water had not one foot ofdry ground for
fifty miles around them. Horses, cattle,
and hogs were confined on log RATS with
nothing to eat except branches cut from
trees and Spanish Moss. They were not
fat and happy either. Cattle by the thou
sand have died in>the woods and many
will die on RATS unless removed by the
boats. A forlorn starving dog had found
a cheerless resting place in the branches
of tree and cat drifted by on log. A
flock of sheep were huddled together in
the roots of a big tree with the water fast
closing in around them. A man in a skiff
called, Captain, please slow your boat
The waves will wash into my house"
Three women and some children occupied
the house where the waves from a passing
steamboat could wash the floor. The noise
of water gurgling inside and outside of a
frail wooden tenement at night, would not
be very conducive to pleasant dreams,
imagine. A cottage, where roses bloomed
and the sweet honey suckle twined about
the porch, stood open and deserted with
water running over the floor and the gar
den fence two-thirds under water. At SP.
N. the boat landed at Plaquemime to take
in a hundred hogsheads of sugar. The
first land we had seen since leaving Teche,
in the morning. At 2 A. NJ. swoke with
noise that 1 do not appreciate about boat,
especially at night Going on deck it ap-
peared to my inexperienced eyes that our
efficient captain had gone crazy and that
he was taking his boat on a wild cruise
through the tree tops with all the lights
turned on the weird scene. The high wa
ter made it convenient for the captain to
use narrow "cut OFF, and the noise was
occasioned by the willows scraping the
sides of the boat. The pine torches flash
ed and the glaring headlights penetrated
the dark wall of forest trees on every side
and by degrees, the way opened for the
boat and presently she steamed out into
wider channel. 1 retired feeling conf
dent that Capt Muggah knew more about
steamboating than l did, and that the
Pilot would not need me to help steer the
boat The second morning the boat land
ed for wood at Butte la Rose, the site of
a Confederate fort during the war, and the
only land above water for miles, at pres
ent. Cattle, horses and hogs contested the
sacred rights of the neglected graves. A
rat treed by the Clerk held the situation.
1t was bloodless victory for the rat, in
spite of the wasted ammunition and super
ior intelligence and strength of the enemy,
the popular clerk of the Chambers. The
captain told me that the present flood at
the mouth of the River was 431z #. above
the low water mark of last October and
this is in prairie country with swamps
interviewer with a net work of lakes and
bayous The water pours out through the
Atchafalaya river with tremendous pow
er. The levees are in ruins and the water
rushes across the country submerging
plantations, snd obIiterating the pilots
land marks, and rendering navigation
very dangerous The government has not
yet placed lights along this stream so that
boats are obliged to tie up at night. Every
officer of the boat watches until the Atcha-
falaya is passed. An old river captain
now dead, once said to me that: "He nev-
er allowed pilot to take his boat through
the x-bows of the Atchafalaya. He took
the wheel himself" Not long since Capt.
Eads said that one-sixth of the whole vol
ume of the Mississippi finds an outlet
through this channel and that in time
il would become the main stream. Then
New Orleans would find herself no longer
port of entry for sea going vessels. Vir-
tually the Atchafalya was not tributary
of the Mississippi river now. 1t will take
wise heads and gold mine to circumvent
all the willy tricks of the Mississippi river
if is ever done at all. The third morning
our boat entered into the broad turbulent
river, "The Father of Waters" We pass
ed the beautiful homes of the planters, not
standing there was only frail and of,
times crumbling levee between them and
destruction. The waves caused by pass
ing steamboat, an eddy near the shore and
many other things equally small could
break the weak barrier and let the horri
BILE flood down upon them. How the peo
cied security is more than can conceive
At Pointe Coupee crevasse the water rushes
out making noise like freight train and
am told that in five minutes after break
occurs every land mark is obliterated Il
the people are able to save their lives it is
all they can do. The end of these miser
les is not yet The water in the overflowed
country of the Atchafalaya river and Grand
Lake is still rising at the rate of 8 inches
per day. Then when water falls montf
or six weeks hence there will remain the
filthy sediment and dead fish under thu
tropical heat of that latitude to breed sick
ness and death for these impoverished
people. Many of them were poor befor'
the overflow. They had settled there Il
chop and get out wood and logs and wer
fighting an unequal warfare with povert.
and malaria, and their condition is doub
ly dsplorable now. Capt Muggah will
his characteristic noble generosity offer
to deliver gratis anything that is sent t
these people, many of whom he know
personally and calls good fellows" havin
hard time. Happy Town" overfiowed
I certainly did not look remarkably happy