Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-02-23
THE FRESHET.
Devastation and Ruin Wide
spread.
Dangerous Breaks in the Missis-
sippi Levees.
Large Sections Of Country Inun-
dated.
Great Damage to Northwestern
Railroads

ST. Louis, February 21.-The
weather turned very cold about two
o'clock this morning, and mercury
sank several degrees below freeziug
point between that hour and day
light. The ground is frozen very
hard. The river has risen over five
feet since last evening, and is now
274 feet high. The total rise since
Sunday is about II feet. The rise
is much slower now than yesterday,
and the water will prooa-
bly begin to fall by to-mor>
row. Railroad travel is still
very much interrupted. The only
roads which sent out trains this
morning were the Ohio and AIissis-
sippi, Cairo Short Line, st. Louis
and San Francisco and Vandaiia. The
last named used the Ohio and Missis
sippi track to Oden, thence by the
Illlnois Central to its own road. The
only train from Chicago this morn
ing arrived over the Vandalia road,
and the only eastern train come
in by the same line. The in
coming trains on all the other
roads were utterly abandoned or
have been indefinitely delayed. The
Chicago and Alton, Chicago, Bur-
llngt0n and Quincy, and lndianap-
oils and st. Louis trains are stopped
at Wood River, about twenty miles
from here, and have washouts, bad
bridges or overfowed tracks at
various other places. The Vandalia,
and Louisville and Nashville tracks
are flooded at Silver Greek
and other places, The Wabash
and eastern division has trouble be-
yond Alton, and the western division
mad bad land slide between here
and the Missouri River at st. Charles.
On the Missouri Pacific there are
several land slides within five miles
of the city, and considerable of the
track is ove,howed The Keokuk
and st. Louis Road is also under
water in several places. The Iron
Mountain Road, besides the land
slide reported last night, has
an extensive washout about
sixteen miles below the ty. The
st. Louis aud San Francisco Rail
road has suffered no Serious damage,
and trains have not been stopped.
The rise in the river here is salu, by
the oldest steambUatmen, to be un-
precedented. No such amount of
water was ever known to come down
So suddenly. The ram tail amounted
to within l7.1O0th OF an inch Of as
much as the average fall for an en-
tire winter for the past eleven years.
1.-The telegraph lines west Of here are
still pros,ra,ed.
MEMPB1s, Tenn, Februry 2I.-A
dis patch from Helena, Ark, dated
last night, says: The situation re-
mains unchanged. The liver has
been at stand for the past twenty
four hours. The water in the CITY
continues rising, and is now over
! North Main street, at the Pres
by terian Church Al mills and work
shops III the lower part of the city
have suspended operations, and
many laborers are thrown out Of
employment. A few more days of
such distress will leave many in
actual want. The only means of
communication between Nam street
and West Helena Is b, sklffs, for which
there is great demand. Buslnessis at
a standstill there are no transac-
lions III the mercantile circles except
for the actual necessaries of lite. At
many points between this city and
Vicksburg the river is II
inches higher than was ever
known before. This is &C
counted for by the fact that the
Mississippi River has overfowed its
banks above Osceola, Ark 80 miles
up the river, and large volume of
.. water pours through that country
into the head waters of the st.
Francis River, and again finds its
way back into the mann stream Is
mics above Helena, where the st.
Francis River empties into the Mis-
sissippi. Every plantation between
Memphis and Friar's Point, Mis-
sissippl, is submerged, and
the water extends back from either
shore fifteen miles. The planters
are enduring great hardships from
the loss of stock by drowning. In
nearly all the overfowed sections the
stock is suffering. What were saved
are kept huddled together on hastily
built platforms.
V1cKsBURa, MISS, February %
The Evening Commercial publishes
the following: From Col. d. G
Pepper, passenger on the Anchor
Line of STEAMERS, from Helena, thii
morning, we learn the discouragine
particulars concerning the devasta'
, ZION and wide-spr cad ruin cause
. the breaking of the levees along the
river from Memphis to Greenville
! The latest breaks in Tunica County
t are at Trotter and Gordon,
r mile and half below Yazoo
Pass, and in Coahana County, at
: Wards Lake, at the opening in the
5 Louis Swamp, large volume O
} water is going through to Sunhowel
) Bottoms. There was temporary
! levee at Trotter's Ridge, which is al
gone, This levee joined the mair
one on Col. Edward Richardson,
place, above Hushapukana. and from
the latter place down to the breal
: above Mead's place in BOLIVIA
County, the water is higher thai
ever known, and in many place.
above the main land it is only KEEP
r out by small ridges being throw
, up on the outer edges OF the levees
with dirt taken from the inside por