The Iola register., 1883-07-06
TRE GREAT FLOOD.


/ 8ne 0ueOe9tppt 10nn8 Dh0Wty Uno Oouns
denes Being Rsstorsd-Ths Worst
Thought to be Over.
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, June q.
After rising for twenty-six days, and
reaching the highest stage of water known
since 1853, the Mississippi, to the gratidca.
ton of all, is subsiding slowly. At six
O'Clock yesterday evening It aad fallen one
inch, when the Government gauge at the
| foot of Market street registered thirty-four
| feet nine inches. The decline will proba-
bly, not be rapid, but will be sufficient to
greatly lessen the danger Of tho situation
when the anticipated "June rise" comes.
The kilograms from Upper Missouri River
points bring information that the rise from
the mountains has begun, but over week
must pass before the effect will be felt in
the neighborhood Of st. Louis. 1t is the
| opinion of many of the river men that the
worst of the flood Of 1883 has been seen.
In East st. Louis the news that the river
had commenced falling caused universal
rejoicing. The situation yesterday was
considered more favorable, and it is gen.
orally believed that the worst is over. No
further danger is feared unless there should
be heavy rise. Every dangerous point
about the town is well protected against
any possible influx Of water, and work
goes ON constantly. While elated over the
change, citizens and railroad officials are
as vigilant as ever, and prepared for any
emergency. At Bowman's dixie yesterday
everything appeared safe. The water in
the slough had gone down three inches
since Monday morning, and the fall was
II th<D ;l-a -
considerably above the sweeping water,
and it will require a heavy rise to cause any
weakening. Cahokia Creek was higher,
however, caused by the influx Of water
from the breaks at Venice and Brooklyn.
The current was quite swift, and for the
first time in four days running in its nat
ural direction down stream.
In the region known as the Willows"
and at different points on Bloody Island,
the inundation is extensive, and many
houses, nearly 400, are still in deep water.
Some families have been obliged to leave
their homes and take quarters in box cars
ON the railroad tracks.
The leak at Jarrett's Station has been
stopped and no danger is feared for East
st. Louis in case Of the embankIhent being
cut In the old railroad yards, midway
between the Relay Depot and the junction,
there is water over all the tracks. A dixie
about two feet and half high was built
between the two west tracks and those east
of them. On the east side of this dixie
there were four inches of water, and on the
west side about twice as much. The water
was rising steadily last night, but having
very nearly found a level, there was no
perceptible motion to it. The principal
danger along the line of the Alton Road is
from the ground moles, which, driven from
their usual haunts by the water, have made
their way to the road-bed, the only dry
ground they can reach. They are in count
less numbers, and are continually burrow-
ing and loosening the track below its sur
face, so as to concentrate in springs the
water seeping through. Probably from
the result of these borrowings an alarming,
though not serious, break below the water
line occurred yesterday afternoon, about a
mile above the junction. An extra force
of men and a liberal supply of sand-bags
stopped the flow and restored confidence.
Later reports from the flooded farming
region to the north and south of East st.
Louis show that hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of ripening crops have been
destroyed and hundreds of farmers ruined.
A great number of families have been left
absolutely homeless.
Yesterdays slight decline made practi-
cally no change at Venice. George Ed
monds, of Newport, created somewhat of a
sensation by reporting the finding of a
drowned man near the Chicago q Alton
track. Coroner Youree summoned jury,
before whom the dead body was identified
as that of Fred Rabish, who was drowned
while bathing last Sunday. A verdict of
accidental drowning was returned.
In response to a call for help Capt. Will
liam Roberts, of the Madison County Ferry
Company's car-transfer steamer McMullin,
took his boat to Chouteau Island and
brought away lot of stock. The voyage
was made up Ciouteau's Slough for the
first time that it has been navigated
by a steamboat within the last twen-
ty years. A much-traveled highway,
which before the flood ran across from the
main land to the island, was hedged with a
growth OF tall willow trees, and the steam
er went along over their switch tops on her
journey of mercy. Capt. Roberts says
were coming out of Chouteau Bottom, on
the main land, through cuts they
had made in the Madison County
levee, inside of which the
water is three feet higher than the Missis-
sippi. The force of these streams, it is
water from the Missouri River that
drives its way right across the Mississippi,
emptying into the main ana original break
of the levee at Madison.
Immense Loss Above Chester.
EAST CARoNpELEr. ILL.,, June 20.
The river at this point came to a stand
last night, since when it has fallen three
inches, a fact hailed with great joy by our
people who, for the last ten days have lived
in painful suspense, hedged in On every
side by the threatening waters. 1t is now
confidently felt by all that the crisis
is past. Further south, in the vicinity
of Fish Lake, the ruin wrought by the
waters simply beggars description. At tho
eastern end of the dixie, which crosses the
lake, is narrow strip of land connecting
two ridges across which the farmers of the
had constructed temporary
levee, which up to twelve o'clock yesterday
held the water back from about GOO acres
of corn, potatoes and wheat. For seven
days and nights the farmers have battled
in the hope that just this little spot at least
might possibly be saved, but all their eff
forts proved fruitless. The water steadily
crept up the crumbling banks, and at noon
the workers threw down their shovels, as
the waters burst through, laying waste the |
last of the crops.
In the vicinity of Smiths Landing, Har.
Chester and Grand Tower, the
situation was but a duplicate of that pre-
sented in the Fish Lake country. The
entire bottoms from East st. Louis to
Chester on the Illinois side and from st. !
Mary's to Bailey's Landing on the Missouri |
side being inundated, save an occasional |
knoll here and there.
In an interview with Mr.. Welsh, ex.
Sheriff of Randolph County, it was learned |
that the st. Mary's levee, opposite Chester,