Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-07
AND RUIN.

DESOLATION AND RUIN.
The Mississippi River Still Rising Inn
mense Damage to Farm P~roperty-Peo-
pie Fleeing to the Highlands for Safety.
ST. LOUIS, Mo-, June rs.
The catastrophe that has been impending
here for several days has at last occurred.
The Madison levee broke at IN early hour
Saturday morning, and all the country be-
tween the towns of Venice and Mitchell,
ILL.,, lying north of East St. Louis, are under
water. Not only are the crops totally de-
stroyed, but the rush of water has torn and
cut the land to pieces, so that if the water
should recede Immediately the face of the
country will be so changed as to be almost
unacceptable.
The territory into which the water is now
rushing is the richest in the State of Illinois.
1t has very few acres that are not in the
highest state of cultivation. Germans prin-
cipally have possession of the land, and till
It to perfection. Their farms are highly i'm
proved with fine fences, fine two-story resi-
dences of brick or frame, and excellent
barns and other out-houses in keeping with
the main building. All kinds of crops
are raised, . the principal products,
however, being garden truck, wheat
and corn. In the productive region
indicated, there are three townships.
The levee thrown around them is somewhat
of an an oval shape in its general outline.
On the west is the Mississippi River; at the
east there is Horseshoe Lake to be guarded
against, as that body of water becomes a
part of the river in times of a flood. The
river levee follows the berds of the stream,
and the land it protects between Venice and
Alton is divided by the indianapolis & St.
Louis, the Wabash, and the Chicago & Al
ton Railroads.
Two crevasses were opened at the same
time. Those who saw the breaks say that a
great wall of water, nearly twenty feet high,
country was converted into a lake. Many
families, hoping against hope, still stuck to
their little homes in the lowlands, feeling
almost as if to abandon them would be to
abandon their hope of getting a livelihood.
All they had in the world was
there, and they ching to it to the
last moment. When the breaks oc-
CURED this morning the waves
flashed over the land like an electric shock,
and in an instant the flight of the people to
the bluffs began. Mothers gathered their
children and, while fled in nearly every in
stance fathers stayed behind to battle with
the rushing waters and, if possible, save
something OF their property. AS yet no loss
of life is reported, but in the great excite
ment that now exists the extent of the ca
lamity can not yet be told. The twenty-five
miles of dirt wall (for the levee was very
little more) have held in check a great vol
ume of water that has for three days
past been s~eething through in many
places and threatening to tear down the bull
wark and pour in upon the country
homes and villages Of the valley. In these
towns and hamlets there was a population
of 5000 souls. The country they occupied
embraces the townships of Venice, Chouteau
and Nameoko. The break in the levee in
undates about 1900 acres of land. The
Chicago & Alton Railroad embankment now
stands between the great flood and about
1900 acres more. Ii the water gets over
the railroad embankment it will meet with
but feeble resistance in its flow toward the
city OF East st. Louis. Bowman dyke is
the bulwark upon which the citizens of
East st. Louis base their hopes, and every
energy is being exerted to strengthen
it. The sum Of 500, 900 would not
repair the damage done already, and the
end is not yet. A messenger from that por-
ton of the American bottom lying south of
East st. Louis, brought news last night
that what is known as the Fish Lake dyke
had broken. The break is one hundred and
fifty feet wide. 1t turned the Mississippi
with a mighty rush over ten thousand acres
of farms. When the weak spot was discov-
cred, a battle with the waves commenced
that was terrific in its earnestness. For ten
hours preceding the final catastrophe a hun
dred men hurled in sand-bags and carloads
OF coal in the hope thatthe dyke could yet
be saved. Hundreds of people-men, women
and children-gathered from the surrounding
country, their haggard faces too plainly de-
picting the solicitude they felt for their
homes and fields. Had the workmen sue
ceeded in holding this point an area of tif-
teen square miles would have been saved.
No ooner did the break occur than the
widest excitement prevailed. The farmers
fastened to their homes to look after the
safety Of their household effects, stock and
families. In every direction the bright moon
light revealed men and women carrying
their children in their arms, while the
dreadful roar OF approaching waters added
CONSERVATION. Strong men fairly. wept to
see their fields of grain, in many instances
all they had in the world, bending before
the destructive tide which swept across them
with terrific force. The roar could be dis
tinctly heard for a mile. All night long the
panic-stricken inhabitants hurried to and
fro trying to get their families and stock to
higher land. The destruction and loss re-
sulting from these disasters have no prece-
dent in the history of this part of the coun-
try. Men who were worth thousands of
dollars are now ruined. The individual
losses in many cases will add up by thou
sands. The total loss in the aforementioned
disaster is estimated at 800, 600.
Advices and dispatches from different
points on the Missouri River say that nearly
all bottom lands are inundated, and that
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of
crops have been destroyed, and thousands
upon thousands of acres of splendid farms
laid waste. The same kind of reports
come from places sson. the Mississippi be-
tween here and Cairo.
The river at Kansas City is twenty-three
feet two inches above low water. More
driftwood appeared in the current Sunday
than heretofore. All trains left tonight
except on the Wabash, the Council Bluffs,
and the Burlington to Denver. Trains on
these three have been abandoned for a week
or more. The river had risen seven inches
at L~eavcnworth in twen-y-four hours, and
eight at st. Joseph.
Gre ye Cpur ala tra,4p ,o;loc wood 20