The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-06-27
A WATERY WASTE
S 'he far-famed and Fertile Anne ericau
Bottom.
eeopie Fleeing Before the Flood for
Their Lives,
Leaving all Else to the Wrath of the
Wave.
Inc Losses Reaching Into the rriple
Cyphers.
The Crisis About Reached-To-dav
Tells the Tale.
The Situation at the Mound City and
Vicinity.
IN
The Situation at the Mound CITY and
Vicinity.
Driflwsod From the Raging Carrent

ST. Louis, June S.-Advices from Ches
ter, Randolph county, Illinois say: St
Mary's levee, opposite this point in Mis-
souri, broke Sunday night and the st
Mary's bottom, q large wheat region. |,
now nearly all flooded. II Is said that 20.
0oo acres OF wheat are under water on thi,
Dottem alone. From Chester to Crane
rover, southward on the Illinois side, a
distance OF twenty-five miles, with an aver.
age width OF ten miles, nearly all is sub
merged and crops destroyed. To the north
of Chester nearly all the way up TO a.
Louis, the bottom is said to be inundated
except here aud there high ridge out o
water. Information from all this region is O
general rather than of a specific character,
but 1t is safe to say II all the bottoms are
deluged as stated, thousands of families are
either living in Hooded houses or have fled
10 the bluffs for safety, and that the loss &c
crops and general farm property is almost
incaculable. The bottom extends from
Alton something over 200 miles, a large
part of which is thickly settled. All thi.
great tract is subject to overflow in freshet,
like the present, and 1t can be readily
imagined that the loss OF property
and distress and misery brought or
the inhabitants must be immense. The
town OF st. Marys, on the Missouri side Of
the river. is partly submerged, and Kaska
sio. on the Illinois side, is to be abandoned,
the people there having sent to Chester fol
a steamboat to carry them away. A levee
three miles above Cape Girardeau, MIS-.
souri, about fifty miles above Cairo, and an
other at Prices landing, twenty-five miles
further down the river, broke Sunday night
n nj w NJ
the bottom. Other points on both sides Of
the river below here, but particularly on
the Illinois side, are in about the same con.
dition as above described, and 1t may be
said that pretty much all bottom land be
tween here and Cairo has more or less water
on it. From the best information the
river is falling slowly in East st. Louis, or
the river side OF the Chicago & Alton track,
and still rising out on the bottom east o
tnat embankment. The fall, If any, 1,
small but ii is enough to create strong
hopeful feeling that the worst is past, and
that gradual subsistence ofthe flood will now
take place.
The situation at East st. Louis and OF
the bottoms toward the north, presents nc
noticeable change. From Brooklyn L
Venice on the river bank northward Il
Newport and Mitchell. On both sides O
the Chicago & Alton embankment, anc
from thence along the Vandalia
track eastward thence north M
the bottom for a dozei
miles or more, there is nothing but broa(
expanse of water. The scene is on,
of desolation and ruin. Perhaps there il
not q farm in all this region, from here t
the bluffs that is not submerged, and onl,
here and there can bit Of land be seen
where the top of a knoll higher than tn,
common level above the water. Some dis
tance north OF Mitchell the bottom rise.
and as Alton is approached, where the blut
touches the river, some of the land has es
capped inundation. Threa-fourths of Brook
lvn is under water; only one street In
Venice and bit OF high ground in tn,
north part OF the town. are above the flood
level. In East st. Louis all lowlaud |.
inunda.ed from ten 10 one hundred and
twenty feet, and hundreds of houses
within the city limits have theil
lower floors Hooded and many
OF their second-stories. South ofthe city
the bottom for an indefinite distance, in.
cluding the villages of East Carondelet
Cahokie and other small hamlets, are sub
merged. All farms Tor miles down the
river are under water; crops are destroyed
and farmers who owned or rented them
scattered along the ridges and bluffs, seek
ing shelter wherever they can find IL.
Many OF these poor people are in desti.
tute condition, and wholly dependent on
the charity OF others, and will have to pe
fed for some time to come, The loss by
the destruction of crops and other property
can not be be stated with any accuracy nor
even approximation. No specific
information is yet at hand on which to base
reliable calculation, but there is hardly a
doubt that the aggregate loss in the
American bottom between Alton and Cairo
will run into the millions. Advices from
the southeastern section OF st. Charles
county, Missouri In the region Of Portage
des Sioux, give individual losses of about
100 farmers, which aggregate over sec, 600
These range from $1,000 to $5,.
900, and represent wheat and
corn. No account Is being taken
OF other property destroyed or greatly dam.
aged, except in less than half dozen cases
The total loss in this section alone is esti
mated at 100000. Very little live stock
has been lost, the animals having been
driven to the high ground In time TO be
saved. Reports from Alton about the los.
OF cattle ON the American bottom below
there are simply ridiculous. II is not q
cattle.raising section, and probably there
are not so many cattle on the whole bottom
as are reported lost.
LArER.--The river has actually
fallen one inch to-day. There
is general rejoicing on both
sides Of the stream. Everybody looks
for a pretty rapid decline OF water
and all have strong hopes that
1t will go down far enough before the June