The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-03-10
the QUESTION OF FLOODS
The Lessons of the Recent Startling Events
on the Mississippi, the seine, the Rhine
the Danube and the Ohio.

~ the past Twelve MONTHS NJ w WIG ''N>
OF distributing the channels OF rivers, ana
- the need. O! new and more ample ana Ell
tectiye means for clearing them, is not on
" folly, but it is criminal and superIa-
tive folly, and also the obstruction OF inc
lsbors and lives of vast numbers OF our
fellow mortals; and the impcverishmcnt
Of the general mass of humanity, increas-
ing far and vide all the evils OF poverty
and want.
IN the floods OF 1892 february aud
March last the Lower Mississippi rose to
a height of five, or six feet higher than ev-
Va cr known and nothing but The vast area
submerged prevented TIC. food level from
being carried vastly higher
Then. early In December OF the same
year, came the astonishing news that Paris
was inundaad, BY a food unprecedented
in history. TLcu, IN less than n month
thereafter, the old aud beautiful cities o!
the Rhine, that had never dreamed OF
danger from this cause, were inundated,
land some almost destroyed. 80, TOO, on
lthe Danube uncluding the great capital
lVicnna) and It's lower Tributaries.
- n is said the food on The Rhine was 30
or 40 feet higher than ever known In his
tory. And, whatever the figures may
show, it certainly was unprecedented.
Then, IN the next month comes the fear
ful food on the Ohi., SURPRISING any in
history. And great is the danger that
March may snow the worst ever known on
the Mississippi. And in all these cases,
both 10 our own and other lsnds, the
Z misery and woe have inevitably fur OK.
coed the accounts we have had. I'm
doubtedly vast numbers OF brave and
good men, tender women, and helpless
children, have been reduced from comfort,
or even wealth, to the dire extremity of
poverty and want. Yet nature has not
been especially severe in her moods and
J we kn9w,vsry we'll that the rainfall in tie
Mississippi basin, preceding and during
the great flood in the Lower Missssippl;
was ma, very extraordinary, and has often
been greatly exceeded within the memory
of those now living. So probably IN Eu
ropa And 80 in China where ut laA a
climax appears 10 be at hand, from the
elimination Of the errors of ages, that Is
fsrcing their needy population ont upon
the worid--to the worlds injury-and es-
tablishng the direst poverty, famine, and
unspoalqablc, unthinkable woe, in the most
fertile parts Of that great empire, that can
only be relnedled by the worlds meeting
this question of foods as 1t should.
Our consul at Tien Tsln, China, in ha
report to our U. s. Government, dated Oct
18th, 1873, refers to the flood IN september
Of That year. and saysit is the third year
in succession in which that province had
been thus afflicted, and that there had been
twenty similar disasters In the century
aIfecedlng his report He says, "rhe
boundlcss plain that was seen OH the
morning of Sept. 10th, covered with ripen
Ing crops, was transformed Ia the after
noon TO a watcry waste, with nothing but
deserted houses to relieve the eye. Over
twenty thousand square miles OF country
IRE now inundated, and will, during the
winter, appear like frozen sea-" Thus 1t
10 apparent that the works Of the eugin-
GERS have, in the nam, led on 70 get OF
constantly increasing disasters, and this
from China to the Mississippi.
Everywhere the principal dependence
And everywhere little or nothing has been
done to clear the channels of the rivers
And everywhere very much has been done
70 obstruct them; by various works, by
wrecks and rubbish. ard by the deposl,e
Of silt and eartay material induced by un
natural, unnecessary changes, forced upon
the free flowing waters Tie power of the
rivers to overcome, BY their own natural
forces, the effect of these distractions, is 50
great that II has been overtaxcd. Natures
fixed laws, established by The supreme
wisdom, resents the abuse Of her powers,
and enters her protest In unmistakable
terms And the time has come 10 heed
the protest of the mighty floods in these
great and splendid rivers; to cease OBJ
structing their channels, and the flow Of
their waters, And the time has come to
clear them out. and TO open when needed
those hidden 'bars' or "graies,n winch
will give additional relief, &. tine cfroods,
besond any ua realized HtH
bikes and ievees have often been and
may be very useful bu. allowing tho riv.
ers 70 have the full use Of their own chan.
nels, should now be fully understood, rs a
common sense necessity, and the work
should be done without delay.
To this end let us present here some
plain Illustrations, that any can realize
and understand fully, If they wish TO.
Suppose then, dear reader, the room In
which you sit 10 be a tank of water, and at
one end, suppose stream enters, say
through a iourinch opening, and At the
opposite end of the room sur nose mn out