The Red Cloud chief., 1884-02-29
THE FLOOD AT PADUCAH.

Towns Entirely Inundated-The Waters
EecedinS At Cincinnati.
PADUCAH, XY., Feb. Il.
Paducah claims attention as the scene OF
to-day's food sensation. The 12,0G peoplo
OF this pretty little city got up this MORN
ing to find that the flood had wiped out all
previous records. The fact That the high
water Of 1885 has been eclipsed here, while
the stage is below last year at Shawnee
town and other points above, is easily ac-
from the Cumberland and the Tennessee
are turning out and adding To the Ohio.
The water is now twenty-four inches higher
at Paducah than it was last year, and has
risen all day at the rate OF one inch an
hour. Three days & it had wiped CUT
Front and the first two JhOrOugkfaFeS par
allel with the river. Tuls noon tA- wafer
extends back into the business heart 0i the
city, and the merchants on broadway and
the cross streets our BLOCKS back from the
river are s~catfolding up their sooia-
BY atual ODserya, ion aHl COuus the
streets surrounding forty-three bIUC.tS IA
the business portion are SUBMERGED where
paveneu S are hi-ii and the tirst i"Ors of
the building a step OF two above tine side
walks, the water has not entered, but
w mere llt uilitlcACC al ' b'tNNIiA tAc
floors and the streets Is sIgut
there is from three inches TO two
feer OF water IN the stores and
business establishments. Along Broad
way, in front OF the K chm0nt fiouse and
some of the large Wholesale places. the only
means of passing are raised iIalkS or
skins. The situation is novel, even 10 Old
/ aducahanS, To so ont five block from tile
RIVER and look up and GOWN and see a
stretch of wafer extending 70 tne cIty's
in both directions, WIKI scores OF
SIX IFS PLYING to and fro where vehicles were
three days ago, Is Il sight which the oldest
does not rementer 10 have
keen paraileled.
Paducan is now an island, and the dry
land is being re4uced rap.d.y every hour,
for the rise To the center OF TIE plateau
which is the city'S 81 u is very gradual
Fu%rsunately many of the hOIse, are 4 o.
va,ed from orc to three feet above the
streets level. Were they not the water
would be on TIL ee-. OurtAS Of the lower
in Paducah at this writing. As IL Is
the houses from which the people have
been driven number hundreds, and -lOSe
the FROM doors of which can b. reached
only by boating can be CoInted 10y the
thousands. As the wafer advances .he
hogs ami cows are driven III upon tae dry
land, and o staLd II droveS III tIe cen
trail streets.
The city has to-day located a number OF
free skiff ferries TO enable the people 10 get
from one portion OF the city CO another.
The fires at the gaS-wOrkS were reached last
in spite OF bulk-neading, anotto-nSht
the city has fallen back on lamps and can
This is n city OF churches, but Suct
the Generalization to-day that sery ices
were not attempted in any but inc Method
land these only in the morning. Ali
day long the streets, such as were pasSable,
were thronged with people looking at the
spectacle. Merchant are at
loss to know what To 80. MIR. Lyle, who
carries one of the largest stocks OF goods
here, has made two moves, he said Tonight,
and is AFRAID now that his stock iSn'5 nigh
enough. j. r. Smith, Il wholesale grocery
merchant, who has a large block 113 feet
deep, has already moved his SiO.k once,
SAYS tonight that if there IS another
foot more he will have - 60 into the water
move the goods again. The tobacco
warehouse people are in tine most critical
They have hundreds OF thousands
Of dollars worth of tobacco on hand. which
hey have been RAISING up as The wa er adj
The warehouses are great struct-
lres, but portions o. them stand in wafer
feet deep. The collapse of one of
.hese structures now would be attended
With great loss. In many places the cur
.ent of the water through the streets is five
md six miles an hour. Her streets are Pa
pride, but they W II be in sad con-
iition after ali this washing and wearing.
Nothing has arrived from the CuInber-
and or Tennessee, and the situation IN
hose rivers is unknown. There can be no
ioubt but that il is bad enough, however,
from the water coming out of them.
Tn water at midnight covers over one
half the area OF Paducah, which has river
ronJ of three miles, and q depth back from
he river of one mile. People who can
leep under the trying circumstances nave
zone to bed, prepared to see almos t any,
hing III the way OF water by morning.
Captain Dick Morrow, OF the steamer
.Sesoit, reports tho drowning OF n cOlored
nan and child in Indian Creek, Just above
;lifton, n the miraculous escape of a
woman and two children. a cOlOred man
mi his wife and four children had started
u q canoe to make their way on. OF the
ugh water caught by the overflow of In
han Greek, up the Tennessee, when, in pass
ng down the creek, the canoe 5 ruck 4 tree,
ND threw all OF the oc, upants into the wa
er. The current was very swift, and the
ather and one child Were soon swept be-
leati, but the mother caught TWO of the
hildren and saved them an herself. H.
alIing from the boat the woman was
brown against a small tree, and around
ms she wrapped her arms with a child in
ach hand and saved her life and two chill
Iren, one a babe and the other only a year
r two old.
Well informed citizens say that 100000
glli not begin to cover the actual damage
o property in the city, leaving out of all
Iuestlon the stoppage of factories and alt
rade. An examination of the gauge, which
; now reached by a pontOOn, Silce dark
COWS a stage of j2.1 feet.
Trains got out of town to-day by adopt
ne q novel ~expedient. The passenger
caches were put i'll front of a tram OF thir-
Y freight cars and pushed through the
verfiOwed portion. Then another engine
vas attached and the train taken out.
his will be attempted Tomorrow, but the
abroad men are not sanguine of keeping
p connection longer than another day.
New Liberty, twelve miles above here, is
ntlrely abandoned, an nothing but the
oofS of houses can be seen. The situation
but little better with many other points,
of Smithland, situated at the
Mouth of the Cumberland, is under water.
lose Claire, Birdsview. Raleigh, Elizabeth
own, FaIrplay and FIRES F GIT are all sub
Merged. The front portion OF Caseyville is
nder water to a depth o. ten or twelve
is written here at six O'Clock
Oesn't hold good at twelve. When the
portion of this dispatch was taken to
ne telegraph office il was possible TO get
long the upper side of Broadway without
citing over shoe top in the water. As this
is closed skif communication
nth the operator is necessary.
CINCINNATI. o., Feb. II.
At eight o. lock tonight the fl cd is I
Dot lower than it was last year at its high
which highest was Gj feet 4 inches All