Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1884-02-28
Thurs day. February az, 1884.
THE LESSON or THE FLOOD.


Now that the hugbear has come
and gone. leaving in its wake nothing
calamitous, it is perhaps pertinent to
review the situation aud comment
thereon. The experience Of eight
years only avails i'm establishing that
aside from the fact that the break UP
generally occurs about this time IL
rarely duplicates itself i'm the matter
of detail. The forces Of nature pro-
ducing the change are SO varied and
70 capable Of causing difficult effects
that il is useless to speculate on the
future in this particular regard. A
heavy deposit of snow indicates Excess
sively high water, but its power to
cause damage is regulated 10y its man
ner Of going off. should il melt grad.
ually the ice becomes rotten, and II
easily confined within the limits of
the river when ii does move; on the
other hand, u lighter deposit Of snow
suddenly converted into water and
~ suddenly delivered into u river bed
filed with virgin Ice that has never
known single days weaking infiu.
ences since IL formed, a. was the case
this year, produces the most serious
condition Of affairs We shall probably
ever he called upon to encounter. Ii
10 true that grayer conditions might
have arisen had the gorges that
formed below the city held for any
length Of time, but II In u debatable
question whether any gorge could
long Withstand the enormous force
produced by the immense volume Of
Ice and water with which the river
was charged this year. Another
measure Of relief that has heretofore
been relied on, land unquestionably Of
unbounded merit when it exists Ii
the opening of the Yellowstone before
the Tongue, giving relief for the over
bureiened and tortuous Tongue into
the wider and straighter Yellowstone.
But this waste gate was this year
closed against us. combining TO make
the very worst situation possible.
Yet what did il all amount to? "A foot
or two of water running through the
streets for an hour or two, and on the
river bank few cakes Of Ice piled up.
Nothing more. The real danger to he
apprehended from these annual sprees
of our river Is not To life and property,
but 10 our lOcatiOn-not to the town,
hut 10 the tOwnsite--it is AN indisput.
able fact, that every spring we lose on
our river front from ten to thirty feet
by the grinding Of the ice against the
bend ON the park, and there are those
who contend that when the town was
hrst located here In 1875 the hank
extended to beyond the middle pier Of
the military bridge which would indi.
cate loss Of over one hundred feet In
elk years. This Is something that IL
not pleasing To contemplate, aud II IL
only "a question of time II left to Its
own endeavors, that Tongue river will
nvert Park stseet into water front,
and deprive US of our beautiful park.
or course, We are In no condition now
" avert any such calamity for the
two-foId reason, that we are rs yet
without corporate authority, and II we
possessed that essential the river front
does not belong ~ US, but as II IL
almost certainty In the near future
that the President will be instructed
10 convey to Miles City, the plat
known az the Park" AZ soon as the
city II legally COMPETENT to receive and
hold II, we should without unneces.
sary delay take steps 10 clothe our.
selves with municipal authority.
Without this we can neither avail
ourselves Of the largess of the general
government or land what In more i'm.
portant) protect our beautiful river
front from the yearly ravages Of the
food. II IL u disgrace ~ an enterpris.
Ing and favored community like ours,
that we are still In our swaddling
clothes, aud without the power 10
move finger In our behalf. Tie
minor cons. derations that have here