Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-05-21

HAEE"| HFL .NE|H
a correspondent of the Shreveport
Journal IN Writing up a trip over The
overlooked district between Monroe
and Vicksburg says "Youf CORES.
pendent left here on the ", s. 8 +. r..
r., with Conductor Flemming, and
went as far as Dallas station, on the
Tensas side, where passengers are
transferred II a neat barge lifted up
with good seats and covered With q
tarpanlin 10 protect them from the
sun and rain, and propelled by a steam
launeh-a distance Of eight miles
around the bend In the Tensas river to
Quebec, where the train is again taken
for Vicksburg, about four miles Of the
track being under water a depth Of
four feet. The steamboat idea Is
something new on the road. In trans.
fering in high water. In former years,
1t was done with skiffs and hand cars,
and steamboating is the suggestion Of
Maj. NJ. s. Belknap, the efficient super
intendent of the road, and Is under the
charge Of w. L. Durbin, the expert.
enced trainmaster of the road, whose
genial ways add to the comfort and
pleasure Of the passengers.
"The situation Of this county cannot
be realized bp those who only see &C.
counts Of it in the daily papers. From
eight miles east, of Monroe to Dallas
and Bedford, a distance Of forty Ave
miles, presents n solid sheet Of clear
water, varying in depth from two to
ten feet, and some of it running across
fields lately planted and down the side
of the railroad track with the velocity
Of a mill race. For many miles moth
ing is out Of the water but the road.
bed, which has been raised above the
high water mark of 1882 therefore
they have three and four feet to spare,
as the water is beginning to fall. The
roadbed, though new, will not suffer
much.
AS | before said, this water Is about
forty-ive miles in width, and in
length extends from the Arkansas and
Mississippi rivers on the north to the
Mississippi again on the south. The
portion Of country which is sustaining
the greatest loss and damage is stu.
ated between the Bayou Macon and
Reuf rivers, including the towns OF
Rayville and Girard, the former place
being several feet under water, and
the country around, being a good
farming country, the balance a swamp
The farmers being so sur Of the
Opossum levee, which protects this
country, had all planted their crops
and | was informed by a.gentleman
met on the rail that in the vicinity Of
Oak Ridge, about twelve miles north
Of the railroad, in lower Morehouse
parish, the corn was over knee
high and cotton all up. But alas for
the uncertainty Of human calculations
The levees gave away both above anC
below Arkansas City, and poured it,
overflow into Beuf river and Bee
bayou, and over the lands of the far
mer and the only difference it hat
been to them is that all their labor an,
seed have been lost, and this is not thu
worst not anticipating another oyer
flow, many of the farmers did no
gather up their stock as is customar
on the approach Of high water, an,
many of them will sustain heavy los
in cattle and hogs. The buffalo gnat
are becoming very troublesome, an
some are losing their stock from tn,
Egyptian pest. Your correspondent
saw along the line, cattle, horses AM
hogs on little knobs where a log smok
is kept up, which is said to drive ava,
the gnats.