The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-09-17

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places, has formed perfect eddies. The Ad
vance passed through the heaviest body OF
water yesterday morning between Stokes
bluff and Ebenezer, about forty miles NJ
, the river Its progress is very slow owing
to the wide expanse Of low land, and the er
ratio course in the current in the curves oil
the stream, but the captain thinks that the
full volume of the freshet will be here to
night or tomorrow morning.
woNK ON THE PLANTATIONS.
From the Charleston railroad bridge dowr
to the Hermitage, as far as observation was
had from the deck Of the steamer, appa
rently no damage had then been done. The
work of cutting and hauling the rice was
going on air yesterday.
The Advance brought no freight, except
| some orts taken on at Augusta, and not a
single bale Of cotton could be obtained.
Stokes Bluff was the only point on the river
! at which landing could be made. The wind
| yesterday morning was from the southwest,
| which. if it had continued with the moon
in apogee, would be OF material benefit in
| moving The water seward, but it is feared
that an easterlv wind would set in, which
apparently had from the heavy rainfall of
last night and this morning
NO IDEA OF THE FLOOD
I The mate Of the Advance says that he
( believes the water will go over the bank at
Reads bluff, and he says one can have an
adequate conception of the vast volume of
water only after having seen it. In his
| judgment, ell the low lands across the river
will be flooded, and if an east wind springs
up tonight or tomorrow, he says, the
waters will go over he wharves.
From the situation yesterday morning, it
is predicted by gentlemen who came down
on the Advance that the Charlie ton and
Savannah road will suffer from the freshet.
| The water is reported up to the top of the
piling of the tre>tle nearest the bridge, and
farther west on the ties, and it is believed
that by tonight it will have
covered a part of the trestle.
There is a low place in the trestle where the
water was reported dangerously close
yesterday morning, and the 39 feet rise
fifty miles farther up the river. 1t is not
believed that the bridge will be endangered,
but the effect of so high a food on the
trestle it is thought will be damaging II
this view is correct it is very probable that
travel to Charleston will be interrupted for
two or three days this week.
ONE VAST LAKE.
Great damage is reported all the way
down from Augusta TO Stokes bluff, and
from the latter point to the head of Argyle
Island the valley Is one vast lake of water
All the crops In the valley are ruined or
carried away by the impetuous rush of
the waters. There will be great suffer
ing among the farmers and their colored
help. In some places the negroes have had
to desert their cabins and fee from the ris-
ing flood to save their lives, without provis-
ions or bedding. Greater suffering must
follow, as when they return to their homes
their little crops upon which they depend
for the winters support will have disap-
peared or have been ruined. A great deal
of stock has been caught in the swamps
which must inevitably have persisted. From
Stokes bluff TO Augusta 1t is said there are
but two elevations in the swamps which the
waters have not covered. Both are mounds
or elevations constructed by the indians,
one of which is of very small area and the
other estimated to contain about fifteen
acres
THE GAME DRIVEN OUT.
1t is said that the influx of the flood in the
swamps has driven large bodies of game,
such as bear deer, wildcats and smaller
game TO the interior, or higher ground, and
alligators have been dispatched far inland
where they nave never been known to APP
pear before.
The situation at Augusta is said to be
pitful in the extreme, and foul odors are
met with on every hand, every available
engine is at work pumping out cellars. and
the fire engine of the Volunteer Georgia
Company readily commands 81 an hour,
and the firemen 80 cents an hour. One Au-
gusta gentleman informed the MORNING
News Yesterday that there is a hole 6 feet
deep washed in the street in front of
his residence, and another Augustian pres
emit remarked that there were some wash
outs that a steamboat could almost be
put in.
THE SITUATION AT AUGUSTA.
Whom the Advance left Augusta Satur-
day morning, the damaged goods of the
wholesale and retail merchants were out on
the streets in hopeless state of confusion.
and il is hardly believed that the city can
repair its streets and get in trim shape for
its approaching exposition The great diff
Guilty. it is said, will be to get sand to fill up
the washouts, owing to the distance
from which it must be hauled and
the damage to bridges. AS high as
81 80 per day is being paid for common
laborers, and 1000 men have boon
put to work, and 1000 additional mon
and carts, it is said will be
put on to hasten the street
repairs The streets are almost impossible
Oh foot for the mud deposits aud washouts.
There were no less than 40 feet of water, ="
said one man. "When it got up to 80 feet
they quit measuring the water and began
ia think more of saving themselves and
getting their families out of danger. You
folks III Savannah will think it was AZ
teet when 1t gets down here, and an east
wind and spring tide with 1t will cover the
island opposite the city"
THE BIGGEST FLOOD KNOWN
Savannah planters, never having ex-
perienced such a food, can only conjecture
what it is until it reaches here tonight,
and continues to rise for two days II
backed up nothing can save the New river
plantations or the rice stacked all along
down the river for twenty-five miles above
10 the farthest plantation below the city
Yesterday the planters continued the
work of trying TO save as much
rice as possible. The MORNING
NEWS of yesterday noted that at 5
o'clock Saturday afternoon the water was
running over the bank on the Potter place
at the head Of Argyle Island. Since that
time the waters have covered it. At the
head of Hutchinson's Island the tide went
up into the rice fields, and when it receded
the work of removing the rice was begun
again, but it was slow work, as the wheels
Of the carts sunk doep in the wet soil, toe
rice was wet, and small loads and few OF
them was the rule
ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA SIDE.
On the Carolina side the activity
was as great yesterday as any day
last week, making the second Sunday
that work has been prosecuted in the
rice fields. From to-day the planters
can rest and watch the progress OF the