Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-06-19
"cHlNA'S SORROW"


Condensed Account Of the Most Disastrous
Flood of Vi ,dern Times
The greatest Of moS.ern foods WAS that
which resulted from the overflow Of the
grea, Hoang-Ho. or yellow river, in 1887.
This river, which has earned the title OF
''China's SORROW has Siways been the cause
Of great anxiety 70 the Chinese government
and 10 the inhabitants Of the count through
which il hows. Ii is guarded with the utmost
care at great expense, and annually vast
sums are spent in repairs of It's banks In
October. 1851, a number Of serious breaches
occurred In the rivers hanks about 500 miles
from the coast As a result the river deserted
its natural ted and spread over a thlcAiy
populated plain, forcing for itself finally an
entirely new road TO the sea Four or I'VE
times in 20ou years the great river had
changed its bed and each time the change
had entailed great loss OF life and property.
In lS52 1t burst through its banks $50 miles
from the Ia and cut new bed through the
northern part Of Shantuns into the Gun OF
Pechih The isolation in which foreigners
lived al that time in China prevented their
obtaining any information as 10 the calaIni-
tous results Of this change, but in 1897 many
of the barriers against foreigners had been
removed and a general idea Of the character
Of the inundation was easily obtainahle
For several weeks preceding the actual
overthrow Of is banks the HoangH o had
been swollen from its tributaries II had
been unusually wet aud stormy in northwest
China and all the small streams were full
and Overlooking, The first break occurred
in the province Of Honan, of which the CAPT
tai is Kalfeng, and the city next IN import
ance is CHING or Cheng Chou The latter Is
forty miles west Of kaifeng and short dis
lance above bend in the Hoang-Ho. At
this bend the stream is borne violently
against the south shore. For ten days CON
tinuous rain had been soaking the embank-
ments, and strong wind increased the al
ready great force of the current
Finally a breach was made. At first II ex-
tended only for a hundred yards. The guards
made frantic efforts TO close the gap, and
were assisted by the frightened people IN the
vicinity But the breach grew rapidly 10
width Of 40 yards, and through this the
river rushed with awful force. Leaping over
the plain with incredible velocity, the water
merged into small stream called the Lu-
CHA Down the valley of the Lu-chia the
torrent poured IN an easterly direction, over
whelraing everything in its path
Twenty miles from Cheng Chou it encoun-
rank. Its thousands of inhabitants were at
tending to their usual pursuits There was
no telegraph TO warn them, and the first in
timatlon of disaster came with the muddy
torrent that rolled down upon them Within
a short time only the tops Of the high walls
marked where a tiourishing city had been.
Three hundred villages in the district disap-
peared utterly, and the lands about 800 other
yillaw,S were inundated
The food turned south from Chungmou,
still keeping to the course of the Lu-chia, and
stretched out in width for thirty miles This
vast body of water was from ten to twenty
feet deep Several miles south of kaifeng
the Hood struck "a large river which there
joins the Lu-chia The result was that the
flood rose To "A still greater height and, pour
ing into a low lying and very fertile plain,
which was densely populated, submerged up
ward of 800 villages.
Not far beyond this locality the flood passed
into the province of Anhui, where 1t spread
very widely The actual loss of life could
not he computed accurately hut the lowest
intelligent estimate placed it at / 800 900 and
one authority fixed it at 100000 Two mill
ion people were rendered destitute by the
food. and the suffering that resulted was
frightful Four months later the inundated
provinces were still under the muddy waters.
The government officials who were on guard
when the IIpangiio broke its banks were
condemned to severe punishment, and were
placed in the pillory in spite of their plead
ugs that they bad done their best to avert
the disaster New York Sun.