Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-08-09
"CHINA'S SORROW
Condensed Account of the Most Disastrous
Flood OF Modern Times.

Flood of Modern Times.
The greatest OF modern floods was that
which resulted from the overflow of the
great Hoang-Ho, or Yellow river, in 1881
This river, which has earned the title of
"China's Sorrow ~ has always been the cause
Of great anxiety to the Chinese government
and to the inha bitants of the country through
which it flows 1t is guarded with the utmost
care at great expense, and annually vast
sums are spent in repairs of its banks In
October, 1881. q number of serious breaches
occurred in the rivers banks about 800 miles
from the coast As result the river deserted
Its natural bel and spread over "A thickly
populated plain, forcing for itself finally an
entirely new road to the sea. Four OF five
times In 1900 years the great river had
changed Its bee, and each time the change
had entailed great loss of life and property
In 1852 1t burst through its banks $50 miles
from the sea AMI cut new bed through the
northern part Of Shantung into the Gulf of
Pechili The isolation in which foreigners
hved at that time in China prevented their
obtaining any Information to the calami-
tous results of this change, but in 1887 many
oil the barriers against foreigners had been
removed and general idea of the character
OF the inundation was easily obtainable
For several weeks preceding the actual
overthrow of Is. banks the Hoang- Ho had
been swollen from its tributaries 1t had
been unusually wet and stormy in northwest
China, and all the small streams were full
and overfiowing. The first break occurred
in the province Of Honan, of which the capi-
tai is kalfeng, and the city next in import
ance is Ching OF Cheng Chou The latter is
forty miles west of Kaifeng and a short dis
tance above a bend in the Hoang-Ho At
this bend the stream is borne violently
against the south shore. For ten days a con-
tinuous rain haC been soaking the embank-
ments, and a strong wind increased the al
ready great force of the current
Finally breach was made At first it 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 to a
width Of 1,2O0 yards, and through this the
river rushed wit h awful force. Leaping over
the plain with incredible velocity the water
merged into a small stream called the Lu-
CHA Down the valley of the Lu-chia the
torrent poured IN an easterly direction, over
whelming every thing in its path
Twenty miles from Cheng Chou it encoun-
tered Chungmou, a walled city of the third
rank. Its thou,ands 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
short time on Y the tops of the high walls
marked where l. fourishing city had been
Three hundred villages in the district disap-
peared utterly, and the lands about 800 other
villages were inundated
The food turned south from Chmgmou.
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 kaifenC
the food struck a large river which there
joins the Lu-chia- The result was that the
flood rose to a stll greater height, and, pour
ing into a low lying and very fertile plain,
which was deusely populated, submerged up
ward OF 500 vi lages-
Not far beyond this locality the food passed
into the provincs of Auhui where IL spread
very widely. The actual loss of life could
not be computed accurately, but the lowest
intelligent estimate placed it at 500, 900, and
ion people were rendered destitute by the
food, and the suffering that resulted was
fTightfuE Four months later the inundated
provinces were sllll under the muddy waters.
The government officials who were on guard
when the Huan5-Ho broke its banks were
condemned to s,yere punishment, and were
placed in the pill0ry in spite of their plead
mgs that they had done their best to avert
the disaster.-New York Sun.