St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-17
Water Flowing Through a
Break More Than a Thou
sand Feet Wide.
The Levee Caving So Rapidly
That 1t Is Dangerous to
Approach 1t.
A Stream Ten Feet or More
Deep Rushing Through the
Great Opening.
The Crevasse Relieves the
Pressure at All Points Up
the River.

VICKsBURG, March l6.-A personal
visit made to Raleigh or Pecan Grove
to day satisfied your correspondent that
the reports had not been exaggerated as
to the extent of the damage. At 3
o'clock to-day the crevasse was LOCO
feet or more wide and the ends were
caving so rapidly that it was fo0lhardi-
ness to approach them. The levee is
nearly fifteen feet high and the i'm
mense volume of water was rushing
through it in Streani ten or more feet
deep. The extent of the crevaSSe
and the immense amount of water
delivered by it may be estimated by
the fact that in the twenty-fOur hours
ending this evening the river has fallen
three inches at Vickshurg and four at
Lake Providence, though rising steadily
prior to the crevasse. Assistant En-
gineer Thompson, who arrived at the
crevasse this evening, is quoted as say
ing that no crevasSe at any point along
the line of the Fifth levee district could
occasion such serious results as the one
at Raleigh. The steamer Osceola took
Capt. Willard Young, of the United
States engineers, to Greenville last
evening, with large quantity OF ma
terial to be used in holding the ends OF
the levee and prevent further
Gazing and Enlargement.
This work will be directed by Engi-
neers Thompson and Hyde, who will be
allowed the use of piledriver. The
tug Parker arrived at 6 p. m. from the
crevasse, and will return at midnight
with material and provisions. The
water from the crevasSe has backed up
several inches and flooded some planta-
tations. 1t will overflow fully one
fourth of East Carol parish and the
create part of Tensas and Madison
parishes. The eastern part of the
latter will escape. The water has not
vet reached the VickSburg. Shreveport
q Pacific railroad, and probably Will
not for severalsdays. The crevasSe has
excited much CONSERVATION in these
parishes, and stock is beng removed as
fast as possible. A fall of five inches
occurred at Alsatia levee, five miles
above the crevasse, to-day, greatly i'm
proving the situation there. This leyee
was considered in the greatest danger
of all heretofore, Advices from LOusi-
ana points and Mississippi show that
the creVaSSe has relieved the pressure
on them. A levee inspector,
The solitary Witness
of the break at Raleigh, says seventy
five feet of the levee caved off at once
into the river. A telephone message
from Fitlars states that the water fell
eight inches, one inch at Skipwith's
and six inches at Brunswick, In the
past twenty-four hours. Henry Berges,
of Duval, Miss, seeing some negro
houses on the Louisiana shore floating
away, crossed over in skitf, avoiding
the crevasse by pulling his
boat over levees, and reached
the houses just in time to save
a negro, who was in one of them.
a moment later the building washed
away. Greenville, Miss, reports rise
of from one to two inches at various
points in this levee district from Ter
rene to Meyerville. where it is Station
ary. The levees are all right. The
Baton Rouge river rose two and haif
inches. The levees in this parish are
all holding out. Assistant State Eli
gineer Duval came TO Bayou Sara from
Morgansea to-day. He reports Grand
and Scott leveps all right and all neces-
sary labor and material on hand. The
river rose two inches.
New ORLEANS, March 16. - Gov.
Nichols having declined to receive the
100000 donation rendered by the Louis
lana Lottery company for levee pur-
poses, the board of directors, at meet
ing to-day, decided to offer the relief
fund direct to the various levee dis
tricts. AS money is needed all along
the line, the probabilities are that the
parishes will accept the liberal offer
made.