The Portland daily press., 1890-03-15
oMINous OF DISASTER.
General Greedy on the Condition Of
Affairs on the Rivers,

WASHINGTON. March 14.-In on inter-
view last night with General Greedy, the
chief signal officer on the great flood in the
Mississippi river. .he expressed himself at
length, and said:
The river conditions in the lower Mississ-
ippi valley are ominous Of disaster. What
may come Of the water now in the lower riv-
er, and that which Is on the way to it from
almost countless tributaries, no one can fore
cast with positive certainty. 1t seems clear
to me, never sheless, that unless the levees
are In perfect condition, and unless they
have been materially raised above the level
OF 1854, there must be many breaks and an
enormous amount of injury to crops, IL not
to stock and other perishable property. 1t
Is certain that the flood of this year will
equal the highest ever known for far the
greater part Of the Mississippi valley from
Memphis TO New Orleans.
Heavy rain Is falling In the lower Mississ-
ippi valley, from Vicksburg, southwark, and
while the prospects are for fair weather after
today, yet this local rainfall must aggravate
the freshet conditions which threaten Vicks-
burg from above.
Indeed, 1t Is only matter of prudence that
all movable property liable to injury or de-
struction from the flood should be removed
in the entire valley to high and secure locali-
government to take pessimistic view of the
situation, but the conditions are now such
that it seems dereliction of duty for me to
avoid an expression that the worst should be
prepared for. The critical condition near
Vicksburg must be, apparent to everyone
when 1t Is considered that the very import
ant levee at Alsatia Landing, on the west
side of the river about 40 miles above Vicks-
burg. broke on the night of March 10. A
more significant sign is, perhaps, the break
ing OF the levee at Myersville, on the east
side of the river, about 20 miles above Vicks-
burg. which occurred this morning. This in
dicates the advance of a new freshet wave
from the upper river.
This season the signal service for the first
time has adopted the principle of forecasting
for week or more the crest of flood waves,
and has given definite opinions so that ali
concerned might have timely warning OF
course such predictions are critical tests of
the capacity of the official in charge to do
satisfactory work Of this character. So far.
they have been very successful, as may be
instanced in the prediction Of March l, in
which the prediction was made that on March
10 the river at Vicksburg would be 40 feet.
and it now is likely that this prediction will
be verified within few inches.
1t should be borne in mind also that this
service has not sufficient number of river
or rainfall stations to do this work with the
greatest degree OF accuracy, since there are
los, 900 square miles just above Cairo and r.
600 square miles below, concerning which
this office practically works In the dark, not
knowing definitely the rainfall nor the river
conditions in these areas, which aggregate
nearly 100000 square miles. The stage of the
river at Helena is probably the most certain
index OF what may be expected in the lower
Mississippi valley, owing to the fact of the
water which flows out of the st. Francis ba-
sin. In some years it is impossible to pre-
dict what will be the effect ON the lower riy-
&c from the water which passes Cairo or
Memphis, owing to the uncertainty as to
what will come out of st. Francis swamp.
The water in this drainage basin comes
not alone from the heavy rainfalls which
frequently; occur over It's extended area, but
is supplemented to an enormous extent in
two methods, first and most frequently By
the water which overflows the west bank of
the Mississippi, between Cairo and Helena
This water, of course, passes the Cairo
gauge, and a crude idea can be formed of the
quantity which overfows between Cairo and
Memphis, and whenever the stage of the
Mississippi above Cairo Is very high, an
enormous quantity Of water passes into the
st. Francis swamp at Cape Girardeau. This
water passes into the swamp without flowing
by Cairo, hence the Mississippi is reinforced
at Helena by the outflow from the ST. Fran
els bottom, which usually comes out at such
time as to prolong the dangerous state of
water at Helena several days, and OCCASION
ally weeks beyond that which obtains at
Memphis or Cairo.