Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-03-28
NO21
The Mississippi Floods.

Each year at the close of the winter 80
son the residents OF the low lands Of the
Mississippi Valley are in state of agita-
ton; there is generally food on hand, or
Gne Is daily expected, and the people are
rarely deprived Of their annual visitation.
For some wears at time there are, how.
ever. only local inuniations, and there has
been no general overflow since lse4 The
present food is the greatest one for sixteen
years, and at places along the river, nota-
lily at New Orleans, the water has passed
The maximum hooJmark, aud was reported
on Thursday, 18th, 10 be nine and q half
inches higher than the great flood OF 1874
Above the confluence of the 0hio and Mis-,
sissippi rivers at Cairo, Illinois, there has
been no particular damage done, as the
water has not attained any extraordinary
height, bal below Cairo, all the way to the
Gull, there has been general rise in the
waters. At Cairo the rivers were one
hundred miles in width, covering fifty
miles OF the low lands in Missouri and ex-
tending to the hills i'll Kentucky, while the
city itself, being situated on the low
ground, has been half flooded. The rail
roads in that section stopped running, and
business las been at standstill. Houses
and farms were coz cred, aud the residents
obliged TO lice for their lives. Where
breaks In the leveej have occurred, the
people of tue region have been forced to
decamp at once, as the fow OF the waters
has been too great to admit of any stop
page after having worn a erevasse- This
year the people received sufficient warn
ing of the food, and no loss of life has
been reported from any of the districts,
but there is a general feeling of alarm Tor
the safety of some of the people In the
Mississippi bottoms who have not aban-
would he extremely disastrous in those reg
ions. Rats of all kinds have been impro-
vised to bear away the goods and chattels
of the residents, while the cattle have been
obliged to swim or drown. In the towns
along the river-bank boats have been used
to navigate the streets, and the second
stories of the houses have been resorted To
for living. Where the house has been a
small room, the roof has had to serve for a
place of refuge until some means of escape
has been found. In some places the houses
have been built upon an elevation, and the
families have staid therein, while the wa
ter has washed the door steps and sur
rounded them for miles oil all sides. The
wild game of the Arkansas bottoms have
been obliged to seek refuge on these high
lands, and have supplied the people with
food. Enormous herds of cattle have been
drowned, and the damage to the farmers
has been very great, thousands of acres of
acres of rich land being submerged
4 general view of the method of protect
ing the lands is very interesting. State,
government, and private aid has gone to
do all possible to confne the river to its
natural course and over $25, ,000,0 has
ject in view. The Mississippi River Com
mission, under guidance of the Depal tment
of War, was organized in 1879 ''for the
purpose of making plans, specifications,
and recommendations for the navigation
of the Mississippi River" but incidentally
much has been done by that body in the
way 0 protection On convex shore,
where the water il shoal, the leTee has
been carried along the river edge as
near as possible, as there f11i6 danger
under such conditions of caving bank
When the bank il liable to break the levees
are placed further back, and where break
in the levee itself has occurred from the
caving of the bank, loops are made, join
ing the two broken parts 1t must be
borne in mind that the banks proper along
the river dre about forty feet high above
low water, and as the river rises five to
seven feet over these banks, the levsss are
constructed OF sufficient height to restrain
the waters within their proper limits The
material is found on the spot, either clay
or sand as the case might be. A so-oalled
muck" ditch few feet wide il dug along
the centre line of the projected leyee, down
to where the earth is comparatively free of
all organic matter, such as grass and roots
of trees. BY this method some adhesion
to the ground is gained, and the artificial
construction is not easily swept away The
earth is taken from the front of the levee
line Us Near the water a. circumstance will
permit Standard leyees have a Grown"
or width at the top of eight feet, except in
The case of very low leyee, when the
crown" is not less than its height. The
side slopes are one vertical to three or
three and one half horizontal. Present
leVees are carried up from two to three feet
above the high water mark Of their posi-
ton The whole alluvial front of the river
is leveed On the left bank, the principal
line extending from Horn Lake, just below
Memphis, to Vicksburg, covering the great
Yazoo Basin On the right bank of the
river there are four principal sections
which are liable To be overaowed. The
first is known as the ST, Francis front,
which runs from Commerce, Missouri, TO
the ST. Francis River. The White River
front il tue second, extending from Helena,
Arkansas, to the mouth of the White and
Arkansas rivers The third and fourth,
known as the Tensas and the Atchafalaya
fronts, run respectively from the Arkansas
River to the Red River in Louisiana, aud
from the Red River to New Orleans.
At the time of writing the levees below
Helena are in precarious state, and all
along the levee line of the Tensas district
patrols keep watch day and night The
water in places has swept over the lsvees
without breaking through them. All pos
sible precautions at these points have been
taken and boats with loads of sand bags to
stop any break have passed up and down
the stream to render any assistance The
whole country is in a state of alarm, and the
reports from the inundated districts give
no promise of an carly abatement. A
rather sombre view of the situation is TAX
en- by the officials but if the levees with
stand the present strain that is put upon
them, the people will be assured OF safety
in the future as the present conditions of
the weather and season are not likely TO
be duplicated for years to come.