St. Paul daily globe., 1892-05-16
RIVERS ARE RECEDlNG
The KaW and Missouri Begin
to Fall at Kansas
City.
People Are Beginning to Re-
turn to the Flooded
District.
The Only Casualty Yesterday
the Drowning Of a Ten
Yeap-Old Boy.
Losses in Argentine and Ar-
mourdale Foot Up About
100000.

100000.
KANSAS City, Mo-, May 15.-The
flooded Missouri and Kaw rivers are
subsiding, and the residents of the sub
merged suburbs will rest in safety to-
night. Last night the rivers were ris-
ing an inch an hour, and there were
many who passed a SleepleSS night,
fearful lest the invading waters would
carry away their houses or flood them.
The fears of some we're realized, for the
Kaw rose to an unprecedented height,
and swept without restraint over ground
which it had never seen before. In
Argentine and ArmOurdale it reached
up to the first stories of some houses,
and flooded the lower floors of nearly
all, excepting those built upon the high
bluffs some distance back from the
river. All night long people were mOv-
ing out of their houses. Moving vans
were at premium. Their proprietors,
who in ordinary times were GLAD of a
dollar load. were charging S6, and got
of storage were also at premium. The
regular storage houses were all full Of
goods that had been stored there for
some days before by those who had an
ticipated the flood, and the people who
were driven out of their homes last
night had to resort TO all manner of de-
vices for keeping their household goods
oIN m
the bluffs, where they
stood Guard All Night,
and some even took them to their
housetopS, trusting that the house
would not be carried bodily away. To-
day, however, the Kaw has been stead
lily receding. 1t began to fall last night,
and at o'clock this evening the guage
marked decline of two feet and three
inches. A similar fall. of course, took
place in the flooded towns of Argentine
and Armourdale, and left the houses on
the more elevated streets high and dry.
Those houses in the flats on the very
banks of the river are still partially sub
merged, but they will be relieved of
water 10y tomorrow if the fall in the
Kaw during the night is proportionate
to it's fall today. The towns on the
" q w dOONC uCLC PO1 q i0il III IildO
strea N of from three TO five feet during
the past fort-eight hours. This low
sta ge of water will probably be reached
at this point by tomorrow night. In
the meantime all the all Xiety of the
people has been allayed. Many who
were not driven from their homes. but
who left them in aticipation of being
compelled to, moved back today.
Others, fro m whose houses the flood
had receded, are now returning, while
those whose houses were still under
water, are preparing to return in
view of the rapid decline Of the waters.
The Packing Houses
which shut down yesterday at noon, will
resume at the usual time tomorrow.
Only two or three of those establish
ments were obliged to suspend. The
Phoenix and Kansas City companies had
their cellars flooded and their lower
stories partially SO. and they were
obliged TO close. The others, however,
shut down so as to~be able to use their
men in the construction of dykes for the
protection of their property. Every
packing house was surrounded by en-
bankments of from three TO five feet in
height made OF bags full of sand for a
These precautions in most in
stances were useless, for the river
began to fall before it reached point
where it could invade the establish
ments. The Kansas City Smelling and
Refining company, at Argentine. will
also start up tomorrow. 1t was obliged
10 suspend III those departments where
the water supply was furnished by the
Argentine water works, which were dis
abled by the flood. The water company
today succeeded IN repairing its reSer-
voir, part of which had been carried
away by the water, and it is giving
regular service. The waters have also
receded from the tracks of the Belt line
and of the Santa Fe roads, and traffic
on those. lines has been regularly
resumed. The greatest damage in
Armourdale has been threatened
at the storage warehouse of the Con-
sOlidated Tank Line company. One
thousand barrels of oil which stood on
their premises fioated with the food, land
it has required a large force of men
night and day to keep them from going
down the river. Argentine. Mo-, and
Kansas City, Kan. Tor Armourdale or
Wyandotte, as the latter place is more
famlliarly known are the only places in
this vicinity affected by the flood, eX-
cepting Harlem, an Insignificant town
of a
Dozen or So Houses.
In Clay county, across the river from
this place. The Missouri river, on whose
banks Kansas City, Mo-, is built, has
not been very high except at the mouth
OF the Kaw, where it receives all the
waters of that stream. Its waters have
kept within its banks on this side OF the
river. On the other side in Clay county,
Harlem has been inundated. If the
whole place had been swept away, the
total loss would not have exceeded S10,-
600. AS it was, the houses have simply
been flooded to their second stories.
None have been moved from their
foundations. Their occupants had
timely warning of the flood from the
weather bureau, and nearly all removed
their household goods before the waters
invaded their premises. The loss
there is slight. The total damage
in Argentine and ArmOurdale will foot
up probably about 100000, divided
about as follows: To payements, s12,-
600; to weakened foundations, $4,000;
to ruined household goods, $4,000: to
weakened bridge pier, $4,000. The
weather today was delightful, and the
floods in the suburbs were the objects of
universal interest. Every available
eminence where the floods could he
seen was occupied and crowded. The
Kansas City car lines carried 1900
passengers to the flooded districts. The
only fatality resulting from the flood
took place today. It occurred in Ar
mourdale, on the banks of the KaW.
The ten-year-old son of John Feely was
watching the river from portion of
the hank which navpd SnddanIv amau