St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-12
Rich Cotton Producing Coun-
tries Will Be Covered
With Water.
River at Memphis Close to
the Hi CHEST Mark Ever
Reached.
Arkansas City, Ark, In
Danger of Being Com
plet ply Inundated.

MEMPHIS, May 1.-THE levee broke
this morning on the Tensas front at
Lakeport, twelve miles below Green
vile. and on the next place below Sun
nyside landing. The crevasse was 200
feet wide when the first news came
here from Greenville, Miss, at 10:3O
this morning. The levee that has given
away was hew work, constructed dur
Ing the past winter season. and for the
building of which much of the supplies
and material required was shipped
from this polnt. This levee broke,
flooding the lower portion Of Chicot
county, Arkansas in which county the
cotton production annually averages
$4,000 bales. The back portion of the
county has already been flooded by the
water out Ot the lower Arkansas
passing over the county and backing
up from the rear. The break may also
food the UPPER portion of Carroll par
ish. Louisiana, another rich cotton
producing region lying in the Tensas
basin, between the Mississippi river
and the Baybr Macon. The overflowed
land will not be relieved of water in
time to make a cotton crop this year.
The first news of the disaster was re-
ceived here this morning by inquiry
from New York as to its extent. 1t IS
natural that business circles should be
Rgitated over the matter. Parties from
above this city today, interested in cot
ton plantations, report
Large Areas Under Water
up about Centennial Island and arOu nd
Bradley's, twenty miles or more above
this city. 1t means no crop Of cotton
for the lands flooded, and nearly all
subject to inundation is now under
water up that way. The river is very
close 10 the thirty-five foot mark OH the
gauge, and is within seven or eight
inches of the highest on record, which
was attained in March, 1890.
A dispatch from Greenville received
at l O'Clock this afternoon says the
latest news is that the levee is now over
200 feet wide, and that portion of Ar
kansas is alllunder water aud is flowing
down toWaid Louisiana. 1t is re-
ported ArkHnSaS Clty VIII Do unuer
water by night, as they say the levees
in front of the city cannot hold.
The Outlook'is not fiattering for any i'm
mediate relikf, as the rise is expected to
continue fol two or three days yet
Well posted observers believe it will
reach the level of extreme high water
and it may break the record. A slight
decline has set in at Cairo. The level
there now is three feet scant below the
highest known record.
The lower Ohio river is forty feet
deep and it's decline will be very slow
for some time to come. Meantime the
waters continue to flow across the upper
portion OF the st. Francis basin and it is
covering that fine country very fast.
At Pittsburg today twentythree
feet six inches were reported
on the gauge, a rise of about four feet
in the week. The levees along the en-
tire Yazoo front continue firm, and will
doubtless hold against the water to
come against it. The Arkansas side,
however, is in jeopardy, and it is feared
much injury will result from floods now
going over its tillable lands.