The Red Cloud chief., 1896-09-04

and dropped into the rcmorseless
stream here and there: other farms
have cropped up under the guise OF
giant sand bars. altering the swift cur
rent. itself always an una~ccountablo
vagary.
The river is rising very rapidly" IL
4 simple statentcnt-one frequently
found in the colt INNS of the daily pa
pers, always at this season. under pro-
sale headlines, perhaps. and tucked
away in some remote corner of the
page. But for che old residents along
this great stream II has a never failing
charm. In tie mighty river that glides
swiftly - the city's gate. washing,
cutaLS, grinding, eating away the earth
walled foundation. there is something
more majestic than the tranquil sea.
there is a distant power of movement
that 27if!es with II a hint of uncon-
querable force, a river unrettered and
undammed. and beyond weak mortal's
will.
The plain announcement that the
river is rising causes a feeling of awe
TO creep over the pOvcrty-strickcn boat
dwel!er as he gathers his family about
him and stands on the shore. gazing
skanc at the s%wirling, muddy cur
rent. 1t creeps steadily, stealthily, ro-
sistlessly up, inch by inch. foot by
foot, until the bottom Of the leaky boat
Is submerged. It's encroachments are
Xix the ways OF the dreaded panther.
When the river is rising rapidly the
cotter along the shore takes q new reef
in he hawsers that hold his small home
TO the bank beneath the willows. and
the CLEAN of the midnight lantern Is
seen over the gloomy waste of waters.
for ii is unsafe TO sleep nj such a time
when the river is rising rapidly.
Along the shore on either side of the
majestic stream the comfortable farmer
puts down the bars and permits his
stock to roam into the uplands that
range away from the towering bluffs.
standing like grim, wakeful sentinels
above the rivers crogt-when the river
is rising rapidly.
Then he stands sadly by the bank
in the green and fertile meadow and
watches the rich black soil. in massive
sods II patches, crumble and roll into
the rapacious jaws Of the mercllcss &C.
topus-when the river Is rising rapidly.
Standing on the shore at the foot of
Felix street. for the watcher gazing
westward there Is a peculiar and inspir-
ing charm in the scene when the river
is rising rapidly. Tons upon tons of
loan from the farm lands have discol-
ored the water until its depths are rs
~impenetrable to the sight as solid iron
or granite. The rivulets from the crys-
tai springs that leap down the foothills
OF the far-away mountains, dashing
through gulch and vale with merry
laughter, are changed to black and in
digo, but the shifting sands of the Mis-
souri, and the soil OF the farm land
simply discolor. not destroy. A more
healthful draught thar the cup taken
from the rushing current OF the stream
was never brewed nor mixed by art.
When the river Is rising rapidly IL
bears on its current many strange
things. Now a boat. half broken. half
sunk, goes swiftly by, bobbing up ana
down In the sunlight. Again the body
of a drowned bullock or a floating cabin.
Then a tree-an evergreen. a pine or
a cedar-bOrne on the face of an ava
lanche. perhaps. from its perch upon
some bald mountain side and caught
in the sliding snow drifts. Birds hover
in it's swerving branches and fit and
fy as it losses and rolls in the angry
stream. Into the high bank the current
rolls, and the swiriing eddies grOwl and
roar as the whirlpool settles down at
the base of the willows. rip-rapped into
the bank. And so IL goes-rushing,
gurgling, roaring, never smiling, never
safe, a thing of awe, of grandeur, of
wonder and mysterious charm, but al
ways to be avoided-when the river is
rising rapidly.
Into the western side of this city the
river sweeps straight from the west.
Here 1t turns directly south for a mile,
then turns westward again. Away over
yonder, where the ends OF tho curves
are closest, only a mile strip of loamy
Kansas soil stands between a meeting
OF the waters. And this Is daily bccom-
ing narrower. The river is eating into
It every hour, until 1t now bears re-
semblance to a vast peninsula.
A mile out from ST. Joseph the strip
OF land between the rivers curves IL
fully five miles wide. 1t is predicted
by those who have watched the erratic
Missouri's course and changes for a
quarter of a century that 1t is only a
question of a short time until that mar
row neck OF land in Kansas is eaten
away and the Missouri's channel Is I'M
der the eastern slope of the big, round
bluffs that range along the western
horizon. When that happens, st. Jo-
seph, with its magnificent sewerage
system, will be an inland town, high
and dry, and its great steal railroad
bridge will be spanning the nucleus
of a fertile farm, or, at best, a shallow
lagoon. Efforts TO prevent such cata-
strophe by rip-rapp,ng are constantly
In progress.
The sack or b0X coat will be much