Omaha daily bee., 1897-04-18
LOUISIANA LEVEE BREAKS
Bank Gives Way Before Enormous Pressure
Of Mississippi.
MAIN SYSTEM SUCCUMBS TO TORRENT
Much of the Richest Land In the
Northern Part of the state VIII
lie Inundntcd-pcopIe Are
warned in Time.

| VICKSBURG, Miss, April 17.-An official
report at midnight says the crevasse at
Biggs, four miles below Delta, is nearly a
mile wide and that the water is spreading
out over the lowlands OF Madison parish
with startling rapidity. This is unquestion-
ably the most destructive break that has
yet occurred and the loss to property and
live stock will be enormous.
MEMPHIS, April 1.-THE crisis has ar
rived in northern louisiana The mighty
force of nature has won the fight. Last
night at 10 O'Clock the workers on the levee
at Biggs, four miles below Delta, La were
Mortified to see a sudden bulge in their em-
bankment A small yellow stream began to
trickle through the aperture and moment
later there crash. The Louisiana main
levee system had at last succumbed to the
onslaught of the Mississippi river. a general
alarm was sounded and the inhabitants Of
the vicinity began moving their most valuable
effects,
In thirty minutes the crevasse had in
creased in size from dozen feet to fifty
yards and the water is pouring through the
opening with fearful velocity. There is a
strip of swamp about two miles wide i'm
nediatcly behind the levee whore the break
occurred and beyond that are many of the
finest plantations in northern Louisiana. I'm
less the Crevasse can be stopped the over
flowed area will include the lower half of
Madison parish and all of Tensas and Con-
cordia parishes. The water will then flow
into the Tensas river and should that stream
prove its inability to carry the great volume
of water into the main channel the flooded
area will extend to Franklin and part of
Catahoula parishes and take the fifth district
levee, where tie board had concentrated
nearly 1,G00 men along the line of the levee
adjacent to Biggs, this strip having been re
gareed as one of the weakest points in the
entire system. The fertile lands that will be
inundated are in the highest state of cultiva-
ton and the loss will be tremendous.
TALLULAH La, April N.-3iggs levee
was comparatively an old one. Work
was commenced on this levee about two
weeks ago, and the levee was broadened and
strengthened by dirt thrown over the top
and down the Sides front ana rear, and the
work raised fully four feet with very large
base. The Louisiana convcts were at work
on the levee and had completed about half
the work, and perhaps {. little more. AS
sstant State Engineer II. C. Brown was in
charge of the work, and last Sunday morning
the levee came near breaking in the same
place that it broke last night Assistant
State Engineer Thompson was at the Biggs
levee on Monday and Tuesday last and every
effort was made to complete the work. The
levee Is in the lower end of Madison parish
and the crevasse will probably affect the
lower end of Tensas and all of Concordia
parish. A ridge extends across from the
river back to Mill bayou a continent of the
Tensas river, and this will most probably
protect the northern end and the front por-
ton of Tensas parish by divertng the
crevasse water back into Tensas river, which
gradually approaches the Mississippi river
further down, near Lake Concordia. 1t will
cause immense damage, as there are some
large cotton plantations, not only in the
immediate rear of the break but all the
way down to the Ouachita river, which will
act as the barricade to keep 1t from extending
further south. The levee is from sixteen to
eighteen feet high, and it will be impossible
to stop the crevasse, as the land behind the
levee is fully sixteen feet below the level
of the water.