Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-03-24
MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.
Father of Waters Still Raging-Much
Property Destroyed.

Father of Waters Still Raging-Much
Property Destroyed.
The warning sent out by the gov
ernment signal service yesterday that
the Mississippi and its tributaries
would continue to rise, has been full
filled to the letter, says st. Louis
dispatch of Saturday. The communi-
cation with the flooded section has
become difficult; but dispatches re-
ceived from widely separated points
show that all have suffered alike. 1t
is estimated that section of country
with an area equal to that of the state
of Missouri is now under water, and
that the worst is not over. Advices
from Cairo, Paducah, Memphis and
Helena show that the region beginning
north of New Madrid, Mo-, west to
and including the valleys of the St.
Francis, the White and the Arkansas
rivers in Arkansas, east in Kentucky
and Tennessee, the valleys of the
Tennessee, the Cache, the Obion and
the Yazoo rivers, and south to the Red
river are under water. The interven-
ing ranges of hills and high ground
are the only places of refuge. The
dispatches received here tell but one
story-lives lost, stock drowned and
country desolated. At Cairo, Illinois,
today, the river reached 500 feet and
rising slowly, which is but one foot
short of the high record of 1883. All
the country south of there to Memphis
is submerged. A relief steamer from
the flats below Birds Point brought in
four families. 1t is reported that a
fiat boat containing a number of peo-
pie was sunk at Island No. 10.
All the cotton fields in the valley of
Forked Deer river, in Tennessee, are
under water. The Memphis Relief
association has FIVE boats at work.
These boats 60 to points that are some
20 miles from streams navigable in
ordinary stages of water. The unan-
imous opinion of St. Louis river men
is that conditions must become worse
before there can be permanent relief.
They say that numerous breaks in the
lower levees are really blessings, as
they are natural outlets for the deluge
that is certain to come from the melt
ing SHOWS of the north.
Dispatches from Memphis and other
points lower down the river, picture Il
desperate situation among the inhabi-
tants. The levees on either bank are
literally lined with men who are try
ing to do all they can to save their
property. The general belief seems to
be that everything depends upon the
protection of the levees. The only
material available with which to keep
the water back, is bags of sand.
These are being piled on weak places
in the levees wherever such places are
found. Another feature of the sltua-
ton is bands of men armed with rifles.
1t seems that the interests of owners
of the higher plantations is against the
protection of the levees. With the
levees broken, the water will find vent
in the lower lands and leave the high
er lands comparatively safe. Conse-
quently, the inclination of the owners
of the higher lands is to break the
levees when they can do so without
danger of detection. But this is
hazardous undertaking. 1t is the bus
mess of the armed men to look after
such matters, and the understanding
is that the penalty for an attempt to
break levee is death on the spot.