Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1897-04-13

the opening. 1t prevented any further
damage till help came.
Helena has another character, Col.
Miles, the river prophet" known to
all from Memphis to New Orleans. He
is 10, but for that reason all the more
the people of the little town under the
levee believe in him. In 1882, when the
Mississippi was wilder and freer than
ever before, Col. Miles predicted that
this town and that town were in no
danger at all, because, while the river
would go higher at such and such
points, it would not go above such a
point mentioning the half-inch in sew
eral cases); and so, in 1897, when Hele-
ma and her people trembled least the
Father of Waters should break his
bounds and overwhelm and drown
them, they actually slept in peace when
il was known that Col. Miles knew just
how high the river would go. But the
river at Helena was nevertheless above
the top of the levee-a foot in some
places, and in some three and even TOUR
feet. The thousands of sand bags kept
the stream within it's course, though,
Rut the 1000 souls of the little city
were as near as that to destruction.
In Mississippi, Greenville, n prosper
Gus town of 10000 people, first begant to
fear annihilation. For several days
the 800 miles of levees about the city
stood, almost trembling with their re-
sposibility, between the river and the
destruction of 1000 people. The great
dangers, however, proved to be far
ther down the river. One steamer
rescued 300 persons at Rosedale, where
a break above the town had threatened
the whole population The whole 4azoo
delta, 13 counties, covering an area 250
miles long and rs miles wide and sup
porting population of nearly 100000
souls, was under water; the efforts OF
thousands of citizens and of hundreds
of convicts released, released tempo
rarily for the purpose, had proved una
yelling to stop the awful crevasses or
turn aside the angry surge of n
river as big as the Hudson. Still far
ther down, New Orleans, hitherto rest
Eng securely, now saw the water within
a foot of the top of her levees. Half a
million sacks of earth were forwarded
with all haste to the points of greatest
danger. One thousand convicts and
many thousand citizens worked to-
gether literally like beavers. Men with
rifles patrolled the banks for miles, 500
feet apart Steamers ran at half speed :;
even the swish of u passing craft was
dangerous.
The Mississippi floods of 1897, the most
terrible and destructive known, must
surely draw renewed attention to the
plans which engineers have discussed
by which they may possibly be avoided
One proposition is to build reservoirs III
the up-country, where the rush of wa
ters can be controlled; so that the vari-
GUS large tributaries may be permitted
to discharge their immense volumes OF
water into the general stream only al
the proper seasons; a device of great
advantage also to the dryer portions o1
the great basin. Another plan has
been TO make Il mprehensive, safe and
lasting system of levees; for it is not
to be expected that the rich alluvia
lands along this river (and equally
along its great tributaries) will ever be
abandoned. Nor is it strange. as the
conditions now are, that the Mississippi
should often break all bounds and play
incalculable havoc Twenty states and
territories constitute its water she'd
Luckily all of its tributaries do not dis
charge their floods into its common cur
l1-At at the same time. Nature seems
to have provided that poor means OF
safety for the dwellers in the low lands ;
otherwise whole states might be made
uninhabitable.
There have been other floods in the
Mississippi valley almost as appalling
as these. In 1S44 the high water, never
cquuled since then until the present
year, drowned many at St. Louis. In
1879 the floods caused loss of $5 100000
at St. Louis and $2O.OOO,OOO at New
Orleans. The year 1857 saw very high
water at ST. Louis--3G feet . inches
above the mean low wafer line; the
record of 1914 had been ~ feet 0 inche:
above the mean low water line. II 1SS;
the Ohio rose &C feet inches at Cincin
natl and houses on the river bank were
covered. The loss was $2O,OOO,O00 il
Cincinnati alone and in neighboring
counties the loss was $5,0O0,000 Thirty
thousand persons were made homeless
In 1884 the water at this point went
still higher, and drowned GO persons
The Mississippi river floods of Marcel
4
country and isolated cities and towns
Perhaps the floods of 1892 were still
more terrible, They caused loss o.
100 lives and of $12,OOO,O00 worth OF
property.
MARSHALL. CUSHING.
rne House Buiidcd ON the Sands.