The record-union., 1897-04-02
As Regards Threatened Loss of Life
and Destruction Of Levees.
The Reported Damage to the Farming
Country in the Delta Not Exag-
gerated-Five Counties Will be for
the rlost Part Under Water for
Thirty Days, and One Hundred
titles of Railroad Track Inundated
Twenty Railway Stations and
Small Towns Flooded.

flood situation in the Mississippi delta
above Greenville is decidedly better
tonight, as to the threatened loss of
life and further destruction of leVees.
The half dozen crevasSes on the Ar
kansas and Mississippi shores between
Helena and Greenville have drawn an
immense volume of water out of the
main channel, which is spreading over
the lowlands, but not with that degree
of rapidity that cuts off escape by the
inha bitants of the low countries.
The river shows a decline from a
point below Helena to the Wayside ere
vase The decline above GreenviIle in
many places is as great as ten inches,
However Helena, Ark, is not out of
danger, for the waters from the ST.
Francis basin, in Arkansas, are still
swelling the channel of the main river
from the mouth of the st. Francis to a
point south of Helena, as no break oc-
ours until Westover is reached, ten
miles below that city. The worst at
Helena will be over by Sunday.
The damage to the farming country
in the delta cannot be exaggerated.
Five counties will be, for the most
part, under water for thirty days, and
the main line and branch lines of the
Yazoo and Mississippi Valley road will
have more than 100 miles of track inun-
dated. Opposite Perthshire, the upper
crevasse, a mile of track has been COM
pletely washed away.
Probably twenty railroad stations
and small towns are flooded tonight,
among them being Gunnison, Rosedale,
Perthshire, Terry RivertOn, Dahomey,
Storm, Benoit, Beulah, Wayside, Long
wood, Refuge, Swift Water and Aus
traIia
The greatest danger now is to the
south of Greenville, as the levees from
Wayside to. the mouth of the river must
begin to feel the pressure of the move
ment of water back into the channel
from the delta through the White River
country and the ST. Francis basin
From Memphis to Crawley's Ridge the
river is now forty miles wide. A line
east and west on the water across
Rosedale would probably be fifty miles
long. All of this water must pass out
between two walls of the levee, in many
places but few miles distant one from
the other.
Another rise of one-tenth of a foot in
official bulletin from the weather bu-
reau. The gauge tonight registers 1854
feet At Cairo an encouraging fall in
the river is shown, While Paducah re-
ports fall of seven-tenths of a foot
At Vicksburg the river is stationary
Shreveport and other points below
Vicksburg report a continued rise.
The Louisville and Nashville and the
r q
Railroads resumed direct traffic COM
munication with Memphis tonight, af-
ter cessation of two weeks, due to the
higher water of the Tennessee River
The local Relief Committee this after
noon sent a steamboat to the St Fran
els River country to bring out water
bound people and carry supplies and
food for man and beast. 1t is said that
the destitution in the territory to be
covered is fearful, but the news of it
did not reach Memphis until to-day.
SITUATION ABOUT GREENVUIE
GREENVILLE (Miss.) April 1.-The
water continues to fall but not so rap
idly as during the hours following the
break of the levee.
The train and crew on the Riverside
division of the Valley road were caught
between Stops Landing and Stokes
crevasse and are obliged to remain
there. The water is over the track of
the Leland branch of the Valley road
and the trains have been abandoned
Ten thousand people are homeless in
the flood districts. Three hundred towns
and cities are submerged, and desola-
ton reigns over this lovely valley.
A dismal waste of water covers the
surrounding country on every side of
Greenville and the city is a desolate
island, connected with the outside
world by a mere thread, a telegraph
line running east. Railroad commune
cation is cut off north and south.
Rosedale, Gunnison, Bolivar, Hunt
ington and a hundred other prospering
towns north of here, Arcola. Hollan-
dale, Waysde, saltwater, Stonevflle
and Leland, south and west, together
with a sore of smaller hamlets are in
the same condition as Greenville
MORE FLOODS EXPECTED.
ST. LOUIS, April 1.-The heavy rain
last night was general throughout the
Mississippi Valley. Within two days
the upper Mississippi is expected to
reach a higher stage than last week
and cause additional flooding of bottom
lands.
The River Desperes broke all previ-
Gus records and flooded a large portion
of the city southwest of Forest Park
The country thereabouts looks like an
immense lake. The flood extends west
to Glendale station. The ST. Louis and
San Francisco tracks are covered with
water, and the trains are using the
Missouri Pacific tracks, which are
about a foot above the water The
Cheltenhome Brick Works, Laclede
Fire Brick Works, the old ST. Louis
Smelling and Refining Works and a
number of other concerns can only be
reached by boats. Several blocks of
houses on Sublette avenue were flood
ed to the second story. The police boats
rescued twenty people from them.
Weather Bureau observers in Missouri
and Iowa report one of the heaviest