The San Francisco call., 1897-03-31
"LEvEES
BROKEN T | |
THE VAIL
Great CONSERVATION in the
Mississippi Delta
District.
THOUSANDS OF HOMES
THREATENED.
Flourishing Cities OF the South
Are in Danger of Total
Destruction.
GREENVILLE MAY BE SWEPT
AWAY AT ANY TIME.
Thousands of Whites aad Ngroes
Work on EmbAnkments While the
r vers Continue 10 Rise.
GREENVILLE MAY BE SWEPT
AWAY AT ANY TIME.
Thousands of Whites and N'groes
Work on EmbAnkm,nts While thu
R vers Continue 10 Rise.

JACKSON, NJ Iss., March 30.-From the
great YazooM Mississippi delta comes a
wall of distress. ard the cry The levees
have broken" is heard throughout the val
lev of the Niles. Three fresh breaks have
been reported to-day. through which rush
immense volumes of water, carrying death
and des ruction to thousands of homes
and devastating as fertile territory as is
TO be found on the globe. So far no loss
of life except to domestic animals has
been reported, but may be by morning, as
the great mound of earth which protects
the fourishing cities OF Greenville, Rose
dale, Stoneyille, Arcola, Friar Point, Roll
ing Fork and others are water-soaked,
mushy and liable to give way at any
moment.
The four breaks that have occurred have
flooded and will food before reaching the
mouth of the Yazoo, perhaps a week
hence, the counties of Bolivar, Washing
ton, Sharkey, Issaquenna, Yazoo and
portions of others, in which are comprised
the finest cotton farms in the world. In
this overflowed district the State has
leased eight plantations, and upon which,
with her able-bodied conyicts, she was
preparing 10 make another crop OF cotton
and corn, the latter being in fine condi-
tion.
The greatest concern is for the city of
Greenville, which, situated as 1t is in the
hollow of a crescent formed by the bend
of the river and surrounded by it on two
Sides would be wiped out of existe nee
should break occur in the i'm mediate
vicinity.
The streets of the city are twelve feet
below the summit of the levee, so that. a
break K once formed, there would be no
way Of stopping the niagara, and every
house in the place would be swept from
its foundations and the remaining in
habitants, it Is feared, hurled into eter-
nifty.
Fearing such a catastrophe those who
could have migrated to the hills, but
thousands still remain. The breaks that
occurred to-day are both above and below
Greenville fifteen and twenty-five miles,
so that the water will pass to the rear of
the city.
The streams on the delta all flow from
the river and down the opposite side of
the valley. The topography of the coun-
try is level, but sloping east and away
from the river for forty miles, in some
places 10 the Yazoo, and it is through this
stream The overflow water must 60 TO again
reacn the Mississippi. seventy-five to one
hundred miles south of where it has left
it. Thousands of people, white and black,
still line the levees and are making a des.
perate effort to hold what remains. The
water is reported higher than ever before
known from Memphis to Vicksburg.
HURON. S. D., March 30.-There has
been four-foot rise in the Jim River here
in the past twenty-four hours. 1t is now
only four inches below the high water.
mark OF 1881 and is rapidly rising.
Several bridges have gone out and others
Will go when the ice moves. Railway
bridges are safe. Losses from wrecked
bridges, grain in stack and hay, will be
heavy.