Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-18
THE INsArlArE MISSISSIPPI.
How the Father Of Waters Took Away a Law.
yer's Real Estate.


IRON the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
NO use talking, the Mississippi river
10 'he most contrary thing on earth,
remarked capt. S. II. King of Green
Ville, MISS. During the civil war, ii
VIII ne remembered, there was double
pello. much in the shape of the letter
> OF the river at Vicksburg. Gen.
Hrant' you know, wanted to change the
course OF the river by cutting a chan
| mel through De Soto peninsula, thus
cutting OH the upper bend and causing
the river to flow straight across below
Vlckspurg, and leaving the town high
ana dry. Grant could then have sent
ms Sunboats by Vicksburg and escaped
the smelling from the upper batteries
or the Confederates north of the town.
he put Gen. McClernand and several
| thousand men to work at cutting this
channel across the peninsular in front
Oh the town, and they worked for some
time. Notwithstanding the harrassment
from the lower batteries of the enemy
| 'ut the contrary river wouldn't show
lhe least desire of accepting such al
artificial channel, anyway The plan
| was hnally abandoned and Grant S
| $unboats had to make the run before
poth the upper and lower batteries.
But IN 1876. the Mississippi river, of its
| own accord. cut its way across the De
| Soto peninsula below Nicksburg, but
further up than Grants artificial char
| mel was started. De Soto peninsula is
now De Soto island, and the body If
| water in front of Nicksburg is now
known as Centennial lake, taking the
| name from the year that the Centen-
NAL was held at Philadelphia. This
| is only one OF many instances showing
| how the Mississippi refuses to submit
to the dictation of civil engineers and
how it follows its own stubborn course
| winding and washing its way here ana
! there at its own WILL
by the way. the Mississippi washed
several thousand dollars out of my
! pocket in one night about Is years ago.
AT that time | owned a row of houses
which began almost three blocks away
| from the river, in Greenvlle, Miss. One
day a government engineer said to ma:
| The river will some time wash away
its bank here and your buildings Will
| tumble in.
well. | laughed at him. The bank
was 10 feet high. and, besides. the river
was quite low. One morning | awoke
to learn that there had been big
| Cave-in of the river bank, the night be-
fore, and that a couple of my buildings
| had been carried away. | joined the
| crowd of people that rushed to the
river bank to see this destruction.
| And. | tell you. l never appreciated the
terrible power of the Father of Waters
until | witnessed this scene. While |
was standing there talking with
| friends, another big slice of land, a
| block in width. crumbled away and
| fell into the river. carrying with it sew
eral more of my buildings. You can
| imagine how | felt, because | had been
drawing an income of $1,000 a month in
rentals from my buildings. Now, over
| half of them We're a mass of debris
| floating down the river, and my real
estate was only so much dirt in the
| bottom of the channel
LAS [ stood there Waiting my buildings
| ana ground slip away into the river a
! citizen approached me and said, Cap
| tain. III give you $500 for the remainder
| of your property
"'No, I'll not take less than $1,000 said
THE words had no more than left my
| and two more of my lots and buildings
tumbled into the greedy river The citi,
| zen then remarked to me. captain. II
| give you 5000 for your property now.
| II refused to entertain this proposition,
which. of course was a pure speculation.
| as no human agency could stop the cave
| in Pretty soon another one of my lots
ami its Building Went into the river; and
| my speculative friend then offered me
| $500 for the remainder of my property By
this time had concluded To trust to lurK
| Il nd oil ! refused
| at any price. I now had one lot ana one
| building left. During the eXcitement an
| old colorcd woman came up ana SAID 10
{" See heah. Cap'n. will ye give me dem
brick what's i'll dat cellar under ser
| house,
| had a pile of new brick in the cellar I'M
| der my only remaining house. The Old
| coorod woman gave her husband - cents
to hire team and wagon to haul away
| the brick Now. upon my word of honor,
| what | am now going to say is true
| While the old colored man was gone Tor
n wagon another caVe-in occurred, and
my last house and lot. brick and cellar
and all. tumble1 into the river. The cave
in came 50 suddenly. that the crowd OF
people standing on me hank mao 10 had 1ie
somew hat subsidized the old colored woman
| exclaimed: ,,, :,
| de bottom o ribber, an | done los my
| "Of course while the old woman was
out p cents. [ was out another $1,000 Dur
mo This series of caVe-ins that day efforts
were being made to place long frame
store building on rollers AMI move it to
a place of safety. But before the build
| ing could be raised it began to tilt. and
the men were compelled to desert it, Soon
the store building slid into the river and
went kerchug to the bottom OF the chan-
nel-as completelv out of sight as if it
had been the only pebble on the beach.
IN my opinion the Mississippi River IS
all right-when it doesn' come my way.
| 7 built a nice residence in GreenVillc sew
eral wears ago. and had beautiful flower
bodecked lawn between the house an the
river. which was block away. Ihat
| lawn has long since been swallowed by
the yoracious NAV of the Mississippi, ana
| todav nv residence stands on the edge
| of a bank that is - feet high