Evening star., 1898-02-10
THE INsATIArE MISSISSIPPI.
How the Father of Waters Took Away
Lawyers Valuable Real Estate.

How the Father of Waters Took Away
n Lawyers Valuable Real Estate.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat
mo use talking, the Mississippi river is
the most contrary thing on EARTH" re-
marked Captain S. H. King of Greenvillc,
Miss. During the civil war, 1t will be re-
membered, there was a double bend, much
in the shape of the letter s, Of the river
at Vickspurg. General Grant, you know
wanted to change the course of the river
by cutting a channel through De Soto
peninsula, thus cutting off the upper bend
and causing the river to flow straight
across below vicksburg and leaving the
town high and dry. Grant could then
have sent his gunboats by Vicksburg and
escaped the shclling from the upper bat
teries' of the confederates north of the
town. He put General McClernand and
several thousand men to work at cutting
thls channel across the peninsula in front
of the town, and they worked for some
time, notwithstanding the harassment from
the lower batteries of the enemy. But
the contrary river wouldn't show the least
desire of accepting such an artificial chan
mel anyway. The plan was finally aban-
doned and Grants gunboats had to make
the run before both the upper and lower
batteries. But in 1876 the Mississippi river
of It's own accord cut its way across De
Soto peninsula below Vicksburg, but further
up than Grants artificial channel was
started. De Soto peninsula is now De Soto
Island, and the body of water in front of
NlckSbErg is now known as Centennial
Lake, taking the name from the year that
the centennial was held at PHILADELPHIA
This is only one of many instances show
ing how the Mississippi refuses to submit
to the dictatiOn of civil engineers and how
it follows its own stubborn course. wind
ing and washing it's way here and there at
its own will.
by the way, the Mississippi washed
several thousand dollars out of my pocket
IN one night about fifteen years ago. At
that time 1 owned a row of houses which
began almost three blocks away from the
river in Grcenville, Miss. One day a gov
ernment engineer said to me: The river
Will some time wash away it's bank here
and your buildings will tumble in'
well, l laughed at him. The bank was
seventy-hve feet high, and, besides, the
river was quite low. One morning 1 awoke
of the river bank the night before, and
that couple of my buildings had been
carried away. I Joined the crowd of peo-
pie that rushed to the river bank to see
ahis obstruction. And. l tell you. never
appreciated the terrible power of the
Father of Waters until 1 witnessed this
scene. While 1 was standing there talking
with friends another big slice Of land
block in width, crumbled away and fell
into the river, carrying with it several
more of my buildings. You can imagine
howl felt, because 1 had been drawing an
income of $1,000 a month in rentals from
my buildings. Now, over half of them
were mass of debris floating down the
river. and my real estate was only so much
dirt in the bottom Of the channel
AS 1 stood there watching my buildings
and ground slip away into the river citi-
zen approached me and said, Captain I'll
give you $500 for the remainder of your
property
mo. I'll not take less than $1,000
said l.
1.-The words had no more than left my
tongue when there was another cavern,
and two more of my lots and buildings
tumbled into the greedy river. The citi
zen then remarked to me, Captain, I'll
give you 81 900 for your property now
Il refused to entertain this proposition,
which, of course, was a pure speculation,
as no human agency could stop the cave
in. Pretty soon another of my lots
and its buildings went into the river and
my speculative friend then offered me $50
for the remainder of my property. By this
time 1 had concluded to trust to luck and
stand all losses. and 1 refused to Sell at
any price. 1 now had one lot and one
building left. During the excitement an
CID colored woman came up and said to
ne:
's'See heah. Cap'n. will We give me dem
brick what's in dat c6ilar under yer house"
Il told her she could have the brick. l
had pile of new brick in the cellar IN
der my only remaining house. The old
Colored woman gave her husband 25 cents
to hire a team and wagon to haul away TIL,
brick. Now, upon my word of honor. what
l am row going to say is true. While the
old colored man was gone for a wagon
another cave-in occurred, and my last
house and lot brick and cellar and all,
tumbled into the river. The cavern came
suddenly that the crowd of people stand
iEg on the bank had to fee for their lives.
After the excitement had somewhat sub
sided the cid colored woman exclaimed:
Laws O. massey! Dere's my brick in
de bottom @ de ribber, an 1 done los my
quatah.'
"Of course, while the old woman was
out % cents, l was out another $1,000. Dur
ing this series of cave-ins that day efforts
were being made to place a long frame
store building on rollers and move it to
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
Eerchug to the bottom of the channel-aS
completely 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't come my way.
1 built n nice residence in Greenville sew
eral years ago. and had a beautiful flower
fedecked lawn between the house and the
river which was a block away. That lawn
has long since been swallowed by the
vCracious maw of the Mississippi, and to-
day MY residence stands the edge of
bank that is seventy-fve feet high