Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-02-03
AN INSAIIATE RIVER.
HOW THE MISSISSIPPI SOMETIMES
EATS UP REAL ESTATE.
Captain King of Grcenyiile Tells Bow
the Father of Waters Swallowed Several
thousand Dollars Worth of His Property
In Ono Night.

NO use talking, tho mississippi IiETr is
the most contrary thing Oh cur;.., re-
marked Captain :. II. King of Grocnviljo,
Miss. During tho civil war it viii b.
remembered, there was double bend
! much in the shape of the letter :. of tho
river ut N!ckShurR. General Grant you
Know, wanted to change the course Of tho
| river by cutting channel thraESh De
| Soto PENINSULA thus emitting OF the upper
| bcrh and cnUs!ng the river to flow straight
icross below Nicksburg and leaving tho
| town. high and dry. Grant could then
! have sent his gunboats by Wick SbUrg and
| cS2&n@d the Smelling from tho upper bat
| ;eries of the Confcdcratcs north of tho
| town. He put General McCIcrnand and
| several thousand Incn to work ut cutting
| this channel across tho peninsula in front
| OF the town, and they worked for some
| time, notwithstanding the harassment
! from the lower batteries of the enemy.
| ijut the contrary river wouldn't show tho
least desire of accepting such an artificial
| channel anyway. The plan was finally
abandoned and Grants gunboats had to
! tn:;i<c the run before both tho upper and
| lower batteries. But in 1876 the Missis-
| sipii river, of it's own accord, cut it's way
"clo"5 DE Soto peninsula below Eicks-
| burg, but farther up than Grants artificial
| sha: eel was started. Dc Soto peninsula
| Is BOW Do Soto island, and tho body of
water III front of Nicksburs is now known
| as Centennial lake, taking the naluc from
| the year that the Centennial was held Mt
! Philadelphia. This is only one of many
| instances showing how the Mississippi re-
| fuscs to submit to the dctation of civil
| engineers and how it fellows its own stub
born course, winding and washing its
| way here and thcro at its own will
| "Gy tho way the Mississippi washed
! several thousand dollars out of Day rocket
III one night about Is years ago. AT that
| time / owned !. row of houses which began
| almost tlrcc blocks away from the river
in Grccnvislc, Miss. One day govern
| ncnt engineer said to nc, Tho river will
some time wash away its bank here, and
| your buildings will t,!uhic in.
well, L laughed ut him. The bank
WAS 10 feet high, and besides, the river
| was quite low. One morning uToke to
| learn that 1hcro bad been a big cave in of
the river bank the night before, and that
Il couple Of ny buildings had becu carried
away. l joined the crowd of people that
| rushed to the rii bank To sec this de-
struction, and, l tell you, l never APP
| prcGiatctl the terrible power Of the Father
| Of Waters until | witnessed this scene
Willie vas standing there talking with
friends another big slice of land, u block
in width, crambcd away and fell into the
| river, catry'inp with it several moro of my
| buildings Yea can imagine how l felt.
| because l had Gccn drawing an income Of
| 81 900 y l:.onth in rentals from MY build
neS. Now over half of them wyro /. mass
| of debris floating down tho river, and my
real estate was only SO much dirt in the
| bottom of the channel
AS l stood there watching MY build
| ings and ground slip away into tho river
M - WI u 1
tain, III give ycu $3.50 for the remain
der of your property
No, Ill not tukc less than So, Geo
said l.
Tho wort.s had no more than left nv
tongue when there was another cave in,
and two more of my lots and buildings
tu!nblod into the greedy river. The citizen
thon remarked to me, Captain, III give
you 81 600 - your property now
refused 10 entertain this proposition,
which. of course, was pure speculation,
| MS NC human agency could stop the cave
| in. Pretty soon another ono of my lots
and its building went into tic river, and
my speculative friend then offered me $500
TOR the remainder Of my property. BY this
time lad concluded to trust to luck and
stand all losses, and l refused to sell at
any price l now Lad ono lot ard one
building left. During the excitement an
old colCreu woman cumo up aud said to
me:
SEQ hc"h, cap'n, Will yc give mo dem
brick what's in Cat cellar under yer
housc:'
II told her she could havo tho brick.
had pile of new brick in TIE cellar under
my only remaining house. Tho old col
ored woman Gavc her husband 20 cents
to h!ro u team and wagon to haul away
THO trick. Now, upon my word OF honor
Wha5 l i.1A now going to say Is true
While the old colorcu man was gone for n
wagon another cave in occurred, and NY
last house and lot, brick and cellar and
nll tumbled into the river. Tho cave in
came so suddenly that the crowd of rco;}lo
standing on tho bank had to flee for their
lives. After the excitement had somewhat
subsidized tie old colcrc,l woman exclaimed:
Laws O lnassy! Ecre's my brick in
dc bottom O dc ribbcr, IN l done los nv
quntah
''Of COURSE, while the old woman was
out 20 cents, was cut another 81 600
During this series Of cave ms that day
efforts were being made to place a long
frame store building on rollers and move
1t to u place of safety. But before the
building could be raised it began to tilt,
and tho men were compelled to desert it,
Soon tic store building slid into tho river
and Went kcrclug to the Bottom of the
channel, rs completely out of sight as if it
had been the only pebble on the beach
In my opinion the Mississippi river is
all right-Whcn it tlocsn't come my way l
built IL nice residence in Grccnviilc several
years ago and bad n beautiful flower be-
dcckcu lawn between the house and tho
river, which was II block away. That lawn
has long since been swallowed by the vo-
racious lni.w Of the Mississippi and today
my residence stands on the edge of u bank
that IS 10 feet high. st. Louis Globe
Democrat
Lodi