The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-02-26
AN INSATIATE RIVER


-,.,..nd Doiisrs' Worth Of His Property
In One Night.
.No use talking, the Mississippi river 10
A.. most contrary thing on earth, ire
.asrtad Captain s. H. King Of Greenvtlle,
Miss During the civil war; 10 VIII be
.o,nembered, there was double band,
,ouch In the shape OF the letter ,, Of the
liver at Vicksburg. General drans, you
rnow. wanted to change tho course OF the
liver by cutting channel onrough De
Soto peninsula, thus cutting on the upper
bend and causing the river 10 now straignt
pe below Vicksburg and leaving the
Ml higb and dry. Grant could then
s..a sant his gunboats by Vicksburg and
ns.ansd the shelling from the upper bat
go. .o,,as Of the Confederates north OF the
I'm He nut General MoClernand and
sosoral thousand men to work at quitting
sSis channel across the peninsula In front
~ the town, and they worked for some
t,ms Notwithstanding the harassment
,ro,n the lower batteries Of the enemy.
put the contrary river wouldn't show the
Last desire of accepting such an artificial
cbannel anyway. The plan was finally
abandoned and Grants gunboats had to
make the run before both the upper and
ioyer batteries. But In 1875 the Missis-
sinni river of its own accord, cut It's way
across De Soto peninsula below Vicks-
burg but farther up than Grants artificial
channel was started. De Soto peninsula
,s now De Soto island, and the body Of
wafer In front of Vicksburg Is now known
"a Centennial lake, taking the name from
the wear that the Centennial was held at
pbiladelpbia. This Is only one of many
instances showing how the Mississippi re-
fuses TO submit to the dictation Of civil
engineers and how itfollows it's own stub
horn course winding and washing Its
way here and there at It's own will
IBy the way, the Mississippi washed
several thousand dollars out of my pocket
IN one night about 10 years ago. At that
time owned a row of houses which began
almost three blocks away from the river
In Greenville, Miss. One day govern
ment engineer said to me, Tho river will
some time wash away Its bank here, and
your buildings will tumble in
"Well, 1 laughed at him. The bank
was rs feet high, and, besides, the river
was quite low. One morning / awoke to
learn that there had been a big cave in of
the river bank the night before, and that
a couple of my buildings had been carried
away. l Joined the crowd Of people that
rushed to the river bank to see this de-
struction, and, / tell you, l never ap-
preciated the terrible power OF the Father
of Waters until l witnessed this scene.
While 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 how felt,
because had been drawing an income Of
81, 900 month in rentals from my build
ings. 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 stood there watching my build
ings and ground slip away into the river
citizen approached me and said, Cap
tain, I'll give you 81 500 for the remain
der of your property
"'No, I'll not take less than 81, 600, ,
said /.
"The words had no more than left my
tongue when there was another cave in,
and two more of my lots and buildings
tumbled into the greedy river. The citizen
then remarked to me, Captain, I'll give
you 81, 900 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
and 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 luck and
stand all losses, and l refused to sell at
any price. l now had one lot and one
building left. During the excitement an
Old colorod woman came up and said to
me:
See heah, cap'n, will We give mo dem
brick what's in dat cellar under yer
housei'
II told her she could have tho brick.
had pile of new brick in the cellar under
my only remaining house. The old col
ored woman gave her husband 25 cents
To hire team and wagon to haul away
inc brick. Now, upon my word of honor,
what L am now going to say Is true.
while the old colored man was gone for q
wagon another cave in occurred, and my
last house and lot, brick and cellar and
all, tumbled into the river. The cave In
came so suddenly that the crowd of people
standing on tho bank had to flee for theil
lives. After the excitement had somewhat
subsidized the old colored woman exclaimed
Laws o. massy Dere's my brick In
ue bottom o dc ribber, an done los my
quatah'
"Of course, while tho old woman was
out 20 cents, l was out another 81 1000
Turing this series of cave ins that day
efforts were being made to place "A lone
frame store building on rollers and move
IL to place of safety. But before the
building could be raised it began to tilt
ana the men were compelled to desert it
coon the store building slid into the rive
ana went kerchug to the bottom of thu
enamel, as completely out of sight as If i
had been the only pebble on the beach.
In my opinion the Mississippi river Ii
al right-when t doesn' come my way.
quilt "a nice residence in Greenvillo severa
years ago and had beautiful flower be
uecked lawn between the house and tn
river, which was block away. That lawi
mas long since been swallowed by the vo
racious NAV of the Mississippi, and toda.
my residence stands on the edge of n banl
mat Is 20 feet high. st. Louis Globe
Democrat.
Medieval Lynch Laws In Bavaria.
q Ctlrip, 90 - H. a