The Van Buren press., 1899-07-08
DAMAGE |NCALCULAB[E.
aavoc Wrought and Continually In
creasing by the Floods
In Texas.
DESCRIPTION IS HARDLY POSSIBLE.
Many Human Lives Have Been SwnI-
lowed Up by the Relentless Wa.
ters, and the Property LOssei
VIII Reach Many Millions of Dol.
lars.

Houston, Tex, July s.-A correspon
dent has just returned from a voyags
through the flood districts. The hall
has not been told of the havo,
wrought. The disaster is so appalling
that description is not possible. After
this flood will come sickness, undoubt.
edly, and what week ago was the
fairest part of Texas, is now almost
Godforsaken wilderness.
Bra.os Valley Inundated.
The waters of the Brazos have. fol
Fix days, covered its valley to depth
of from six to thirty feet, where
week ago there were on every hand
fields of cotton and corn and thou.
sands of acres of watermelons and
cantaloupes, to-day there is Shiny mud
orcr all the vegetation, the carcasses
of cows. mules, pigs, dogs and cats.
mayhap humans, for many are miss
ing. Cur party left Bryan ut sunrise
Tuesday morning, going to the Va.
Tasoto bottoms, and to point about
three miles from Millican. Here we en-.
eountered, everywhere, an oyer1 NV
from the Navasota, which spread ont
fully two miles on either side of the
Houston q Texas Central track.
Everything Under Water,
Everything is under water from two
10 seventeen feet. II looked on all
sides like a great lake, and the water
was so high that for vast area IL com.
pletely submerged the telegraph and
telephone poles along the line In
truth, portions of the Navasota bot.
toms are even now a perfect sea. eN.
tending -four miles wide Mt eertain
points. | saw hundreds of houses the.,s
totally submerged, and as many u,ore
we're swept from their foundations and
destroyed. The planters of the bot
tens are still moving their help and
whatever is left of their stock TO
places where they can be cared for.
They are nobly helping each other,
end taking refuge wherever they ca;.,
some of them seeking safety on house
tops.
| Outsiders Can't Realize Conditions.
All the planters stated that the out.
| side world has no conceptions Ct tho
floods or losses incurred by the ,le-
struction of crops, stock and build
irgs. Nearly every planter has bnilt
boats and sent them through the ford-
Ell districts to render assis tancs 70 the
PEOPLE, and, if possible, save some al
| their drowning stoch The cool dis
ilict has length of over 50 miles.
E,eadth of probably so miles and in
ali this vast space, damage ircslcrln-
bic has been done.
The LOSSES of Human Life.
The loss of life will never &c fully
known, perhaps; the bottom, were
| ihickly settled, mostly with negro ten.
vnt farmers. Among these has been
The greatest loss of life. To show The
| famage done the following estimate
| have been made by men who are in u
position to know. Lives lost, from 1Ja
to 300; loss to farmers, includi ~ crops
us well as live stock, from b5,b000c0 10
l5,0o0,0 900; damage to railroads and
to country bridges, S2,000,000 to 81, ,000,.
pco. These estimates are taken in the
whole area. 1t is known tndt more
than sixty people have me5 their
death; that many bodies have been re-
covered; it is not believed that all of
item will ever be recovered.